Arthur D. Little (ADL), the global strategy management consulting firm, has appointed Thomas Kuruvilla as managing director of Arthur D Little in the Middle East. Mr Kuruvilla has been with Arthur D. Little for over ten years and prior to this appointment was responsible for Arthur D. Little's Singapore office and also Head of the company's Strategy and Organisation practice in South Asia and the Middle East. The appointment coincides with Arthur D. Little's decision to open an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Mr Kuruvilla said: "Arthur D. Little has been operating in the Middle East region for over 30 years and currently we see strong growth prospects for our international consulting services especially for companies in the telecommunications, chemical, energy and financial sectors." He added: "Whilst we are currently recruiting staff with local knowledge and expertise, the Dubai office will also draw on the international expertise of Arthur D. Little's consultants from South Asia, Europe and the United States. This enables us to help companies in the Middle East improve their competitiveness by learning from best practices employed by their industry peers across the world." Arthur D. Little has a long track record of supporting companies in the Middle East. In the telecommunications industry, Arthur D. Little took the lead in facilitating the set up of the Saudi Arabia telecoms system. More recently it has been supporting CITC, the telecommunications regulator in Saudi Arabia, in liberalising the telecoms sector including the award of fixed and mobile licenses. Other client assignments have included developing corporate business strategies for the chemicals company SABIC, several large family owned conglomerates such as ASTRA, El-Ajou and Dar Al Riyadh, and funds including The ICT (Information & Communication Technology) Development Fund, established by UAE TRA. Mr Kuruvilla has a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Kerala University and an MBA from the Melbourne Business School, Australia/Asian Institute of Management, Philippines. Before joining Arthur D. Little he worked for five years in the Industrial Automation Division of Larsen and Toubro, the largest engineering company in India.