Alexander M. Wegner has over eight years’ experience in strategic communications, advising private- and public-sector organizations and individuals in Germany, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. He has lived in the Middle East for more than 15 years and specializes in strategic and executive positioning, reputation and issue management. At Teneo, he works with governments in the Arabian Gulf region.
Before joining Teneo, Alexander was an Associate Director at APCO Worldwide, where he managed embedded teams driving communications for the Saudi National Atomic Energy Project, the Saudi Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, and the Saudi Premium Residency Center. He also supported Saudi Arabia’s former Minister of Economy & Planning, H.E. Mohammad Al-Tuwaijri, with copy- and speechwriting as part of his election campaign for World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General. In an earlier role at APCO, he helped manage digital communications for the then Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information and two Saudi giga-projects: Qiddiya, an entertainment site, and The Red Sea Project, a luxury resort. He also supported WhatsApp navigate regulatory challenges in Germany, following the introduction of new data protection legislation and public speculation about WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption. While at APCO, Alexander (co-)authored seven articles, including the inaugural MENA Tech Trends Report.
Previously, Alexander worked at Richard Attias & Associates (RA&A), where he was seconded to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), as Project Manager for the Future Investment Initiative (FII). Being Saudi Arabia’s flagship, annual business forum, FII is often referred to as “Davos in the Desert”. At RA&A, he also served as Technology Partnerships Lead, a role in which he quickly built a community of world-class tech companies (including Boston Dynamics, Huawei, Magic Leap, Samsung, Siemens, SoftBank Robotics, and Virgin Hyperloop) around several high-profile initiatives.
Alexander holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service; both institutions awarded him part- or full-tuition merit scholarships. In addition to his work at Teneo, he is active in the Alumni Network of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Shapers Community, a Fellow at the Royal Society for Arts (RSA), a longtime One Young World (OYW) Ambassador and Peer Mentor, and a member of both the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Planetary Society. Alexander also is Strategic Advisor to the Founder & Executive Producer of World1Media, a storytelling agency focused on the Middle East and Africa (MEA). He is a native German speaker, fluent in English, and currently working toward proficiency in Arabic.
