Confirmed Speakers

H.E. Dr. Abdullah Belhaif AlNuaimi

H.E. Major General Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri

Maj. Gen. Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri, Director General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, one of the most important security departments in the Emirate and a member of the Board of Directors of the International City for Humanitarian Services. He joined the General Directorate of Dubai Police in 1980. He holds a Diploma in Police Sciences, Business, as well as being a fingerprint expert. Several committees, including the Dubai Community Development Committee, the Standing Committee for Workers Affairs, the Governance Council at the Ministry of the Interior, the Coordinating Committee for Residency in the Ministry of the Interior. His career has witnessed a number of achievements. He is the first to adopt the "Reda A1 Nas" brand in the field of government service work, and launched a package that has proven successful in the Emirate of Dubai, winning several areas in the Dubai Government Excellence Program, A government-funded financial institution, the American Ideas Award.

He has also been a speaker at many governmental, academic, international and professional forums, as well as many seminars and lectures in various areas:

• His Excellency the dealers.
• Achieving functional happiness in the work environment.
• Government innovation.
• Government services.
• Voluntary and community work.
• The efficiency of government financial performance.
• Corporate governance and risk.

H.E. Philip Frayne

Philip Frayne is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, having joined the diplomatic corps in 1988. He has served in India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, Jordan, Iraq and France. His Washington assignments include Director of the Office of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of International Organizations, and Director of the Office of Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Frayne served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fez, Morocco, and as a paralegal in New York City.

He holds a BA degree in Literature from Columbia University and an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and speaks Arabic, French and some Spanish.

Brig. Khalid Al Razooqi

Brigadier Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi is General Director of Artificial Intelligence Department at Dubai Police GHQ (March 2014- present) He was in Charge Of Information Technology Sector at General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs – Dubai from 2007 until 2014.

He has received Bachelor of Science from Maryville University in Computer Science in the year 1997 from St. Louis Missouri – U.S.A and completed his Masters in Computer Resources and Information Management from USA in the year 1999.

Alrazooqi has been working in many fields related to Information Technology Department. From System Administration, PC Support, Network, Information Security, Development Department. He started his career as System Administrator in 1999 at Dubai Police. In January 2007 been honored and has been asked to join DNRD to be General Director in charge of Information Technology.

Implemented strategic projects in Dubai and UAE: UAE E-Passports, UAE, Smart E-Gates, Kiosk Machines, Mobile Visa, Online Services, Integration services with partners, Facial and IRIS recognition systems, API, PNR. Received a Distinguished Government Employee - Dubai Government Excellence Program 2011 and Award-Winner Minister of Interior's Excellence Award as the best Technical Officer at the Ministry of the Interior 2011

Dr. Chen-Yu Lee

Dr. Chen-Yu Lee is a consultant for Taipei Computer Association (TCA) as well as the director for Taipei Smart City Project Management Office (TPMO) established by Taipei City Government. TCA was built in 1974 and is the leading industrial organization in Taiwan. Before serving at TCA, Dr. Lee used to work in Institute for Information Industry (III), which is to strengthen the competitiveness of information industry. Dr. Lee has worked on numerous central government projects, including Smart City Promotion Project, Cloud Computing Industry Project, UX Project, E-learning Project, etc., and had over 15 years of research experience in ICT related industry.

TPMO aims to implement an eco-system to combine industry and government resources to develop smart solutions that can satisfy public demands. Since TPMO was established in 2016, Dr. Lee has vigorously led the team to assist Taipei City Government with diverse Smart City projects, including Top-down policy and bottom-up POC (Proof of Concept) projects.

With long-term observation on smart city industry, Dr. Lee is considered one of the experts that able to provide professional analysis and strategic advice service to both smart city and ICT industry development.

Andrus Kaarelson

Andrus Kaarelson is Director of Information System of the Information System Authority, where he is responsible for strategy and development of public e-services’ ecosystems and e-government platforms. Mr. Kaarelson has over 20 years of experience in services development and Info Communication Technology based services delivery. Previously, Mr Kaarelson has worked as Chief Technology Officer and Board Member of mobile operator Elisa Estonia, where he managed and coordinated the work of technology strategy, investment planning, services development and networks operations. In addition, he was leading the public - private partnership in Estonia as Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Estonian Broadband Development Foundation, which targets the rollout of country wide next-generation fiber optic based broadband network by 2018. The Information System Authority is responsible for coordinating national cyber security, developing public IT solutions, including Estonia's e-government infrastructure and administering IT-related public funds.

Ali El Ali

Urban & social progress enthusiast with an underlying entrepreneurial spirit and 13+ years successfully driving urban change most recently at King Abdullah Economic City, the world’s largest privately funded new city development in the capacity of Head of Planning & Program Management.

Passionate about the science of cities, building livable connected communities, the different layers that bring a city to life, and how a city is managed and operated.

At King Abdullah Economic City, Ali is leading the execution of the City Wide Strategy, translating it into programs that touch every aspect of the city (Live, Visit, Invest, Learn).

Ali Holds an EMBA from INSEAD, and a BS in Business from the Lebanese American University.

Dhay Aldawyan

Head of the Center for Development of Urban Design and Planning of Saudi cities at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
 
Dhay Al Dhawyan is an Urban designer and an Architect, She is the Head of the Center for Development of Urban Design and Planning of Saudi cities at the Ministry of Municipality and Rural Affairs – MOMRA.

She Worked for McKinsey & Company as  an advisor in master planning and urban design of many Mega- urban development programs as part of the transformation plan of Saudi Arabia 2030.

She is the founder and principal of D H Λ Y D H Λ W Y Λ N Λrchitects, founded in November of 2016. Partner and exclusive representative of DKA Chicago, in the Middle East.

She has participated in a number of projects in a design and production capacity with Torus Architecture & Engineering Design since 2013; and worked at CEL (Creative Exchange Lab) as an urban designer and project coordinator on CEL NEA (National Endowments for the Arts) award titled ‘Our Town’ “to develop revitalization plan with the residents of five East St. Louis neighborhoods that will use culture and the arts as an economic and community drive. The premise that architecture, art, and design can not only improve the quality of life in distressed communities, it can literally be a catalyst for revitalization.”

She is a recipient of The American Planning Association's 2015 Outstanding Student Project Award for Global Urbanism. Dhay holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Southern Illinois University, where she received an honor in architecture and allied arts. She also holds a Master of Architecture and a Master of Urban Design from Washington University, St. Louis.

Ahmad Mohy Al-Wathah Al-Montshri

Ahmad is a Certified Digital transformations professional, Certified System architecture professional with a Masters degree in Geographic Information System GIS.  With 15+ years experience in Information Technology and management. Ahmad won the best Smart City Project Award for Data and Tech in the World in Barcelona. His expertise include strategic planning, ITIL, Business Continuity.  Working at the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu he was responsible for Operation in Information technology, providing Network, Data Exchange, Servers and Systems Support for Royal Commission Divisions.

He is currently the General Manager for the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs Comprehensive Institutional Centre in Saudi Arabia.

Pierre Liautaud

Executive Vice President – KONE South Europe, Middle East and Africa b. 1958, M.Sc (Ecole Polytechnique, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications) Member of the Executive Board and employed by KONE Corporation since 2011. Previously served in KONE as EVP, West & South Europe, Africa, Customer Experience 2011-2016, in Microsoft EMEA as Vice President, Enterprise & Partner Group 2003-2006, then Area Vice President Western Europe 2006-2009. Was CEO at @viso (Vivendi-Softbank, 1999-2001) and Activia Networks (2001-2003). Also served in IBM Corporation 1982-1999, most recently as Vice-President Marketing, Internet Division (1998) and General Manager, Global Electronics Industry (1999).

Loay Ghazaleh

Loay Ghazaleh, a 1986 Texas A & M Civil Engineer with MBA 2000 Finance from Thunderbird – Arizona, is backed by over 25 years Technical, Legal and Financial General Management & Advisory Roles in PPP's, Project Finance, Infrastructure, Coastal Property Development, Construction and Management Consulting spanning Bahrain, UAE, Jordan, India, Brazil, Philippines, Saudi Arabia & Palestine.
 
Loay for the past 8 years has served as the Advisor to H.E. Undersecretary of the Ministry of Works in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
 
Loay has contributed to PPP, Project Finance / Investments and Project Management development in MENA region over the years by speaking at over 40 professional events.

Dr. Marwan Alzarouni

Dr. Marwan Alzarouni is the Director of Information Services at Dubai Electronic Security Center and the CEO of Dubai Blockchain center.  The center is region's first innovation hub for blockchain technology. It was inaugurated by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai on the 15th of May 2018 and is encompassed within Area 2071, a complex, interdependent ecosystem designed to unlock people’s potential in areas such as Blockchain technology, Artificial Intelligence and Biomedical Engineering. The center continuously hosts blockchain related courses, events, meet-ups, and hackathons.

Before establishing the blockchain center, Marwan was an early crypto investor that started Bitcoin mining in early 2013. He also created Dubai’s first crypto payment processing and blockchain software development company in January 2014. In February 2018 he launched OTC Supply DMCC, the region’s first fully licensed over-the-counter crypto commodity trading entity. His latest venture is Co-Founding Quanterium, a technology solutions provider focusing on providing social impact solutions for organ and blood donation based on technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, IoT and genomics.

Fadi Nasser

In his role reporting to the CEO, Fadi heads the new ICT business unit at Omantel, launched in 2016. This business line delivers on Omantel’s v3.0 vision to lead the country’s digital transformation efforts via integrated technology solutions delivered seamlessly, as a service. This scope includes IoT, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity and disaster recovery amongst other fast paced technologies.

His career spans Nortel and Alcatel in Canada before joining a string of start-ups across the Silicon Valley in California, culminating in a long track record in software, wireless, security and virtualization. Prior to moving to Oman, Fadi served as the lead strategic business development executive at Qatar’s and one of the GCC’s largest ICT service providers.

Fadi has a Bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from University of Alberta, Masters in Engineering Management from San Jose State and graduated top of the Executive MBA class from HEC Paris.

Noora Al Ahbabi

Noora Al Ahbabi holds the position of Information Security in the IT department at Ministry of Economy, UAE government, where she is contributing to improving, developing, and raising the security level in the ministry.

Noora holds a bachelor degree in information security and network technology in 2016. Graduate of Zayed University, UAE. She is certified in introduction to Networking CCNA1 (IT Essentials), in CCNA Exploration (Network Fundamentals), in CCNA Exploration (LAN Switching and Wireless), and in CCNA Routing and Switching (Routing Protocols). She is also ISO certified in information security from Merit for training and consultancy, 2018.

Noora’s aim is to implement HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE’s vision of creating a secure electronic space and to help consolidate the UAE's position among the world's safest countries in cyberspace and harnessing technology to create a new reality and a life of opportunity and a model for development and e-security worldwide.

Eng. Isha Mohammad Aljassmy

Eng. Isha Aljassmy is a Software Engineer who has graduated from the Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE.  Eng. Isha has joined the federal government of the UAE since 2008 however; she has experience in the private and local government of Dubai too.  She has also graduated from the Artificial Intelligence Program from Kellogg University one of Oxford Universities.

Mrs. Aljassmy has an excellent experience in Information Technology Management through her journey in working with different sectors of the Ministries including environment, public works and energy where she gained knowledge of three main related fields to her current position in the Ministry of Energy & Industry. She has Implemented Successful IT Strategies, Internal PMO, and managed successful high ranked portals and E-services.

Saif Salem Bamadhaf

Director of IT and Smart Government Services - Department of Energy

Eng. Saif Salem Bamadhaf is technology professional holding a master degree in business innovation and a bachelor degree in Engineering.

Mr. Saif started his 20 years’ career as a network engineer at ADNOC HQ and moved on to lead the IT as Department Manager.  In 2014, Mr. Saif was appointed as the Chief Technology Officer at the Higher colleges of Technology managing the HCT enterprise and education systems across its 17 campuses in UAE.  In 2016, Mr. Saif was secondent to lead the Department of Municipalities & Transport in Abu Dhabi Government in the capacity of Chairman Advisor, Technology sector and lead the establishment of Abu Dhabi first Government Building Permit Ecosystem that was launched in April 16, 2017.

Currently Mr. Saif is holding the position of Director of IT and Smart Government Services at the newly established Department of Energy in Abu Dhabi.


Satyan Abraham

Satyan holds a Master’s in Business Administration from London Business School , UK and a Bachelors in Computer Engineering from Bombay University, an astute technology leader with over 20 years’ experience across multi-national organizations : Emirates Airline, Compaq, Tandem, DXB Entertainments, Dubai Parks & Resorts, he has led transformational changes across various organizational portfolios, delivering significant cost reductions and building capability of people, processes and technologies.

He has extensive experience in the air transportation and entertainment industry , having successfully implemented a number of large-scale IT projects with a direct impact on passengers and customer experience.  He has a strong track record leading organizations from vision through execution. Successfully established operating models through driving consolidation, standardization, architectural road-maps, strategic sourcing, shared services. He is passionate about digital innovation and his main interest is in contributing to the improvement of customer experience in the entertainment industry through the introduction of innovative concepts and solutions.

Shivom Aggarwal

Shivom serves as the Head of R&D Projects for Eura Nova, a global AI R&D company in Europe. He is also a visiting faculty in HEC Paris and adjunct faculty at IE University, Madrid; where he teaches courses on big data strategy and advanced technologies. His main research interests include big data, smart cities, edge computing, machine learning and automated replenishment systems. He works on these topics with scholars from world leading research institutions. Prior to joining academia, he worked in mergers & acquisitions of high-tech companies with an investment bank based in Munich, Germany. He is a computer engineer with a specialization in information security, by training with a masters in international management (digital business) and doctoral studies in operations and technology management. He also possesses international certifications such as CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker), RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer), and CNA (Certified Network Administrator). He has been on board of directors/advisors and served as senior consultant with technology startups based in Europe and Asia.

Dr. Mohammad Abdulla Al Awadi

Dr. Mohammad Abdulla Al Awadhi comes from a high caliber business background with 18 years of business relationship management and development experience. Currently, he is leading the Business Development unit of Smart Cities within du that mainly focusing on managing one of its flagship projects “Dubai Pulse Platform”, which is considered the digital backbone of the emirates of Dubai.
 
Dr. Mohammad accumulated a diverse set of skills in his career and known as creating opportunities by adopting innovative and disruptive technologies to deliver beyond expectation.

Amer Sharaf

Amer Sharaf is the Director of Compliance Support and Alliances at the Dubai Electronic Security Center based in the Emirates of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Amer has accumulated a diverse set of skills in his career in the Information Technology field successfully delivering key applications and infrastructure related projects. His experience also extends to deploying resilient and highly available data centers catering to key critical systems. Amer has considerable experience on city level systems and adopting several disruptive technologies and ensuring that key security principles and technologies are adopted.

Prof. Michael Cesarz

Prof. Michael Cesarz, CEO of thyssenkrupp Elevator MULTI, is an architect with an extensive experience in cutting-edge development, having worked with OVG Real Estate B.V. on version 2.0 of “The Edge”, awarded as the smartest and most sustainable building in the world.

Prior to this he was CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Shopping Mall business, with over 20 highly successful and innovative properties across the Middle East, like “Mall of the Emirates”. Prof. Cesarz has also held the CEO position “METRO GROUP Asset Management” amongst others. His experience includes Design, Development, Project Management and Operations across several real estate asset classes.

Farzan Al Marzooqi

Trevor Leighton

Trevor Leighton is LIGMAN’s Global Technical Director.  Trevor has worked for nearly 25-years in the lighting industry and has garnered an advanced techno-commercial knowledge and experience working primarily within Europe, the Middle East, Australia/NZ and Asia.

Being actively involved in LED technology since the early days of LEDs and LED luminaire applications whilst at Osram in the early 2000s, he has grown a deep and detailed appreciation of every aspect of LED technology and controls.

At LIGMAN, Trevor is responsible for new product development with a strong focus on IoT and Smart Cities, as well as on roadway, urban, façade and interior solutions.

Eng. Nawal Yousef Alhanaee

Eng. Nawal Alhanaee is a PhD candidate in British University of Dubai in the Architecture and Sustainable Built Environment (ASBE) program. She is currently working as Head of Research and Technical studies in Ministry of Infrastructure development- Dubai. She was involved in the Municipality affairs and projects since 2003, and she was as the Head of building section in 2006. In addition, she was as the head of building section and building material laboratory in 2008. After that, she was as the Director of project dept. in 2011 and she worked as Director of Engineering & Land dept. & head of building section from 2012 until 2017 and her work experience is 15 years in FM.

She holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from the UAE University and she holds a master degree of urban planning from American University of Sharjah.  Her area of specialty is Transportation, and she has experience and contributions in making strategic plans and studies for the improvement of public and customer services, managing big projects and environmental protection, as she is one of the core team in Fujairah 2040 master plan.

Naji AlMasabi

Naji Abdulla Almessabi Senior Manager at Abu Dhabi Digital Authority, having over 15 years of experience in ITC business at the government sector, received his bachelor’s in management information system from UAE university in 2003, and his MBA in 2016 from ADU.
 
A strong project management system skill he has, as he successfully delivered multiple ITC projects for the Government of Abu Dhabi, mentioning few like Government Services Portfolio and Digital Services Baseline.

Currently Naji is managing the TAMM digital channels which are the Abu Dhabi Government Services Portal and Smart App.

Mahmoud AlBurai

Mahmoud AlBurai is currently serving as senior advisor at Real estate Regulatory Agency of Dubai mandated to work on a plan to make Dubai more competitive. Before this role Mahmoud has served as the CEO of Dubai Real estate Institute for 10 years in which the institute graduated 80,000 real estate professionals from the region. He is the Vice President of International real estate federation, FIABCI Arabic Countries since 2016 and sits on the board of International Real estate Society (IRES). Mahmoud sits on the board of National Association of Realtors (NAR), 1.3 million member real estate network based in Chicago.
 
Mahmoud has been selected to be FIABCI representative at the United Nations Economic Commission for West Asia (UNESCWA) and UNECE (Geneva). He is also the Chairman of UN Global Compact UAE since 2015 and represent MENA region in UN Global Compact advisory board since two years. In his role as UN Global Compact MENA representative led many SDG’s driven initiatives. He started youth ambassadors programs in seven UAE universities recruiting over 150 youth, train them to help businesses become more sustainable. He also led establishing Women empowerment principles platform in the UAE with 60 companies signing on WEPs commitment. To promote SDGs among business, Mahmoud launched SDGs pioneers UAE celebrating SDGs success stories of private and government organizations. Recently Mahmoud established his Think Tank in Geneva under the name of Middle East Sustainable Development Institute to lobby governments, businesses and communities to action on SDGs in the Middle East. His mail role is to lobby private sector in the region to be actively involved in SDGs, during his presidency, UAE local network became the fastest growing network internationally. Moreover, Mahmoud leads the affordable Housing working-group at World Economic Forum.  Mahmoud has been selected recently to be on the Board of National Association of Realtors, largest real estate network in the world. Mahmoud also serves as an advisor-MENA region at Happy City Lab, headquartered in Canada which works on integrating happiness into urban design.
 
Prior to his position in Dubai Real estate Institute, Mahmoud worked as Senior Director of Real estate Sector development at Real estate Regulatory Authority of Dubai and few years as a Development Associate Manager at Dubai holding. Mahmoud completed his bachelor's degree in engineering at the American University before continuing on to earn his Master's in Real Estate from National University of Singapore .Mahmoud completed his MBA in Finance from his alma mater, American University of Dubai in 2010 and Master of Cities at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2019 and pursuing DBA at Grenoble ecole de management in France and Master of Sustainable Development from University of Oxford.

Samer Halabi

With 21 years of experience and technical knowledge in the region, of which 18 years was spent at KONE, Halabi is currently responsible for all of KONE’s regional business operations. Halabi moved across different departments over the course of his time at KONE, gaining exposure in various aspects of the industry and widely contributing to the growth and success of KONE in the region.

In his last position, Halabi assumed a similar role of Managing Director in Doha. Previously, Halabi was involved in the Exports and Sales departments at KONE Middle East, where he took on the roles of Exports Manager and Associate Sales Manager growing the business within and beyond the region.

Halabi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Aleppo University in Syria, and has also received various trainings in leadership and innovation from the UK and Switzerland.

Remi Bernard Marie Pouchucq

Remi Pouchucq has spent close to 7 years in the Data Center industry with APC by Schneider Electric. He was previously based in Singapore where he held various positions looking after the South-East Asian market. He is now based out of Dubai and is in charge of the Edge computing applications, working with both end-users and partners to bring awareness about the challenges and opportunities brought by this latest trend.

Ali Khawaja

Ali serves as a faculty member in the Department of Management at the American University of Sharjah. He earned both his Bachelor of Science in MIS and Masters in Business Administration from the American University of Sharjah in 2002 and 2004 respectively. Primary teaching areas are in Business Information Systems, Fundamentals of Management, Career Management and Operations Management, to name a few. As a passionate educator he engages in advising students outside of the classroom and mentors’ startups as well.

Ali is passionate about engaging industry in areas of interest; entrepreneurship, startup incubation, technology, blockchain, IoT, digital marketing, mobile app development, etc. As a founding member of the Dubai Blockchain Center, he is actively involved in the promotion, education, and advisory of Blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Chris Wan

Chris Chi Lon Wan is the Head of Design Management at Masdar City—one of the world’s most sustainable communities and an emerging technology cluster in Abu Dhabi that also hosts the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Wan is responsible for setting and guiding the direction of the building designs for Masdar City. He takes a holistic approach to building design. Through briefing, goal setting, budgeting, team building and efficient processes, he directs the creation of blueprints of buildings, ensuring that these buildings are developed to achieve the best balance between environmental, commercial and social requirements.

Among his many contributions to Masdar City, Mr. Wan was instrumental in setting the vision and design parameters that led to the construction of the Siemens Middle East Headquarters building in Masdar City. The building meets some of the highest levels of energy efficiency and reduced water consumption as measured against international sustainability standards.

Mr. Wan brings 27 years of international and local architectural design experience to Masdar City. He has worked on numerous environmentally driven projects for Richard Rogers Partnership in London and for Rocco Design Ltd in Hong Kong. More recently, he moved into building development, working for Sorouh Real Estate in Abu Dhabi. He joined Masdar City in 2008.

Mr. Wan, who is a registered architect in the UK and Hong Kong, has participated in conferences and roundtables as an expert on sustainable development. He has also given lectures on this subject at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

Mr. Wan holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Bath in the UK.

Jason Hunt

A commercial leader with extensive rail, infrastructure and operations experience. With over 20 years of experience managing teams responsible for a variety of works in South Africa, the UK and the UAE and a clear understanding of the fundamentals of quantity surveying and dispute resolution, and how these key activities translate into good business decisions.

Jose Francisco Fernandez

Jose Francisco Fernandez has a strong background in management consulting and in the telecommunications sector with more than 15 year of experience where he has held a number of different positions with focus on business transformation, new strategy execution, and the implementation of new technologies. He has an Economics and International Studies degree from Hastings College in the USA and an MBA from IEDE Business School in Spain. Jose has broad functional and geographic experience with a multicultural mindset, and specific expertise in business transformation. He has lead du’s efforts on the regional adoption of Emerging Technologies including Blockchain & AI and is responsible for the implementation of different POCs and some of the most relevant ICT Projects in the UAE.

Emily Southon

Emily was recognised in 2019 as "FinTech Specialist" in Legal 500.  Emily has over 15 years of commercial legal experience advising clients on a wide range of technology-related and other commercial contracts, including outsourcings, electronic trading, market data, intellectual property and data protection.  Having spent 11 years in-house at  Barclays Bank in London, Emily has a particular focus on the financial services sector and a passion for technology and innovation.  Most recently she headed Structural Reform in Legal with the creation of the UK's first ring-fenced bank in April 2018. This role saw her work closely with the Bank's senior management and UK regulators giving her a strong appreciation of the rapidly evolving commercial and regulatory environments.

Liam Michael Farrell

Liam Farrell has 2 decades of experience spanning urban master planning, transport master planning, airport master planning, research, and development. Having worked on ambitious greenfield and nuanced brownfield projects in both a technical and strategic lead capacity in some of the fastest and most dynamic urban environments, he brings an unique and developed perspective.

Christian Abrahamsen

As Vice President, Transportation at Khatib & Alami, Christian is responsible for driving growth in rail, highways, airports and ports, and overseeing the delivery of the company’s portfolio of transportation projects. A key focus is trends and technologies related to the emergence of smart cities, and the impact of digitisation on the urban environment.

Christian has 25 years’ experience in operations and project management, primarily in the rail and infrastructure sectors. Thanks to his strong master planning and engineering background, combined with extensive experience in management of all stages of the project life-cycle including construction, Christian has vast experience of delivering projects with high levels of constructability and sustainability. Prior to joining K&A, Christian was Executive Director in charge of infrastructure development at NEOM (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), and the development of King Salman Bridge. Previous roles include Deputy Director General responsible for setting up an infrastructure development department in Bechtel, and project manager roles for COWI and Systra.

Christian earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the Technical University of Denmark and his master’s degree in infrastructure planning and engineering at Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. He is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in the UK  and the UAE Society of Engineers.

Jacob Kuriyan

Jacob Kuriyan is the Director of Information Technology at the Khalifa University of Science and Technology.

Khalifa University of Science and Technology established in 2017, combines The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research and The Petroleum Institute into one world-class, research-intensive institution, seamlessly integrating research and education to produce world leaders and critical thinkers in applied science and engineering. Khalifa University endeavors to be a leader among research intensive universities of the 21st century, while catalyzing the growth of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s rapidly developing knowledge economy.
Jacob leads a team of professionals to consolidate and manage Infrastructure Development for the new University.

Jacob Kuriyan was the Director of Information Technology at the Khalifa University of Science, technology and Research before the recent merger. Prior to his move to the UAE Jacob served as an officer in the Indian Air Force. During his tenure in the Indian Air Force he was involved in the design and development of the Automatic Data Handling system which automates the Air Defense Radar Data Processing and Weapons Selection.
 
Jacob holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science & Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology. A keen Information Security professional, he holds CISSP and CISA Certifications.

Andrew Bevan

Andrew has 20 years experience in the transportation sector and has worked on the successful delivery of major transportation projects throughout the region.  He specialises in smart mobility, systems engineering and systems integration.

Andrew leads smart mobility activities for Parsons throughout the Middle East including advanced transportation management systems, autonomous and connected vehicle initiatives and smart city applications.

Andrew has provided consultancy at a global level on smart cities and intelligent mobility, the digitisation of national transport infrastructure and the use of disruptive technologies for the transport sector to improve operations and maintenance activities.

Andrew also represented the UAE Federal Government at Etihad Rail where he successfully developed the rail system portfolio for the network.

He is a fully qualified Chartered Engineer and holds Fellowships with both the IET and IRSE.

Edward Forrester

Edward is the Future Mobility Lead Planner and Global Coordinator for the Middle East region with Mott MacDonald. Edward has led or advised on a number of recent projects for the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority and Dubai Airport. These include the Dubai Electric Vehicle Infrastructure study and developing the strategy for a Self-Driving Transport Challenge in the Emirate. Such experience has given him the platform to understand the potential impacts that CAVs will have on urban development. He is currently working with the University of West England to roll-out FUTURES, a new approach to transport planning using scenario planning to help plan for uncertainty as the motor age continues to be surpassed by the digital age. Edward is developing a reputation in the future mobility industry and has spoken on the Dubai Business Breakfast radio show and at recent conferences including Cityscape and the International Road Federation.

Martin Tillman

Martin Tillman is Director at international consultancy Aecom leading Strategic Planning and Advisory for the Middle East.   He is responsible for transport modelling, development planning, transport technology, road safety, parking, and freight.

Martin has lived and worked in the UAE for the last 10 years.  Prior to this he worked in the UK, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Qatar, and France.

He is currently working on transit related master planning projects in the UAE as well as providing transport input to wider Middle East master planning projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Martin enjoys the challenge of providing innovative and value added advice for clients and adopting a collaborative approach with stakeholders.  His key aims are to encourage sustainability, future proof concepts through appropriate measures, and create smart, connected, and liveable communities.

Martin is a Fellow of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and the Institute of Highways and Transportation.  He is also an advisory member of the Abu Dhabi University Civil Engineering Department.

Abdulrahman Khaiwi

Heading the Information Technology Department of Emirates National Schools. Responsible for the technologies in the organization. Dealing with the cost curve of technologies, working very closely with the business meeting the needs of various business units and facing the challenges of HR, finance and market place protecting the business through technology.

Being the catalyst of change as a strategic business partner my role is not limited to operations excellence and efficiency but exploring possibilities for revenue creation, driving innovation growth improving business offerings and demonstrate the ability to evolve maintaining the credibility of the role.

Taking advantage of the unprecedented velocity of change in technology to bring to the table new possibilities on how to leverage technologies exploring the opportunities for improved business plans.

Hussain Al Fardan

Hussain Al Fardan is the Head of Innovation Centre – Strategy and Corporate Excellence at Dubai Customs, Chairman, Ideas Arabia & Ideas UAE, Board Member Ideas UK, Board Member World Innovation Organization. Hussain has over 20 years of experience in employee engagement, Innovation and Business Improvement with proven interpersonal and leadership skills. He is experienced in all aspects of Innovation both internal and external within the organization, with demonstrable success in Building Innovation Culture within a Governmental environment. Hussain has developed and delivered innovation culture method that is now used by many government departments across the UAE to develop employee driven creativity and manage continuous improvement.

Nadeem Shakir

Nadeem Shakir is the Technical Director and MENA Leader for the Aurecon’s Transport Planning Business.

He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of transport planning, Innovative Smart Mobility Solutions and new generation big data and transport modelling. He has broad global experience of more than 18 years in the field of transport planning, travel demand modelling, traffic engineering and project leadership.
‘With extensive experience in Future Mobility and Smart Cities Planning. Nadeem’s experience include Smart Mobility, MaaS, First and Last Mile solutions, Next Generation Multimodal Transport Models, Big Data, Planning for Autonomous/Connected Vehicles and Artificial Intelligence.’

He has led the future mobility planning for several major Malls in the region not limited to The Dubai Mall, Dubai Creek Harbour Retail District, Dubai Hills Estate Mall, Dubai Outlet Mall etc.

As Project Director, he has led many prestigious transport planning projects in the ME region such as Transport Strategy Update for the Emirates of Dubai (SPD025), development of Transport Master Plan (TMP) for the Dubai Creek Harbour (Lagoons), Dubai Hills Estate (MBR City), Burj Khalifa Downtown TMP, Al International Airport & Aerospace Cluster, Sharjah International Airport TMP etc.

He has been involved as Planning Leader & Modelling Specialist for the development of numerous planning projects, which include Dubai Masterplan Study (SPD025), Abu Dhabi STEAM CUBE model international benchmarking, Al Ain Surface Transport Master plan (TMP), Eastern Region TMP, , Dubai Waterfront TMP, Palm Jebel Ali TMP, Dubai Outlet City TMP, Al Jafiliya TMP, QNB tower (Doha), Mid Island Parkway and BRT lanes in Abu Dhabi etc.

He plays the major role in the area of autonomous vehicles and smart mobility planning including the use of intelligent transport and artificial intelligence.

Elena Mate Mugica

Smart Cities Specialist at Jacobs Middle East, looking on how to introduce technology and bring innovative solutions to create connected livable spaces.
 
Elena is an architect and urban designer by training with a MSc in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics by the Barttlet at University College of London. Her dissertation, ‘Analysis of deprivation in Barking and Dagenham: accessibility to good education and quality employment’ used spatial data analysis to measure the changes of deprivation in different areas of London due to the access to education and employment.
 
An enthusiast of sustainable urban planning practices on her previous role at Smart & City in Spain she piloted a thorough research on different city methodologies and the relationship between Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN and the ISO 37120 index : ‘Sustainable development of Communities – Indicators for City Services and Quality of Life.”

Hanin Mohamed AlMuhallabi

Hanin AlMuhallabi is the Technical Infrastructure Head in Sharjah RTA. She began her career as a Network Engineer where her UAE University bachelor’s degree was based on. She got her master’s degree in computer engineering from American University of Sharjah (AUS). She has presented two main papers in two conferences: The Second IEEE International Conference on Industrial Informatics and Computer Systems (CIICS), and The International Conference on Testing Software and Systems (ICTSS). Any successful plan is playing a strong role in having business requirements knowledge along with being updated with the latest technologies, researches, and education.

Eng. Elham ALShehhi

Eng.Elham ALShehhi received Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from University of Sharjah and is currently heading Infrastructure and Networking Section at Sharjah Economic Development Department. A strong advocate for Governance Processes and cutting-edge technology, she involves her team members in dozens of projects related to ISO standard, Networking and Information Security, and Storage and Computing.

Her professional interests focus on assuring that Confidentiality, Availability, and Integrity are provisioned and maintained by complying to ISO 27001, ISO 22301, and ISO 20000-1 processes, and  her current projects include Securing the network by adapting Scalable and Secure VDI solution. 

In addition, she serves as Emergency and Continuity Manager for Sharjah Economic Development Department, and is a member of IT Change Advisory Board.  She was recently honored with 'The Excellence Award of the Distinguished Head of Section' for her contributions to achieving ISO 22301 Certificate in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery.

Dr. Drupad Mathur

Dr. Dhrupad Mathur works as Associate Professor in IT Management area with S P Jain School of Global Management, Dubai UAE since 2008. Within this tenure he has served in various administrative positions including the Director of Industry Projects(Dubai) from year 2008 to 2016, then as Assistant Dean of the Executive MBA program during 2016-2017 and thereafter as Deputy Director-Faculty Management(Global) till date.[1] S P Jain Global has been ranked among the world's top B-schools in various global rankings.[2] Most recently, ranked #4 for the 1-year MBA program by The Wall Street Journal Ranking 2018.

With over 19 years of professional experience in ICT education, policy and consulting, Dr. Mathur is a Science graduate with MBA and a master's degree in Public Administration. His Doctorate degree is in the area of e-Business Transformations,[3] from JNVU India wherein he conceptualized the e-Business Process Transformation Grid (Ph.D, 2004).[1]

He has been a United Nations Fellow for the Working Group on Internet Governance [4](UNO Geneva, 2005)[5] and has also served in the Strategy Council of the UN GAID (Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development, NY, 2009–11). He was recognized as ‘Emerging Leaders of the Digital World’ by Diplo Foundation Geneva (2007)[6] and later as the Hon. Coordinator for Internet Governance Capacity Building in Asia.

Prior to joining SP Jain Global, he was a Senior Consultant for the National e-Governance Plan,[7] working on the e-Government policy initiatives for the Govt. of India, at the Ministry of Communications & IT, New Delhi.[8] As an academic and a practitioner, his specialist subject interests include: E-Business, E-Government, Digital Transformation and Disruptive technologies. [9] In UAE, he has been actively associated with various prominent regional industry forums as a speaker, program chair and panel member including the Cloud MENA Forum, Smart Data Summit, WAN Summit, DSO Tech Forum etc.