Board of Trustees Team

Mark ‘SPIN’  Bennett graduated from Trent Polytechnic, U.K., with an honors degree in electrical engineering.  He served in the Royal Air Force as a fast-jet navigator for 23 years, including a three-year appointment flying with the German Air Force. He was seconded to the Royal Saudi Air Force in 2002. in support of their Weapons System Officer basic flying training.  He subsequently joined BAE Systems in KSA and works at the King Abdulaziz Air Force assisting the RSAF with their Tornado aircraft and aircrew. His association with ISG began in 2002 when his daughter attended DBGS and he joined the ISG Board in 2003.  

Christopher Boyett joined the Board of Trustees in May 2015.  After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, he has held various leadership positions with companies in the United States, China, Russia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.  Chris’ specific area of expertise is new venture formation; he currently works for Saudi Aramco in Chemicals Business Development. He is married and has four children. One of them graduated from Dhahran High School, one is a current student at DHS, and one will attend there in the future.  Chris is also an active tennis player, and also serves on the Dhahran Tennis Association Board of Directors.

Jared Steele joined the Board of Trustees in October of 2017.  He works as an in-house corporate lawyer and has lived in Dhahran since 2014.  Jared has a background in corporate governance, and throughout his career he has advised various board committees and advised and been a member of varied corporate and investment committees for public companies in the US as well as joint labor/management committees.  He received his BA in philosophy from Brigham Young University, JD from Cornell University, and LLM in taxation from Georgetown University. Jared and his wife Catharine have three children, including one graduate of DHS class of 2018 and one current DHS student who is a candidate for the class of 2021.  Jared is also a Native American and tribal member of the Seneca Nation of Indians.

Brian Dibb joined the Board of Trustees in Nov  2017. He currently works for Saudi Aramco in their Legal Department. Mr Dibb received his B.A. and J.D. from Brigham Young University.  He has practised as a lawyer in both Australia and the USA. He and his wife have four children, one of which is currently studying at DHS here at Dhahran.

Justin joined the Board of Trustees in January 2018 and serves as the U.S. Consulate General’s representative. Justin is a career member of the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service where he served two years in Saudi Arabia, two years in Gabon and two years in Mexico. Prior to his U.S. government service, he worked at Emerson Electric for a decade working in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. He also worked for Catholic Relief Services in Cambodia and Indonesia for two years and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama. Justin holds a B.A. in business administration from Michigan State University and an M.A. in international policy studies from Middlebury Institute for International Studies. He has three children, two of whom attend DEMS.

Sami El Ferik is an Associate Professor in Control and Instrumentation, in the Department of Systems Engineering, at KFUPM. He obtained his B.Sc in Electrical Engineering from Laval University, Quebec, Canada, and M.S and Ph.D both in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada. After completion of his Ph.D and Post-doctor position, he worked with Pratt and Whitney Canada as a Staff Control Analyst at the Research and Development Center of Systems, Controls, and Accessories. His research interests are in sensing, monitoring, and control with strong multidisciplinary research and applications. His research contributions are in multi-Agent cooperative control, control loop performance monitoring, condition monitoring and condition-based maintenance.

Michael Smith joined the Board of Trustees in January 2019.  He has worked in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 2015, and his relationship with ISG began in 2016 when his oldest son enrolled at DEMS. He now has two sons attending DEMS, and is excited for his two younger daughters to join his sons once they become old enough to do so. Michael obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Utah Valley University, and then a Master of Business Administration from the University of Utah.  His professional responsibilities have included leadership roles as a Business Manager and Unit Business Director with emphasis in finance, accounting, commercial development, and business strategy for Savage Services Company, a global company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.  His current position is the Commercial Director for a joint-venture company called Savage Saudi Arabia, where he works with Board Members to direct and grow the company here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Khaled “Kal” Faytrouni joined the Board of Trustees in February 2019.  He received a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering with honors from California State University of Long Beach (CSULB) and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC). Kal is the Vice President of Operation working at a prominent U.S. organization with a significant presence in Saudi Arabia.  Kal’s specific area of expertise is international program management, global organizational leadership, international capture management, international business case development, and cost optimization. He is married and has three children who are  currently attending DEMS.