Leadership Team

Ismail Ali Abdulla

Head of UAE Clusters at Mubadala Investment Company, Strata Managing Director, Strata Board Member

Ismail Abdulla is the Head UAE Clusters unit within Mubadala’s UAE Investments platform and Managing Director of Strata.

The platform contributes to the acceleration of the UAE’s economic transformation, and investing in national world class champions, fostering vibrant industrial and commercial clusters, and partnering with world-class global entities.

Ismail is overseeing a diverse portfolio of assets in multiple sectors including technology, aerospace, and healthcare. In addition to those responsibilities, Ismail is the Managing Director of Strata and is responsible for strengthening the company’s aerospace industry competitiveness worldwide while elevating the UAE’s aerospace sector. Ismail has successfully led Strata through diversifying into advanced industries and entered new fields under his leadership, including advanced materials, biopharma, and automation & digital solutions.

Through his career Ismail played a key role in the creation of Strata, acting as the company’s asset manager since 2009 and worked his way to become the CEO and Managing Director of Strata. Since assuming the position as the CEO of Strata in 2017, Ismail has led the company to several achievements that contributed to placing the UAE on the map in the global aviation industry. Moreover, Ismail led the launch of the company’s new strategy to transition from focusing on Aerospace manufacturing to Advanced manufacturing that covers vital industrial sectors such as advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, therapeutics, automation and digital solutions in addition to the aerospace industry. With its new strategy, Strata aims to become a leading advanced manufacturing company in the UAE and globally.

Ismail joined Mubadala in 2008 and has made notable contributions to a number of aerospace and engineering services projects. During his time, Ismail has held a series of roles within the Aerospace, Renewables, and ICT (AR&I) platform’s business development team and guided countless projects from conception through to delivery.

Ismail holds a Master’s Degree in Project Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Information and Communication Technology from Queen Mary, University of London.