CLIENT'S CHALLENGE

When a key executive failed to show up for a Zoom meeting – and then didn’t answer her phone for many hours – her colleagues grew concerned and reached out to her high-profile father, the CEO of a major U.S. conglomerate. She had travelled alone to Saudi Arabia to pursue an educational opportunity.

As she was known to be diligent to a fault – particularly around meetings, messages and other communications – her family’s worry about the risks of terrorism and kidnapping in the region began to rise and they reached out to Matador for professional support in locating her immediately.

MATADOR’S SOLUTION

Matador tapped its global network of professional connections and resources – some of them decades-old. After failing to secure any actionable information from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, Matador personnel engaged several people in-country to make inquiries at all Saudi hospitals and other facilities that might shed light on her whereabouts.

Among these was a British national living in Saudi Arabia, whose Saudi spouse was a hospital nurse. Leveraging her professional position and role as a caregiver, she discovered that the executive had been hospitalized after having been struck and knocked unconscious by a taxicab. During the accident and medical response, the executive had lost her phone and passport and, without the ability to speak in Arabic, had been unable to communicate with her business and family members back home.

Matador arranged to have a phone made available to her and, as the women progressed through her recovery, facilitated her return to the United States.

IMPACT ON THE CLIENT

Through good fortune, the executive had suffered no long-term physical harm or cognitive impairment. Within 10 days, she was back on U.S. soil, grateful to be safe and reconnected with her family. Deeply appreciative to Matador for its assistance, the CEO continues today to engage the firm in addressing other security-related protection priorities and requirements.