About Us

James (Jim) DeLuca is Ceer’s Chief Executive Officer. Under DeLuca’s leadership, Ceer will transform mobility in Saudi Arabia and beyond as the Kingdom’s first domestic automotive brand. DeLuca is committed to creating a portfolio of battery electric vehicles replete with advanced technology and features that will delight consumers as part of a vision to make battery electric vehicles mainstream in the Kingdom and the wider region. DeLuca is leading Ceer’s transformation of personal mobility through a focus on cutting-edge technologies such as infotainment, connectivity and autonomous driving.
DeLuca has over four decades of experience in the automotive sector, including senior leadership roles at both General Motors and VinFast. DeLuca led Vietnam-based car manufacturer VinFast as its first CEO, creating South East Asia’s first electric vehicle brand. Prior to VinFast, DeLuca led General Motors’ manufacturing function across the globe, overseeing the company’s production processes while managing over 200,000 employees at 171 plants in 31 countries.
DeLuca began his GM career in 1979 as a General Motors Institute (GMI) student at GM’s Linden, New Jersey, Assembly Plant, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in production, maintenance and engineering. DeLuca’s GM career spanned locations in the United States, South Korea, China, and Thailand. His last role at GM was as Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing. DeLuca also served on the Opel Supervisory Board and the GM Korea Board.
Jim and his wife of 30 years, Karrie, hail from Clarkston, Michigan, USA. They have three adult children who also reside in the United States. Jim has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in Manufacturing Management from GMI, now Kettering University.

Abuazzah is leading the corporate communications and public relations of Ceer Motors.

Abuazzah is a Saudi Arabian from Al Madinah Al Monawarah with over 17 years of managerial and advisory experience in leading national strategic initiatives, brand marketing, and corporate communications of government and private sector organizations in Saudi Arabia and globally, such as Saudi Vision 2030, Ministry of Investment, INVEST SAUDI, Ministry of Economy and Planning, Abdul Latif Jameel Group, and Knowledge Economic City Company.

Abuazzah holds a Master of Science degree in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University and BBA in Management Information Systems from UBT. In addition, he earned several executive certifications from Oxford, Stanford, MIT, and the Manhattan Film Academy in executive leadership development, creative transformation, innovation, experience management, and filmmaking.

Ahmad leads all Governance-related activities for Ceer. These include designing, implementing and optimizing Ceer’s Governance program (structure, model, frameworks etc.). Ahmad also oversees the identification, preparation, alignment and monitoring of all relevant policies and agreements to ensure that the company operates in accordance with the highest professional ethics and Governance standards.

Ahmad is the Secretary General of the Board’s sub-committees, where he ensure a smooth workflow between the board, sub-board committees and exective management.

Ahmad has held numerous executive positions in both government and the private sector, focusing on Strategy, Governance, and Project Management. Ahmad has also supported a number of startups with their governance design and implementation.

A Saudi national, Ahmad holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering with an honors from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals and an MBA from Toulouse Business School in France. Ahmad has specialist diplomas in Marketing and Sales from IATA in Switzerland and in Finance from Euromoney in the United Kingdom.

Jason leads all of Ceer’s digital ecosystem projects, including the roll-out of information technology hardware, software and processes that will be the basis for the company’s growth. Jason has extensive experience in overseeing new technology rollouts for the automotive sector, owing to his various roles at General Motors and VinFast. Jason’s focus is on how technology can both support the business and our people be better, whilst also serving our customers.

Jason joined Ceer from Arglass Yamamura, where he was responsible for a host of technology deployments required to start the company and begin production at the company’s first manufacturing plant. Jason has held various roles at General Motors and VinFast, where he was the company’s Chief Information Officer. A US national, Jason holds a master’s degree in Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University, an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School, and a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

A veteran automotive executive with several decades of experience across Europe, Russia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Roy is Ceer’s Chief Portfolio Planning and Program Management Officer. Drawing on his extensive expertise in both electric and combustion vehicles companies, Roy’s responsibility is to cross functionally manage those vehicle programs that are pivotal to Ceer’s progress throughout the company’s value chain.

Throughout his career, Roy has developed a reputation for innovating solutions and improving execution and operations quickly with a focus on results. Before joining Ceer, Roy was Deputy CEO Product Development, Quality & Global Aftersales at VinFast, South East Asia’s first electric vehicle brand. Prior to that, Roy spent a number of decades at General Motors in similar roles, where he was regularly awarded global honors for his outstanding achievements. A UK national, Roy began his automotive journey as an business student with GM’s UK subsidiary Vauxhall Motors.

Chris leads all the manufacturing operations for Ceer. His role focuses on launching and operating Ceer’s manufacturing to global standards by building a world-class technical team and delivering standards that will result in cars that meet the highest quality standards, cost points, and exceed customer expectations.
Chris brings over three decades’ worth of operational manufacturing experience to Ceer, with a career that includes General Motors and Magna. His last role was UK Managing Director and Group COO at automotive supplier Reflexallen, where he used his expertise in lean manufacturing innovations to drive growth and manufacturing excellence. A British national, Chris has a master’s degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Leeds University.

Amir leads the legal and compliance function at Ceer. He is responsible for all legal matters, including providing strategic legal advice to the Management Team, resolving complex legal issues, and providing prompt and reliable legal support to all departments and business functions throughout the company. In addition, he is tasked to inculcate the compliance culture in the organization, whilst ensuring that Ceer complies with and adhere to all laws and regulations applicable to the company in its journey to transform mobility in the region.
With 26 years of legal experience, of which 21 has been spent in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Amir has a wealth of expertise from diversified industries. He has worked with SABIC, one of the world’s largest petrochemical companies, as well as Ma’aden, the Saudi Arabian Mining Company, and Saudi Telecommunication Company. A Malaysian national, Amir graduated with a legal degree from the National University of Malaysia, and he was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1996.

John is the executive director of the manufacturing engineering department. John’s leadership will deliver Ceer’s state-of-the-art manufacturing and supply facilities. John has led many manufacturing projects and departments for over 40 years within the UK, Poland, Australia, Russia, and China with global OEMs including General Motors and Jaguar Land Rover. John received a Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering with first-class honors from the University of Sunderland.

As Ceer’s Chief Technical Officer, there are few automotive brands that Markus has not worked with. Markus has been engaged by legacy manufacturers, electric vehicle brands and technology companies to design innovative new car platforms and concept designs that push the boundaries of engineering and technology.

During his career, Markus has constantly looked to how he and his teams can create vehicles that are fun to drive, technologically advanced and energy efficient. Prior to joining Ceer, Markus was the Chief Engineer at Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik, and then Vice President for Engineering at South East Asia’s first electric vehicle brand VinFast. An Austrian national, Markus has both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in Automation Technology from Graz’s University of Applied Sciences.

As Ceer’s Chief Design Officer Rob will lead the creative team to deliver a cutting edge vision of iconic designs; based on his unique design thinking and philosophy of ‘borderless creativity’ that allows design to flourish where possibility meets purpose.

The mission is to create a bold, breathtaking and unique range of vehicles that convey Ceer’s vision for battery electric vehicles.

Before joining Ceer, Rob was the Director of Design at McLaren Automotive where he was responsible for the design of two generations of supercars including the P1, 570S, 720S, Elva and Artura. Rob has also worked for General Motors and Jaguar Land Rover, where he penned the concept that became the Range Rover Evoque.

A British national, Rob received his bachelor’s degree in Transport Design from Huddersfield University, and his master’s degree in Vehicle Design from the Royal College of Art.

An experienced finance leader with extensive experience in the automotive sector, Joerg’s responsibilities include sound financial planning, budgeting and funding for Ceer’s growth. Joerg’s overall focus is on developing and supporting the company’s strategic financial performance as Ceer builds the first domestic car brand in Saudi Arabia.
Before joining Ceer, Joerg worked with Daimler Group, the Mercedes-Benz parent company, for over two decades. He has held executive positions and senior roles across the world, in Europe, America, Australia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Joerg has always leveraged his financial expertise to empower the wider organization, to support profitable growth and sustainable development. A German national, Joerg has a diploma in Business Administration from Stuttgart’s University of Cooperative Education and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Open University London.

Mitch is Ceer’s Chief Quality Officer, and is responsible to ensure that Ceer’s portfolio of vehicles meet the most stringent global Quality standards. With his focus on the customer and decades of experience and expertise delivering world-class quality results in companies and countries around the world, Mitch will ensure that every Ceer-branded car exceeds our customers’ expectations for both quality and performance.
Mitch joins Ceer after a four-decade career with global automotive OEMs and Tier One manufacturing suppliers. Mitch spent many years with General Motors, where he worked in Manufacturing, Manufacturing Engineering and Quality, and led new product launches across the globe. Mitch also brings electric vehicle experience to Ceer, following his time as Vice President of Quality at Vietnam’s VinFast and Vice President of Global Quality at Japan’s Hitachi Astemo. A US national, Mitch has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree in Industrial Administration from Purdue University.

As Human Resources Advisor, Mary Thornton brings over 40 years of experience in the human resources space with her. Before joining Ceer, Mary spent several decades of her career as an executive at General Motors. Mary developed all-round extensive experience from client facing HR leadership roles at a global, functional, regional, country, and plant level. Mary’s experience has a healthy balance of leading HR policy development and implementation spanning numerous HR disciplines to include recruiting, compensation, performance management, leadership development, succession planning, organization design & development, training, safety, labor relations and employee engagement. Mary had two international assignments in China wherein she was accountable to build local capability.

Mary brings her extensive experience in human resources within the automotive industry to build a best-in-class human resources function to support both the company and help ignite the Kingdom’s wider automotive ecosystem.

A US national, Mary has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Wayne State University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.

As Ceer’s Chief Procurement and Supply Chain Officer, Johnny leads direct, indirect and logistics purchasing, purchasing program management, and supply chain and logistics operations for the business.

In this role, he is responsible for ensuring that inputs for Ceer vehicles are competitive in cost, high in quality, and uniquely innovative.

His leadership is also instrumental in supporting the development of a competitive supplier ecosystem and a sustainable automotive industrial cluster in Saudi Arabia.

Johnny has extensive experience in the automotive industry, having worked in India, the USA, Brazil, China, Singapore, and South Korea.

He served as a member of the Regional Strategy Board of General Motors Latin America, Middle East and Africa and as an Executive Council member of General Motors International Operations.

Johnny also served as General Motors’ lead executive for the Uzbekistan/Commonwealth of Independent States markets and was a member of the Supervisory Council. In this role, he helped establish manufacturing bases in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan by enabling industrialization and localization of Chevrolet vehicles.

Before joining General Motors, Johnny worked for Mazda, Yamaha, and Asahi Glass of Japan in India. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce and an MBA degree from Punjabi University.

Christina leads Ceer’s Internal Audit function, which independently monitors and verifies the adequacy, effectiveness, and operation of the internal control system, ensuring transparent communication to the Chief Executive Officer and Board’s Audit and Risk Committee.

With over two decades of global audit, compliance, and legal experience, primarily in the automotive sector, Christina has a proven track record of building, transforming, and driving excellence in these critical risk functions. Her role at Ceer is pivotal in enhancing governance and the risk management framework in support of the company’s strategic objectives.

Most recently, Christina served as the Compliance Officer of Capital One Auto Finance in Plano, Texas. Prior to this, Christina held the role of Chief Audit, Risk, & Compliance Executive at Nissan Motor in Yokohama, Japan.

Christina holds a Juris Doctor from Oklahoma City University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration from the University of North Texas, both in the United States.

Luay brings a wealth of diverse and extensive automotive experience and expertise in marketing, sales, brand management, after-sales, customer service, and more. In addition, Luay is ranked No 14 in Global Meets Local Forbes Middle East.

Since  joining GM in 1998, Luay has led customer facing operations in many different regions around the world.  Most recently, Luay was Vice President of Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing in GM China and, prior to that, was President and Managing Director of GM Africa and Middle East.

Luay holds both a BA and an MBA in International Finance from the University of North Texas, in addition to completing a Transformation Leadership Program at Stanford in 2022.