Dr Sulaiman Al-Hattlan was the Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine (Arabic Edition) for two and a half years before being appointed President of the Forbes Forum on the Executive Leadership in Middle East. In February 2008 Dr Hattlan was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai and an adviser to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Foundation (MBRF). Dr Hattlan graduated from King Saud University in Riyadh and completed his higher education in the United States, at Georgetown, Howard and Harvard Universities.

Dr Hattlan received the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard University before completing a post-doctoral study at the Center for Middle East Studies, also at Harvard. He has worked as a consultant for a number of media organizations in Saudi Arabia and some of the largest media organisations in the United States, such as ABC News. His analytical articles have been printed in a number of major U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, as well as a number of well-known newspapers in the Gulf region. In his current role he maintains his presence in the media, advocating for the importance of development in the Arab world.