Kailash Nagdev

Kailash Nagdev, is a World Expo specialist with over a decade of experience spanning the full lifecycle of mega-events; feasibility, bid strategy, delivery, and legacy. He has operated at senior commercial and strategic level across two successful World Expo bids and the delivery of Expo 2020 Dubai, a $16bn mega-event that drew 24 million visits over 182 days. As Managing Partner, Kailash leads nuwa’s work with Saudi family offices, government-backed entities, and international suppliers, guiding them through the commercial, operational, and participant-engagement challenges of Expo 2030 Riyadh.

Kailash played a central role in the successful Riyadh Expo 2030 bid, as Strategic Advisor to the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, leading programme development and shaping the key propositions submitted to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). Earlier, as Senior Vice President, Sales and Analytics at Expo 2020 Dubai, he led visitation strategy and analytics and headed the special projects team. He also designed and delivered the Expo 2020 University Programme, which engaged over 250,000 students from 26 countries during the six-month event.

Before his Expo 2020 Dubai tenure, Kailash served as CEO for MENA and South Asia at YouGov, where he built the consumer research business across the region. Earlier, he was Director of Group Strategy and Operations at Falcon and Associates, the Dubai government-linked strategic advisory firm, and concurrently served as Senior Advisor to the UAE Executive Bid Committee for Expo 2020. His career began in consulting and analytics roles at MSCI and NHS England.

Kailash holds an MBA with Distinction from Alliance Manchester Business School, specialising in Strategy and Finance, and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from the University of Mumbai. He has completed executive programmes at NUS Business School in Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning.