Ammar Aker was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Palestine Telecom Group in February 2010.

Prior to assuming the position of the Group CEO in 2010, Ammar Aker was appointed in 2005 as CEO of the Palestine Cellular Communications Co. Ltd., Jawwal, the leading cellular operator in Palestine. He led Jawwal's efforts in not only maintaining the largest market share, surpassing the two million subscriber threshold; but also inspired the company in creating a unique customer experience for millions of customers. This was done in spite of numerous operational challenges in the Palestinian Market.

Ammar Aker began his career at Jawwal in February 2000 as the Financial Controller and was promoted to Chief Financial Officer a year later. As the first CFO of Jawwal he was responsible for revolutionizing all back office support functions, including accounting, finance, collections, purchases, human resources, administrative affairs and carrier relations.

Ammar Aker has recently been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of VTEL MEA, a company that was established a few years ago as part of Paltel’s offshore investments with a vision to tap into regional telecom markets. Paltel holds a 25% position in VTEL. He is also a member of the Board at Palestine Development and Investment Company (PADICO), the largest investment holding in the country.

Mr. Aker holds a BS degree in Accounting from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, USA and an MS degree in Accounting from Kent State University, Ohio, USA.
 

Medhat Amer is among the new breed of techno-businocrats who combine their passion for Technology and business to achieve complex operational objectives.
He currently serves as the CIO for the 3rd largest Telecom operator in the Middleeast, MOBILY, considered by many the most innovative operator in the ArabWorld.

Prior to Mobily,Medhat was the General Manager for the WiMAX operator Mada Jordan where he Directed the launch of the 4G WiMAX network in a record time of 4months. 

In less than 100 days after commercial launch MADA had the highest number of active customers on its network making it the no.1 WIMAX operator in Jordan.
Prior to Mada, Medhat worked as the CIO for Jordan’s Mobile Co (Zain) During his tenor as (CIO) he lead the team to the successful launch of all major Business and Operation Support systems that coped with an explosion of subscribers that grew 5-fold over 4 years and helped Zain maintain the number one position in the Jordanian GSM market.

During his tenor as CIO, Medhat led the team to a number of prestigious awards among which were the RIM blackberry award of excellence. The best GSM DATA award. The best use of internet technology the excellence in Innovation award (Miami), the silver award for best Customer service application and others.
Medhat also worked for the leading Software behemoth Microsoft corporation in the capacity of Enterprise and Partner Group Director.

Prior to Microsoft, Medhat was the Regional Director for Epicor-,an international provider for CRM and ERP software provider.

Medhat’s 19years career took him through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and his home country Jordan.

He is an Eloquent speaker with appearances in Major IT and Telecom conferences, lately, with a focus on Web2.0 and Mobile applications.

Medhat is fluent in Arabic,English and German,holds a BSc in Engineering and has completed the executive leadership programs at London and Harward Business Schools.
 

Mr. Ahmad Hanandeh
CEO
Zain Jordan

Mr Ahmad Al Hanandeh comes to Zain Jordan with an impressive professional track record, having joined as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the successful Zain Sudan mobile operation in March 2011.

Before that, he was for four years the General Manager of Posta Plus, the Gulf-based company specializing in world-class delivery, courier and postal services across the Middle East.

From 1994 to 2006, he was a key member of the Aramex Group initially joining as an accountant and rising to country manager of several of Aramex’s Asian operations.
 

Dr. Bassam Hannoun
CEO
Wataniya Palestine

Dr. Bassam Hannoun is the CEO of Wataniya Mobile in Palestine, a subsidiary of QTel.

He has been actively involved in the telecommunications industry for the last 20 years. Dr. Hannoun began his career in research and development and worked closely with BBC, VOA, ITU, British Gas and other international organizations.

He then joined Marconi-UK as a technical consultant and was responsible for the rollout and optimization of GSM networks in Czech Republic, South Africa and other countries. He then joined Lucent Technologies-UK to develop business in the EMEA region. He primarily worked on third generation mobile systems (UMTS) with major telecom operators such as Telefonica, KPN, Hutchinson 3g and British Telecom.

Dr. Hannoun placed more focus on the Middle East after he joined freshfield communications - an international British based consultancy company, as business development director for MENA. He was responsible for marketing, sales and business development covering the whole range of products and services portfolio across this region. His clients were primarily network operators in the region including Fastlink, NMTC and STC. He managed geographically spread teams to achieve the company targets in the MENA region.

He then became Chief Sales Officer at Orange Jordan and was responsible for commercial activities in the areas of mobile, data and fixed telephony. He also directed the re branding of Jordan Telecom Group to Orange across sales channels. Furthermore, he directed a customer facing program that was launched by Orange headquarters in France to benefit Orange operations in the African continent.

Before joining Wataniya Mobile Dr. Hannoun was Chief Executive Officer of wi-tribe Limited – Jordan P.S.C, a subsidiary of QTel. He joined wi-tribe in September 2007 and was responsible for the launch and operation of wi-tribe in Jordan until June 2010

Dr. Hannoun holds a PhD in radio network engineering, a Masters in Business Administration/strategic marketing and a Masters degree in Data Communications from the United Kingdom.
 

Prior to his appointment, Dr. Hoballah was the Chief Executive Officer of Omnix Media Networks. Previously, Dr. Hoballah held a number of executive positions at Lucent Technologies and AT&T Bell Laboratories gaining extensive experience in the field. These include appointments as Executive Sales Director (Africa & Levant), Chief Operating Officer (COO) , Executive Vice President for Services & Program Management, MEA Region. He also held the positions of Services and Software Sales & Product Management, and Information, Operation, & Data Networking Systems Director, Saudi Arabia at Lucent Technologies. Dr. Hoballah was also Senior Manager, Operations Systems, and Operations Systems Architecture Group & Data Services Product Management at, AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Dr. Hoballah currently serves as a Vice Chairman of the Arab Spectrum Management Group (ASMG) and, has been actively involved in the group’s work to coordinate issues related to Spectrum Management, World Radiocommunications Conferences and other matters concerning coordination between Arab States and CITEL in the spectrum management field.

In July 2011, Dr. Imad Hoballah assumed the Arab Regulators Network (AREGNET) presidency for one year and committed to work towards developing the sector by strengthening the capacity of local Authorities, enhancing their proactive interaction, and deepening the cooperation and exchange of experiences among all Arab organizations.

In December 2011, Dr. Hoballahparticipated in the third “Arab Infrastructure Regulatory Forum (AIRF)”where members agreed on the statute of AIRF and elected him Vice President of the executive committee.

Dr. Hoballah has a noteworthy academic record. He received a diploma from the Program for Executive Development from IMD Lausanne (Switzerland, 2000), a Master’s certificate in project management from George Washington University (Washington DC, 1997), an Executive Masters of Business Administration from Columbia University (New York, 1994), a Ph.D. in EE/Communications from Syracuse University (NY, 1986), and MS in electrical engineering from Syracuse University (NY, 1982), as well as a B.S in chemistry from the Lebanese University (Lebanon 1979).
 

Mr. Jay Srage
Senior Vice President and President, Middle East and Africa
Qualcomm

Jihad Srage serves as the Vice President and President for Qualcomm’s Middle East and Africa operations. In this role, he leads Qualcomm’s business operations in the region and manages the Company’s strategic relationships with regional customers, including network operators, infrastructure equipment providers, mobile handset vendors and value-added service developers.

Prior to joining Qualcomm in 2008, Mr. Srage spent more than 10 years at Texas Instruments (TI), most recently overseeing marketing operations for TI’s wireless terminals business unit. Mr. Srage also co-managed TI Ventures, the company’s venture finance fund, where he directed TI’s investments in start-up companies focused on the wireless and telecommunications industries. In previous roles, he was involved in marketing and business development for TI’s digital audio business unit.

Mr. Srage earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago, a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the American University of Beirut.

Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is the world leader in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of wireless communications, connecting people more closely to information, entertainment and each other. Today, Qualcomm technologies are powering the convergence of mobile communications and consumer electronics, making wireless devices and services more personal, affordable and accessible to people everywhere. For more information, visit Qualcomm at www.qualcomm.com.

Alper Turken is director of sales for Motorola Mobility’s Home business in Southern Europe, Middle East & Africa and is responsible for driving sales of Motorola’s solutions that accelerate the delivery of personal media experiences, including for the company’s video delivery solutions, digital entertainment devices and broadband networks.

Alper joined Motorola in 2000 and has held a variety of sales and business development roles within the organization’s networks and home businesses. He has a PhD in philosophy from Bosphorus University and BS in Electrical & Electronics Engineering.

Alper is a member of ABFT (American Business Forum, Turkey) and participates in a number of work group activities which provide consultation to the Turkish Government regarding telecoms strategies.

Alper’s interests include philosophy, psychology, politics, travelling and football.
 

Mr. Basel Tutunji
COO
nPARIO

As a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, Basel is responsible for sales and business development, delivering nPario’s comprehensive set of products and services to companies who want to increase their data-generated revenue. A recognized business intelligence expert, Tutunji brings more than 18 years of experience in the areas of business and data strategy, e-commerce and decision support systems.

Before establishing nPario, Tutunji held management roles in several multinational corporations, including SAS, Intershop Communications and Oracle, driving double-digit sales growth in the regions he managed. Tutunji also contributes his extensive IT expertise to SmartCity, a global initiative to connect vibrant, knowledge-based communities and companies across the world.

Tutunji graduated from Oklahoma State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.