Head of Strategic Planning, Leo Burnett and Publicis Egypt
Mohammed Yousri’s career spans public, private and civic sectors, traversing such fields as arts, culture, advertising, media and human rights. Yousri began his career working for Leo Burnett Cairo in 2000 as an Account Executive. Driven by a desire to explore the world of non-profit development and activism, he left Leo Burnett in 2002 to assume the role of Program Associate for Media, Arts and Culture in the Ford Foundation’s Middle East and North Africa Office. In 2005 he was hired as Director of Cairo’s first independent photography and video art center, the Contemporary Image Collective, and in 2007 he helped establish and acted as first Coordinator for Tadamon, an Egyptian-Refugee Multicultural Council aiding refugee groups and organizations in Egypt under the auspices and support of AUC’s Forced Migration Studies Department.
Yousri was lured by Video Cairo Sat, a media production and broadcast services company in 2008, to launch and direct a Civic Media Unit providing media training and strategic communications support to civil society initiatives. He eventually went on to also head the documentary productions department acting as senior producer for local, regional and international documentaries for such organizations as UNICEF and UN Women as well as broadcasters like HBO and PBS.
In 2011 Yousri helped launch Egypt’s first post- revolution online satellite TV channel, titled “25 Tv” and went on to head the channel overseeing its launch on NileSat. Yousri returned to Leo Burnett in August 2011 as a strategic planner and became Head of Strategic Planning for both Leo Burnett and Publicis Cairo operations in 2013.
Yousri holds a BA in English and Comparative Literature from the American University of Cairo.