Mr. Jawad Abbassi

Mr. Samir M. Abdulhadi

Dr. Diar Ahmed

Mr. Sam Barnett

Mr. Thomas Brill

Mr. Ross Cormack

Mr. Mohamed Elnawawy

Mr. Jeremy Foster

Mr. Osama Ghoul

Mr. Krishna Gopal

Mr. Steven Hall

Dr. Ahmad Hiasat

Dr. Abdel Malik Al Jaber

HE Minister of ICT Mr. Marwan Juma

Dr. Ibrahim A. Kadi

Mr. Peter Kaliaropoulos

Mr. Hakam Kanafani

Mr. Mohammad Omran

Mr. Qusai Qaryouti

Dr. Kamal S. Shehadi

Mr. Jihad (Jay) Srage

	Mr. Jawad Abbassi Founder and General Manager Arab Advisors Group Mr. Abbassi has 16 years experience in the telecommunications, Internet and datacommnications fields. Mr. Abbassi founded the Arab Advisors Group in 2001. As General Manager of Arab Advisors Group, Mr. Abbassi directs the research and consulting activities of the company in addition to steering its marketing operations. Mr. Abbassi is also a frequent guest speaker at conferences and seminars related to technology, communications and media in the Arab World. On September 14, 2005, the Arab Jordan Investment Bank (AJIB) and Arab Advisors Group concluded an agreement by which AJIB buys a 55% stake in Arab Advisors Group. The cash transaction allowed AJIB and the Arab Advisors Group to leverage strategic synergies to enhance the quality and scope of services of Arab Advisors Group. Arab Advisors Group -a private shareholding company registered in Jordan- will now be owned by the Arab Jordan Investment Bank (55%) and Mr. Jawad Abbassi (45%). Before founding Arab Advisors Group, Mr. Abbassi’s career experience includes working as a senior telecommunications and technology consultant with the Yankee Group in Boston - USA. Between 1998 and 2000, Mr. Abbassi was a Senior Analyst with the communications research arm of the Economist Intelligence Unit in Boston. Before his work in Boston, Mr. Abbassi worked as a corporate accounts manager for Jordan’s leading Internet service provider (NETS). With NETS, Mr. Abbassi led and coordinated the work needed to establish its first international leased line with Cyprus. Mr. Abbassi also worked for Apple Computers dealership, in addition to being a weekly columnist on Information Technology in Jordan’s leading English weekly. Languages: Mr. Abbassi is fluent in English in addition to being a native speaker of Arabic. Basic French. Education: Mr. Abbassi received a BSc in engineering from the American University in Cairo (Egypt – 1993). Jawad also received an academic scholarship to complete his MSc in information systems from the London School of Economics (United Kingdom - 1998). Memberships and affiliations: Member of Jordan’s Engineers Association Member of The Arab Business Forum for Information and Communication Technology ABFICT. Elected to the board in 2005. Member of the steering committee for UN ICT Task Force of the "Wireless Internet and the Arab-World" series. Vice Chairman of Jordan’s information technology association (int@j) between 2006 and 2008. Elected to the board in 2004 and elected as Vice Chairman in 2006. Chosen for membership in the Young Arab Leaders Organization. Bishop’s school (Amman), AUC (Cairo) and LSE (London) Alumni associations
	Mr. Samir M. Abdulhadi President & Chief Executive Officer Orbit Group Mr. Samir M. Abdulhadi has had a long and successful professional career that has given him experience in a wide variety of industries and businesses. Mr. Abdulhadi completed his education in the United Kingdom attaining his Master’s Degree in Petrochemicals and Hydrocarbons from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. In 1976, he returned to his native Saudi Arabia. Mr. Abdulhadi has a 33-year career which started in 1977 when he joined the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). After a ten-year tenure with SABIC in senior positions at the corporate and joint venture levels, Mr. Abdulhadi moved to the private sector where he held the position of Managing Director at the Arabian Company for Detergents (DAC), and transformed DAC from a small detergents company into one of the major industry players in Saudi Arabia and Arab detergents market with significantly expanded product range. Mr. Abdulhadi joined the Mawarid Group as the Managing Director of Mawarid Food Company in January 1991, and continues with the Mawarid Group to date. In January 2002, Mr. Abdulhadi was appointed President & CEO of Orbit Communications Company, and is now the President & CEO of the Orbit Group of companies. Mr. Abdulhadi currently holds the following functions: Saudi Chemical Company (Publicly listed) - Vice Chairman of the Board - Member of the Executive Committee - Chairman of the Compensation Committee Meed Holding Company (Closed Joint Stock Company) - Chairman of the Board -Chairman of the Executive and Compensation Committees Noorsat - Chairman of the Board Panther Media Group (Orbit Showtime Network) - Vice Chairman of the Board - Chairman of the Compensation Committee
	Dr. Diar Ahmed CEO Asiacell Dr. Diar Ahmed is the CEO of Asiacell, the first and largest Iraqi telecom company. Dr. Ahmed assumed this position in 2008 to lead a world-class team extending over 2,000 employees. Dr. Ahmed has scored numerous achievements as the company's CEO, most notably of which is increasing the company's subscribers well over 7 millions in a record time. Under his leadership, the company also became the sole Iraqi telecom provider with 100% national coverage of the all 18 governorates of Iraq. As the company's CEO, Dr. Ahmed shoulders the responsibilities of devising and implementing Asiacell's long-term strategies, monitoring the work process and controlling quality. Since joining Asiacell in 2002, Dr. Ahmed has assumed a number of critical positions at the company. He was first appointed as a media relations manager and the official spokesperson for Asiacell, for which he was greatly qualified due to his staggering ability to communicate with the various media and social segments in the country. Dr. Ahmed later become the company's marketing manager, assuming the responsibility of placing long-term marketing and public relations strategies to promote the company's various products and services to the Iraqi public. Under his leadership, the department was able to develop highly creative strategies that had greatly benefited the company and the Iraqi public. Before becoming CEO, Dr. Ahmed was the official consultant for the company's Board of Directors on all executive, financial, developmental, quality control, marketing and public relations issues. Dr. Ahmed established IraqCom, a company specialized in providing advanced IT end to end solutions in 2004 to become one of the leading players in the field in Iraq. Dr. Ahmed acquired MBChB in General Medicine from Sulaymaniyah University in 1998. He also acquired a Master's degree in clinical Pharmacology in 2005. He is also a certified HP expert. Dr. Ahmed believes that an organization's success cannot be achieved without the implementation of various mechanisms that allow for continuous communication with all segments of society. He also believes that life is full of positive opportunities that any ambitious person must combine with viable skills and expertise to secure a promising future.
	Mr. Sam Barnett Chief Operating Officer and General Manager MBC Group
	Mr. Thomas Brill International Sales Director Orga Systems Thomas is International Sales Director at Orga Systems, based in Istanbul, Turkey and joined the company more than eight years ago, responsible for Sales and Business Development in Eastern Europe, Central & South Asia and MENA Region. As one of the key drivers of the idea of convergent billing, he achieved critical milestones for Orga Systems in the last years.   His focus is the customer and their demands for different markets. Customer satisfaction, simplicity and efficiency, combined with a long term view, is the most important factor to provide solutions, which meet the customers’ requirements. He strongly believes and follows the mission of a single billing and charging system for all subscribers, independent of the technology and payment method. He has been working for 14 years in Telecoms and has extensive experience in Strategic Planning and Marketing and Sales. Among other things he established Marketing and Sales for a calling card provider who offered low cost long distance telephony, Corporate Sales for MVNO, business plan for MVNO formation with Venture Capital. He has been living and working most of his business career abroad, in different countries and has experiences in other industries and markets.
	Mr. Ross Cormack CEO Nawras Ross Cormack was appointed Nawras CEO in June 2004. Following an extremely fast build out, Nawras launched to great acclaim in March the following year, going on to successfully achieve more than 47% market share with over 1.7 million customers by August 2009. Highly praised for its pleasingly different customer service, Nawras has redefined and simplified the whole customer experience including what is bought and where, as well as how to get help and how to pay. In 2007 Nawras launched the first 3G network in the Sultanate of Oman and in November 2008, the Nawras consortium won the Sultanate’s second fixed license after a highly competitive bidding process. Nawras is now building the latest generation fibre optic backbone and WiMAX wireless access networks across the country to deliver Broadband telecommunications and Internet access, offering innovative, cutting edge IP based media and communication services. Nawras is also building its own international gateway to offer international voice and data services. Nawras has received many awards including most recently, Customer Service Provider of the Year from CommsMEA, Middle East Call Centre of the Year from INSIGHTS and Award for Brand Leadership at the Global Awards for Brand Excellence. Previously Nawras was named ‘Middle East Mobile Operator of the Year’ by CommsMEA, received ‘Middle East Business Achievement Award for Corporate Social Responsibility’ from Leaders and global recognition through the Judges’ Award ‘Above and Beyond the Call of Duty’ at the World BSS Awards. Nawras received the title of ‘Best Telecom Brand Oman’ from Business Today magazine for the third year running in 2009 and Ross was named ‘Telecommunication Man of the Year 2009’ at the Pan Arab Web Awards with the company’s website winning at the 2009 Oman Web Awards for the fifth year running. Seconded to Nawras from Qtel, which he joined in May 2003 as Executive Director Wireless Services, Ross brought over 20 years of international telecommunications experience including mobile start-ups and operations. Earlier he was CEO and founder of Singapore based Virgin Mobile Asia, a US billion dollar start-up joint venture between Singtel and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Asia's first international MVNO. Previously, he was Managing Director of Hong Kong CSL, the market leader in one of the world's most competitive and crowded mobile markets with six operators. He was also a member of the Chief Executive Committee of Hongkong Telecom. Other roles have included Managing Director of AirTouch in Italy, Managing Director Asia of Cable & Wireless Mobile based in Singapore and Regional Director for Cable & Wireless Mobile in Europe based in London. In his time Ross has shareholder managed 16 mobile operators, been on the board of six and taken the CEO/MD role for four operators across Europe, Middle East and South East Asia.
	Mr. Mohamed Elnawawy Vice President for Corporate Strategy Telecom Egypt In May 2009 Mohamed was appointed as Vice President for Corporate Strategy (CSO) for TE. Before that and since November 2006 he held the position of VP, International, Wholesale and Regulatory Affairs. He joined the Telecom Egypt Group in November 2001 as the Chairman and Managing Director of TE Data, SAE which is the TE subsidiary responsible for the TE Group’s retail IP transit and managed data services. Previously, in Jan 1992 Mohamed co-founded InTouch Communications Services, SAE a local ISP in Egypt where he resided as Chairman and Managing Director till April 2000. After that for 18 months, Mohamed consulted for the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. Mohamed holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and a Master of Laws (LLM)
	Mr. Jeremy Foster Marketing Director Ericsson Jeremy Foster is a veteran of the Telecoms industry with over 13 years experience across sales and marketing as well as solution design roles. As Marketing Director Jeremy is responsible for all marketing initiatives in the ME region for Ericsson Communications. As a key contributor to strategy, Jeremy is also responsible for engaging proactively with regulators and government and regularly meets many TRA's to understand their priorities and also share knowledge from the region and beyond. At the Arab Advisors conference in Amman Jordan, 7-8 June Jeremy will moderate the convergence panel on the first day, bringing together several key stakeholders and highlighting their insights as to the opportunities and threats following this phenomenon. Following this, Jeremy will also moderate the regulator panel on the second day as we look to balance the demands of consumers eating up more and more band width and operators who need to run a profitable business delivering to these consumers.
	Mr. Osama Ghoul Managing Partner devoteam Osama Ghoul is the Founder and Managing Partner of Devoteam Middle East, a part of the Devoteam Group. An entrepreneur with an impeccable record of driving companies to success, Ghoul has senior management experience in a range of international companies such as FLAG Telecom, Bell Atlantic and Ericsson. A noted leader and consultant on strategic operational and marketing for the ICT industry, Ghoul is an expert of the issues and trends affecting the ICT markets in the Middle East. As the Managing Partner at Devoteam Middle East, Ghoul has built an impressive customer base, some the names include major telecom operators such as Saudi Telecom, Mobily, Atheeb, ITC & Bayyanat, government entities such as the Commission for Information Technology and Communications, the Ministry for Communications and Information Technology in Saudi & Jordan, and the Saline Water Conversion Corporation, and some major banks including Riyadh Bank, National Commercial Bank. With one of the largest networks in the Middle East, Devoteam Middle East has become the partner of choice for the telecommunications and IT sectors. This success can be attributed to Devoteam Entrepreneurial spirit, Specialized focus and Collaborative approach with its customers.
	Mr. Krishna Gopal Corporate Head Tech Mahindra Krishna Gopal is a mechanical engineering graduate from VJTI (1981) in Mumbai, INDIA and has a Masters in Marketing from SPJIMR (1983), Mumbai (http://www.spjimr.org). He carries a rich experience of over 23 years primarily in marketing and sales across diverse industries like office equipment, consumer durables, chemicals, retail and software services. He has been with Tech Mahindra Ltd since 1999 and currently heads the Middle East, Africa and SAARC regions as Vice President. Krishna’s prior employment includes leading Indian conglomerates like Godrej and Boyce (http://www.godrej.com/), Asian Paints (http://www.asianpaints.com/) and Satyam (http://www.sifycorp.com/). His work tenure also includes a year of experience at Saudi Arabia in retail operations. At Godrej he was part of the management team that established the IT and Office Automation business. Krishna was amongst the initial members of the start up team at SIFY, India’s first private Internet service provider. Besides actively pursuing his career he also undertakes teaching assignments on a part-time basis at MBA schools in Mumbai. He has participated as a speaker on several forums in India such as NASSCOM, CII etc and has also conducted workshops on IT strategy on behalf of these organizations.
	Mr. Steven Hall CEO CNBC Arabiya
	Dr. Ahmad Hiasat Chairman of the board / CEO Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC)
	Dr. Abdel Malik Al Jaber CEO Zain Jordan Dr Abdel Malik Al Jaber comes to Zain with a wealth of experience and a long record of achievements both locally and regionally. He was appointed CEO of Zain Levant in July 2009 and CEO of Zain Jordan in August 2009. Prior to his new post at Zain he was appointed Vice Chairman of the Board and CEO of the Paltel Group in 2003 during which he was able to restructure the company towards increased profits and sustained innovation and social responsibility. He increased the company’s profits from USD$ 15 million in 2003 to USD$ 100 million in 2005. Additionally, during his tenor, the Paltel Group became the first company in the country to pioneer the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility introducing Sustainability Practice and Reporting as per the GRI Standards and later on creating the first Corporate Foundation in the country. In private sector in Palestine, Dr. Al Jaber is the Chairman of the Golden Wheat Mills Company, Chairman of the Board of Wasel Logistics, and a Founder of Al Rafah Bank, the first Mirco-Finance Bank in the region. In 2005, Dr. Al Jaber helped found VTEL Holdings, a UAE based company with USD$ 1 billion in capital comprised of high net worth investors from Palestine and the Arab World. VTEL’s business objectives were to obtain licenses to operate ICT projects worldwide; in CSR countries, Africa, Central and Latin America including the Caribbean. Today the company has operations in Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Iraq, Kurdistan, Jordan and Burundi in Africa. He is also a member of the Board of Cairo Amman Bank in Jordan, and is a member of its Audit Committee as well, he is a Member of the Executive Committee at Ayla Jordan, and a Member of the Executive Committee for Astra Group Jordan, which is considered as one of the most important investment holdings in the Kingdom with investments in: Tourism, Insurance, Real Estate, and Agriculture. He is a current member of the Arab Business Council and the World Economic Forum, The Arab Technology Forum, Member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), Founder of the Young Arab Leaders Chapter in Palestine, and today serves as a regional Board Member of the YAL Organization in Dubai with Chapters in Lebanon, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. Dr. Al Jaber is a graduate of Jordan University of Science and Technology, McGill University - Canada, North Western University- Kellogg School of Business Administration, USA, and International School of Management, Paris. He holds a DBA, MBA as well as an BEng and MSC in Engineering. He is a recipient of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum “Best Arab Manager Award for Excellence in Management” for the year 2001, as the leading business executive in Palestine
	HE Minister of ICT Mr. Marwan Juma
	Dr. Ibrahim A. Kadi Senior Advisor Communications & IT Commission (CITC) Prof. Ibrahim Kadi is Senior Advisor at the Communication & Information Technology Commission (CITC), the ICT regulatory authority in Saudi Arabia. He has over 30 years of experience in academic, professional, industrial and regulatory fields. His areas of expertise include Communication engineering, Knowledge Economy, Information Security, and Socio-economic Impact of Technology. He was a Professor of Communications at King Saud University (1984-2004). He served as the ITU Representative to the Arab States and Head of the ITU Arab Regional Office (2002-2003). Prof. Kadi was Vice President for Engineering and R&D of Advanced Electronics Company (1991-1994) and served as an Executive Consultant (1994-2004). Prof. Kadi currently serves as an independent Member of the Board Risk Management Committee at the Saudi Stock Exchange Co. (Tadawul), He is a member of the Advisory Board for Academic Accreditation, of KSU College Engineering. Prof. Kadi performed consultancy services to government agencies, private sector and international organizations. Prof. Kadi holds a Ph. D. from Stanford University (1984), an M.Sc. from the University of Michigan (1984), and B.Sc. from Riyadh University (1978), all in Electrical Engineering. Prof. Kadi has published over a 120 scientific papers, general-interest and literary works, and spoke at numerous national and international conferences. He is a member of the Saudi Computer Society, International Association for Cryptologic Research, Saudi Association for Mathematical Sciences, and Saudi Economics Association. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE.
	Mr. Peter Kaliaropoulos CEO Batelco
	Mr. Hakam Kanafani Chief Business Development and Synergy Office Oger Telecom Hakam Kanafani is a University Trustee Scholar and holds Beta Gamma Sigma honors. He graduated from the University of Maryland, college Park with a B.A. and a B.Sc.. Kanafani holds an MBA with a 4.0 GPA and post graduate work in Economics. He continued his Executive Education Harvard Business School (financial Analysis and Valuation). Mr. Kanafani is the Chief Business Development and Synergy Officer for Oger Telecom (over 45m million subscribers under management). He also represents Oger Telecom as a Member of the Board of Directors for South Africa’s GSM operator “Cell-C”, Turkey’s leading broadband provider “TT Net”, Innova Systems, ASSIST Inc. and ARGELA Solutions in Turkey and USA. Upon graduation, Kanafani joined the Information Technology team in NASA, Goddard Space Flight, Maryland. He was then named as the COO for United Auto Technologies, Orange County, California. Kanafani then moved to the Middle East as the Business Development Director for Egypt’s oldest running private holding company “MM Sons Conglomerate” (established 1895). He spearheaded the conglomerate’s efforts to establish successful, rapidly growing ICT enterprises including Egypt’s first GSM distribution and sales network and Egypt’s first satellite Internet provider. Kanafani was then recruited to become CEO of JAWWAL, Palestine’s first private cellular network. He was then promoted to the holding company level as PalTel Group’s COO and led the Group’s in strategy, acquisition and financial consolidation. Mr. Kanafani is a founding member of the Dubai based Young Arab Leaders and heads the business development committee for the Cairo based Arab Business Forum for Information and Communication Technology. He is also a Young Global Leader, an organization within the World Economic Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. Kanafani wrote several papers and research material covering the fields of Information Technology Communications and International Management. He was featured in the Independent, Forbes magazine and other periodicals. During his college days, Kanafani was the President of the Organization of Arab Students and was on the Maryland Water-polo team. Kanafani is a fan of Ahly Football Club in Cairo and is married to Fatenn Mostafa. He is a proud dad of; Marwan, Ahmad and Jenine.
	Mr. Mohammad Omran Chairman Etisalat Mohammed Omran, was reelected Chairman of Etisalat in 2008 having previously served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – a position he attained in 2005. He also serves as the Chairman of Thuraya, one of the world’s leading, satellite, geo-mobile communication systems with coverage spanning approximately two thirds of the planet, a position he has held since 1997. Mohammad Omran joined Etisalat in 1977, one year after it was formed. He achieved his first senior position as the Area Manager in Ras Al Khaimah in 1982. He was then appointed Deputy General Manager for Etisalat in 1984 and became Etisalat’s Senior Executive Vice President in 1999. He was later named the company’s Chief Executive Officer in 2004. Under his leadership, Etisalat has been named best telecommunications company in the Middle East five times in the last three years and was named ‘Best Intenational Carrier’ at the 2008 World Communications Awards. Mr Omran is well-known as one of the most influential figures in the telecommunications industry in Asia, the Middle East and Africa and has received awards for his contribution to the sector at the Abu Dhabi Economic Forum, Telecom World Middle East Awards and Comms MEA Awards. Mr. Omran received an Engineering Degree in Electronics and Communications from Cairo University, Egypt, in June 1977.
	Mr. Qusai Qaryouti Business Development Manager ESKADENIA Software Mr Qaryouti has an extensive experience in the Telecommunications and Information Technology fields. The past eight years have been invested in technical, sales and business development positions at ESKADENIA Software, with special focus on the area of telecommunications. Work responsibilities at ESKADENIA started with Software Development and matured into Marketing, Sales and Business Development strategic responsibilities. Mr Qaryouti has spoken at a number of telecom events in the Gulf and North Africa.
	Dr. Kamal S. Shehadi Chairman Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Republic of Lebanon
	Mr. Jihad (Jay) Srage Vice President Business Development – Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia Jihad (Jay) Srage serves as the vice president of business development for Qualcomm’s Middle East 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 a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., Qualcomm is included in the S&P 100 Index, the S&P 500 Index and is a 2009 FORTUNE 500® company. For more information, please visit www.qualcomm.com .