Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa is the creator of THE 99, the first group of comic superheroes born of an Islamic archetype. THE 99 has received positive attention from the world’s media. Forbes named THE 99 as one of the top 20 trends sweeping the globe and President Barack Obama praised Dr. Naif and THE 99 as perhaps the most innovative of the thousands of new entrepreneurs viewed by his Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Naif has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University where he also earned a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology. He holds a Masters in Organizational Psychology from Teacher’s College, Columbia University and an MBA, also from Columbia University. He earned his undergraduate degree from Tufts University, where he triple majored in clinical psychology, English literature and history.

Dr. Naif has extensive clinical experience working with former prisoners of war in Kuwait and the Survivors of Political Torture unit of Bellevue Hospital in New York. He has seen first hand the cancer that intolerance can bring to any society. His direct contact with the horrors of people tortured because of their religious and political beliefs, led to his writing a timeless children’s tale that won a UNESCO prize for literature in the service of tolerance.

He received the Eliot-Pearson Award for Excellence in Children's Media from Tufts University, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations “ Marketplace of Ideas” Award, The Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Award presented at the 2009 World Economic Forum and has been named as one of WEF's Young Global Leaders for 2011. In May 2012, he was chosen to be a Curator of the Kuwait chapter of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers Community. He is also a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Media. As a part of the Council, he has been asked to identify breakthrough ideas and new pathways to help advance critical issues and ensure progress is made on the global agenda.

Dr. Naif was named by Arabian Business as one of The 500 Most Powerful Arabs in the World, by Gulf Business as one the Top 100 Most Powerful Arabs for 2012 and 2013 and by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in The World every year from 2009-2014. He was sixth on Forbes China’s list of the Seven Most Influential Designers in the world, (Steve Jobs was number 1.)