Speakers / ?????????

H.E.Thuraya Al Hashimi

Al Hashimi is an Emirati Executive Director, who has been recently appointed to the newly formed Digital Data Enabling Sector in January 2021.
Serving the office of the Minister of State (as her first employer before the merger of ECC with the FCSA) for almost a decade, Thuraya has vast experience in Human Resources & Support Services Management. She started her career as a Senior Research Analyst at the Office of the Minister of State in 2012, where she managed and monitored UAE performance in various international reports. Soon in a couple of years, she became the Support Services Executive Director as part of the inauguration taskforce spearheading the HR &Talent Acquisition team, Finance and IT from 2016 until 2020.
In 2019 Al Hashimi was assigned interim responsibilities of the Strategy & Future Department, in addition to her responsibility as the Support Services Executive Director, where she managed various strategic projects ensuring alignment to the UAE Government Vision.
Thuraya is a holder of an Excellence Diploma from the American University of Sharjah (2015), and a Bachelor degree (with Distinction Honor) in Applied Science in Business & Mgmt. from Dubai Women’s College (2008).

Latifa Saleh AlShehhi

An Emirati data enthusiast leader in the field of data tech, digital transformation, innovation and well-known in the region; since 2016 leading major project to support transforming the UAE data and statistics landscape to become the best country in the world in smart data. She is leading high-impact projects in the data realm to support the Dubai digital growth and improve data literacy in the region. She believes that the Public-Private People Partnership is at the core of making the Dubai a leading city by leveraging the power of data.
She is currently leading Data Management and Governance in the Road and Transport Authority and is currently the Co-chair for UN Expert group on big data and data science, sub-group on Transportation. Previously she was Head of Smart Data at the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center in the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs. Her roles includes managing data enablement and governance programs, increasing data literacy across the organization, data science and AI implementation and digital transformation programs.
Some of her major achievements is establishment of the UN Global Platform for Big Data and Data Science in the MENA region in collaboration with the private sector in addition, enabling the Data science community in the Arab world. As well as implementing the UAE open data portal” bayanat.ae”. She also won the top 50 women in MENA award from Smart Vision and Strategic award from Women in Management in 2022.
She is also a member in various international groups and one of the youngest member in the United Nations committee of Experts in Big data and Data Science , also member of the Open Data Institute and the UAE representative in the ISI committee for women in statistics.

Sultan Altukhaim

Sultan has extensive IT and Cybersecurity management experience locally and internationally. He is now leading all regulatory affairs regarding Cybersecurity and Data Governance in the ICT and Telecom sector in Saudi Arabia. Sultan has worked for many pioneer organizations such as Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Boeing, Capital Market Authority (CMA), and Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB). Sultan has earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Information Systems from King Saud University, and his second M.Sc. in Engineering Management from Florida Tech. He holds distinguished leadership certifications from Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and London Business School. 

Dr. Fadi Salem

Dr. Fadi Salem is the Director of Policy Research Dept. at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (formerly Dubai School of Government). He is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Dubai
Policy Review journal and leads the Future Government and Innovation research Group in the School as a Senior Research Fellow. During his tenure, he founded numerous high-impact multi-year global research
programs, including the Governance and Innovation Program and the MENA Digital Government Program.
Earlier, he was a Research Associate with the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School (HKS); and a Fellow with the I+I Policy Research Centre, Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy (LKY SPP), National University of Singapore. Fadi holds a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Oxford, an MSc in Information Systems Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a B.Eng. in Computer Engineering from Aleppo University.
Dr. Salem is an international authority in digital governance, future technology and data policy domains.
He was selected among the 100 Most Influential People in Digital Government worldwide(Apolitical), and over two decades has been an influential thought-leader in numerous fields related to digital government, AI policy, data and technology governance. He serves as a member of several influential governance, boards and international expert groups, including the Artificial Intelligence Ethics Advisory Board (Dubai Digital Authority), the Digital Government Society Board (DGS), the Global Council on SDG 16 (World Government Summit), the Expert Group on Governance Implications of Artificial Intelligence (ISO SC42 Working Group) and the Open Loop initiative’s Global Experts on the Governance of Emerging Technologies. His areas of expertise extend to AI’s societal implications, data governance, digital transformation, Govtech, open government, smart cities ecosystems and the ethical implications of emerging tech. Additionally he has extensive publications on ‘future of government’ applications, electronic participation, social media and public policy, and the impact of digital transformations in the Arab region. Some of the leading publications include the influential Arab Social Media Report series (www.ArabSocialMediaReport.com), the Arab World Online series, the Dubai Policy Review (DubaiPolicyReview.ae), the Arab SDGs Index and Dashboard ( www.ArabSDGIndex.com ) and the Global Economic Diversification Index ( www.EconomicDiversification.com ).

Ahmad Seddik Abdelrahman

An experienced economist with a well-diversified experience gained through working in leading organizations both in UAE and Egypt. He contributed to the formulation and development of various economic plans and strategies on both sectorial and macro levels, besides being a member of different technical committees. He had few published professional articles, besides delivering lectures and training sessions on various economic topics and providing economic advice on policies and legislations. Currently, Heading the Business Intelligence and Analytics at Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority.
He is a knowledgeable, and accomplished specialist with a proven history of business transformation. Holding a Master Certificate in Business Analytics, a Master of Business Administration (MBA), and BSc in economics and statistics.

Hoda Al Khazaimi

Hoda has 17 years of experience in industrialization and economic development projects. She has led and motivated several tech-based industrial investments in the UAE and internationally. She worked on several turnaround projects that were aimed to achieve strategic, financial and operational synergies of industrial and business prospects. She has a specific interest in SDG based investments as well as her current background.

Hoda A. Alkhzaimi is currently the Director of Center of Cyber Security in New York University AD and a research assistant professor in New York University. She served in different posts for research and development in the Technology development sector for the past years, she also played a vital role in developing Cyber Security and Cryptology research and development ecosystems. She headed the Department of Research and Development for Cyber Security and Cryptology in different national initiatives in the United Arab Emirates along with her associations to different security initiatives nationally and internationally. She consults for special projects with national and international technology development initiatives.

Alkhzaimi has specific expertise in cryptology; cryptanalysis, constructing and validating security hardware and software components, constructing trusted security architectures for different environments in different products for the respective industries. Hoda. Alkhzaimi obtained her Ph.D. in Cryptanalysis from Denmark Technical University. Her current research interests include Space, Aerospace, and UAV and autonomous systems security, constructing and analyzing cryptographic primitives, validating, and investigating links between different cryptanalytic approaches and utilizing cryptographic primitives in different cybersecurity architectures as in Internet of Things and big data analysis among others. Her research includes analysis of the effect of AI and machine learning techniques on improving security analytics. She is as well leading several AI based initiatives globally.

Hesham Saad Al Ghamdi

Hesham Saad Al Ghamdi, Group Data & Analytics Officer, Leading the Data, Analytics, and AI at ALJ. Career of 25 years of experience in several leadership roles including Digital Transformation, IT Director, Customer Service Leadership, and PMO. With diverse experience in executive leadership, technology background and customer service.

Hamad Abdulrahman

Hamad is the Director of the Information and Communication Directorate in King Hamad University Hospital. He is an accomplished digital strategist with a proven track record of implementing many successful digital transformation initiatives. He has more than 20 years of experience in DevOps, Digital Transformation, and Cyber Security. Prior to Health Care he has worked in multiple Public and Private sectors, including Consultancy and Aviation entitles. He has leveraged his leadership skills with his deep technical background marking his successful track record. He has achieved multiple renowned ICT and Cyber Security certifications and holds an MBA from the University of Strathclyde.

Faten Ali Abdullatif

Faten is the data & analytics lead at Rail Agency, Roads and Transport Authority. During her career, Faten has led several analytics projects with a focus on data science, machine learning and Artificial Intelligence that helps customers unlock the real value of data within their industry and transform into a data-driven organization. Faten is an advocate for big data analytics methodologies with a continuous improvement to turn complex data structures into actionable insights. Today, Faten collaborates with transportation leaders to create innovative, data-driven strategies that aim to accelerate the transportation systems of the future.

Vineesha Satwani

Vineesha is the digital transformation advisor to the senior government leadership. Prior to this, she has worked in top consulting firms to provided digital advisory to 40+ public sector organizations and Fortune 500 companies. She has designed digital strategies and data guidelines for various entities. She has designed and lead initiatives in Machine learning, Decision Intelligence, data security, no human interaction audit using power of data etc. She aims to promote a culture of continuous innovation and transformation and specializes in translating leadership vision into an actionable strategy. She has worked on initiatives leverage data to provide real time insights and delightful experiences to customers and improve decision making for management. Additionally, she is the Country Chairperson for Technology and Innovation chapter for a non-profit global organization creating opportunities of women. She has received multiple awards from UAE govt. and MNC’s like Road and Transport Authority, Protiviti etc. Some recent ones include ‘Global Rising Star of Technology’ by the UK’s top tech jury, ‘Honorary Women in Tech 2022’, and ‘Middle East Women Leader 2022’.

Redha Al Ansari

Redha is the Head of Research at London Stock Exchange Group covering financial markets across MEA. Redha has spent the last decade supporting corporates, government entities, multilateral organizations, and leading financial institutions to achieve their goals and aspirations. Redha's main responsibility is the delivery of market research, consulting services and knowledge solutions across a wide range of sectors and products, including digitization, transformation, and financial markets in general. Redha is currently pursuing his Doctorate degree in Fintech and AI at Heriot-Watt University. Previously, he has obtained his MBA from New York Institute of Technology and BSc in Finance from University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA.

Gino George

Seasoned Analytics Leader - Passionate about enriching client journeys and maximising client life time value through real time and omni-channel next best experiences.
Given below is the tracker of his corporate experiences:

First Abu Dhabi Bank, Dubai (September 2019 – Present)

• Head of Customer Analytics & AI

Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore (September 2015 – September 2019)

• Executive Director – Group Analytics, Innovation and Analytics Programs, Data Management

EXL Service – Inductis, Singapore (January 2014 – August 2015)

• Engagement Director for DBS (Development Bank of Singapore), Decision Analytics

Citigroup Inc, New York, USA (July 2007 – November 2013)

• DM Business Analysis Director, Decision Management

Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai (India) and Budapest (Hungary) (August 1999 – August 2005)

• Lead Consultant & Account Manager for GE Capital, Healthcare, Insurance & Swiss Re

Ali Husnain Shah

As a Head of I.T department, I am spearheading all the technology  operations along with accelerating the digital transformations  either through business process optimizations or by automating  tedious regular tasks among various divisions with quantifiable ROIs & Productivity improvements. Last but not the least, solving  cross functional complex integrational challenges with legacy  system, ERPs, Inhouse applications or analytics.  

Experienced in planning, developing and implementing state of  the art information technology solutions in facilitating the  corporate growth and ensuring business continuity. Expertise in  leading large-scale projects, program and product development. Adding direct and indirect cost saving by improving the quality of  services and automating various processes. 

Managing cross functional teams, technologies and continuously  seeking innovative ways to improve operation productivity through  the introduction of new technologies and with the enhancement of  existing systems. Which also includes process improvements plans,  designing and customizing technological system and streamlining all internal process. Responsible for managing the I.T infra structure  with in annual budgeted CAPEX and OPEX. 

Managing Inhouse applications in various programming  languages along with ERP systems like SAP, DANAOS, JD Edwards  along with data migrations and integration of complex  applications. 

Designing and development of data center, disaster recovery  DRs, failovers and backup solutions to ensure BAU by mitigating  the business downtimes. 

Managing technical support teams for end users support and delivering I.T services within agreed SLAs. 

Shaheela Banu

• 15+ years of experience in Information Security, Compliance & ISMS Lead Auditor & Risk Management.
• Worked in Insurance, Banking and currently working as chief information security officer in Kuwait Gulf Oil Company.

Imran Chowdhury

Imran Chowdhury is a data trust professional with extensive experience in Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Governance. Imran brings together a diverse professional experience of over 30 years in technology in establishing data trust. When asked, he says he likes to connect dots. His expertise in business architecture, portfolio management, service management, project management, governance, risk, and compliance come together in his work with an entrepreneurship spirit. His own experience in establishing a digital-first organization gives him a unique insight to establish the right level of governance as an organization moves from inception to maturity. Imran feels passionate about user trust in the digital world and believes that the organization needs to establish that trust with its users. Imran is the Global Data Protection Officer at Al Jazeera Media Network, where he launched the Privacy function.

Siddartha Bhatia

Sid Bhatia is Dataiku's Regional Sales Director for Middle East & Turkey, working strategically with the C-level Suite, some of the best known Data-driven clients in the region. Sid brings close to a decade & a half Sales Leadership & Management experience that's exclusively focused on Information Management & Analytics space, having worked with companies like IBM, Cloudera, Sybase (SAP) before joining Dataiku.  With experience at different levels - start-up, growth stage and established organizations, backed with a successful record of exceeding performance & budget goals by aligning field efforts with organizational objectives, Sid specializes in driving high performing teams that are helping organizations uncover their true potential though data as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence & Data Science become core pillars underpinning their strategy, providing everyone actionable insights to guide their decision-making process.

Maged Mahmoud

Maged Mahmoud is Dataiku's Sales Lead for the Middle East supporting the UAE's Public Sector and managing other territories within the region to unleash the power of advanced analytics. In his current capacity Maged works with various roles across organizations to get more empowered by data and use Artificial Intelligence in their day-to-day operations for smarter decisions and better business outcomes. With an extensive experience in the IT industry for more than 18 years, and being part of technology providers like Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell Technologies, Maged now serves Dataiku customers and prospects to uncover their true potential though data as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence & Data Science become core pillars underpinning their strategy, providing everyone actionable insights to guide their decision-making process.

Alexey Sidorov

Dr Alexey was born with the “Passion for Data” programmed in his DNA.
Alexey started his carrier 27-years ago building volumetric model of radioactive pollution of Chernobyl nuclear disaster Zone with Russian Academy of Science and since then earned his reputation as the strategic adviser in all aspects of Data Management.
Prior joining Denodo as Chief Evangelist, Alexey built and managed enterprise-wide Data Integration platforms for industry giants like Nokia and Deutsche Bank. In the last 15 years Dr Alexey has been helping many companies across 3 continents to Digitally Transform their business with the edge-cutting Data technologies from Teradata and Informatica.

Seema Alidily

Seema Alidily is a results-driven sales professional with over 18 years of experience in the software filed. Works as Sales Director with Denodo, Her in-depth knowledge of what her customers' needs are and what technology is available today allows her to exceed customer expectations and provide excellent service. She is passionate about developing and maintaining strong relationships based on trust with each of her customers. In addition to her strong sales background, her knowledge of software and business, and exceptional communication skills to help her customers choose the best products on the market today.
In her free time, Seema enjoys all kinds of outdoor activities and extreme sports like paragliding, paramotoring, Scuba diving and also playing Padel.

Prajwal Ram Gowda

An analytics and data science professional with working knowledge and experience across the data stack. Having worked as an analytics consultant for fortune five hundred companies, he now seeks to disrupt decision supply chains in the organizations through data driven decision making.
Having moved to Dubai just a little over two years ago, Prajwal now works for a group conglomerate – Ghassan Aboud Group with a responsibility to setup and operationalize a business intelligence function to improve accessibility, accuracy and agility of data driven insights across the group’s affiliate businesses.
He is currently also pursing his MBA with S P Jain Global School of Global Management and is working on this final dissertation on a framework to value teams that work on supporting decision making through data in family business organizations.

Ali El Hafiani

Ali El Hafiani helps organizations become data-driven by leveraging the Snowflake Data Cloud. Following a series of roles in business development, and sales with well-known brands such as Salesforce, Oracle, and Splunk, he joined Snowflake in 2019 to accelerate the company's growth in the Middle East and Africa region.

Mohammed Khodr

Daniel Melo

Daniel Melo is a senior director of FICO with more than 20 years of experience advising banks around
the world in the digitalization process. His expertise spans all aspects of the credit lifecycle, working on
analytics and scorecard development, strategy and change management, and direct operational
management. Daniel has worked extensively solving client problems during volatile economic periods,
particularly in credit risk management and debt collection, and in emerging markets.

Bradley Flemming

Bradley Flemming is a Senior Sales Engineer at Fivetran with around 30 years of IT experience, 20 of which have been in the data integration and data management domains working with companies such as Liaison Technologies (now OpenText) Talend and Attunity (now Qlik) prior to joining HVR and then Fivetran.

Haider Altaf Malik

Haider is currently working for Jazz Pakistan as Head of Data Services and Sciences. He has extensive experience working in multiple organizations including Teradata (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Australia), Motorola (Australia), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Australia) in data and analytics domain. Haider attended University of New South Wales in Sydney and was granted Masters of Engineering Sciences and EMBA.

His areas of interests are optimizing Analytics Platform and Agile transformation to improve productivity.

Khaled Nazif

For over 18 years, Khaled Nazif has been building up his extensive expertise, which lies at the intersection of Business Development/Sales, Product and Technology.
Nazif, an engineer by training and entrepreneur at heart, kicked off his career as a Presales Network Design Engineer at Alcatel. He later made the lateral move towards Sales and Business Development when he joined Cisco for a 6-year tenure.
Following a 2-year MBA at Stanford, California, Nazif took the Silicon Valley startup route and established Ubicall; an Alchemist Accelerator startup that visualizes the customer support flows on smartphones. This journey eventually led to him joining Zendesk as part of its Technology Alliances and Corporate Development team, contributing to the CX software leader’s hyper growth over the years.
Currently, Khaled is the Chief Operating Officer at Dsquares, where he leads the execution of strategic initiatives and oversees the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of Dsquares – including Technology, Product Management, Service Delivery, Field Operations, Business Operations and Human Resources.
Nazif holds an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He also holds a B.Sc in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Cairo University.

Gasser Akila

He is leading the Data team at Dsquares building data products to create more value to customers. He played different roles between Data, Product & Tech across leading startups and multi-nationals. Starting as Data scientist till being Head of Product at AIM Technologies, one of the most promising Data Science & ML startups in MENA. Also he kicked off his career with 5 years at Vodafone ending them as part of the CVM (Customer Value Management) team. Next to a BSc. in Computer Science & Engineering from GUC, Gasser is finishing his MSc. in Data Science at Nile University.

Marwan Kenawy

Right after graduating from the University of New Brunswick (Canada), Marwan Kenawy started off his career path by co-founding his first startup; the first training & development firm in Egypt that was focused on developing the technical and soft skills of the youth segment.
Later, he joined Vodafone Egypt as a Channel Marketing Senior Specialist, and in merely three years, he became a Marketing Manager after working in the Segment department looking after Post Paid.
In 2012, and after the passage of 6 years at Vodafone, Kenawy decided to embark on a new adventure, by co-founding his own company: Dsquares.
Today, Dsquares has become the leading loyalty solutions provider in the Middle East & Africa (EMEA). The company embraces a diligent team that is always on the lookout for providing the most consummate loyalty, rewards, and concierge services to top Fortune 500 enterprises.
Additionally, and specifically in 2019, Kenawy was able to co-found “Lucky App”, which is now one of the leading fintech companies in Egypt & Morocco serving the underbanked customers. Lucky is powered by more than 25,000 stores, and provides the market with the greatest deals, cashbacks and financing services.

Franck Carassus

Frédéric Gauzy

Frédéric Gauzy is Alliances and Channels Manager at Opendatasoft. Frédéric has more than 20 years of experience in digital, innovation and telecom. He has worked for several years on the concept of smart city and the role of data within this ecosystem. Initially a user of the solution, Frédéric joined Opendatasoft in 2017. Passionate about data and its use, he is convinced of the need to make data accessible to as many people as possible. According to him, organizations will only succeed in their digital transformation if they change the way they use and share data.

Amiit Deep Kumarr

Amiit is a career professional, serial entrepreneur, business coach and author. He has worked across
diverse business segments both in India and Global markets in QSR, Retail, Health Tech, Food Tech,
Corporate Wellness, Grocery Retail and Consulting with some of the top Global conglomerates for
almost 23 years now. As an entrepreneur too he has created few tech-oriented products of scale.
A student of psychology and consumer behaviour, Amiit is an avid reader, researcher of Vedanta
science and has also published 2 of his books in India on Transformational Strategies for Leaders and
young managers.
Amiit is passionate on Digital Transformation, Consumer life cycle, Data Science & Analytics and puts
them as a fulcrum to every business decision that he makes as a professional, currently he is leading
Retail Vertical at Convergytics Solutions, Bangalore, India’s Best Firm for Data Scientists.
Amiit is a traveller at heart, misses no opportunity to cover one more destination from his bucket list
and a wildlife enthusiast.

Dr. Kevin Moat

Dr. Kevin has 30 years of driving financial growth and technological transformation within government and private business, covering Transportation, Energy, Oil & Gas, and Food & Beverage industries. He has a PhD in Automation and started work in Dubai in 2019 as the Technology Advisor to the Director General of the Road Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai (the “chairman of the board of directors”) to challenge strategic plans presented by the board executives and make strategic recommendations to ensure value is gained from their investments. At the end of this appointment, he moved to Solution BI, to help shape business in making better data driven decisions through BI and AI technologies.

Armin Kech

Armin Kech is a results driven executive with 16+ years’ corporate experience in leading and operationalizing Data Management and Data Governance programs in Financial Services (Insurance), Information Technology and Media industries across the Middle East and Europe. He has a strong interest in value creation, operational excellence, and innovation. Armin holds a Diploma degree in Business Informatics from Reutlingen University in Germany.
At MBC Group, Armin is heading up the Groups Data Governance department where he is implementing the Data Governance strategy to support the digital transformation of MBC Group. In addition, he is managing the Groups effort of becoming compliant to GDPR and other emerging Data Protection regulations in the MENA region.
Before joining MBC Group, Armin was working for Zurich Insurance and Microsoft in Switzerland. During the weekend, he likes to play tennis, explore the region and spending time with his family

Sri Lakshmi Bannigol

An author and patent holder for an AI model. 18 years of banking experience in areas such as data, Business Intelligence, Data visualization, Analytics, and AI. As VP, Head of Analytics and AI, I am currently heading Data, Analytics, and AI teams. Innovative thinker with the ability to devise novel solutions to industry problems. Fanatical about using data, analytics, and artificial intelligence to boost revenue, cut costs, and improve customer satisfaction. Investments in data, analytics, and AIs in my leadership have yielded a 4x return on investment.

Proficient in using statistical, algorithmic, and data mining to model complex institutional challenges, generate business insights, and identify opportunities. Practical knowledge of supervised and unsupervised machine learning, statistical modeling, and visualization approaches. Work closely with Business leaders, Business champions, data stewards, project/program managers, and IT teams to turn data into critical information and knowledge that can be used to enable data driven decisions.

Created data platforms for Fortune 500 companies. Specialized in solution architecture design, data modeling, dimensional modeling, master data management, metadata management, data quality, and data transformation.

Lead the design, development, and delivery of data systems like Big data, Data lake and Data warehouses that support high-performance analytics engines, as well as robust and flexible workflows, reporting, and alert management engines. Extensive experience in defining and implementing strategy roadmaps for new data sources, publicly available data, and other open data sources. 

Specialization includes result oriented Advanced Analytics in Customer analytics, personalized recommendation engines, fraud risk, digital analytics, customer acquisition, product penetrations, attrition, retentions, channel migrations ,Digital adoptions and risk monitoring. Extensive experience in providing complicated Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (NLP) solutions. Virtual agents-chatbots-voice biometrics Speech analytics, voice to text are a few to name.

Raphael Mendes Stein

For the last 2 decades, Raphael has been traveling through Analytics unknown borders in South America and Mena region Developing business and empowering people to be more data driven and take better decisions. Raphael also went to courses in MIT and Kellogg School of Management focusing in Analytics, Machine Learning and AI understanding how those technologies could help different industries like retail, telecommunications, satellite and Education. He also very keen to support young minds to be more curious about Data Analytics, AI and Data Visualization participating in several conferences like TUG conferences in South America, COGX in the UK, Think science and Rize Program in the UAE. Passionate about what he does, he is always available for cup of coffee to discuss how we could solve problems with DATA.

Dr. Magdi Fahmy

With over 25 years of Industry experience in key positions with the leading GCC Brands such as Novartis and Julphar – Dr. Magdi is a well –known name in the industry in the GCC. He leads the Global, commercial, and operational execution of LIFEPharma’s growth areas.

Through his valuable support, LIFEPharma FZE endeavors to upgrade and quality of life and increase its production potential to its highest core. Under his mentorship, LIFEPharma FZE approach is giving the wellbeing, by providing the highest International Standard Pharmaceuticals from US FDA approved facility and to provide prodcuts and services at affordable prices within the UAE and GCC market.

Emmet Kelly

With 35 years’ experience working with Finance, Telecoms, Loyalty and FMCG data I've moved from Statistician to Digital Market Research entrepreneur, through to App Dev, Fraud, Regulatory, Compliance and Loyalty expert. I’ve held both founder and then director positions in Market Research, Banking and Telecoms firms and corporates in Ireland, the UK and the Middle East, (Meteor, Eircom/eir, AIB, Barclaycard and EITC/du). 

Today I’m working with Yap, in the MENAP region as Chief Data Officer. Launching in a host of countries with diverse cultures, languages, and legal and compliance rules I help guide this data-driven business toward ever more interesting and innovative solutions for our customers. We have huge populations to reach with exciting technology where we can educate, entertain, inform and empower those customers who need exciting life-changing financial tools the most.

Alok Gupta

Alok Gupta is a seasoned financial services professional with 20 years of industry experience across Innovation, Data & Analytics, Risk Management, Wealth Management, Business Transformation and Financial Crime Risk. He has worked in multiple jurisdictions including UK, India, US and Middle East.

He holds several leading industry certifications including CFA from CFA Institute USA, FRM from Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP), CAMS from Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur and GMP from IIM Ahmedabad and Post Graduate Diploma in Governance, Risk & Compliance from ICA.

Alok is highly passionate about technology as an enabler, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Machine Learning and data monetization.

Jurie Fourie

Jurie Fourie is the Data & Analytics Manager for Spinneys. He has 10 years of experience in the field of Data & Analytics and 4 years’ experience leading professional teams. Having implemented various Analytics solutions across many industries, Jurie sees himself as an energetic leader and data-interpreter that empowers people with knowledge. His humoristic and joyful approach to life he attributes to the support he gets from his wife and 2 kids. His hobbies include watching Frozen with his 2 yo daughter (over and over again), and playing army men with his 5yo son.

Jayakumar Mohanchandran

A Passionate Technologist & Cloud Evangelist with sizable global corporate experience and a track record of driving business results through organizational, process and technology innovation. Adept at developing and motivating large, diverse business organizations with experience in major Cloud Transformations, IT Operations and Governance.

Bart Pietruszka

Bart is the Chief Data & Analytics Officer at HSBC Middle East. He has been in the region since 2012 having worked in various leadership roles. Throughout his career, Bart worked for international companies, focusing on Finance, IT and Consulting. Bart is a thought leader in CDO & Analytics holding two Master's degrees: in IT (Scotland) and in Economics (Poland). He is also a public speaker and a data evangelist currently working with big data & analytics experts spanning across all industries.

Dmitry Menshenin

Dmitry is holding MA with honor in Applied Math from Moscow State University and MBA from Bled School of Management, he has a major experience in Data Science, Business Intelligence & Insights and Advanced Analytics field. Dmitry has been working in pharmaceutical industry for over 15 years and currently managing Business Intelligence and Data Intelligence Team in Sanofi Greater Gulf (TOP5 Big Pharma corporations), covering all 6 Greater Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman).
 
Before joining Sanofi Greater Gulf Dmitry was working in Sanofi Eurasia, followed by AstraZeneca Russia, both based in Moscow. In 2016 Dmitry moved to Dubai and joined Sanofi Gulf, and in 2020 was appointed to his recent role in Sanofi Greater Gulf, which has been evolved to his current role in 2022.

In addition to managing Business Intelligence and Data Intelligence team, Dmitry is also leading Agile Data Lab Squad working on cross-functional Advanced Analytics and Data Science projects across Greater Gulf MCO, being one of benchmarking affiliates for Sanofi in this field.

Dmitry adheres active lifestyle, has multiple hobbies, among which are adventure sport, mountain biking, composing music, traveling and art.

Deepak Dinakaran

Prior to Emirates Steel, Deepak Dinakaran who is a recognized DevOps Institute Ambassador, Certified Kubernetes Application Developer, Certified Apache Cassandra Developer and Administrator, Certified Git and GitHub Trainer, Certified DevOps Foundation Practitioner, and JAM(Jenkins Dubai Meetup) Coordinator who has worked in technology for over 15 years across many disciplines including software engineering, big data, infrastructure, R&D, and evangelism at several companies. Working with several organizations both large and small, he strives to help team members achieve operational excellence through practicing Data Engineering & DevOps methodologies. See our Deepak in action on one of his recent webinars.

Siba Salloum

Siba is enthusiastic about data & AI. She holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems, and received numerous academic recognitions. She is talented in transforming processes and datasets to boost operational efficiency and generate strategic insights. She works with the business to be able to optimize initiatives via AI.

Dr. Claude Fachkha

Dr. Claude Fachkha holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer and Telecommunication Systems from Notre Dame University. Furthermore, he has graduated with a Masters in Information Systems Security and a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and Cyber Security from the University of Concordia Canada. Dr. Claude has worked and affiliated with several government entities such as the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance in Canada and Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC) in UAE. He has been involved in several international investigations such as the world's largest DDoS DNS amplification attack against Spamhaus in 2013. He has published several international journals, conferences, and book chapters in professional venues and in various fields such as IoT security, Blockchain, Critical Infrastructure Security, Cyber-Physical Systems, Cyber Space Monitoring, DDoS, Malware, among others. He has received several funds (e.g., prestigious FRQNT Quebec Government), international recognition, and the best paper award at the International Symposium on Network Computing and Applications in Cambridge, MA USA. Dr. Claude is currently a faculty member at the University of Dubai and a cyber security professional at Steppa Cyber. Seeking collaborations in the field of intelligence, threat intelligence, cyber security, AI for cyber security, Cyber and Network Forensics, Research and Development (R&D), Consulting, Training, and Education.

Mohit Lodha

Mohit is an award-winning marketing professional with over 20 years of experience across UK, Middle-East & India. Having worked with agency groups like WPP & Publicis Groupe, Mohit has been instrumental in driving digital transformation in banking championing practices like MarTech, Data-Driven Marketing & CX Strategy. Passionate about data, tech & innovation, he specializes in crafting disruptive brand experiences. His work has won over 70 awards globally for brands like Adidas, GSK, Mondelez, Emirates NBD, MAF & RAKBANK. He’s a regular contributor & speaker in various prestigious marketing forums as well as an awards jury at the Festival of Media, Effies & MMA.

Manoj Mishra

Manoj is an experienced business leader with strong technical expertise. He has a market leading track record in leading complex, large scale, multi geography Data initiatives to deliver Business transformation, service improvement and substantial cost reductions.
Manoj has worked with renowned organizations like Adobe Systems, Dell and Perot Systems where he built Data Engineering, Data management & Data science practices.
Currently, Manoj is helping an insurance company to build and enhance their data capabilities, Having successfully executed various advanced data use cases with measurable ROI already.