SPEAKERS

Biography

H.E. Younus Al Nasser is a globally recognized leader in planning and implementing city-wide digital transformation, and building holistic data ecosystems. Currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, part of the Dubai Digital Authority, Al Nasser has played an instrumental role in Dubai’s digital transformation over the past 7 years.

As the CEO of the Dubai Data and Statistics Establishment, Al Nasser has overseen the creation of Data Governance models for the city creating policies and standards for data sharing, created a network of Data Champions across Dubai Government and Semi-Government entities, built the city’s first Open Data sharing platform (Dubai Pulse) and has also charted the future of the city’s data ecosystem by creating a Private-Sector Engagement Strategy.

Al Nasser is also a Member of the UAE AI Council leading the development of the UAE National Data Strategy, and is the Vice-Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Global Councils for SDG 11.

Biography

Yannis Ioannidis (Ph.D., Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley; MSc, Applied MathemaAcs, Harvard University; Diploma, Electrical Engineering, NaAonal Technical University of Athens) is the President of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). He is a Professor at the Department of Informatics and Telecommunications of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens as well as an Associated Faculty at the “Athena” Research and Innovation Center, where he also served as the President and General Director for 10 years. His research interests include Database and InformaAon Systems, Data Science, Data and Text AnalyAcs, Data Infrastructures and Digital Repositories, Recommender Systems and PersonalizaAon, and Human-Computer InteracAon, topics on which he has published over 170 arAcles in leading journals and conferences and also holds four patents.

His work is oYen inspired by and applied to data management and analysis problems that arise in industrial environments or in the context of other scienAfic fields (Social Sciences and HumaniAes, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences) and the Arts. He has been the coordinator and legal enAty head of OpenAIRE, which implements the European policies on open access to research publicaAons and data. He is the soYware director of the European Human Brain Project flagship iniAaAve, the coordinator of the EOSC Future strategic project, which implements the core elements of the European Open Science Cloud, and a coordinator or partner in tens of other European and naAonal research and innovaAon projects. He has also led or is currently leading the creaAon of new internaAonal or spin-off companies. He is an ACM and IEEE Fellow, a member of Academia Europaea, and a recipient of several research and teaching awards. He has served as the Greek delegate to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) (2012-2023), being a member of its ExecuAve Board (2016-2022) and a vice-chair (2019-2021), currently being a permanent expert.

He is also the Greek delegate in the European Open Science Cloud Steering Board, the ESFRI representaAve to the e-Infrastructures Reflection Group (e-IRG), an expert in the Programme Committee on Research Infrastructures within the European Commission's Horizon2020 Framework Programme, as well as the co-chair of the Global Climate Hub of the UN Sustainable Development SoluAons Network (UN SDSN)

Biography

 Koo has traversed through data analytics, data science, and artificial intelligence in his career for the past 19 years.

With an MBA degree and vast experience, he is able to determine where possible values are from data collected. He does it differently by building internal capabilities, through training, consulting, and mentoring, allowing businesses to continuously take advantage of their data.

Uniquely, Koo is experienced in the full process of getting value from data, from data collection, management & governance to implementation of insights through strategy and business performance measurement.

His research interest is in how an organization can build Data Science & Artificial Intelligence capabilities, Artificial General Intelligence, and Smart Cities with a focus on the standard of living.

Co-founded DataScience.Sg (grassroots community) in Nov 2013, growing it to more than 10,000 members (as at 2020). Former Chairman of Working Committee, Singapore SAS User Group.

Biography

Patricia Scotland was born in the Commonwealth of Dominica. She is the tenth of twelve children and grew up in London. She completed her LLB (Hons) London University at the age of twenty and was called to the Bar at Middle Temple at the age of twenty-one.

Her career has been marked by achieving a number of extraordinary firsts, not least of which was to be the first woman in the more than 700-year history of the office to serve as Her Majesty’s Attorney-General for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland.

While holding these and other senior ministerial office she was given responsibility, inter alia, for gender equality, domestic violence, forced marriage, and international child abduction, and from these positions promoted diversity and equality of opportunity, particularly for women and girls.

As the only woman to have been appointed Secretary-General of Commonwealth she is placing special emphasis on mobilising the 56 nations of the Commonwealth to tackle climate change – including its disproportionate impact on women – and, through women’s enterprise, to build the resilience of smaller or more vulnerable countries. Eliminating domestic violence and violence against women and girls is another area of focus

Biography

Joe Reis is a “recovering data scientist” and co-author of the best-selling O’Reilly book, Fundamentals of Data Engineering. He’s a business-minded data nerd who’s worked in the data industry for 20 years, with responsibilities ranging from statistical modeling, forecasting, machine learning, data engineering, data architecture, and almost everything else.   

Joe hosts the popular data podcasts The Monday Morning Data Chat and The Joe Reis Show, keynotes major data conferences worldwide and runs several meetups, including The Utah Data Engineering Meetup and SLC Python. In his spare time, he can be found writing new books and articles and teaching at the University of Utah.  

When he’s not busy running a company, teaching, or creating content, Joe often finds himself rock climbing or trail running in the mountains around Salt Lake City, Utah.  

Biography

Forward-thinking, genre-defying, and massively creative, Jason Derulo has staked his claim as one of the most dynamic forces on the global pop landscape. Since breaking through with his 5x RIAA Platinum-certified single, “Whatcha Say,” the award-winning singer-songwriter has sold more than 250M singles worldwide and achieved 48 platinum certifications including “Wiggle“, “Talk Dirty“, “Want to Want Me,” “Trumpets,” “It Girl“, “In My Head,” “Ridin’ Solo,” “Don’t Wanna Go Home,” “Marry Me,” “ The Other Side,” “Get Ugly,” “Swalla,” “Savage Love” and “Take You Dancing.” Since the start of his solo recording career in 2009, he has earned over 18.2B worldwide streams, and built an unstoppable social media following of over 117M followers across all platforms. Now at work on his highly anticipated fifth album – and full-length debut for Atlantic Records – Derulo has delivered an ongoing series of smash singles that have drawn a stunning 500M+ views, including the irresistibly buoyant “Acapulco,” the RIAA platinum-certified “Take You Dancing,” and Jawsh 685 x Jason Derulo’s 3x platinum-certified chart-topper, “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat).” The latter track – and its official BTS remix – proved an unstoppable international sensation upon its 2020 arrival, peaking at #1 on Billboard’s “Hot 100” as well as atop charts in 16 additional countries around the world. 

A truly multi-dimensional creator with an entrepreneurial spirit, Derulo has also established himself as an actor and businessman, investing in enterprises like Rocket Carwash, Catch L.A. and Rumble Boxing, launching an innovation-minded podcast, and developing a line of supplements and fitness products with the Najafi Group and BodyBuilding.com. Derulo is to launch further into the podcasting space with his upcoming romantic thriller series, Underwater, co-starring alonside Alexandra Shipp, courtesy of Warner Music’s Interval Presents. What’s more, Derulo unveiled Jason Derulo’s UZO, an immersive graphic novel from Z2 Comics based on a TikTok character created by the artist himself. Derulo’s newest best-selling novel, Sing Your Name Out Loud: 15 Rules for Living Your Dream, shares his personal story and advice on achieving success.

Billboard Magazine has hailed Jason Derulo the King of TikTok, he is regularly amassing over 10M views per post, Derulo notes that the platform has drastically reshaped his relationship with his fans. Derulo is now amongst TikTok’s biggest superstars, currently the 4th most followed male on the video-sharing platform with the 11th biggest account overall. He continues to see his already astronomical TikTok presence growing daily, now boasting more than 58.2M followers worldwide and over 1.3B likes. Derulo’s 29.7M Followers on Instagram often rack up 50-100M views per post. His YouTube channel has had a meteoric rise in 2023 reaching the top spot at #1 in the United States in early September with 580M weekly views. Since then he’s been averaging 2.2B streams per month with his 22.1M subscribers. It’s safe to say, Jason Derulo has mastered the art of going viral.

Biography

Steve Nouri, a renowned AI leader and Australia's ICT Professional of the Year, has revolutionized AI perspectives while championing Responsible and inclusive AI, founding a global non-profit initiative. He is also the founder of the largest Generative AI community in the world and GenAI Works which is a platform for enthusiasts to Learn, Discover and Grow. 

Biography

Biography

Biography

Passionate  about new technologies; I'm a trailblazer and intrapreneur in HP for 20 years. I’m leading incubator businesses;  launched HP Virtual reality in Europe and am now lead AI business development. I believe we can do more with Data to build a better future where HP can help to gain efficiency and security.

Biography

Dr. Wei Li is the Vice President and General Manager of Artificial Intelligence and Analytics (AIA) at Intel, responsible for AI software and AI hardware co-design. He leads Intel’s world-wide team of engineering “magicians” who make “AI Everywhere” a reality by supercharging machine performance and developer productivity. Since starting his career as a computer scientist for supercomputers, he has been at the cutting-edge of technology and business growth, helping Intel transform from PCs, to data center and cloud, and now AI. 

With a passion for technology, strategy, and execution, Wei and his team have been instrumental in Intel's recent multi-billion-dollar AI revenue growth. His team improves AI performance by 10-100X through software acceleration and for a broad AI and Analytics portfolio including deep learning, statistical machine learning and big data analytics. Wei Li received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University.

He is a frequent speaker at Stanford and Harvard as well as Industry leading conferences. He has served as an associate editor for ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, and was on the Intel/Microsoft committee that funded the creation of parallel computing research centers at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Biography

Biography

Jonathan Ross is the CEO and founder of Groq. Groq is the innovator of the novel Tensor Streaming Processor compute architecture, accelerating workloads in AI, ML, and HPC through their product portfolio ranging from GroqCard™ to GroqRack™.  

Prior to founding Groq, Jonathan began what became Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) as a 20% project where he designed and implemented the core elements of the first generation TPU chip. Jonathan next joined Google X’s Rapid Eval Team, the initial stage of the famed “Moonshots factory”, where he devised and incubated new Bets (Units) for Google’s parent company, Alphabet. Jonathan studied under Yann LeCun of the New York University Courant Institute. 

Biography

Biography

Biography

Dr. Carolina Pinart is the Group Head for R&D Information Technology at Nestlé, the world’s biggest food and beverages company. Before that, she was Nestlé’s global Product Director for new generation technologies, in charge of industrialising emerging technologies across the group, including augmented reality/virtual reality, artificial intelligence, chatbots or voice. She also led Nestlé’s company-wide AI Global Strategy Program.   

She holds a PhD in engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and has conducted business studies at the London Business School and New York University, specializing in executive leadership. and organizational behavior. Prior to Nestlé, Carolina was the chief operating officer of a New York City-based start-up, where she developed and launched an app ecosystem to match taxi supply and demand in real time. She also led Telehealth and Connected Car product development and new business launches for wireless carrier Telefónica, based in Madrid and the UK, with operations in Europe and Latin America.   

Carolina started her career as a consultant for Altran in France and worked in research and innovation for Siemens in Germany and for the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions in Barcelona. Over that period, she published more than 70 papers in international journals and conferences and obtained one patent in diverse areas such as mobile video, wireless communications and optical networking.  

Besides her research record, Dr. Pinart has given 50+ talks about technology and leadership, appeared in 15+ press articles and has been a mentor in several tech startup programs (Conector Accelerator, LactApp startup, EU-Silicon Valley Startup Accelerator) and graduates and women in tech (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech, European Innovation Council, Esade). She is also a Partnerships Committee Member of European Women on Boards and an ambassador for AI Swiss Cognitive, AI4 and London & Global Tech Advocates, and an expert reviewer in Data & AI for Horizon Europe.  

Last, Carolina is the recipient of a Nestlé CIO Award, DonaTIC award by the Generalitat de Catalunya, post-doc fellowship by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, pre-doc award by Agrupació Mútua and executive education fellowships for sustained high performance at Telefónica and Nestlé.  

Biography

Ashley Woodbridge is Chief Technology Officer for Lenovo Middle East Turkey, and Africa. In his role he is responsible for managing the solution architecture function, driving end to end solutioning in collaboration with Lenovo’s ecosystem of global partners and developing, positioning, and maturing new wave technology solutions as part of the global CTO advisory board.  

An Accomplished TEDx public speaker, Ashley has had vast experience working with numerous multinational organisations including Google, SAP, Darkmatter and Cisco. Most recently, Ashley joined Lenovo from AWS where he led a team of Solution Architects and was responsible locally for AWS’s UAE region launch and expansion of the technical presence within enterprise and digital native segments

Biography

Dr. Christopher Abraham is a PhD in Business Administration (Design Thinking & Innovation) and has three Post Graduate qualifications in HRM, Business Administration (Marketing), Labor & Administrative Law. He is a Certified Design Thinker from IDEO/Stanford and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), UK. He has thirty-seven years’ experience in management consulting, marketing, and management education in India, Singapore,and the UAE.

Currently he is the CEO & Head - Dubai campus and Sr. Vice President (Institutional Development) at the S P Jain School of Global Management, a Forbes Top 10, Economist & FT Top 100 ranked Business School, with campuses in Dubai, Singapore, Mumbai, and Sydney Dr. Abraham has been a visiting Professor at many leading universities in Australia, USA, Canada, Singapore, and UK. Earlier in Dubai, he headed the Executive MBA Program of XLRI, Jamshedpur, one of Asia’s top business schools.

His areas of competence are Innovation, Design Thinking, Behavioural Design, Neuroscience of Decision Making, Future of Education, Science of Happiness, Leadership, Human Potential, Entrepreneurship, ESG , Ethics & Corporate Governance, Marketing &Strategy.

A much sought after 3 x TEDx and international keynote speaker, he has successfully presented in numerous global forums and has also conducted many consulting and executive development assignments for global organizations, including The World Bank, The Executive Council (Govt. of Dubai), Emirates Airlines, SEWA (Government of Sharjah), Aramex, DHL, P &G, LG, Reckitt & Benkiser, AW Rostamani (Nissan Auto) & others 

Biography

Coral Movasseli is on a mission to re-engineer the way employees up-skill in the workplace using advanced AI. 

At Accenture's Innovation Lab, she led digital transformation projects for global enterprises using advanced deep technologies. She has worked internationally in commercial roles across Toronto, Dublin and Toronto. Coral started her career at the Canadian foreign office developing International trade strategy.

She founded and grew the largest network of women-in-tech in Ireland and increased gender diversity in the sector by equipping thousands of female professionals with learning and development programs to succeed. She is the proud recipient of the Advocate of the Year by Women in IT (2019), and the Women of Influence by Irish Women's Award (2020).

She has received notable nominations, including the London Playmakers Tech Award (2019). Coral holds a Masters of Science from the London School of Economics, where she was also a Hansard Scholar. She graduated Cum Laude with an Honours Bachelors in Masters of Science from the University of Ottawa.

Biography

Dr. Ebtesam Almazrouei is Executive Director and Acting Chief AI Researcher for the Al-Cross Center Unit (AICCU) at the Technology Innovation Institute (TII). She is a renowned leader and visionary in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology. With a wealth of knowledge and experience, she has made significant contributions to AI research, development, and innovation - earning her a distinguished reputation in the industry.

Dr. Almazrouei’s leadership and expertise have been vital in the successful development of TII’s Falcon LLM models (home-built rivals to ChatGPT), which significantly outperform models like BLOOM-62 and GPT-3. Her commitment to pushing the boundaries of AI innovation and her instrumental role led to the creation of the Middle East’s first homegrown, open-source large language model (LLM), Falcon 40B for use in research and commercialization. Following the phenomenal success of Falcon 40B, she then developed Falcon 180B, an advanced iteration of its predecessor and the world’s most powerful AI model. Both Falcon LLMs’ exceptional performance have ranked them number one globally on Hugging Face's Open LLM Leaderboard; Falcon 40B in May 2023, and Falcon 180B in September 2023 respectively.

Falcon LLMs managed to surpass competitors such as Meta's LLaMA models and Stability AI's StableLM Dr. Almazrouei led the development of NOOR, an Arabic NLP model in 2022. She has greatly contributed towards addressing global challenges in order to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) Dr. Almazrouei is recognized worldwide for her contributions to AI and was featured in Leading AI Women in the World in 2023 list, alongside other distinguished women in the field.

She is also an advocate for sustainability and AI for Good initiatives, as well as the general chair of Abu Dhabi AI Connect and TPC chair of many IEEE international conferences. Her contributions extend beyond her work at TII where she leads the big data expert subcommittee of the UAE Council for AI and Blockchain and is a member of the worldwide steering board of the Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF). She is also a member of the Science and Engineering Advisory Board at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (SUAD). She is a scientific author, patent inventor, entrepreneur, and renowned speaker, known for her keynote speeches at prestigious summits such as the AI Summit in London, CogX Festival, World AI Cannes Festival, and Tech summits.

Dr. Ebtesam Almazrouei previously worked in the telecommunications industry delivering business solutions for companies like BT, Etisalat, and KU where she leveraged her expertise to develop advanced tech solutions and products for stakeholders across multiple industries on the Internet of Things (IoTs), autonomous vehicles and drones, wireless localization, intelligence network optimization, 5G and beyond.

Biography

Gerry is the Chairman of the AI Ethics & Governance Special Interest Group (SIG) under the Singapore Computer Society (SCS), as well as the co-chair of the Singapore AI Technical Committee. He has over 25 years of experience advising clients on how to adopt technology innovations in a safe and controlled environment.  

Biography

Biography

Hicham El Habti is the President of University Mohammed VI Polytechnic. With a combination of both corporate as well as education management and administration skills and leadership capabilities, he continues fostering organizational Development, leading formulation and implementation of the university’s strategic vision and transformation aspirations, promoting the implementation of effective procedures and institutional reforms and building impactful collaborations and linkages at the local and international levels.

Hicham El Habti has extensive education, experience and background in Applied Mathematics and Economics, Hicham El Habti also holds an engineering degree from l’Ecole Normale des Pont et Chaussee, Paris in Economics, Management and Finance. He joined OCP in January 2013 where he has served in various positions before being appointed deputy general secretary. Prior to joining OCP he has undertaken several strategic and managerial positions including piloting strategic and operational projects, Financial Risk Management, managing investments and providing consultancy services and guidance to leading companies in Morocco and France.

Biography

Hina is a partner at M12 - Microsoft’s Venture Fund, based in San Francisco, where she invests in AI, Infrastructure & Gaming startups. With over 13 years of experience in software engineering, she has a deep understanding of the industry and is an expert in AI, Infrastructure, DevTools & Cloud. Hina previously led AI Investments at Samsung Next and invested in over 10 companies, including MosaicML (acquired by Databricks), Stability AI, DynamoFL & Space & Time among others.

Prior to SamsungNext, she led a team at Apple for around 8 years with a focus on multiple projects varying from Security, iCloud, Artificial Intelligence, Developer Tools & Data Integrity. Hina holds multiple patents through her work at Apple. As a software engineering leader, Hina has managed a team of seasoned developers and was DRI for some of the key projects at Apple. Her experience in leading various cross-organization projects in big tech companies has made her a valuable asset in the venture capital industry.

Hina is a thought leader in the AI industry and has spoken at various leading AI conferences, including the World Summit AI, Global Artificial Intelligence Virtual Conference, AI4 and others. She has also been a guest on podcasts such as "AI and the Future of Work", “Me, Myself & AI”, and others. Hina's expertise in AI and her experience in software engineering make her a valuable asset to any company looking to invest in the future of technology.  

Biography

JoAnn C. Stonier serves as Chief Data Officer for Mastercard, leading the organization’s data innovation efforts while navigating current and future data risks. She oversees the curation, quality, governance and management of the company’s extensive data assets. JoAnn and her team design and operationalize Mastercard’s global data strategy, guiding enterprise deployment of cutting-edge data solutions, including advanced analytics and AI, and the development of enterprise data platforms. Her leadership is integral to Mastercard’s push to deepen the strategic value it can provide its merchant, banking and government customers and cardholders through its expanding data-driven products and capabilities.

JoAnn previously served as the company’s Chief Information Governance & Privacy Officer, responsible for global privacy and information governance, and leading regulatory engagement for data compliance. JoAnn is a recognized and highly sought-after thought leader in emergent data and privacy issues. She has advised industry executives, governments, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs. Currently, she serves on the United Nations Expert Group on Governance and Artificial Intelligence and is Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Data Policy.

JoAnn also serves as a Board Advisor for Truata, a data trust co-founded by Mastercard and IBM, on the Board of Directors and Governance Committee for Hope For The Warriors, a non-profit Veteran service organization, and on the Board of Trustees and Executive & Finance Committees for Academy of Mount St. Ursula, where she attended high school in Bronx, New York. JoAnn received her Juris Doctorate from St. John’s University and her Bachelor of Science degree from St. Francis College. She holds memberships in the Bar of the State of New York and the Bar of the State of New Jersey. She is based in Purchase, N.Y.

Biography

Karen McLuskie was the first British diplomat to hold an emerging technology portfolio in 2019. Since then she has pioneered international co-operation on AI, quantum, future telecoms, bio-engineering, semiconductors, and data. She holds a civil service award, presented by the late Queen Elizabeth II, for her work on digital diplomacy.  She has held postings in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Iraq, DRC and India and works today as senior advisor on emerging technology in FCDO in London.  

Biography

As the Everyday AI Strategic Advisor at Dataiku, Kurt bring the stories and successes of our incredible customers to the world, while also helping to bring Dataikuʼs vision of Everyday AI to industry analysts and media worldwide. Kurt was previously the Chief Customer Officer at Dataiku.

Having worked with dozens of clients of all sizes and across a multitude of sectors, Kurt has developed a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities for companies looking to increase the value theyʼre deriving from their data and increase the capabilities of the growing teams of data scientists, engineers, and analysts.

Biography

Naeem Aslam is a prominent figure in the finance and investment industry, known for his extensive experience, entrepreneurial spirit, and deep expertise in various domains of finance. With a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Naeem has successfully launched startups and owns a private equity fund focused on commercial real estate.

He is a Founder and CIO of Zaye Capital Markets With a career spanning over 15 years, Naeem has established himself as a respected voice in the world of finance. He has also served as an ex-Hedge Fund Trader at Bank of New York, showcasing his hands-on experience in managing investments and trading strategies.

As a regular guest at Fox Business and Bloomberg, Naeem shares his insights and analysis on the latest financial trends, market developments, and investment strategies. He is known for his sharp analytical skills and ability to provide expert commentary on a wide range of topics, including blockchain technologies, fintech, traditional assets, macroeconomics, central bank policies, and artificial intelligence.

In addition to his media appearances, Naeem is a recognized columnist at NASDAQ (US), where he shares his in-depth knowledge and opinions on various financial subjects. He has also previously worked for Forbes (US) for over 5 years, where he contributed valuable insights to the finance community through his writing.

Naeem's expertise and knowledge are not limited to media and writing. He is also a sought-after guest lecturer at prestigious institutions such as the London School of Economics and the University of Warwick's Business School, where he imparts his wisdom and experiences to aspiring finance professionals.  

Biography

Biography

Priya is a Venture Partner at Merian Ventures, investing in women-led innovation, an Advisor to Kheiron Medical Technologies and Gallos Technologies, a member of the Investment Governance Board at Future Planet Capital, a NED at Reach PLC, UK Research & Innovation, the Digital Catapult & GB Badminton and Adjunct Faculty at the Ashridge Hult Business School. She was previously GM for RocketSpace, launching their UK operations.

Priya used to be a career diplomat, most recently as British Consul General to San Francisco and previously in India and Spain. She sits on the Royal Academy of Engineering International Committee, Althea Foundation Board, Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates Advisory Boards. She is a Trustee at TechSheCan. Priya was awarded an MBE in 2021 for services to international trade and women in innovation. 

Biography

Radika Kumar is from Fiji. She holds a PhD in Economics and has 16 years of work experience working with national governments, regional organizations, and at the international level including interalia representing and leading negotiations at the World Trade Organization on trade negotiations. 

She has also held senior diplomatic ranks and served as Deputy Head of Mission for Fiji in Geneva, Switzerland, and Adviser to her Foreign Minister. She has extensive experience working in developing countries including in Small States too.  

She also has experience as a lecturer and academic.  Furthermore, she holds a certificate in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Oxford. Her additional skills and certifications include certification in prompt engineering, front end developer, statistics for data science and python programming. She has also been leading mentor for “Build with AI” initiatives with major tech company.   

Her expertise in economics policy and technology enables her to bridge the policy gaps between governments, the private sector, and academic institutions. She is an author/publisher and has published extensively.    Her passion is to bridge the AI divide and empower women and youth is the tech field including in AI through research, innovation, policy and capacity building.   

Qualifications/certifications: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Economics. Masters-Economics, Undergraduate: Economics, Accounting and Financial Management, Graduate Certificate in Education (BA-GCED), Certificate in Artificial Intelligence, Certificate in Front End Development, Certificate in Data Science, Certificate in Python Programming, Certificate in Prompt Engineering, Certificate in Diplomatic Training. 

Biography

Biography

Sanjay Gupta, VP for South Asia & Middle East, helps customers deliver personalized digital-first experiences & enhance CX with data. With 28 years of experience, he's led high-performance teams at Aspect, Dimension Data, and Avaya. Sanjay holds an MBA in Marketing and a BE in Electronics and is interested in go-to-market strategy, customer relationships, and cloud technologies. 

Biography

Shail Khiyara is an accomplished executive, speaker and board member in Intelligent Automation and AI. He founded the global customer think tank, VOCAL and serves on multiple RPA and IA company boards. Shail is currently the President and COO at Turbotic, a leader in Automation & AI Optimization. 

Biography

Dr. Zhu Shenggao has more than 10 years of experience in AI research and business. He received his Ph.D. degree from National University of Singapore (NUS), and is an expert in cloud computing and AI technologies. Leading a dedicated R&D team, he has successfully created a diverse portfolio of AI services and solutions in Huawei Cloud to support customers worldwide.

He is currently in charge of the AI business in Huawei Cloud ME&CA region, actively promoting AI innovation, solutions, sales, and ecosystem development. He is working closely with international customers and partners to unleash the full potential of AI and accelerate industry transformation

Biography

A visionary at the intersection of AI thought leadership and actionable innovation. As the founder and CEO of the emergent AIDEN Think Tank, Tannya is redefining the boundaries of artificial intelligence, translating deep insights into groundbreaking initiatives across various industries.

Author of the book "Thinking Machines: AI and the Intelligence Explosion," Tannya illuminates the transformative and philosophical implications of AI, urging society to harness its potential to build higher-order, creative jobs and industries. Tannya has several years of hands-on expertise in the software industry.

She has delivered hundreds of inspiring keynotes as well as delivered impactful educational programs on AI for stakeholders globally. With AIDEN, her commitment goes beyond mere prediction — they're sculpting the AI-driven future.  

Biography

Valerie Hawley is Director of Corporate Partnerships the Sorbonne Centre for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI), in Abu Dhabi, an entity aiming to enhance AI capabilities across the Middle East. SCAI focuses on Healthcare, Financial Services and Climate Change. 

Her expertise lies in advising companies on their disruptive innovation strategy by developing use cases and competencies in AI related technologies.   Valerie brings over 12 years of experience in disruptive innovation: first as an entrepreneur; second, in her leadership role in setting up the digital innovation and entrepreneurship programme at HEC Paris; and third, in her previous role as the head of innovation at Daman, the National Health Insurance Company of Abu Dhabi.  

Valerie graduated from Sup’Optique and HEC Paris. Her strategic consulting skills were honed at KPMG where she managed multi-disciplinary teams.  Valerie has been working in the UAE for over 12 years and has built a vast network within the innovation and tech ecosystem.  

Valerie is passionate about new technologies and especially Web 3 technologies and generative AI. She is an active investor in this space. 

She is a General Partner with True Global Ventures (TGV).  TGV is a global Venture Capital firm built by a group of serial entrepreneurs with a solid track record of investing their own money together with Limited Partners into ventures run by serial entrepreneurs. Portfolio companies leverage web3 technologies, incorporating blockchain and generative AI as competitive advantages to drive change with proven products. She is also a member of the AI Investment committee for Helion Ventures, VC fund and a member of the FAST Company Middle East – AI subcommittee and Council member.  

Biography

Vilmos is currently leading the Data Products business for Lloyds Banking Group’s Commercial Bank and responsible for the development and delivery of the roadmap, the commercialisation activities and the client journeys. In his previous roles, Vilmos worked across the advanced analytics, technology, data services and regulatory compliance sub-domains of data and strategy more broadly in various geographies including the UK, the Nordics, Central Eastern Europe and Asia.

Vilmos started his career as an entrepreneur and co-founded a research and analytics consultancy boutique focusing on tech, e-commerce and information society. Vilmos is an active member of the international data community regularly sharing thoughts on the evolving data economy and contributing to the development of frameworks and standards enabling the scaled deployment of ethical AI solutions.

Biography

Vinko Lesic is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Zagreb, Croatia, in the area of control algorithms, optimisation and artificial intelligence in renewable energy and sustainability. His patented PhD research he shaped into the technology transfer project with a multinational aerospace R&D company. Since then, he has been leading multiple scientific-research and development projects, and an own research group of 25 scientists. He shares his scientific commercialisation experience through mentoring in local and international programmes for technology innovations.

Biography

Wathiq Mansoor is an esteemed Professor at the University of Dubai, renowned for his extensive academic leadership experience in esteemed universities worldwide. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Aston University in the UK, where his research focused on the design and implementation of multiprocessor systems and communication protocols for computer vision applications.

With a strong foundation in Computer Engineering, Dr. Mansoor's current research interests lie in the domains of Artificial Intelligence, intelligent systems, and security. He leverages his expertise in neural networks and deep learning models to develop innovative solutions for various applications.

Dr. Mansoor's contributions to the field of Computer Science and Engineering are widely recognized, evident in his impressive publication record comprising over 200 journal and conference papers. In recent years, his work has particularly emphasized the advancements and applications of Artificial Intelligence. He consistently strives to push the boundaries of knowledge and promote cutting-edge research in this rapidly evolving field. Apart from his scholarly pursuits, Dr. Mansoor is an accomplished organizer of international and national conferences and workshops.

His ability to bring together experts and researchers from diverse backgrounds demonstrates his commitment to fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing within the academic community. Furthermore, Dr. Mansoor actively engages in mentoring and supervising the next generation of computer engineers and innovators.

He has successfully guided numerous Ph.D. and undergraduate projects, empowering students to contribute meaningfully to the field. Additionally, he has co-supervised several postgraduate students through research collaborations with international research groups, enabling them to benefit from global perspectives and expertise. Overall, Dr. Mansoor's remarkable contributions to the field of Computer Science and Engineering continue to inspire and shape the minds of students and professionals alike.

His dedication to research, teaching, and academic leadership is instrumental in driving advancements in Artificial Intelligence and fostering innovation in the field.

Biography

Mouna Essa-egh is now the Vice President  for the Secure Power division at Schneider Electric.

Her current responsibilities include driving Schneider Electric’s portfolio and growth strategies for the data centre space, as well as fostering strategic relationships and enhancing customer satisfaction across Middle East and Africa (MEA).   Prior to this role, Mouna was the Vice President for the IT division, overseeing Francophone Africa. She was tasked with transforming Schneider Electric into an efficient, collaborative end-user-focused organisation working hand-in-hand with its entire channel ecosystem to serve customers better.  

Based in Casablanca, Morocco, Mouna brings with her over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. She has held various roles in Business Unit and Profit & Loss Management as well as sales across diverse sectors such as banking and finance and telecommunications in Hewlett Packard Enterprise in MEA as well as Northern and Central Europe.    

In 2018, she expanded her horizons by joining Schneider Electric, where she was given the opportunity to lead a team of professionals in catering to the data centre industry.   Mouna holds a Degree in Electrical Engineering as well as a Master of Business Administration from ESCP Business School. In her free time, Mouna enjoys singing and painting, and she is also a certified tourist guide.  

Biography

Phil has been part of Infor for 20 years and leads the International Solution Consulting team. The International team consists of solution architects, solution consultants and technical consultants, all focused on providing exceptional solutions to customers across EMEA and APAC. The entire team is driven to create value for customers by architecting world-class cloud services, based on Infor’s portfolio of industry-specific CloudSuites, Strategic Edge solutions, digital platform technologies and innovation offerings.

Phil is passionate about innovation, and how the array of digital technologies available today can transform organisations of all sizes…enabling them to take advantage of new opportunities and align for growth, both today and in the future.

Biography

Biography

Saad Toma is the General Manager of IBM Middle East and Africa. He leads IBM’s business including technology and ecosystem sales organization, consulting practice, the technical community including client engineering and the IBM Research organization for the region.  

Saad is a highly sought-after advisor and thought leader in the field of Hybrid Cloud, AI for Business, Sustainability and Automation strategies. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from Oxford Brookes University, an MBA from the University of Southampton. At leisure, he enjoys spending time with his family, tennis, theatre and travel.

Biography

Leading several directions of AI implementation in bank.Initiating, managing, developing and implementation ML/DS/CV/AI solutions to different processes in bank (risk management, anti-fraud, personalization, customer value maximization, churn prediction etc)

- Head of AI in 3rd largest Bank in Central and Eastern Europe

– Gazprombank- Kaggle TOP100 (highest world rank– 68th)

- AI and Digital Transformation courses lecturer in universities (HSE, BMSTU, Sirius, Sberbank Corporate University)

Biography

Dr. Awad is a Partner based out of the BCG Riyadh office. He leads the Smart Cities topic in BCG globally, and is a core member of the senior leadership of Technology and Digital Advantage and the Public Sector Practices, with over 15 years of experience in consulting, telecommunications, and technology. Since joining BCG, Dr. Awad has been focusing on shaping tech & digital agenda for a diverse group of leading clients, mainly in the Middle East.

He built deep expertise in Data, AI and Smart City strategy and activation, digital transformation, technology strategy and Agile, primarily in Public Sector and TMT. Most recently, Dr. Awad has been advising senior clients and leaders in the Middle East on unlocking the value of national data through AI to advance economies and societies. He's also driving Smart City strategies' development and activation at national and city levels.

He is playing a key role in driving KSA's national data and AI agenda, including developing the national Data, AI and Smart City strategy and governance, and activating whole-of-government AI-powered policy development and decision-making. He's been championing a number of global initiatives focusing on human-centric AI, including the Global AI Summit. Prior to joining BCG, Dr. Awad worked with several telco and tech firms covering clients in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

As an Adjunct Professor with IE, Akram engages with young future entrepreneurs on the role of technology in shaping the future society, from creating digitally innovative business models to promoting an impactful and sustainable innovation culture. Dr. Awad holds a PhD in Information Systems and an MBA in Global Management. 

Biography

Ankit A. Shukla passionately guides Homo sapiens on 4C's (chance-choice-change-conundrum) and his life motto is: "Managing Complexity Without Compromise“. Driven by this underlying ethos, he has been involved in commercial activities of F&S’s  technology and trends practise area, TechVision, impacting large companies, start up’s, research entities, VC’s, PE, banks, government organizations etc. 

Ankit guides individuals and organizations leveraging his pet, 3B’s framework – Build or Buy or Borrow. He particularly enjoys getting involved in strategy development, future R&D focus, impact of trends, technology convergence, partnership development and commercial due diligence. Energy, Materials,  Aerospace, Automotive, Consumer, ICT, Healthcare, Consumer electronics are some of the sectors wherein he has been involved. 

He resides in Oxford, has a PhD (on hold) on AI (Ethics and Cognitive Bias) from University of Oxford + a Master of Science in Control Systems from University of Sheffield, UK.

Biography

Mr. Awad Ahmed Ali El-Sidiq (Chief Data Officer of the year 2023 , Award Winner of Best AI Project Implementation for Energy and Utilities Sector 2022 – 2023 & Award Winner of Oracle Worldwide DBA Excellence Award for EMEA Region at Open World USA 2013) is Head of Artificial intelligence & Analytics at ADNOC Distribution – U.A.E, Key Member on Data warehouse – Big Data Worldwide Leader Program.

With more than 15 years of IT Industry experience in architecting and managing large enterprise Database Applications and Advance Analytics Solutions for delivering services to more than 10,000 users and millions of customers across all ADNOC Distribution businesses.

Pioneer in Implementing BI & Advance Analytics (AI/ML) Solutions in Oil and Gas industry in Middle East & Africa region (MEA). His dedication and initiatives has been recognized globally. Has led major AI/ML Use Cases Development and Deployment with huge Business Revenues and Benefits. One of the First Globally to Implement and Consolidate Successfully Enterprise Critical Production Databases using Oracle Exadata , Exalogic and Private Cloud Appliance in EMEA Region.

Biography

Alan Boyd is an experienced, technology, media, intellectual property and finance specialist with a long history of success in Europe, America, Australia and Asia in startup, high-growth and listed technology  companies.

A pioneer of the 1970s US personal computer industry, he was the first Manager of Product Development at Microsoft where he reported directly to Bill Gates. He managed the development of many of the world’s leading software products that are today household names and used by billions of people worldwide. In 1981, he founded Microsoft’s Acquisitions Group and managed the company’s investment strategy.

Biography

Amnah Ajmal is the Executive Vice President, Market Development, EEMEA for Mastercard. In this role, she is responsible for acceptance, acquiring, merchants, digital partnerships, fintech’s, strategy and M&A for the region. Prior to this role she led the North America product organization, based out of the US, responsible for the development and management of consumer and small business payment solutions, including credit, debit, prepaid, small business and acceptance solutions, with a focus on creating sustainable competitive differentiation for Mastercard and its customers.

Amnah joined Mastercard in 2015 as Head of Products for Middle East & Africa where she focused on driving innovation across consumer and commercial payments based on technology, partnerships and delivering digitally integrated consumer experiences.   Prior to joining Mastercard she was heading the consumer bank franchise for Standard Chartered Malaysia responsible for end-end P&L. She was also responsible for retail banking strategy for Indonesia, Malaysia & Taiwan in a global role based out of Singapore.

Prior to Standard Chartered, Amnah worked at Citigroup in UAE, Egypt, UK and Poland. She held a number of positions at Citigroup including Asset Business Head for Poland responsible for full range of consumer asset products, innovation and distribution including credit cards, co brands, personal loans and mortgages.  

She was honored to be listed as the top 100 women in Fintech, across the globe, for 2019 by Lattice80 and recognized as the top 25 women leaders in financial technology by the Financial Technology Report US for 2019 & 2020. She was recently recognized as the top 100 women in fintech, across the globe, for 2021 by IBM & Fintech magazine. She also holds the honor of being in America’s top 10 women in Fintech by the Fintech Magazine for 2020.

She holds a master’s degree from London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).

Biography

Multiple award winning Business Professional. 

Honored with the:  "Nelson Mandela Nobel Peace Award" 2021

"Mother Teresa Memorial Award 2022" by UAE Ministry of Presidential Affairs 2022, UAE Ministry of Economy under the patronage of HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Mother of the Nation in the UAE. 

"Emerging Business Leader " by the British Parliament, House of Lords 2022. 

“Most Influential Leader” by Asia one, UAE 2023

Dedicated 16 years of professional experience in active partnerships and family office advisory that necessitate sub-structuring of strategic initiations, economic & political management, business & financial aid along with overall assistance for the MENA & Asia Pacific.   

Has completed academic credentials in Public Policy Economics from University of Oxford & received an Honorary Doctorate from Mother Teresa University in International Business. 

- Presently the  CEO at Trust With Trade Group UAE, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, established as an independent and fully integrated international company held by a family office, across oil & gas, manufacturing, mining, waste management, Green and renewable Technology. Recently the group has diversified by investing in AI, Neuroscience & Biotechnology.

- Senior Advisor, Multiple Family offices, in the UAE: Advisory & invest across Central & southern Asia, EU & USA. 

- Founder and CEO, Oxygenate, Sustainability initiative for Global Climate Change and Renewable Energy. 

Oxygenate is Awarded by the UAE Ministry of Economy, UAE ministry of Youth & UAE ministry of Foreign Trade, showcased at the Expo 2020 UAE Ministry of Economy, at Abu Dhabi city Muncipality in 2023 and also by Forbes Latin America. 

Dr. Arshi is advocating ventures of Social entrepreneurship, impact investments, advanced sciences, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, trade and diplomacy amplifiers. 

Biography

Mr. Perez is author of Knightmare on Wall Street, The Rise and Fall of Knight Capital and the Biggest Risk for Financial Markets, and The Speed Traders, An Insider’s Look at the New High-Frequency Trading Phenomenon That is Transforming the Investing World, published in English by McGraw-Hill Inc., Jiaoyi Kuaishou, published in Mandarin by China Financial Publishing House, and Investasi Super Kilat, published in Bahasa Indonesia by Kompas Gramedia. He has contributed to The New York Times, W Radio, Sina Finance and CGTN.   

Mr. Perez was a vice president at Citigroup, a senior consultant at IBM, and a strategy consultant at McKinsey. Mr. Perez has an undergraduate degree in Systems Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Lima, Peru, a Master of Administration from Universidad ESAN, Lima, Peru, and an MBA from Columbia Business School, New York, majoring in Finance and Management. Mr. Perez is an accomplished salsa and hustle dancer who enjoys spending time with wife Olga, son Edgar Felipe and daughters Svetlana Sofia and Mary Olympia.   

Biography

Bernard Ghanem is currently a Professor in the CEMSE division, a theme leader at the Visual Computing Center (VCC), and the Deputy Director of the AI Initiative at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). His research interests lie in computer vision and machine learning with emphasis on topics in video understanding, 3D recognition, and theoretical foundations of deep learning.

He received his bachelor’s degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2005 and his MS/PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2010. His work has received several awards and honors, including six Best Paper Awards for workshops in CVPR, ECCV, and ICCV, a Google Faculty Research Award in 2015 (1st in MENA for Machine Perception), and a Abdul Hameed Shoman Arab Researchers Award for Big Data and Machine Learning in 2020. He has co-authored more than 150 papers in his field as well as three issued patents.

He serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (TPAMI) and has served as Area Chair (AC) for the main computer vision and machine learning conferences including CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, NeurIPS, ICLR, and AAAI.

Biography

Bill holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Information Systems) from Curtin University, Australia and an MBA from University of South Australia in addition to several industry related certificates. With a technology industry experience spanning over 2 decades, he has worked in several industries including education, telecommunications, oil & gas, banking and finance as well as consulting. A highly skilled project management professional, digital innovation enthusiast and a certified payments professional too.  

Bill has worked with Acision, LogicaCMG, Citi Bank (Singapore), eProcess International S.A. (A member of the Ecobank Group), Fidelity Bank Ghana Ltd. and is currently the Chief Innovation Officer at Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited.  

Biography

Since 1992 Corey Gray, a qualified Illumination Engineer, has been a prominent figure in the Smart City and IoT space. Founder and now Global Chairperson of LVX Global, Corey is an active member of global industry groups including Australian Smart Communities Association, Institute of Public Works Engineers Australasia and Silicon Valley based global technology industry group LMI, as well as multiple charitable boards. Fuelled by a deep passion for place and our collective future on this planet, Corey currently serves as Global CEO of the Smart Cities Council driving cross-sector collaboration, capacity and capability.  

Biography

Dana is a digital executive with over 20 years of experience in digital transformation in diverse industries and broad experience in strategy, industry 4.0 technologies, and organizational performance. She is the CEO and co-founder of Thynkli, a progressive technology services company that specializes in Digital Twining and hyper-automation from strategy to execution. Thynkli positions Digital Twin of Organization (DTO) as a foundational tool for business transformation, with a focus on Digital Twin Architecture and adoption.    

Thynkli is a member of the Digital Twin Consortium and currently launching the Regional Branch for DTC in the Middle East. Dana is leading the Business Maturity working group at the Digital Twin Consortium and co-authored the Business Maturity Model, a tool that is currently available for DTC members to use to start their Digital Twinning journey.   

Dana is an esteemed speaker who spoke on several industry stages such as Future Digital Twins, Digital Twins in Oil & Gas, and Digital Twins in Aviation. Dana has an MBA from the University of Victoria in Canada with a specialization in Strategy & Organizational Performance.    

Biography

Dr Evan Shellshear is the Managing Director and Group CEO of Ubidy, an innovative global recruitment marketplace connecting employers to specialist agencies, and an expert in artificial intelligence with a Ph.D. in Game Theory from the Nobel Prize winning University of Bielefeld in Germany.

He has almost two decades of international experience in the development and design of AI tools for a variety of industries having worked with the world's top companies on all aspects of advanced analytical solutions from optimisation to machine learning in applications from HR to oil and gas, and robotics to supply chain. He is also the author of the Amazon best seller, Innovation Tools.  

Biography

Director of The Social Machines and Robotics labs (SMART) at New York University Abu Dhabi. Researcher in the fields of AI, Robotics, Cognitive Computing, Human-Computer Interaction

Biography

Keshav Pingali is the CEO of Katana Graph, a start-up in the area of graph computing backed by Intel Capital, Dell Technologies Capital, Redline Capital and Walden International, and a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin where he holds the W.A."Tex" Moncrief Chair of Computing. He is a Foreign Member of the Academia Europeana, a Distinguished Alumnus of IIT Kanpur, India, and a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE and AAAS. He was awarded the 2023 IEEE CS Charles Babbage Award for lifetime contributions to high-performance computing

Biography

Mathew Joseph is the Director and Head of CIMB bank AI Labs, a fully owned subsidiary of CIMB group. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at CIMB AI Labs. CIMB is the fifth largest banking group in the ASEAN region having operations in 14 countries and market capitalization of USD 14 billion. CIMB offers consumer banking, commercial banking, wholesale banking, transaction banking, Islamic banking and asset management products and services.

Mathew is leading the design and development of artificial intelligence solutions to drive the business strategy, manage business decisions and provide personalized products and services to the CIMB bank customers spread across different countries in Asia.

Mathew is an official Mentor of Kerala Startup Mission. Kerala Startup Mission is one of the largest startup business incubators in India promoted by the Government of Kerala. He is also a member of the Board of Studies in a few universities.

He is a keynote speaker in many international conferences and Universities. He has delivered lectures on Artificial Intelligence to the different Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs), Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) and many other leading international universities and industry bodies.

Mathew has experience in software development, Product & Solution development, Data Strategy & Architecture, Technology Consulting, Project management, Practice & P&L Management, starting initiatives from scratch and building local & global teams. He is an accomplished professional in Data Science with proven expertise in building a Data Science practice from ground zero

Biography

Merve Hickok is the founder of AIethicist.org. She is a globally renowned expert on AI policy, ethics and governance. Her contributions and perspective have featured in the Guardian, CNN, Forbes, Bloomberg, Wired, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Politico, Protocol, Vox, The Economist and S&P. Her research, training and consulting work focuses on impact of AI systems on individuals, society, public and private organizations - with a particular focus on fundamental rights, democratic values, and social justice. She provides consultancy to C-suite leaders, and training services to public and private organizations on Responsible AI development, due diligence and governance.

Merve is the President and Research Director at Center for AI & Digital Policy, deeply engaged in global AI policy and regulatory work. The Center educates AI policy practitioners and advocates across 60+ countries, advises international organizations (such as European Commission, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, OECD). She has provided testimony to the US Congress, State of California Civil Rights Office, New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, Detroit City Council, and many global organizations interested in AI policy and ethics.   

At University of Michigan, she is a lecturer at School of Information, Responsible Data and AI Advisor at Michigan Institute for Data Science, and affiliated faculty at Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy (Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program).

Merve also works with several non-profit organizations globally to advance both the academic and professional research in this field for underrepresented groups. She has been recognized by a number of organizations - most recently as one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics™ – 2021, and as Runner-up for Responsible AI Leader of the Year - 2022 (Women in AI).

Previously, Merve held various senior roles in Fortune 100 companies for more than 15 years.

Biography

Mohamed Zouari has been in the Software Industry for 20 years. After 10 years of experience with the Software division of Hewlett Packard Enterprise as Strategic Account Manager, he joined the Snowflake adventure in 2018. He is now General Manager for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region collaborating with local Partners and Customers in their data driven transformation journey using the best Cloud Data Platform in the Market. Mohamed brought the hottest Software company into the UAE and opened a legal entity (Snowflake Middle East FZ LLC), an office in Dubai Media City, hired a local team and successfully launched Snowflake on Azure UAE in collaboration with Microsoft in early 2022. He is working with several government entities like Dubai Digital Authority to make the UAE the most advanced country when it comes to Data & AI.

Biography

Pieter is an experienced engineer and technologist who helps organizations use real-time, event-based Digital Twins to improve situational awareness, process efficiency and decision-making without disrupting operations.  

He is recognized as a thought leader in Industrial Digital Transformation and has written and spoken extensively on topics such as Digital Twins, IIoT, AI/ML, Smart Cities, and Industrial Blockchain applications.  

Pieter holds a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s in Information Technology. He currently chairs the Natural Resources Working Group in the Digital Twin Consortium (DTC) where he created the Digital Twin Capabilities Periodic Table that is used in many industries and organizations.  

Prior to this, Pieter was the chair for the Digital Twin Interoperability Task Group in the Industrial IoT Consortium (IIC). In February 2019, Pieter received the IIC Technical Innovation Award from his peers.  

He is also the co-author of the book “Building Industrial Digital Twins”, published by Packt in 2021 and was named in Onalytica's 2022 "Who's Who in IoT" as an Industry Key Opinion Leader in Digital Twins.

Biography

Richard is a Cambridge based entrepreneur. He is currently Managing Director of Metadventures Limited, Deputy Chairman of Image Scan Holdings plc, Visiting Professor at University of Science and Technology Beijing and Visiting Professor and Lead Foreign Academician with Hainan University, China.

He was a founding partner in early stage technology venture capital firm Boundary Capital Partners LLP, making a number of key investments, including its latest Impact Fund, retiring from the Partnership after 10 years in 2022. In 2018, he completed a parallel four years as a global Dealmaker for the UK Department of International Trade’s Global Entrepreneurship Programme.

Richard is a Visiting Fellow to the Faculty of Business and Law at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge; an Honorary Entrepreneurship Fellow for Durham University Business School; an external tutor for Warwick University Business School in Entrepreneurship and a mentor for both the Judge Business School in Cambridge and Cranfield Business School.

Richard has also been an invited judge for a number of international business competitions and worked extensively throughout Europe, Scandinavia, US. He is particularly active in China and Spanish-speaking countries where he has a degree of language proficiency. Following a successful 11 year career progression in defence and security with BAE Systems (including development of one of the first UK intelligent telematics vehicles), Richard moved to Cambridge in 1994 to work with the international technology consulting Generics Group (now Sagentia Group).

From 2001 with the investment arm of the Group following its successful FTSE flotation, he worked as a fund manager, making investments from a number of funds in diverse areas from nanotechnology to biometrics and vision systems. He then left to set up and lead a new offshore Homeland Security Fund in 2006 and from 2008-2012, was CEO of Blue Star Capital plc, a London based listed company investing in Homeland Security technologies.

Biography

Dr. Richard Benjamins is Chief AI & Data Strategist at Telefonica. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in data-driven business (DataIQ 100, 2018).

Benjamins is also co-founder and Vice President of the Spanish observatory for ethical and social impacts of AI (OdiseIA). Prior to that, he was Group Chief Data Officer at AXA (Insurance) and held various executive positions at Telefonica on Big Data and Analytics for a decade. He is the founder of the company’s Big Data for Social Good department. Before joining Telefonica, he was director and board member at iSOCO, which he co-founded in 1999.

Based on his work, iSOCO was granted the National Award for Computer Science.Benjamins holds a PhD in Cognitive Science, has published over 100 scientific articles and is author of renowned books including “The myth of the algorithm: tales and truths of artificial intelligence” (in Spanish) and “A Data-Driven Company”.

He is a strategic advisor of several start-ups, including BigML, Focus360 and Nexus Clips as well as an external expert to the EP’s AI Observatory (EPAIO), member of the B2G data-sharing Expert Group of the European Commission, and a frequent speaker at Artificial Intelligence events.

Benjamins has held positions at the Technical University of Madrid, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the University of Paris-South, France, and the Spanish Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in Barcelona.

Biography

Pragashani Reddy is the Executive Head of Technology and Digital Enablement at Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking in Client Coverage for South Africa and Africa. 

She is Six Sigma certified with a vast and varied career history, in different banks, which has spanned from product development and design, to process engineering, automation and technical framework development and implementation. 

She has Cum Laude undergrad and postgrad degrees in Commerce from UKZN South Africa, and a Cum Laude MBA from University of Cape Town South Africa and executive postgraduate qualifications from Duke University, New York, and The Gordon Institute of Business Science, South Africa. Pragashani has a keen interest in digital innovation, artificial intelligence and data analytics.  

Biography

Dr. Luc JULIA, Chief Scientific Officer for Renault, was CTO and Senior Vice President of Innovation for Samsung Electronics, directed Siri at Apple, was Chief Technologist at HewlettPackard and cofounded a number of start-ups in the Silicon Valley. While conducting research at SRI International, he was involved in the creation of Nuance Communications, now the world leader in speech recognition.

Recipient of Légion d’Honneur, the highest order of France, and member of its National Academy of Technologies, he holds degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris and earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Paris.

He is the bestselling author of the book “There is no such thing as Artificial Intelligence”, holds dozens of patents and is recognized as one of the top 100 most influential French developers in the digital world

Biography

Davit Baghdasaryan is the CEO & Co-Founder at Krisp.ai, which provides a suite of AI-powered Voice Productivity products designed for small teams as well as enterprises. Today, Krisp processes 75B+ mins of conversations every month. Before co-founding Krisp, Davit led product security at Twilio, a leading cloud communications platform. Before Twilio, Davit has spent 12 years in different technology startups contributing to engineering and innovation.  

Biography

Dr. Prag Sharma leads Citi’s Global Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence (AI CoE). He is one of only 10 Citi Tech Fellows globally. He us a resident expert in Artificial Intelligence/ Machine Learning (AI/ML) across the organisation. As such, Prag has led the development of Citi-wide best-practices from a Governance, Risk & Controls and Technology perspective in AI, addressed AI-related infrastructure and tooling needs across the organisation and enabled state-of-the-art AI design, development and use at Citi across all its businesses. Prag represents Citi externally and has led numerous high-profile engagements with clients, global regulators, trade bodies, regional/ other advisory committees and external experts in the world of AI. Prag has led R&D teams and technology consultants in both industry and academia for over 15 years, working on emerging technologies with start-ups and multinationals in the Financial Services, Health, Technology and Pharmaceutical sectors. He also co-founded two start-ups in his previous life.  Prag holds a PhD in Machine Learning (Computer Vision) and an MBA, majoring in Innovation.

Biography

Ralf Maier-Reinhardt is a visionary digital innovator with more than 20 years of experience in the tech world. Having worked in several countries for a number of large corporations, innovation has always been at the core of his executive roles, whether in business development and sales, product development, or when founding his own company on digital transformation. Ralf was actively involved in the start of the "new economy", including pioneering the use of machine learning-based applications and he has increased his expertise in this area ever since.

Since joining Roche, Ralf has made significant contributions to Roche Diagnostics' digital portfolio with its many big data and analytics solutions. In his current role as Global Head of Lab Applications in Roche Information Solutions (RIS), he has been driving and enabling the development of the navify Algorithm Suite, a digital library of medical algorithms that enhances clinical decision-making to optimize patient care. 

RIS focuses on delivering data-driven solutions that empower healthcare professionals and patients to make insights-based decisions. Connecting the lab, care and home settings, these innovative digital solutions help unlock digital ecosystems across the care continuum for financial, operational, and clinical insights that  drive personalized healthcare for patients around the globe.

Biography

Biography

Dr. Franziska Bell is the senior vice president for digital technology at bp, leading software & platform engineering, data & analytics, and design & change management, and chairing bp’s centre of excellence for accelerating digital technology and cultural transformation. Fran is a recognized digital expert and an award-winning doctor of theoretical chemistry who received her PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, before working as a post-doctoral scholar at California Institute of Technology. Before joining bp in 2020, Fran’s ability and passion for bridging digital and physical fields saw her lead Uber to transform every employee into a data scientist by providing insights at the push-of-a-button, and drive battery and fuel cell materials discovery and artificial intelligence research for Toyota Research Institute.

Biography

Nitzan is the Chief AI Officer at eBay where he runs the company-wide strategy for artificial intelligence and technology innovation. An R&D scientist by training, Nitzan has spent his career developing machine intelligence systems, directly integrated into mission-critical products. Having led enterprise AI organizations across multiple industries, including healthcare, financial services, and e-commerce, Nitzan is a thought leader in the delivery of transformational impact through real-time AI at scale, changing companies’ business models and core value propositions to their customers. Nitzan received his PhD from the University of Chicago, and currently resides in New York City as the GM of eBay NYC.  

Biography

Daniel Wu is an accomplished technical leader with more than two decades of experience in software engineering, AI/ML, and team development. As the Head of Commercial Banking AI and Machine Learning at JPMorgan Chase, he spearheads the transformation of financial services through the innovative use of AI. Daniel's diverse professional background encompasses various successful ventures, including the creation of point of care expert systems, co-founding an online personal finance marketplace, and building an online real estate brokerage platform.  

Passionate about technology democratization and ethical AI practices, Daniel actively promotes these principles through his involvement in computer science and AI/ML education programs. He is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences, business leader gatherings, and corporate training events, where he shares his insights and experiences. Holding a computer science degree from Stanford University, Daniel's educational foundation further enhances his expertise in the field.    

Biography

 Aarash Darroodi brings a wealth of knowledge and global experience to Fender, one of the world’s leading musical instrument manufacturers, marketers and distributors, transforming music history since 1946. In his current role as Executive Vice President, General Counsel at Fender, Darroodi is responsible for all global legal needs across Fender whose portfolio of owned and licensed brands includes Fender®, Squier®, Gretsch®, Jackson®, EVH®, Charvel®, Bigsby® and PreSonus®–including mergers and acquisitions, compliance, litigation, intellectual property, corporate governance, advocacy and risk management. Darroodi continues to serve as an officer on the Board of Directors for Fender. In 2022, Darroodi was appointed as President of the Fender Play Foundation™, the brand's 501(c)(3) public charitable organization on a mission to equip, educate and inspire the next generation of players through music education.  

At the mere age of seven, Darroodi had already visited or lived in over 19 countries, shaping his global and cultural knowledge.  He has applied this wealth of life experiences to work seamlessly within FMIC across multiple countries and cultures, including the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Asia and Australia. Bringing these diverse perspectives into his role as EVP and General Counsel, his work has led to the largest acquisition in FMIC’s history of PreSonus Audio Electronics, support of the $1 billion California Proposition 28 Music and Arts Education Ballot Measure, and spearheading legislative initiatives to bring about changes to CITES and other compliance requirements for the company’s global manufacturing, logistics and sales operations. Further, he negotiated and inked deals with all major music publishers in support of Fender’s online digital learning application, Fender Play, including Universal Music, Warner/Chappell, Sony Music Publishing, and BMG and also led the organization’s global COVID-19 compliance program by navigating one of the most challenging regulatory environments impacting all aspects of Fender’s business globally including manufacturing operations, supply chain and employment operations. A big proponent of technological change and innovation, Darroodi is currently focused on expanding the reach of Fender Play and other digital initiatives across the borders of US and Europe, including entry into untouched territories, such as Japan, China, and S. Korea.  

In his spare time, Darroodi volunteers his free time to helping several refugee foundations through pro-bono legal help, mentorship and translation services. He currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, but splits his time between his offices in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Scottsdale.

Biography

Biography

Sanchit has over 16 years of tech and product experience across the US, South-East Asia, Africa, and Europe across organizations such as National Instruments, Gojek, Rocket Internet, and AppsFlyer. Currently he is working as Director-Product (Big Data & Machine Learning) with Booking.com.  

Biography

Jennifer is the founder of Alectio, the first startup focused on DataPrepOps, a portmanteau term that she coined to refer to the nascent field focused on automating the optimization of a training dataset. She is on a mission to help ML teams build models with less data (leading to both the reduction of ML operations costs and CO2 emissions) and has developed technology that dynamically selects and tunes a dataset that facilitates the training process of a specific ML model. Prior to Alectio, Jennifer was the VP of Machine Learning at Figure Eight; she also built an entire ML function from scratch at Atlassian, and led multiple Data Science projects on the Search team at Walmart Labs. She holds a PhD in Particle Physics from Sorbonne University, is recognized as one of the top industry experts on Data Preparation, Active Learning, Data-Centric AI and MLOps, and is an accomplished speaker who enjoys addressing both technical and non-technical audiences.  

Biography

Tanja is an Executive Coach for top & senior executives in MEA. She gives guest lectures about neuroleadership at universities, as for instance Harvard or HEC Paris in Qatar. As Deputy CEO of a tech company, she led over 500 employees in EMEA for over 9 yr. Education: PhD in Neuropsychology, MBA, & MA in Change Leadership (Oxford Saïd Business School).

Biography

Hassan Sawaf is founder and CEO of aiXplain, on a mission to democratize AI by making it accessible to businesses and individuals alike, and ensure equitable and fair benefit to everyone involved.  

Hassan Sawaf has more than 25 years of experience in employing cutting-edge technologies for mission-critical business operations. He has founded several machine learning organizations in small and large tech companies including AppTek, eBay, Amazon, and Facebook.   

Hassan is also an investor, board member, and advisor to a handful of promising startups and established companies and organizations around the world among them Tarjama, AppTek, Slide Insurance, and Embodied.    

Biography

Anish is a Senior leader with over 22 years of experience in the field of Data Strategy and Analytics. He has deep expertise in ideating and designing complex solutions involving Data Science, Data Engineering, Data Governance and Artificial Intelligence. He is a leader with excellent strategic vision, collaborative approach, and vision to actualise strategic goals in complex environments.  

Along with his technical contributions to the field of data, he is also a leading voice at the global level for advocating data ethics and privacy and has received numerous awards and recognition for his work, which includes; AI Young Business Leaders Award, Top 50 influential AI Leaders in India and  Top 40 under 40 Data Scientists.  

Dr. Anish also spends time mentoring Start-ups and aspiring Data Scientists and has been recognised as Top Five Data Science mentors in India. He is a mentor for NASSCOM DeepTech Club and T-Hub, acting as a catalyst in empowering pioneers, in India based deep technology start-ups and connect them with industry leaders, investors, academia and researchers to establish a global deep tech ecosystem impacting digital transformation. He serves as an academic advisor to various colleges/ universities across India and has authored more than 15 papers on various subjects related to Artificial Intelligence and advanced Data & Analytics. Anish is also a Board Member of AIM AI Forum. He has delivered key notes at more than 100 national and international events.  

Biography

Mohamed Sabri is an expert in artificial intelligence and data, having spent the past 9 years providing advisory services to businesses such as Desjardins and L'Oréal Canada. Before venturing into his own business in the MLOps world, Mohamed served as a Practice Director in AI and data. Apart from his professional ventures, he also dedicates time teaching at MIT, spending his weekends educating others about AI and machine learning. An important highlight in his career includes authoring a book on data science, which has significantly contributed to the field and is widely recognized for its practical insights and innovative approaches.

Biography

Biography

Garry is a highly skilled and respected data professional with almost two decades of experience in various technology and techno-business roles within prominent financial organisations. His expertise lies in data strategy development and solution design, and he is a strong advocate for instilling a data-driven culture within organizations. Originally from the UK, Garry has been in the region for 10 years and currently heads the Data function at Zand Bank, where he leads data management, engineering, BI and analytics work streams.

Biography

Biography

Biography

Yonghua Lin is the Vice President and Chief Engineer of Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, responsible for Large Model Research Center, AI System and Foundation Software research, and industry ecosystem cooperation. She is member of IEEE Women in Engineering Asia Pacific Leadership Team and the founder of IEEE Women in Engineering Beijing affinity. Formerly the Director of IBM China Research Lab and Distinguished Engineer at IBM, she led global AI system innovation within IBM. She has been engaged in research on system architecture, cloud computing, AI systems, computer vision, and other fields for nearly 20 years. She holds over 50 global patents and has won the ACM/IEEE Best Paper awards. She was named one of the "50 Leading Female Tech Leaders in China" by Forbes in 2019.

Biography

Biography

Vineesha HK is the Advisor of Digitalization assisting organizations achieve ambitious transformation goals. Her experience includes years of consulting along with working directly as an advisor to senior government leadership in UAE. She has also held positions in advisory boards in UAE, chairperson for a global non-profit. During her career she has provided advisory to 40+ public sector organizations and Fortune 500 companies. She has received multiple accolades from UAE govt. and MNC’s. including ‘Global Rising Star of Technology’ by the UK’s top tech jury and ‘Middle East Women Leader 2022’, “Digital Accelerator of UAE 2022” and “Distinguished speaker award 2022” along with Top women executive of the year 2023 and was recently listed as Asia’s 100 most powerful women in 2023.

She has designed digital strategies, improved digital maturity & lead transformation programs for key entities in the region. She has led initiatives to revamp customer experience across the digital channels and has leveraged emerging like AI, RPA etc. for business benefit. She expertise’s in translating leadership vision into an implementable digital strategy that drives business impact.

Biography

Dr. Omar Hatamleh is the Chief Advisor for Artificial Intelligence at Goddard Space Flight Center and the Lead for NASA IT Strategy at NASA HQ. Omar is also the co-author of Between Brains. A book that explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence and technology on the future of jobs, ethics, society and economy. Prior to this role he was the Chief Innovation Officer, Engineering at NASA, and former Executive Director of the Space Studies Program at International Space University. Previously, he was the Deputy Chief Scientist at NASA ARC responsible for identifying new and promising areas of scientific research and supporting technologies that can be integrated into the Center's capabilities. Omar has been at NASA for 26 years in different roles and has published over 33 international journal articles in Engineering. Omar has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and recognitions from NASA including the Silver Achievement Medal, NASA Innovation, and Superior Achievement Awards. He has four engineering degrees, speaks four languages, and has been an invited keynote speaker to multiple national and international events including major innovation conferences, Google, IBM, European Investment Fund, etc.

Biography

Shaheer Malik, I am a Technical Writer & Google certified UX Designer with 6+ years of experience in the field. I possess a unique blend of technical and creative skills that enable me to create user-centric content and design for various industries. My expertise lies in creating technical documentation, user guides, and training materials that are easy to understand and follow. I am also well-versed in user research, wireframing, prototyping and testing, user flow and information architecture. I have helped many companies in creating intuitive and user-friendly digital products.