Career Profile
Sholto Douglas-Home is a marketing and communications leader with extensive professional and operational experience across multiple sectors, including Tourism & Entertainment, Real Estate, Media & Telecoms, News & Financial Information and Recruitment & Staffing.
As Chief Sales, Marketing and Communications Officer at Expo 2020 Dubai, Sholto was responsible for a 400-strong team promoting Expo 2020 Dubai to the world. A global triumph that welcomed 24.1 million visitors in just six months, EY has calculated the hosting of Expo 2020 will contribute incremental value to the UAE economy of USD $42 billion.
Sholto is now the Chief Sales, Marketing and Communications Officer at Expo City Dubai – a sustainably-designed, innovation-driven new district of Dubai, packed with residential, educational, cultural and entertainment offerings. As a city, it is a blueprint for sustainable urban living, with a wider remit to support the development of innovative solutions to protect the planet.
In late 2023, the Expo City Dubai team was proud to host the COP28 Climate Conference, widely acknowledged as a landmark COP where significant financial commitments – as well as mitigation strategies to transition away from fossil fuels – were incorporated into the final agreement signed by the 198 parties attending COP28.
Prior to joining the UAE Government’s Expo 2020 programme, Sholto’s career focused on leading high-profile brands through awareness-building and international alignment challenges; steering marketing teams through MarTech and data transformation projects; operating within highly-matrixed private and public sector environments; and building and leading diverse and internationally-dispersed teams.
From 2008 until 2020, Sholto gained extensive operational experience at Executive Board level for Hays Plc., a FTSE 250 global staffing company operating in 34 geographies.
Prior to joining Hays, Sholto held global marketing and communications roles at the news and financial information firm Reuters, before which he held senior MarComms roles at the telecom giant, BT Group in London.
In 2008/9, the UK Minister of Sport appointed Sholto to chair a Government Working Party to resolve a long-standing commercial dispute within the UK’s horse racing industry. More details about Sholto’s appointment can be found on the www.parliament.uk website: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmcumeds/549/54904.htm
After graduating in Management Sciences from Warwick Business School, Sholto embarked on a career in advertising, working in London for three major communications groups: Publicis, IPG and Omnicom.
Nation branding: Why it’s an art, not a science
Date: July 1, 2024The concept of nation branding is nothing new, and has long been recognised as an important way for countries to compete in the world, enabling them to attract investment, visitors, talent and ultimately achieve their social, cultural and economic goals.
Marketing Game Changers 2023
Date: December 5, 2023 Marketing Game Changers is back, to recognise and celebrate those brand-building marketing leaders who have made a huge impact this year. This exclusive list features the men and women who we feel have shaped our industry this year, and includes a wide array of brands, campaigns and their achievements.
A lasting legacy: Expo 2020 Dubai lives on as a clean, green, conscientious city of the future
Date: November 25, 2022Expo 2020 Dubai, which welcomed more than 24 million visitors in six months during a global pandemic, was an unprecedented triumph, one that provided a significant soft power boost to the reputation of Dubai and enhanced the position of the UAE on the international stage.
Sholto Douglas-Home on the enduring value of the CMO role
Date: June 30, 2021The Chief Marketing, Communications and Sales Officer for Expo 2020 Dubai believes it’s time for senior marketers to be more assertive about the profession’s contribution to the C-suite of an organisation.
