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2020 Speakers & Panellists

Sameer Mudhalwadkar, Sales Director, Red Lion Controls

Sameer Mudhalwadkar, Sales Director, Red Lion Controls
Sameer Mudhalwadkar, Sales Director, Red Lion Controls

Nearly 20 years of Sales experience in Industrial Automation & Networking products. Sameer has working experience in different capacities/ markets/ domains in Sales & BD role over the last ~20 years. Sameer is currently working with Red Lion Controls as Sales Director – SAARC and Middle East. Sameer is responsible for driving business growth for Red Lion Controls Automation, IIOT and Networking products & solutions in SAARC and Middle East region. Planning and deploying strategy for the region, developing new business by appointing & assessing channel partners in various regions for market coverage, driving Sales performance, managing P & L for the region, deploying marketing plan for region, employee engagement & development and ensuring 100% compliance to code of business ethics are his key responsibilities.

Uwe Troeger, Senior Executive Vice President Digital Industries, Siemens Middle East

Uwe Troeger, Senior Executive Vice President Digital Industries, Siemens Middle East
Uwe Troeger, Senior Executive Vice President Digital Industries, Siemens Middle East

Troeger’s career at Siemens spans 29 years with extensive international experience, beginning in Germany as a commissioning engineer, project manager and service manager before taking on a role in the UK as senior technical support engineer at Siemens ICN. Following a 10-year period in Asia including positions in Hong Kong, Singapore and China, in 2003 Troeger returned to the company’s headquarters in Germany as global head of department for Lifecycle Services. In 2006 he was appointed Global Service Manager for Siemens’ Industry Sector, Oil and Gas and in 2014 took on the role of CEO of the company’s Center of Competence for oil and gas for the Industry Sector. He was subsequently Head of Vertical for the Process Solutions business unit within onshore and offshore oil and gas. Troeger is now the Senior Executive Vice President Digital Industries at Siemens Middle East.

Bart Cornelissen, Managing Partner, Head of Energy & Resources Middle East, Monitor Deloitte

Bart Cornelissen, Managing Partner, Head of Energy & Resources Middle East, Monitor Deloitte
Bart Cornelissen, Managing Partner, Head of Energy & Resources Middle East, Monitor Deloitte

Bart is an executive advisor with 20+ years of consulting experience, focused on strategic and operational issues in the natural resources space, covering strategy development and implementation, organizational design, operational excellence and organizational integration projects.

Bart has worked with NOCs and IOCs across the entire oil & gas value chain, with a strong focus on upstream. He has spent many years working in the Oil & Gas industry in emerging markets covering among others Africa, India, Ukraine, Russia, and the Middle East. Clients worked for are among others Rosneft, TNK-BP, Total, Gazpromneft, CNOOC, Shell, Sasol, Saudi Aramco, ADNOC, SABIC and Mubadala Petroleum.

Bart currently leads Deloitte’s Energy, Resources & Industrials practice in the Middle East. Before joining Monitor Deloitte Bart was a leader in Bain & Company's Oil & Gas and Mining groups leading the practice in the CIS

Bart holds MSc in Systems Engineering, Policy & Management from Delft University of Technology and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Marcus Oates, Head of Digitalization and Water Projects, Siemens Middle East

Marcus Oates, Head of Digitalization and Water Projects, Siemens Middle East
Marcus Oates, Head of Digitalization and Water Projects, Siemens Middle East

Marcus has over 40 years of experience in the Utilities, Mining, and Oil & Gas industries where he has learned the art of strategic thinking and execution. In his early years, he was employed for his technical excellence and problem-solving skills. For the last two decades, he has been employed in situations where judgment, ethics, trust, and the ability to perform in an autonomous role were required.

Through his experience with Siemens, Marcus has gained a working knowledge of the Energy, Rail, Security, and Rotating Equipment markets. In his current role, he is heading the Digitalization and Water projects for Siemens Middle East.

Sumit Sontakke, Engineer – PIMS (Digital Twin, Assets Performance Management), Emirates Global Aluminium

Sumit Sontakke, Engineer – PIMS (Digital Twin, Assets Performance Management), Emirates Global Aluminium
Sumit Sontakke, Engineer – PIMS (Digital Twin, Assets Performance Management), Emirates Global Aluminium

Sumit has 15+ years of rich experience in Metals, Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Oil & Gas domain. Sumit has a diverse blend of experience in Industry 4.0, Advanced Process Solutions, Process Information Management System(PIMS), Manufacturing Execution System(MES), Marketing, Business Management, Research & Development, and Manufacturing Operations.

Sumit has worked on various projects such as Digital Twin, Operator Training Simulator (OTS), Plant-wide and enterprise-wide MES solutions like PIMS, assets performance management (APM), and benchmarking solutions in advanced process control (APC). Sumit was also part of Project Identification, Formulation, Appraisal, and Implementation team. Sumit has worked with some of the leading customers across the regions including India, Middle East, South Korea, and the USA. While working on various projects, Sumit led and interacted with teams from different geographies. Sumit has also authored publications in the energy domain and regularly participates in leading industry forums.

Tim Shelton, Digital Transformation and Innovation Lead, Arcadis Middle East

Tim Shelton, Digital Transformation and Innovation Lead, Arcadis Middle East
Tim Shelton, Digital Transformation and Innovation Lead, Arcadis Middle East

Tim has nearly 20 years of experience in the Construction and Real Estate industries working as both client and consultant in the management of major capital programs of work in the UK and across the Middle East. Tim is currently responsible for driving digital transformation internally within the Arcadis Middle East business, and also to develop and nurture innovative products and solutions in partnership with an evolving technology ecosystem.

Dr. Hadj Batatia, Associate Professor - School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Dubai

Dr. Hadj Batatia, Associate Professor - School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Dubai
Dr. Hadj Batatia, Associate Professor - School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University Dubai

Dr. Hadj Batatia is an Associate Professor at the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences in Heriot-Watt University Dubai (HWUD) since 2020. He is also the Programme Director of Studies for BSc (Hons) Data Sciences. In his current role, Hadj is mainly responsible for managing programme content and leading admission decisions.

Prior to joining HWUD, Hadj was an Associate Professor in the Computer Science department of the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (INP Toulouse), France. Previously, he also was Director of the Graduate Apprenticeship in Computer Engineering, Head of the Computer Science department, and Associate Director of the Engineering School at Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers – Toulouse Campus, France.

He has taught courses across a large spectrum of subjects that include Systems Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Medical Image Processing and Software Development at various levels (Diploma, Bachelors, Masters). His combined experience in academia spans a total of 25 years across France, the UK, Malaysia and currently the UAE. Throughout his academic career, Hadj has contributed to the design of new curricula and updating existing ones.

His research interests mainly lie in the areas of Statistical Medical Image Processing, Artificial Vision, and Statistical Machine Learning. To date, Hadj has published 130 research papers in peer-reviewed academic journals and international conferences, in addition to supervising 14 PhD theses.

Hadj completed his PhD at INP Toulouse and his postgraduate studies at the University of Toulouse, France and the University of Algiers, Algeria. He is fluent in both English and French. In his free time, Hadj likes reading history, hiking, mountain trekking, and gardening.

Dr. Jassim Haji, President, Artificial Intelligence Society Bahrain

Dr. Jassim Haji, President, Artificial Intelligence Society Bahrain
Dr. Jassim Haji, President, Artificial Intelligence Society Bahrain

Dr. Jassim Haji has management and executive experience in Aviation, Hospitality, Technology and Telecommunications for over 30 years. He has served on the board of directors of a leading hospitality and tourism technology provider in the Middle East and on SITA Council representing the Middle East and North Africa. Furthermore, he has been part of the Bahrain Centre of Excellence, which is over-looking excellence in the public sector.

Dr. Haji has been instrumental in implementing some key innovations at Gulf Air’s IT systems and processes in recent times, most notably, the introduction of advanced technology for Gulf Air World Wide Contact Centre, Cloud Computing, Business Intelligence, Disaster Recovery Centre, Green Technology, In-house Oracle R12 upgrade, Big Data, Electronic Flight Bag and deploying tablets to cabin crew for on-board services plus ISO 27001, 9001, 20000, 240001, 22301, 55000 and 50001 certifications that have helped further improve customer interface services as well as cost efficiency to the company. He managed to achieve forty-three top Middle-Eastern technology awards, including four CIO distinguished awards. 

He participated as a key speaker and chairman in over 80 technology conferences in Middle-East and Europe to cover latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Information Security and Business Intelligence. He also published articles in relation to the above topics. Additionally, Dr. Haji is part of several advisory boards of key technological events in the Gulf and he is participating in several judging panels for reputable technology awards. Furthermore, he has featured on 19 international technology and aviation magazines cover pages with over 80 interviews. Plus published four books in English and Arabic on Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation post-COVID-19, Technology Management and Organization Culture.

Dr. Haji received his Doctorate in Business Administration (PhD) from the University of Northumbria at Newcastle, UK in 2010. He has completed his Master's degree in Management of Information Technology from the University of Sunderland, UK and graduation in telecommunications from the famed Cable and Wireless College, Cornwall, UK.  

He started his career with Sprint Telecommunications in London before joining Gulf Air in 1985 as a network engineer and moved to Sabre – an airline IT solutions company – to whom Gulf Air outsourced its IT services. He then moved to EDS as an Executive Director, another American IT solutions company with a global presence, then in 2008 to Gulf Air as the Director of Information Technology Division. He is currently working as President of Artificial Intelligence Society Bahrain plus AI and Aviation Technology leading expert, consultant and executive Director.

Leonard Thangavelu, Country Manager (Asia Pacific), Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry – International Representative Office in Singapore

Leonard Thangavelu, Country Manager (Asia Pacific), Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry – International Representative Office in Singapore
Leonard Thangavelu, Country Manager (Asia Pacific), Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry – International Representative Office in Singapore

Leonard Thangavelu is currently the Country Manager (Asia Pacific) of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry – International Representative office in Singapore.

Leonard has more than 25 years of experience in general and specialized management in Manufacturing, Information Technology and Supply-Chain sectors to companies across Asia-Pacific, Europe, North and South America, and, Africa. He has successfully managed and grown businesses with a particular interest in organizational improvement embracing technology and traditional practices across channels. His diverse commercial background equips him with a deep understanding of financial, sales and marketing, customer service and human resource trends to device winning strategies and motivating teams to grow an organization. 

Rami Al Ashqar, Business Development Manager, Bosch Rexroth Middle East

Rami Al Ashqar, Business Development Manager, Bosch Rexroth Middle East
Rami Al Ashqar, Business Development Manager, Bosch Rexroth Middle East

Mr. Rami AlAshqar is the Business Development Manager at Bosch Rexroth Middle East.

Mr. AlAshqar started his career in 1998 with Rexroth as a Field Service Engineer in Illinois, where he worked for 10 years.

He then moved on to become a Product Manager, responsible for different product lines for the Electric Drive and Control group of Bosch Rexroth, including Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), Motion Controllers, and Servo Drives.

In 2009, Mr. AlAshqar relocated to the Middle East with Rexroth as a Regional and Business Development Manager, Managing 13 markets. Mr. AlAshqar is currently responsible for representing Bosch Rexroth products in the region and helping the business grow across its various product groups, focusing on the topics of disruption and industry 4.0.

Mr. AlAshqar holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Master in Business Administration from the Northern Illinois University, and certification from Cambridge Judge Business School Executive Education for Digital Disruption and Digital Transformation Strategies.

 

 

Tulika Saxena, Associate Vice President, Aranca

Tulika Saxena, Associate Vice President, Aranca
Tulika Saxena, Associate Vice President, Aranca

Tulika Saxena heads the Digital Technologies Advisory vertical at Aranca. In this role, she is responsible for advising clients on their digital strategies across verticals including industrial, energy, retail, transportation, and logistics. Through multiple advisory engagements, she has provided actionable insights on how organizations can harness today’s most disruptive technologies (Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, etc.) to enhance operational efficiencies, business models and identify new revenue opportunities and thus build sustainable competitive advantage.

 

Mehrdad Mohasses, Acting Dean of School of Management and Commerce, Amity University Dubai

Mehrdad Mohasses, Acting Dean of School of Management and Commerce, Amity University Dubai
Mehrdad Mohasses, Acting Dean of School of Management and Commerce, Amity University Dubai

Mehrdad Mohasses has more than 25 years of experience in higher education in Canada and the UAE.  Since 2017 Mo has been the Acting Dean of School of Management and Commerce in Amity University Dubai.

Prior to joining Amity University, Mo was employed for 18 years by the Higher College of Technology, the largest higher education system in UAE where he held different positions including the Head of Academic Operations, the Associate Dean of Quality Assurance, and the Chair of Information Technology and Business.

Mo has a Master of Education (Training and Development) from the University of Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia as well as an MBA from the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. He is presently a Ph.D. candidate and his dissertation title is “developing a competency framework to prepare higher education graduates for Industry 4.0”.  His latest research “Industry 4.0 Core Skills: A Research Report” was published in the IBIMA 2020 Conference in Spain. 

Khaled Al Blooshi, Vice President, Digital Projects & Innovation, ADNOC

Khaled Al Blooshi, Vice President, Digital Projects & Innovation, ADNOC
Khaled Al Blooshi, Vice President, Digital Projects & Innovation, ADNOC

Khaled Al Blooshi is leading the Digital transformation journey in ADNOC, developing Digital transformation strategies, and Supporting the businesses to drive value from Digital and & Artificial intelligence technologies.

Khaled comes from a deep technical career where previously he was the Technical Authority in Instrumentation and control, he played various roles in his career in Engineering and Maintenance. His career started with the pneumatic era where the field instruments were operated through the pneumatic air and witnessed the rapid revolution of Automation and digitization through his career.

 

 

Hassan Alhajji, Co-founder and Business Director, Automation and Digital Transformation Co.

Hassan Alhajji, Co-founder and Business Director, Automation and Digital Transformation Co.
Hassan Alhajji, Co-founder and Business Director, Automation and Digital Transformation Co.

Hassan is the Co-founder and Business Director of Automation and Digital Transformation Co, in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Previously, Hassan had worked for Saudi Aramco as Automations Leader for Saudi Aramco Refineries and NGL Plants.

Hassan has executed many projects in various technical fields such as Automations, Advanced Process Control, Digital Transformations, Information Systems, Plant Networks, Cyber Security, and Process Simulations.



Alain Kaddoum, General Manager, Swisslog Middle East

Alain Kaddoum, General Manager, Swisslog Middle East
Alain Kaddoum, General Manager, Swisslog Middle East

Alain is the General Manager of Swisslog Middle East, an intralogistics provider that delivers robot-based and data-driven automation solutions for a wide range of industries including F&B, retail, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, spare parts as well as third-party warehouses and distribution centers.

Joe Chalouhi, Senior HR Director, McDermott International

Joe Chalouhi, Senior HR Director, McDermott International
Joe Chalouhi, Senior HR Director, McDermott International

Joe Chalouhi was born in Sydney, Australia. He attended the University of Wollongong where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and in 1995, a Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Western Sydney.

A registered psychologist, Joe began his career in Australia working with child and family protection and teaching at Sydney University. In 1995, he moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates and worked in one of its hospitals.

Joe began his HR career with Schneider Electric in 1997 starting as the HR & Communications Manager based out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and then as the HR Director for Middle East & Africa, based in Istanbul, Turkey. During his tenure with Schneider Electric, Joe was based out of a variety of locations including Riyadh, Cairo, Istanbul, Beirut, and at the company’s International Division Headquarters in Paris.

From 2006 to 2008, he joined PepsiCo as the Organization & Management Development Director for Middle East and Africa based in Dubai and later in Cairo. In 2008, Joe returned to the Energy business with Areva Transmission & Distribution (now Alstom Grid) as the HR Director for the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region.

Joe joined GE Energy in 2010 as the Senior HR Manager for Middle East North Africa & Turkey (MENAT). In 2012, he was transferred to Global Growth and Operations and took on the role of Organization and Talent Development Leader. End 2013, Joe was promoted to become the Senior Human Resources Leader for the MENAT Region. Since 1st May 2014, Joe took on the role of Chief Human Resources Officer for GE (Global Growth and Oil & Gas).

Joe left GE in 2019 and is currently the Senior HR Director at McDermott International for the MENA Region based in Dubai.

Ivan Palomino, Founder & Managing Partner, Bessern

Ivan Palomino, Founder & Managing Partner, Bessern
Ivan Palomino, Founder & Managing Partner, Bessern

Founder of Bessern – helping organizations enhance Learning, Performance & Well-Being through Technology and Neuroscience.

18 years in corporate as a marketeer with a proven track record and passion for innovation and human development. Hands-on experience in Corporate Transformation & People’s Development: Accountable for a global talent accelerator program aiming to transform an international corporation with more than 60’000 employees.

Ivan is a co-founder of 3 startups: 2 in technology and one in eco-clothing. He has lived in Switzerland, Peru, Spain and the UAE.

Areas of Expertise: NLP coaching, learning content design and facilitation, corporate innovation, digital development, neuroscience applied to learning and development, habit-building coaching.

Certifications: Master of Science Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne – Switzerland in Biotechnology, Startup School by Y Combinator, Advanced Digital Transformation by Avado, NLP Coach 

Elizabeth Donnelly, Chief Executive Officer, Women's Engineering Society (WES)

Elizabeth Donnelly, Chief Executive Officer, Women's Engineering Society (WES)
Elizabeth Donnelly, Chief Executive Officer, Women's Engineering Society (WES)

After an early career in IT, Elizabeth graduated from the Open University, specialising in systems thinking. She was awarded Membership of the Royal Aeronautical Society as a result of her work with Rolls-Royce and went on to lead skills policy in the aerospace industry. Elizabeth chaired the RAeS Education and Skills Committee and was Deputy Chair and founder member of its Women in Aviation and Aerospace Committee. Elizabeth also founded the RAeS Amy Johnson Named Lecture. Later, Elizabeth established her own consulting company and graduated with an MSc in Systems Thinking in 2017.  She was appointed CEO of the Women’s Engineering Society in 2018 and invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2020.

Fadeel AlFahoum, SHRM-SCP, SHRM Faculty

Fadeel AlFahoum, SHRM-SCP, SHRM Faculty
Fadeel AlFahoum, SHRM-SCP, SHRM Faculty

Fadeel AlFahoum has worked for over a decade with various governmental authorities in the UAE in their HR departments on a federal and local level. Fadeel also brings with him extensive years of experience in training on HR, innovation, strategy and SHRM preparations. He is also a speaker at various HR conferences around the region. Fadeel holds a Masters in HRM from Middlesex University and is an SHRM-SCP holder.

Krishna Ramachandran, Former Global Head of R2R & Lead RPA, Philips

Krishna Ramachandran, Former Global Head of R2R & Lead RPA, Philips
Krishna Ramachandran, Former Global Head of R2R & Lead RPA, Philips

Krishna formerly was the Global Head of Record to Report and Robotics Process Automation at Philips in their Global finance team. Earlier he had been with Allianz for over 7 years and was the Chief Financial Officer of the shared services businesses in Asia and East Europe.  In addition, he was also the Global Head of Finance offshoring business for Allianz. 

His experience includes transformation, digitisation, in particular, Robotics process automation, and right shoring.  He has handled several offshoring projects as well as over 100 RPA projects.  He has over 22 years of experience in finance, consulting, operational, controllership, and tax. In his previous finance roles, he was responsible in building finance organisations and putting in place processes and policies.  He has been involved in the set up of the shared service center for a large telecom company in India.  He has also led large multi-location and multi-cultural consulting engagements.

Dr. Wael Bazzi, Chair of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, American University in Dubai

Dr. Wael Bazzi, Chair of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, American University in Dubai
Dr. Wael Bazzi, Chair of the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, American University in Dubai

Dr. Wael Bazzi is Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the American University in Dubai. He is managing the curriculum development, course delivery processes, accreditation cycles, faculty recruitment, relations with students and alumni, as well as collaboration with industry partners and other universities. Dr. Bazzi is also an academician and researcher with a successful record of accomplishments. He has contributed to various international publications and chaired numerous professional and institutional committees.

He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Waterloo in Canada and a B.E. from the American University of Beirut. His teaching, consultancy and research areas of expertise include wireless communication systems and propagation, computational modeling, optimization, operations management and decision sciences.

 

Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist, Halliburton

Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist, Halliburton
Dr. Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist, Halliburton

Satyam Priyadarshy, Ph.D., is a Technology Fellow and the Chief Data Scientist at Halliburton, a global oilfield service company, where he leads the oil and gas industry’s first Center of Excellence for Big Data and Data Science. Dr. Priyadarshy is a globally recognized leader for his expertise in leveraging disruptive technologies, strategies and talent transformation to increase business value. He has appeared as a keynote speaker at numerous international conferences and published research papers in many peer-reviewed journals and magazines.

Prior to joining Halliburton, Dr. Priyadarshy held various leadership positions at AOL, Network Solutions and Acxiom Corporation. He co-founded startups in Washington D.C. and Silicon Valley and serves on several advisory boards including SPE, SEG, OTC, EnGenious, and other global industry organizations like the Financial Times, Trescon, CEB and Frost. Priyadarshy also serves as an adjunct professor at Virginia Tech, Oklahoma State University, and is a senior fellow of cybersecurity at the International Center of Cybersecurity at George Mason University. He has held various research and academic positions at IIT Bombay, The University of Sydney in Australia, University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers in New Jersey. Priyadarshy obtained his Ph.D. from IIT Bombay and MBA from The Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech.

Stefan Woronka, Director for Industrial Security, Siemens

Stefan Woronka, Director for Industrial Security, Siemens
Stefan Woronka, Director for Industrial Security, Siemens

Stefan Woronka joined Siemens in 1997 and held various positions in consulting, business development and sales for Siemens in Germany. In 2010 he joined the Process Automation unit of Siemens in Karlsruhe to start the Industrial Security business. He was responsible for the creation and alignment of the portfolio, regional rollout and development, and alignment with other Siemens units. In 2014 he took over the project lead for an internal project to develop a holistic security concept for Siemens for two Siemens divisions (Digital Factory and Process Industries & Drives).

The holistic security concept is now rollout to all R&D centers and production sites of the two divisions worldwide. After the project, Stefan took over the Product Management for the Industrial Security Services and further coordinated the development of the portfolio. In September 2017 he took over the worldwide rollout of the Industrial Security Services portfolio. Stefan holds a BS in Commercial Economics from Vlissingen University (Netherlands) and an MBA from Purdue University.

Dragan Petkovic, Director Security Solutions – EMEA, Oracle

Dragan Petkovic, Director Security Solutions – EMEA, Oracle
Dragan Petkovic, Director Security Solutions – EMEA, Oracle

Dragan Petkovic is Security Solutions Director at Oracle EMEA. Dragan has over 25 years’ experience in various IT markets worldwide. Specialized in Security, GDPR, Blockchain and Governance.

Ahmed El Sobky, ICT Expert, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA)

Ahmed El Sobky, ICT Expert, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA)
Ahmed El Sobky, ICT Expert, Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA)

Mr. El-Sobky is the Vice CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency "ITIDA", the implementing arm of the Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. He is responsible for managing the sectors related to ICT markets development in ITIDA, which includes the departments responsible for attracting foreign directs investments, promoting the Egyptian ICT exports, talent development, and the private sector capacity building. In addition, he is the general trustee of the Supreme Council for Cyber Security. He has been working in the fields related to Information Technology since 1985.

He was the first Chairman of “Silicon Waha”, a joint-stock company responsible for establishing six new Technology Parks in Egypt, in which two of them have been opened already in December 2016 and the other two inaugurated in Dec. 2017.

He worked as the Director of Strategic Projects at the Ministry of Investment and participated in managing a number of e-government projects implemented under the umbrella of the Ministry of State for Administrative Development "MSAD".

On the African level, he participated in the development of e-learning strategy for both Nile Basin and COMESA Countries as an Egyptian expert who participated in implementing the first e-learning master degree in the Middle East in collaboration with "Middlesex" University in the UK and in establishing the Egyptian node for the Global Distance Learning Network of the World Bank (GDLN).

On the regional level and as a member of the Arab Workforce Group preparing the WSIS 1st. phase he participated in formulating the document "Towards a Pan Arab Information Society - A Joint Action Plan". In addition, he participated in the drafting committee of the "High-Level Arab Conference" to prepare for the first phase of the WSIS, which was held in Cairo in June 2003. In addition, he participated in reviewing a regional document called: "Towards Activating the Geneva Plan of Action: A Regional Vision to Promote and Develop the Information Society in the Arab Region" which was submitted in the second phase of the WSIS held in Tunis.

In 2014, he led a national workgroup of multi-stakeholders experts (governmental, private, and NGOs) -under the umbrella of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology- to prepare the national strategic plan of ICT in Egypt. In addition, he is a member of a national workgroup of multi-stakeholders experts to develop the eLearning in Egypt.

He led a national workgroup -under the umbrella of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology- to issue "Egypt ICT Golden Book" which shows the projects undertaken by different Egyptian stakeholders in the field of "Information for Development - ICT4D" as one of Egypt's efforts in the implementation and follow-up of the two phases WSIS; Geneva and Tunis.

He also contributed to implementing the "National Contest of the e-Content" under the umbrella of "Information Technology Industry Development Agency - ITIDA" through his membership of the competition executive committee. In addition, he participated as a jury in the second round of the competition in 2007 in the field of "e-learning."

Mr. El-Sobky is an author for a number of papers submitted in international, regional, and local conferences in the areas of e-Learning, e-Content e-Government, and the Knowledge Society. In addition, he authored a book in the Arabic language called: "A Guide for Information Technology and Systems Security".

He participated as a member of the "Board of Information Technology and Communication – Internet Security Workgroup", Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt.

He also participated in formulating the initial drafts of “Cyber Security Law” and “Data Privacy Law” through his membership of the “Laws Formulation Committee” under the umbrella of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Lamine Selmane, Solutions Architect - Energy Sector, Dell

Lamine Selmane, Solutions Architect - Energy Sector, Dell
Lamine Selmane, Solutions Architect - Energy Sector, Dell

Lamine is Industry Solutions Architect in Dell Technologies Global Energy practice, covering the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Pacific

He joined EMC in 2014, before the merger with Dell in 2016. He is responsible for the development and deployment of digital solutions that drive business outcomes for the companies in the oil and gas and utilities sector.

Thorough his 15+ career in the oil and gas industry, he has been working on data management, AI, HPC,  Digital Oilfield, and Cloud initiatives across the entire petroleum value chain, from upstream through midstream to downstream, but with more focus on exploration and production. Since 2016, he is also covering the utilities sector now. As part of this job, Lamine has been also working with industry software vendors, OEMs, and System Integrators to identify and develop joint solutions.

Prior to Dell – Lamine accumulated 8 years of experience with Schlumberger, developing & supporting upstream information solutions for oil and gas companies, covering North Africa primarily. During his assignment with Schlumberger, he spent 5 years leading Production Data Management projects with National Oil Companies and Independents operating in the region. He has been then tasked to champion and take to market new Geoscience software platforms. He also spent 2 years in business development roles with the company.

Lamine has a Computer Science Engineering degree from the National Institute of Computer Science in his home country Algeria.

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Mark Gerrard Douglas, Group Operations Manager, Schlumberger

Mark Gerrard Douglas, Group Operations Manager, Schlumberger
Mark Gerrard Douglas, Group Operations Manager, Schlumberger

Mark Gerrard Douglas is currently the Group Operations Manager for Schlumberger in Abu Dhabi. He previously worked in the Schlumberger Software division and was engaged in the Strategy development and delivery of the Schlumberger DELFI ecosystem.  Prior to that Mark was Schlumberger VP in Dubai and was covering the region managing many of the region's digital oil field projects. With an interest in Space exploration, remote working, and robotics. Mark Douglas has worked for Schlumberger for 16 Years prior to that working for Shell and Exxon in the NorthSea.  A geologist by background a graduate of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.



Yasser Ahmed, Head of MEA Sales – Enterprise Software, ABB

Yasser Ahmed,  Head of MEA Sales – Enterprise Software, ABB
Yasser Ahmed, Head of MEA Sales – Enterprise Software, ABB

Yasser Ahmed is the Head of MEA Sales – Enterprise Software at ABB Power Grids in Grid Automation business unit. Yasser is helping his customers in utilities, industry, transport, and infrastructure across the Middle East and Africa to accelerate their digital transformation and enable a stronger, smarter, and greener grid.

His focus is on digital solutions for asset-intensive industries that leverage AI, cloud, IoT, data analytics, and mobility technologies to optimize operations and maintenance, reduce outages, predict failures, and improve workforce productivity.

In more than a decade, Yasser has played several roles between sales, marketing, and business development in the automation and software business in the region, previously with Schneider Electric and currently with ABB Power Grids. He has helped one of the major utilities in the region to adopt augmented reality (AR) technology integrated with the process control system and energy management system to optimize and digitize the operation and maintenance of one of the iconic water desalination plants.

Yasser holds an Electrical Engineering degree from Cairo University and a professional diploma in B2B Marketing from the American University in Cairo.

Farrukh Hasan, Executive Vice President of Process Automation, Siemens Middle East

Farrukh Hasan, Executive Vice President of Process Automation, Siemens Middle East
Farrukh Hasan, Executive Vice President of Process Automation, Siemens Middle East

Farrukh Hasan’s career at Siemens spans 23 years, with extensive international experience in Europe and the Middle East. After his M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering specializing in Automation & Controls at the TU Dresden, Germany, Farrukh held numerous positions in Pakistan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, leading engineering automation projects and gaining his in-depth experience in products and solutions sales in the region. In his current role as the Executive Vice President of Process Automation, he is focusing on driving the digital transformation of automation in the region and supporting his customers in this journey.  



Arun Prasath, Senior Consultant, Industrial Practice, Frost & Sullivan

Arun Prasath, Senior Consultant, Industrial Practice, Frost & Sullivan
Arun Prasath, Senior Consultant, Industrial Practice, Frost & Sullivan

Arun Prasath is a Senior Consultant for the Industrial practice at Frost & Sullivan. He is an experienced market research professional handling consulting projects across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region. His expertise spans across a broad range of products across industrial sectors, especially in process control equipment and industrial automation solution components market.

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Lt. Colonel. Dr. Hamad Khalifa Al Nueimi, Head of Telecom Division, Infrastructure Dept., ICT Center, Abu Dhabi Police GHQ

Lt. Colonel. Dr. Hamad Khalifa Al Nueimi, Head of Telecom Division, Infrastructure Dept., ICT Center, Abu Dhabi Police GHQ
Lt. Colonel. Dr. Hamad Khalifa Al Nueimi, Head of Telecom Division, Infrastructure Dept., ICT Center, Abu Dhabi Police GHQ

Lt. Colonel. Dr. Hamad and his team manage the wireless telecommunication for Abu Dhabi Police, starting from the designing of our based location to the activation of the network itself. Lt. Colonel. Dr. Hamad holds two degrees from the Higher College of Technology (HCT) which are a higher diploma (HD) in the Science of Network and Bachelor in Network Computer. He also holds a Master's degree in Telecommunication and Network Management from Syracuse University, New York, USA.

His managerial experience has provided him with valuable first-hand experience of organizational and corporate change and inspired passionate interest in organization management and administration. His first management position was with Abu Dhabi Police as a Network Section Manager, from 2005-2009 and later on continued from 2012 to 2016. He spent four months working with one of the renowned Information Technology companies in Boston, Massachusetts, USA

He received valuable experience of successfully achieving a record of customer satisfaction as well as figured out the differences between the business overseas and here in the UAE. Lt. Colonel. Dr. Hamad is also a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Networking Professional (CCNP), and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certified. Moreover, he has had a successful course training in leadership preparation in Abu Dhabi Police training department.

Eivind Larsen, Business Development & Solution Director Middle East, DHL

Eivind Larsen, Business Development & Solution Director Middle East, DHL
Eivind Larsen, Business Development & Solution Director Middle East, DHL

Joe Moran, Senior Project Manager, Distribution & Logistics, Almarai

Joe Moran, Senior Project Manager, Distribution & Logistics, Almarai
Joe Moran, Senior Project Manager, Distribution & Logistics, Almarai

Joe is a highly experienced hands-on senior operational manager with strong planning, communication, logistic, and procedure skills. He has experienced all levels of management, working in a hostile war zone, including the Managing Director of his own company. 

Kevin, Asset Monitoring and Diagnostic Centre project for Tata Steel UK

Kevin, Asset Monitoring and Diagnostic Centre project for Tata Steel UK
Kevin, Asset Monitoring and Diagnostic Centre project for Tata Steel UK

Kevin leads the Asset Monitoring and Diagnostic Centre project for Tata Steel UK and has over 30 year experience in a range of Manufacturing industries from Metals to Food

His experience covers all levels of automation from sensors and controllers thorough to information systems and analytics.

Current areas of focus include predictive maintenance, sensor networks, AR/VR, application of advanced analytics and real-time integration of machine and business data in the cloud.

Shankar Narayanan, HV Electrical system

Shankar Narayanan, HV Electrical system
Shankar Narayanan, HV Electrical system

Mr. Shankar Narayanan holds over 25 years of professional experience working with the HV Electrical system (Engineering, Commissioning, Installation, Tender departments) in several MNC’s and utilities.

Jesper Toubøl, Vice President, Elements and Moulds – Engineering

Jesper Toubøl, Vice President, Elements and Moulds – Engineering
Jesper Toubøl, Vice President, Elements and Moulds – Engineering

Jesper has delivered organizational footprint and technology strategies within Element design and Mould Manufacturing - establishing Engineering centers in LEGO manufacturing sites in Mexico and Denmark. Responsibilities include delivering innovation to support product development and leading engineering on manufacturing sites.  During his work Jesper has profound focus on how IoT can support his visions and enable the future – a true IOT-technology evangelist.

Jesper has worked for LEGO in several roles. 1) Responsibility for R&D in Packaging and Processing (Decorations and Assembly) product line. 2) Responsibilities for product development execution for LEGO DUPLO , LEGO Games , LEGO Technic , LEGO Hero Factory  - leading development teams through design, sourcing and marketing process from concept to finished product.   3) establishing logistics strategy, delivered turn around results in increasing differentiated services and reducing costs by e.g. outsourcing, consolidating sites and redefining logistic service offering.