About ACCEL

We provide exceptional educational, behavioral, therapeutic, and vocational programs to individuals with special needs and developmental disabilities, to give them the necessary skills to learn to work and live successfully with dignity and independence.

Our Vision

A life of dignity and self-worth. The center has been open since September 2019, by ACCEL International and Saudi Aramco. This center is the first of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and provides high quality therapeutic and educational services to children with developmental disabilities.

teaching cooking at special needs & developmental disabilities education

our core values

student at special needs & developmental disabilities education learning shapes

01

INITIATIVE: We demonstrate leadership and self-direction in accomplishing our goals.

02

DIGNITY: We respect the dignity and difference of all individuals and treat everyone with respect under all circumstances.

03

EXCELLENCE: We strive to maintain the highest standards of integrity and performance at all levels within the organization.

04

ACCOUNTABILITY: We are personally accountable and responsible for our behavior and our results.

05

SERVICE: We are passionate about meeting the needs of our clients, employees, community and society and are committed to ensuring quality service.

our history

1980
1989
1991
1992
1995
1999
2002
2003
2005
2009
2009
2009
2010
2017
2019

1980

7 classrooms served 49 students in Phoenix.

1989

Served 134 students on behalf of 23 school districts.

1991

Established special needs preschool services.

1992

Public school consortium program, 2 classrooms at Murphy Elementary School.

1995

Established an East Valley site in Tempe.

1999

Served 145 students on behalf of 24 school districts.

2002

Established innovative Adult Services in Phoenix.

2003

Moved Metro Campus to its current Phoenix site.

2005

Changed agency name to ACCEL (Arizona Centers for Comprehensive Education and Life-skills).

2009

Established BISTA Autism Center in Phoenix.

2009

Accredited by National Commission for the Accreditation of Special Education Services (NCASES) Accreditation. ACCEL remains the only agency in Arizona to have acquired this accreditation.

2009

Served 260 students on behalf of 33 school districts, 42 adults and approximately 15 children ages 2 through 16 in the BISTA Autism Clinic.

2010

Established ACCEL Buckeye Learning Center satellite school program.

2017

Established Tonopah school and adult services programs.

2019

Served 475 students in Arizona and Saudi Arabia, 110 adults and 40 children in the BISTA program. Established Ajyal Center for Comprehensive Education and Life-skills (ACCEL INTERNATIONAL).

Ajyal Center Leadership

Raymond Damm, CEO of Saudi Arabia ACCEL

Raymond Damm has been working with ACCEL since March of 2016, starting as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Development Officer, and transitioning to the role of Chief Executive Officer in June of 2018.Ray holds a B.S. from The University of Virginia – Wise and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Having held executive positions in both the public and private sectors, Ray is driven to apply private sector best practices to sustainably address issues the public sector is driven to solve.  More..

Raymond Damm

BS, MBA
Chief Executive Officer

rdamm@accel.org

Gordon Comfort, COO of Saudi Arabia ACCEL

Originally an English teacher in Utah and Arizona (Mesa Junior High School), Gordon and his family moved to Washington State where he served in administration for three high schools, ultimately becoming the principal of Richland High School.While principal, Gordon served on the board of directors for Goodwill Industries of Columbia where he then became the CEO. After his time at Goodwill, Gordon founded and operated a software development company with global sales and was also elected to the local school board.  More..

Gordon Comfort

Chief Operating Officer

gcomfort@accel.org

Phillip Tanner, PH.D, NCSP of ACCEL Saudi Arabia

Phillip Tanner, Ph.D., NCSP is the Executive Center Director at the Ajyal Center for Comprehensive Education and Life Skills (ACCEL International). With excellent support from our skilled colleagues in Arizona and our outstanding partners at Aramco, Dr. Tanner lead the team through the establishment of the Ajyal Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia in September of 2019. He continues to be astounded by the excellence of the staff within the center and is delighted about the culture of continuous growth and More..

Phillip Tanner

PH.D, NCSP
Executive Center Director

ptanner@accel.sa

Ezaldeen Alsalman, Consultant of ACCEL Saudi Arabia

Ezaldeen has been employed at ACCEL International in the early stages of its foundation aboard as a business development consultant and administrator. Having worked mostly in the areas of Business Management, Training & Development and Project Management for more than 12 years in various international corporations, he is very familiar with Performance Management, Learning and Development Skills. Ezaldeen is particularly experienced in the areas of strategic advice to operational and More.. 

Ezaldeen Alsalman

Consultant

ealsalman@accel.sa

 

Mohammed Mekedam, Finance Manager of ACCEL Saudi Arabia

Mohammed is an experienced Finance Manager with 13 years of experience in many fields such industrial, service, health, and contracting. He is experienced in developing and improving accounting and finance systems, finance analysis, strategic planning, financial budgeting, cost Controlling, Sensitivity analysis, auditing, treasury accounting, and financial reporting. Mohammed has a bachelor’s degree, CMA certificate, strategic planning certificate, in
More..

Mohammed Mekedam

Finance Manager

mmekedam@accel.sa

Naif Alharbi, HR Coordinator of ACCEL Saudi Arabia

Naif has been working with Human Resources since 2016. He received his bachelor’s degree in management information systems from Yanbu University College in Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu. Naif is experienced in enforcing the labor law and to maintain the order in the organization. In addition, Naif certified in ERP Integrated Business Process with SAP. Naif began working with ACCEL in 2019 as a Human Resource Coordinator. 

More..

Naif Alharbi

HR Supervisor

nalharbi@accel.sa

Hiyam Ganadily is More..

Hiyam Ganadily

Female School Principal

hganadily@accel.sa

Sultan Alamri, Male School Principal and Government Affairs Manager of ACCEL Saudi Arabia

Sultan Alamri joined ACCEL as School Manager & Government Affairs. He has great educational and administrative experience in private and international schools in developing disability programs and services.
He worked as a project manager on four university campuses with more than 200 staff members and more than 1000 students at Umm Al Qura University, Saudi Arabia for three years.

He also worked as a lecturer at the department of special educat.
More..

Sultan Alamri

Male School Principal and Government Affairs Manager

salamri@accel.sa

Asma Batool, Director of Inclusive Education and Transition Services of ACCEL Saudi Arabia

Batool completed her Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology as her major area of specialization. Later she completed her Doctoral research in the Educational and Counselling Psychology-Human Development program from McGill University, Canada. Her research focuses on inclusive education emphasizing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) as a core instructional design model. Specifically.   More..

Asma Batool

Director of Inclusive Education and Transition Services

abatool@accel.sa

AmalAlsaab is More..

Amal Alsaab

Enrollment Supervisor

aalsaab@accel.sa

Chris is a Clinical Director who addresses the assessed needs of individuals with illnesses, disabling conditions, or both. He seeks to improve or maintain an individual’s physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and spiritual function to enable full participation in life. Chris believes that every person is entitled to pursue the life they want to lead regardless of differences and is entitled to dignity and respect under all circumstances. He has successfully demonstrated the ability to develop, implement, More..

Chris Hanudel

Clinical Director

chanudel@accel.sa

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

English

Yes, we offer classes in both English and Arabic. Our English classes are for native English speakers.

ACCEL was founded in Arizona about 40 years ago. This successful program has been expanded to Saudi Arabia to support this community. We offer curriculum in Arabic and soon we will offer curriculum in English.

Yes! Every Wednesday at 2pm, the Center offers tours to the public (Up to four families per Wednesday).

At The Ajyal Center, we use a variety of curriculum, such as Ministry of Education materials, Unique Learning, and I Read Arabic.

The Ajyal Center is located just outside Aramco’s Ajyal Project residential neighborhood in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.

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عربى

نعم، يوجد صفوف انجليزيه للطلاب الناطقين باللغة الأنجليزيه.

تأسست ACCEL في ولاية أريزونا منذ حوالي 40 عامًا. تم توسيع هذا البرنامج الناجح ليشمل المملكة العربية السعودية لدعم هذا المجتمع. نحن نقدم مناهج باللغة العربية وقريباً سنقدم مناهج باللغة الإنجليزية.

نعم! كل يوم أربعاء في الساعة 2 مساءً ، يقدم المركز جولات للجمهور (ما يصل إلى أربع عائلات كل يوم أربعاء).

في مركز أجيال ، نستخدم مجموعة متنوعة من المناهج ، مثل مواد وزارة التربية والتعليم ، والتعليم الفريد ، وأنا أقرأ اللغة العربية.

يقع مركز اكسيل في حي اجيال الظهران

عرض كل التعليمات

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