From the Clinic to the C-Suite: Dr. Hanin Alhomoud Takes the Helm at Saudi Equine Tech

When Saudi Equine Tech appointed a veterinarian as its new Chief Executive Officer, it was a deliberate signal. Dr. Hanin Alhomoud brings clinical expertise, executive experience, and a clear vision for what comes next: moving the platform from digitisation toward intelligence.

By Aleksandra Spasic

Published June 19, 2026

All images courtesy of Saudi Equine Tech

This March, Horse & Industry spoke with Faris Nassar, the founder of Saudi Equine Tech, about his vision for a unified digital platform capable of connecting trainers, owners, veterinarians, and regulators across Saudi Arabia's rapidly expanding equine ecosystem. At the time, the company was in its early growth phase, with its foundations formed on a compelling idea backed by deep industry knowledge and a clear read on the digital infrastructure gap within the Kingdom's racing and breeding sectors.

That conversation now has a sequel. Saudi Equine Tech has appointed Dr. Hanin Alhomoud as its Chief Executive Officer, bringing to the role a background that combines equine veterinary medicine with executive management and a career spent integrating advanced diagnostic technologies into professional practice. The appointment marks the company's transition from founding stage to operational scale — and raises its own set of questions about what that next chapter actually looks like.

A Career Built at the Intersection

Dr. Alhomoud did not arrive at the CEO role by way of a conventional corporate path. Her professional foundation is in veterinary medicine, specifically equine health, and her career has been shaped by a recurring question: how do you translate clinical knowledge into systemic change?

"My career has always been driven by a desire to create meaningful and lasting impact within the equine industry," she says. "As an equine veterinarian, I gained firsthand insight into the challenges faced by horse owners, trainers, breeders, and veterinary professionals. While clinical expertise is critical, many of the industry's most significant challenges require broader, systemic solutions.

That recognition, including individual expertise and however refined, has limits without the structures to support it at scale. This drew her toward executive management and the commercial side of equine health technology. Her work in that space centred on bridging the gap between innovation and practical application: identifying advanced diagnostic tools and ensuring they were accessible and usable within real veterinary workflows.

"Whether through advanced laboratory solutions, rapid diagnostic testing, or improved clinical workflows, my focus was on translating innovation into measurable value for professionals working in the field," she explains. It is a framing that has followed her into Saudi Equine Tech. The language of translation — converting data into insight, innovation into infrastructure, expertise into industry-wide outcomes — runs throughout how she speaks about the role.

A Strategic Partnership, Not a Handover

When Nassar announced Dr. Alhomoud's appointment, he described her as bringing "a unique combination of veterinary expertise, healthcare industry experience, and a deep understanding of the equine sector." From her side, the decision to take the role was shaped by the scope of what Saudi Equine Tech is attempting.

"What attracted me most was the ambition behind the vision," she says. "Saudi Equine Tech is not simply developing software. It is building digital infrastructure for an industry that is experiencing significant growth and transformation."

The leadership structure she is stepping into is not, she is careful to note, a straightforward succession. Nassar remains involved, and she frames the relationship between them in terms of complementary strengths rather than replacement.

"I do not see it as a traditional handover. I see it as a strategic partnership. Faris established the vision and built the foundation of the company. My role is to build upon that foundation, contribute additional industry expertise, and help scale the vision into its next phase of growth."

What she adds to that foundation is specific: a clinical lens on the platform's welfare and health data capabilities, executive experience in the commercial side of equine health technology, and the credibility that comes from having worked inside the problems the platform is trying to solve.

"We are not building solutions based on assumptions. We are developing technology around the needs experienced by veterinarians, owners, trainers, and breeders every day."

Moving from Digitisation to Intelligence

In the original Saudi Equine Tech piece, Nassar described the platform's core purpose as creating a unified digital layer across a fragmented industry — connecting race analytics, welfare monitoring, performance data, and regulatory oversight within a single ecosystem. Dr. Alhomoud's vision for where the company goes next builds directly on that foundation, but pushes it further.

"The next stage is moving beyond digitisation and toward intelligence," she says. "Collecting data is important, but creating meaningful insights is where real value is generated."

The distinction she draws is not a subtle one. Digitisation, in her framing, is a necessary first step: getting industry data out of siloed systems and into a connected platform. Intelligence is what that data becomes when it is used to anticipate problems, identify patterns, and support decisions before they need to be made under pressure.

"I envision a future where technology helps stakeholders anticipate challenges, improve welfare, optimise performance, and make more informed decisions. Our goal is to create a trusted digital ecosystem that empowers every participant in the equine industry through smarter use of information and technology."

For Dr. Alhomoud specifically, one of the clearest opportunities she identified when joining was the integration of veterinary information within that broader ecosystem. Medical histories, welfare indicators, and diagnostic data have historically sat apart from performance and race data, even when the two are directly connected.

"We are working to make medical histories, welfare indicators, and diagnostic information more connected, accessible, and actionable. The objective is not simply to store information, but to transform it into meaningful intelligence that supports better health outcomes and more effective decision making."

Welfare as Infrastructure

Horse welfare has moved from a peripheral concern to a central one across most major racing jurisdictions in recent years. In the United States, the establishment of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has driven a measurable reduction in racehorse fatalities at tracks under its oversight. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, welfare data has become increasingly embedded in regulatory frameworks. Saudi Arabia is at an earlier point in that journey — which means the opportunity to build welfare monitoring into the digital infrastructure from the outset, rather than retrofitting it later, is still available.

For Dr. Alhomoud, this is not simply a product priority. It is where her clinical background is most directly relevant:

"Horse welfare is not only an ethical responsibility. It is fundamental to the sustainability and long term success of the industry," she says. "As a veterinarian, I want welfare to become more measurable, trackable, and proactive."

The platform's existing welfare monitoring capabilities — which Nassar described in March as encompassing injury risk indicators derived from compiled race and training data — are an area she intends to strengthen significantly. The goal is to move welfare from a reactive function to a predictive one.

"Technology has the potential to identify risks earlier, improve monitoring, and support better outcomes throughout every stage of a horse's life. My priority is ensuring welfare standards are supported by meaningful data and practical tools that help stakeholders make better decisions."

The Saudi Context

Saudi Equine Tech operates within a broader industry that is, by most measures, moving quickly. The Saudi Cup remains the world's richest race at $20 million. The planned Qiddiya development, which will house a new national horse racing venue alongside a state-of-the-art equine hospital, signals sustained governmental commitment to the sector. Foal birth registrations at the King Abdulaziz Arabian Horse Centre grew by seven percent between 2022 and 2024, with the trend continuing upward.

For Dr. Alhomoud, this growth context shapes how she thinks about what the industry most urgently needs.

"The industry's greatest need is connected and reliable data," she says. "As the sector expands, valuable information often remains fragmented across different organisations and systems. Technology can help create a unified environment where health records, performance data, breeding information, welfare indicators, and regulatory requirements work together seamlessly."

Saudi Equine Tech's work also sits explicitly within the Vision 2030 framework — Saudi Arabia's roadmap for economic diversification, launched in 2016. For Dr. Alhomoud, that alignment is not incidental.

"Our work aligns directly with Vision 2030's focus on innovation, digital transformation, and economic diversification. The equine industry represents both an important cultural heritage and a significant economic opportunity. By developing specialised technology solutions for the sector, we are helping modernise operations while supporting long term growth, competitiveness, and sustainability."

She also acknowledges that her own career has unfolded within that broader moment of transformation:

"I have been fortunate to build my career during a period of remarkable transformation in Saudi Arabia. Vision 2030 has created unprecedented opportunities for talented professionals to lead, innovate, and contribute to industries undergoing rapid development."

Looking Outward

Saudi Equine Tech's current focus is the Saudi market and the wider Gulf region, a substantial enough opportunity given the scale and pace of industry development there. But the challenges the platform addresses are not unique to the Kingdom, and the long-term trajectory of the company points beyond its current geography.

"The challenges surrounding equine health, welfare, management, and data utilisation are not unique to any single country," Dr. Alhomoud says. "Many of the solutions we are developing have international relevance and scalability."

The sequencing she describes is deliberate: establish a strong foundation domestically first, then allow international expansion to follow as a natural progression rather than a premature stretch.

It is a measured position — and one that raises the questions the equine industry will watch closely over the next few years. How quickly can Saudi Equine Tech build the depth of adoption required to make the platform genuinely indispensable within the Kingdom? And when the company does look outward, which jurisdictions offer the most natural fit for what it has built?

What Success Looks Like

Dr. Alhomoud is clear that she does not measure success in conventional growth metrics alone.

"Success is not measured by growth alone. For me, success means healthier horses, higher welfare standards, smarter decision making, and a more connected equine ecosystem. It means becoming a trusted platform relied upon by owners, trainers, veterinarians, breeders, racing organisations, and regulators on a daily basis."

The personal dimension of that definition is notable. For a veterinarian who has spent her career working to translate clinical knowledge into industry-wide impact, the CEO role at Saudi Equine Tech represents a particular kind of professional alignment — one where her background is not incidental to the mission but central to it.

"I hope my journey demonstrates that veterinary professionals can be innovators, leaders, and industry builders," she says, "and that Saudi women can play a defining role in shaping the future of specialised sectors."

What that future looks like in practice, for Saudi Equine Tech, for the Kingdom's equine industry, and for the professionals and animals at the heart of it, remains an open question. But the direction of travel is clear enough.

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Saudi Equine Tech's platform is designed to serve trainers, owners, veterinarians, breeders, and racing authorities across the Saudi equine ecosystem. Horse & Industry's original feature on founder Faris Nassar and the company's founding vision is available here.