Conference Speakers

Chancellor of Hamdan Bin Mohamed Smart University. Dr. Mansoor Al-Awar is also the Chairman of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (IITE). Dr. Al Awar has started, built and led several innovative enterprises, like: • Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU), the region’s first university with smart learning approach. • Innovation Arabia, the annual scientific conference with a focus on innovation in the Arab world. • First Quality Department at Dubai Police, including suggestion and self-assessment schemes and public opinion survey center. • Emirates Business Women Award, at Dubai Quality Group. • Middle East eLearning Association (MEEA) • Middle East Quality Association (MEQA) Dr. Al Awar has received numerous awards and accolades: Golden Order of Merit, on Arab World Good Governance, and ICT & Knowledge CEO Excellence Award, etc. Al Awar has published several books on innovation management, leadership, higher education and quality. For more: http://www.mansooralawar.ae/

Arash is the Group CEO of Lootah Holding, a family-owned conglomerate pursuing ventures in diversified industry sectors, contributing to the international expansion of the UAE’s national economy and creating the most innovative business opportunities. Arash has extensive strategy and leadership experience, bringing over a dozen years of consulting across the energy, FMCG, travel, financial, telecoms, public and health sectors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Before joining Lootah Holding, he led McKinsey’s Organization Solutions (OrgSolutions) department across the Middle East, helping organizations answer critical questions related to organizational health, performance culture, efficiency and talent. Prior to that, he spent over a decade at Accenture, establishing and leading a team of high performing strategy consultants specialized in investments and optimization. His passion is towards growing talents, focusing on solid evidence to rewire organizations and driving performance through people. He is married with a daughter.

Brigitte Khair Mountain is the Founder and CEO of gigthree, a new tech startup based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Brigitte is a humanitarian, development and knowledge management professional, and recently became an entrepreneur. Increasingly interested in the power of the private sector to innovate, advocate for positive change, and impact livelihoods, she is keen on exploring ways in which international public servants like herself can impact the work of private sector entities for positive change through social impact investing and ESG globally. A former UN official, skilled in team leadership and management, setting up new operations, fundraising, communications, and policy work. Brigitte has over 20 years of work experience with the UN and NGOs, as well as a series of ESG advisory roles for governments and the private sector. Her leadership roles spanned from Head of Office for UNHCR’s Regional Hub for the GCC, Director for the Middle East of Save the Children’s Humanitarian Leadership Academy, and was an Advisor on Foreign Aid to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her UN work was in different agencies and countries, she led the Best Practice team in UNAIDS in Geneva, was a UNDP advisor on knowledge management, was Programme coordinator for UNDP in Iraq post the 2003 military operations, and has set up the UNDP LIFE programme in Lebanon as its first national coordinator. She is on the roster of UN Resident Coordinators as well as being a member of the UN Senior Women Talent Pipeline. Brigitte sits on a number of boards, namely the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation in Geneva, she’s also a Board Member of the Dubai International Scientific Advisory Board (DIHAD), and was an elected board member of the international school of Geneva, the first and largest international school in the world. Trilingual (English/French/Arabic) and tri-national, she worked in various countries and interacted with a variety of different cultures and ethnicities. Brigitte is interested in the interrelationship between the private and public sectors, knowledge management, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s impact on development aid, the SDGs and peacekeeping, and as a result she embraces innovation for the good. A believer in networking for fostering a collective responsibility to maintain minimum standards for humanity to thrive and work in a dignified manner to further a decent life for all and provide opportunities for generations to come by giving people hope and a safe space to live and work.

I am Senior Manager at Dubai Chamber- Centre for Responsible Business. In 2020, I featured in Stanford University's list of top 2 per cent scientists in the world. Before joining the Dubai Chamber, I was a full Professor in Strategic Management at Warwick Business School, UK. I have authored/edited more than 10 books, and published over 100 articles in world leading business/management journals, and numerous practical tool-kits and guidelines. I served as a Senior Editor for Journal of World Business, Consulting Editor for British Journal of Management, and Editor-in Chief of International Journal of Management Reviews and currently I sit on the editorial board of a number of scholarly journals.

Jean-Luc Scherer is an industry thought leader with 20+ years of professional experience in the mobile industry and digital technologies. He has advised several telecom service providers such as Etisalat, Turkcell, STC and Zain on digital transformation through mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), big data and cloud. Over the years, Jean-Luc developed a passion for innovation and became an innovation coach in 2014. In 2015 he was awarded Ericsson’s president award for his efforts in innovation and later joined Ericsson’s Innovation Awards team as a judge and mentor. Founder of Innoopolis, a digital innovation factory, Jean-Luc supports enterprises to get more from their innovation initiatives from idea to concept, designing and developing, selling and scaling. A recognised player in the start-up eco-system, Jean-Luc is also a jury member of global organisations as the World Summit Awards and is a regular keynote speaker on topics related to innovation and technology.

Lina Hourani is the Director of Al Ahli Holding Group CSR Division, since 2008, responsible for several youth development programs and initiatives. The Global Business Opportunities program (GBO) was a major milestone in Lina’s professional path, helping Al Ahli Group to identify business opportunities, develop the entrepreneurial skills for youth, shifting them from being job seekers to job providers. Her success with GBO and also CSR in Action Program – an initiative that brings together students with professionals and CSR Leaders- was spread across 4 different continents benefiting youth from UAE, Jordan, Lebanon, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Greece, Italy, France and the UK. Prior to that, Lina filled several positions focusing on youth development and training at some of the leading NGOs and institutes in Jordan, including the Royal Health Awareness Society. She also conducted training for more than 2000 senior professional and young leaders in the UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Italy, France, the UK, and the USA. Lina holds a master’s degree in Public Relations and Communications from the University of Westminster in London, a BA in Political Science & French Literature from the University of Jordan and a Diploma in Neuro-Linguistic programming from Canada. She has undergone extensive training, including Leadership, TOT, mind mapping, creativity, and is certified as an international trainer on the interpersonal skills segment. She is frequently invited as an expert speaker in regional and international CSR, Entrepreneurship and youth development seminars and programs.

Nancy Stearns Bercaw has written about health, science, education, and technology for publications around the world including the New York Times, Korea Herald, and U.S. News & World Report. She also is the author of two health-related books: “Brain in a Jar” and “Dryland.” Since 2017, she has served as Chief of Staff and Communications & Marketing Advisor for Ajman University. Ms. Bercaw has been a participant on many international committees, including the QS EduData Summit Steering Committee and the Advisory Board for Faculty Development Programs with I-Guage India. She also been an invited speaker for numerous events, including the QS Apple Conference and Harvard Business Review Arabia’s “Educating for the Future” Conference.

Speaker Biography: __ Eng. Ahmed AL Burkani is an engineer in Civil and holding a master degree in Business Administration. He started his career as a construction engineer in Adnoc Distribution. After his twelve-year career, Eng. Ahmed decided it was time for a change from the Oil Sector to the Government Sector in Abu Dhabi, where he was offered to be a Performance Development Consultant in Department of Economic Development. Eng. Ahmed was accredited on 2010 as Project Management Professional from PMI and a Competent Communicator from the International Toastmasters. In 2013, he became a Master Practitioner in NLP and in 2014 became certified in Quality Management/Organizational Excellence. In 2015, he got a certificate as a Lead Auditor in QMS. By now, he is so passionate to share his knowledge with fun and joy in different platforms, as a public speaker in different conferences, as a moderator, and as a trainer. Since September 2017, he has started his journey with Professional Doctorate Degree in UK with a theme of Innovation based Leadership. During 2018 and 2019, he established a new toastmaster club in Abu Dhabi and became the chairperson of the club. Many workshops were delivered by Eng.Ahmed for different entities, in leadership, innovation and self-development. Lately Global Innovation Institute certified him as Chief Innovation Officer.

Ivano is widely acknowledged as the GCC foremost experts in the fields of Sustainability and Carbon Emission Management. He is currently the CEO of Dubai Carbon, a former United Nations senior official and a subject matter expert in environmental economics and low carbon strategies. Ivano has extensive experience in facilitating economically relevant low carbon pathways. For the past 2 decades he has aggregated and managed GHG National inventories across the GCC, NDCs and State Action Plans, with a focus on Private Sector synergies. He is part of the UAE Negotiation team on carbon markets at the UNFCCC COP as well as part of the ICAO working group on new market-based measure for aviation, currently in supports the UAE’s input into CORSIA. Ivano is an also working with the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, Partnership for Market Readiness, and Carbon Initiative for Development to ensure a GCC localization is part of the vision going forward.

Dr. Abed Baidas has a successful business career spanning over 30 years. He has been involved in business endeavors worldwide. Heading a team of international branding experts, he pioneered the development of Identity Branding Forum fundamentals and processes, introducing the “identity branding culture” in the Arab World, combining the science of human development with the art of branding to build “brand’s identity” value aligned with businesses’ organizational behavior – where our name in Arabic )المنتدى ل تطوير الهوية المؤسسية( become synonymous with related projects in the region. The latest accomplishment of Dr. Baidas includes the development and launch of three major achievements, the Sustainable Human Development Protocol and its IPEN™ Club engagement cluster, to connect companies to human life-long journey to create recyclable opportunities and achieve sustainability and create, and Talents of endearment© future transformation platform. Dr. Baidas has also been the architect of number of international initiatives and concepts that includes 20 X Initiative, Refugees Economic Initiative, Economies of Crisis, Arab Women Convention, iGeneration Initiative. Dr. Baidas is a veteran branding expert with some well-known brands, and an expert speaker and trainer on a wide range of social, economic, business and government related topics.

Fahad Alsaadi, is equipped with 20 years of experience in the field of Administration and management. He holds a Master Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the American University of Sharjah (U.A.E.), and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Business Admin (Distinction with Honors) from Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai. Mr. Alsaadi is a PhD Researcher in the area of Total Quality Management. His research focus is on e-service quality in higher education in the United Arab Emirates. He holds a Ph.D. in Management (Concentration: Total Quality Management) from Hamdan bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU), Dubai, UAE. During his years of professional experience, he had obtained a number of professional certificates in many areas including leadership, Quality Management, Human Resources and Finance. Furthermore, he authored, and co-authored a number of scientific articles in the areas on Service Quality and TQM. Mr. Alsaadi joined the university in 2002. Since then, he managed a number of key projects and held many responsibilities related to keys areas in the university. In 2009, he became the Assistant Chancellor for Resources and Institutional Capabilities responsible for HR department, Service and Finance in the university. He was the Vice Chancellor for Learners Development, being responsible for learners’ life cycle from accessibility to admission, registration, learners’ resources and learners’ services. He is now the Vice Chancellor for University Advancement, being responsible for HBMSU training portfolio in addition Business Development, Corporate Communication and Strategic Partnership.

A seasoned business leader based in Dubai since 1999, Bilal Sabouni is Regional Managing Director for the Middle East, Africa & Turkey at the New York-based knowledge services firm, Guidepoint. Guidepoint is a global intelligence organization and the largest proprietary "brain trust" of on-demand Experts in the world. Guidepoint represents an expanding network of ~800,000 industry & subject-matter experts based in +190 countries and deploys their expertise, on-demand, for targeted government and private sector consultations all over the world. Prior to joining Guidepoint, Bilal was CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce’s affiliate office in Dubai. Bilal received his bachelor’s degree from the American University in Dubai and his master’s degree from the University of Melbourne.

General Surgeon and pioneering XR and Ai expert in Healthcare, Dr. Sana Farid strives to utilize futuristic technologies to make the world a better place, through interactive tools helping to build bridges and reach people faster. Immersive tech coupled with Digital Health is bringing the Remote Healthcare dream to reality, Dr. Sana's adept approach has augmented Healthcare training, Patient-centric programs, and community wellness. She is extensively supporting initiatives related to building industry standards, strategizing and streamlining Artificial Intelligence and Immersive Technologies. Her significant achievements include playing the major role in shaping Extended Reality adoption in the MENA region.

Kader holds a Ph.D. degree in Physics from Valladolid University (Spain). He has over 20 years of experience working in different positions in IT Services, Project Management, Educational projects, and Business intelligence technology. He has the experience and knowledge in digital education projects (Solutions, Products, Consulting, ...) for K12 education, public and private universities. He has also a deep knowledge of e-Learning solutions & Platforms, Online Process, MOOC, Neutral Hub, LMS, He worked for more than 8 years in Data Warehousing / Data Mart Systems, Business Intelligence, Reporting, User interface. physical & logical Multidimensional Modeling, OLAP environments (in stars), ETL Processes, Extraction, Transformation & Loading. Currently, he is leading the Digital education & eGovernment vertical in Etisalat Digital.

Dr. Naseem is a creative professional in the UAE with having more than 14 years of managerial skills in the field of public health, public safety, occupational health & safety, emergency & crisis management, consumer products safety, customer satisfaction and service improvement. She holds a PhD in public health & occupational health from UAE University, a second PhD in Total Quality Management, MSc in healthcare management and a bachelor degree in pharmacy. She has several publications in the field of public health and working as an associate professor at several universities in the UAE. She is a permanent employee at Dubai government working as director of health & safety at Dubai Municipality. During her career, she won many awards including Hamdan bin Mohammed Banner for Montaji in 2017 and Emirates Women Award from Dubai Quality Group in 2018.

Ibrahim “Abe” Seksek is the current COO of MENA and Russia of Startupbootcamp, a Rainmaking company. Before joining Startupbootcamp he Co-Founded a couple of companies such as ZenHR Solutions, which addresses the entire HR cycle, and Crystel, Jordan's first business process outsourcing (BPO) provider. Ibrahim also worked as Head of Global Operations Support for Naspers, the parent company of dubizzle and OLX, which oversaw the operations in 70 countries.

Anas is a recognized expert with over 10 years of establishing digital strategies and implementing large-scale technology solutions on an enterprise-wide global basis with strong leadership abilities for identifying, building cases and implementing smart city solutions that are responsive to the needs of rapidly growing organizations and Disruptive industries. With proven track record of creative planning and execution in Digital Transformation, Ecosystems Integration, Innovations strategies and Smart City solutions in the UK, UAE, KSA, Singapore and Malaysia. Short listed for the Young Consultant of the Year award (2015-16) by the British Expertise International Awards and awarded the Best Contribution to Internationalisation 2015 – 2014 by the University of Manchester due to his contribution to academia and research in the Middle East. Anas is actively involved with Digital Britain and the UK Task Groups driving Innovations in the AECO Industries towards Smarter Cities. While contributing as a visiting professor at esteemed International Universities at undergraduate and postgraduate engineering and project management programmes.

Essam Disi is the Director of Strategy and Policy at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Est. for SME Development (Dubai SME), a government agency under the Department of Economic Development (DED) – Government of Dubai - tasked with the development of Entrepreneurship and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Dubai. In his present job, his main roles and responsibilities are to formulate long-term plans, strategies and policy support framework for SME development, in addition to executing strategic initiatives to support the SME sector and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Dubai. Mr. Disi is a member of the DED Economic Policy Committee, the Dubai 2021 plan team and the Dubai 2030 Industrial Strategy team. Mr. Disi is also a member of the judging panel of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Award for Young Business Leaders since 2008 and has been involved in assessing and evaluating hundreds of start-ups and high growth SMEs from all over the Arab World. In addition, Mr Disi is a founding member of Dubai SME100 and RATE, the main two initiatives to support high growth SMEs in Dubai.

Krishnan Gopi is the Group Chief Disruption Officer at GEMS Education. He is currently on a mission to disrupt from within and create efficient, sustainable, scalable and future-ready technology capabilities for the needs of education today and tomorrow. Krishnan is a strategic technology leader with two decades of international experience and a successful track record spearheading technology-led business transformation for Fortune 100 companies. He was named “Digital Disruptive Leader of the Year” by MIT Sloan / Khaleej Times at DIGITRANS 2019 and 2018, and voted "Digital Disruptor of the Year" at CDO Conclave 2018 in addition to numerous other honours and awards.

Qussay Abdul Wahab, 44 years old, an Iraqi-Canadian citizen with over 24 years of entrepreneurial experience in gastronomy, information technology, supply chain management and SME advisory. During his MBA studies, Qussay decided to join the corporate world and started with Injazat Data Systems, an IT outsourcing company, as a business consultant. A year and a half later, in 2008, he joined Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development as a business counselor assisting UAE Nationals to startup their own ventures. At his current position as an Enterprise Development Acting Senior Manager, Qussay has supported over 300 Emirati-based projects, manage a team of 18 Business Counsellors, and is considered as key team player within KF Management. In addition, he initiated and/or executed several strategic initiatives such as the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Mentor, Big Data through Business Intelligence, Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Khalifa Innovation Center (KIC), Kitchen Incubator, e-Knowledge platform, Agribusiness (Za’arie Program), and awareness campaigns (AKOUN, Technopreneurship). In the past, Qussay has successfully executed various business ventures as an entrepreneur. He is dedicated and client-focused. He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Economics from Concordia University, Montreal, Qc, Canada and was awarded an MBA degree in Strategic Management from the University of Strathclyde, Abu-Dhabi, UAE in 2010. Overall, Qussay is perceived as an intuitive, methodological thinker that loves the challenge; a self-starter that loves outside the box thinking. With good project management skills, strong business acumen and an eye for opportunities. Additional competencies to lead, manage expectations, resolve issues and coming up with solutions in a fun and attractive process all add up to his skills set

Ahmed Ankit’s areas of interest for research include Applied Linguistics, Communication, e-learning and Education Leadership. He is the Dean of Research and Doctoral Studies at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He was the Dean of Education at the American University in the Emirates and previously the Vice President for External Relations and Cultural Affairs at Ajman University, UAE, where he supervised collaborative projects with international organizations and academic institutions. He chaired the Curricula and Study Plan Committee and contributed greatly to the licensure and accreditation of academic programs. He has been active in academia with a focus on teaching and research in Educations Leadership, Applied Linguistics and E-learning. He has presented papers at several international academic events and chaired a number of conferences.

Dr Shaima AlHarmoodi is an Assistant Professor at Hamdan bin Mohamed Smart University. She has a PhD in the field of innovation project management focusing on understanding the relationship between stakeholders in sustainable projects and linking this relationship to the effectiveness of their innovation. Due to her dedication and passion towards her work, she won multiple prestigious awards such as Shaikha Fatima Al Nahayan Excellency Award and Rashid Award for Academic Excellence. She is also an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem developer aiming to inspire and support the next generation of entrepreneurs and provide them with the necessary means to succeed. She leads the development and implementation of the university’s ecosystem long term strategy that incorporate impactful projects and initiatives. She also actively runs workshops, masterclasses, and seminars in areas related to innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, and project management in addition to her interest in research that resulted in a number of publications in international conferences.

Dr. Moetaz ElSergany is an Associate Professor at the School of Health and Environmental Studies at HBMSU. He has over 25 years of technical and teaching experience in the Field of health and environmental studies. He taught and developed many environmental health courses (water and wastewater analysis, environmental legislation, water sanitation, integrated solid waste management, environmental aspects of pesticides, environmental impact assessment, industrial waste management, and hazardous waste management). Dr. ElSergany participated in many environmental studies in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. He worked in a number of Middle East Universities. He worked as program coordinator and participated in establishing the new Environmental Health Program in Dammam University, Saudi Arabia. He was appointed as Assistant Professor, Environmental Health Department, University of Sharjah, and UAE. He has participated in installation, calibration and training in many environmental health laboratories in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Dr. ElSergany supervised many Master and PhD theses.

Dr. Meera Al-Reyaysa holds a PhD in Project Management from the British University in Dubai in association with the University of Manchester. She is currently Chair of Collaborative Research and Assistant professor at the School of Business and Quality Management. Research interests include project management, sustainability and CSR. She has previously worked as consultant and acting programme manager at the Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence (DCCE), for the Carbon Ambassadors Programme in collaboration with Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA), and aligned to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She has also published in the area of Project Management, including a case study with PwC.

Dr. Khadeegha has a PhD in education from the University of Sheffield, England. She also has an MEd and an MA in Education from the University of Sheffield, England. Dr. Khadeegha has worked extensively on educational policy, school reform, school effectiveness and innovation change management both in the UK and in the United Arab Emirates. She has over 23 years of experience in the education field in many capacities from working on educational policy, working with government, higher learning and private think-tank organisations.

Dr Abdallah Suleiman occupies the position of the Chief Innovation Officer and the Head of Strategy department in the Ministry of justice – UAE. His experience adds up to more than 18 years in the government sector, in Strategy Management, Innovation and Excellence. He participated in various international and local conferences related to innovation such as the HR Forum in the Petroleum sector, the International Conference in Training and Development, Arab Administrative development Organization yearly conference…. Besides Dr. Suleiman, conducted many TV interviews promoting awareness in innovation in the government field. He published many articles in Business and Scientific journals. In addition, Dr Suleiman, delivered many trainings coursed in innovation for public employees. Dr Abdalla has a PHD in Business Administration, a Masters Degree in Organizational Excellence. He got professional diplomas in Government innovation, and future foresight.

Hamda Khansaheb is the Head of Medical Research Section in the Medical Education and Research Department in Dubai Health Authority and a consultant Family Physician. She graduated from the College of Medicine and Health Sciences in UAE University and completed her Family Medicine Residency in Dubai. She also holds a Master of Science in Public Health from Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University and completed the Global Clinical Scholars Research Training Program from Harvard Medical School. She serves as a local and external examiner in Family Medicine exams and is currently involved in several ongoing research projects in UAE.