ISP: MIDDLE EAST

Holly Richardson

Head of Marketing and Customer Experience – Middle East

Holly Richardson was born near San Francisco, California, with a strong innate purpose to LIFT, LEARN and LIVE. This purpose inspired her to work in multiple countries (United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and the UAE), across multiple industries (financial services, consumer goods, technology) and in multiple disciplines (public relations, marketing, digital transformation, customer experience, brand development and beyond).

Since 2012, Holly has been based in Dubai, spearheading large-scale marketing and CX transformation programs across the Middle East & Africa for major multinationals, Unilever and Microsoft, as well as for international brands in Aviation, Hospitality, Banking and Healthcare. She joined International Schools Partnership in 2023 as the Head of Marketing and Customer Experience – Middle East.

Dedicated to driving real value for real people, Holly is a mentor and keynote speaker at industry conferences and a judge for various marketing and CX awards programs. She is also a Non-Executive Director at Customer Institute, a non-profit organisation on a mission to help companies be truly customer-centric.

Holly has two school-aged children, one with special needs, which means she especially recognises the importance of tailored learning solutions and is passionate to ensure every child receives the learning support they individually need.

Outside of work, she enjoys hiking, dancing, music, travelling, photography and creating beautiful art pieces in many forms, especially if done in collaboration with her children and friends.