DUBAI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2025--
NEPGroup, the leading media services provider for live sports and entertainment worldwide, continues to invest in the Middle East and Asia and today announced that experienced media industry executive Mohammad Hammoud will join NEP’s Middle East and Asia business on 12 May as its first Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). He will report to Martin Stewart, who is serving as interim regional president in addition to his role as NEP Group CEO, and to Mike Werteen, NEP’s Global CCO.
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Based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Hammoud’s career spans more than 20 years in the media and advertising industry, and he brings a wealth of strategy, commercial and transformation leadership experience to his new role. Prior to joining NEP, he served as VP Commercial & Strategic Advisor for Rotana Media Services in Riyadh where he advised the executive team on market trends and a range of topics and initiatives including investment strategies, tender responses, revenue diversification, digital transformation, sales optimization, regulatory issues, and risk management. Before his most recent role, he worked as a sales manager in the PR & advertising industry in Jeddah.
His first priorities will be to meet with customers and company staff across NEP’s locations in UAE, KSA, India and Singapore. Next week, he will join the NEP team at CABSAT 2025 in Dubai (13-15 May, Stand PD52), the industry show promoting the future of media and entertainment in the Middle East and Asia.
At CABSAT, NEP senior staff including Mohammad Hammoud and Chief Technology Officer Jean Claude Rahme, among others, will be present to meet with strategic partners. The company will also highlight its outside broadcast (OB) fleet supporting the region, including its brand-new OB facility, which will be available to tour.
Martin Stewart said: “I’m very pleased that Mohammad is joining our team at a time of opportunity in the region and for NEP as we continue to expand our service offerings. His market insights and experience in building strategic, high-performing sales teams will be invaluable as we look to grow our footprint and reach in Singapore, India, the Middle East and all of Asia. I’m excited to see Mohammad leading our commercial efforts.”
Mohammad Hammoud said about his new role: “I am thrilled to join the NEP team as CCO to continue building on the company’s momentum and growth. It’s an exciting time for us to expand our reach and to introduce our customers to a full range of customer-driven, innovative solutions, for any size or type of production. I couldn’t be happier, and I am eager to begin meeting with colleagues and customers starting next week in Dubai.”
Visit nepgroup.com to learn more about NEP’s full range of media services and connected production solutions.
About NEP
NEP is the world’s most trusted media services partner for live sports and entertainment. With a global network of experts, cutting-edge technology, and an expansive portfolio of customer-driven, innovative solutions, we empower our customers to tell their stories in breakthrough ways.
With operations in 25 countries, we’ve supported thousands of major productions and events on every continent with excellence and reliability. See how we bring content to life at nepgroup.com.
Mohammad Hammoud’s career spans more than 20 years in the media and advertising industry, and he brings a wealth of strategy, commercial and transformation leadership experience to his new role.
The National Transportation Safety Board on Sunday said it is gathering information about the evacuation of a Frontier Airlines plane after it hit and killed a person on the runway at Denver International Airport during takeoff.
The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday,” according to a post on the airport’s official X account.
Passengers were evacuated via slides, and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. An airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.
Some people on board expressed concern about the evacuation, including being stuck in the plane for several minutes as smoke filled the cabin and left on the tarmac in the cold once they were out. Video also showed some passengers coming down the slide with what looked to be their carry-on bags.
“We are gathering information about the emergency evacuation to determine if it meets criteria for a safety investigation,” NTSB spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick said early Sunday, adding that the agency might have more details in a few hours.
Frontier Airlines didn’t respond early Sunday to a request for information about the evacuation.
A spokesman for the Denver Police Departmet said Sunday the investigation into the incident was ongoing and that the identification of the person on the runway will be confirmed and released by the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner.
The person was hit two minutes after jumping the fence and crossing the runway. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.
“We’re stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”
The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”
The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now” before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”
Frontier Airlines said in a statement that flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the collision.
The airline said the plane was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members.
“We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities,” the airline said.
Passengers said panic took hold on the flight after an engine caught fire and the cabin began filling with smoke.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” passenger Mohamed Hassan told Colorado’s 9NEWS.
“A lot of people next to me were screaming and crying. I just closed my eyes,” he said. "At that time, you’re not really thinking of anything, you know? Because we were just about to take off and I heard that boom, so I wasn’t sure what happened. I just thought something really, really bad happened.”
Passenger Nikil Thalanki told local media outlets that he felt “this jerk” as the plane was about to take off, adding that it felt like the wheels had left the ground but then came back down.
“There was fire on the engine. There was lots of sparks that are happening. Immediately came to a stop,” Thalanki said. "As soon as we saw the sparks on the flight, smoke filled the cabin completely. It was super hard to breathe.”
Kimberly Randle said passengers were panicking and desperate to get off the aircraft.
“In a few minutes, they finally opened the door. People were running to get out of the plane," he said. "It was chaos everywhere.”
The NTSB has for years expressed concerned about evacuations, especially passengers leaving with their carry-ons. In an April report on the evacuation aboard a United Airlines flight at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the NTSB described a troubling scene.
Passengers were evacuated via slides and stairs last year from the jetliner after an engine problem during takeoff caused smoke and fire on the right wing.
Despite the flight attendant telling passengers to remain seated, several began shouting, “fire on the engine, let me get out!” That trigged “widespread panic" and prompted many passengers to get up and start retrieving their belongings. Some climbed over seats and began obstructing the aisle.
Three large men insisted the evacuation occur, pushing past a flight attendant and going down a slide before it had fully deployed – causing it to deflate and become unusable.
“Cabin crew training emphasizes assertive command presence and passenger control during evacuations; however, this event demonstrates how rapidly escalating passenger behavior can affect evacuation dynamics even in the absence of confirmed fire or smoke conditions,” according to the report.
The incident in Denver came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident or the name of the employee.
“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. “We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”
AP reporter John Raby contributed from Charleston, West Virginia.
Frontier Airlines jetliner number n646fr sits outside the airlines technical operations center with other jetliners in for service north of Denver International Airport Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Frontier Airlines jetliner number n646fr sits outside the airlines technical operations center with other jetliners in for service north of Denver International Airport Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Frontier Airlines jetliner number n646fr sits outside the airlines technical operations center with other jetliners in for service north of Denver International Airport Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
