Barry Newstead joined the Wikimedia Foundation in 2010. He leads WMF's efforts to support growth of the Wikimedia projects in the developing world, with a priority focus on India, Brazil and the Arabic-speaking Middle East and North Africa, build mobile and offline products and services that expand the reach of Wikimedia-created knowledge, and facilitates WMF's relationship with affiliated chapters and other organizations around the world. Barry also oversees WMF's communications team and a small research team. Prior to joining WMF, Barry was a Partner with the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit consulting organization, where he led projects with nonprofit organizations and foundations focused on US education reform, technology-based solutions, social challenges and global development. Barry started his career with the Boston Consulting Group where he spent eight years working in Asia, Europe and North America. Barry did his undergraduate studies at the University of Western Ontario and has a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Jan Rezab is the CEO & Co-founder of Socialbakers, a company focused on social media marketing and measurement. Jan`s role is to actively push Socialbakers`s global strategy. Socialbakers is one of the largest social media statistics resources worldwide, and its goal is to provide the best social profile monitoring, and measure every social object there is in the world, in the context where it belongs. Socialbakers is also one of the Facebook Preferred Developer Consultants. Prior to joining the social media marketing world, Jan Rezab was CEO / Founder of a mobile company called Redboss for 8 years in mobile content / games / services business.

Mike Butcher is a journalist, broadcaster and commentator. He is firstly editor of TechCrunch Europe, but has also co-founded TechHub.com and Coadec.com in Europe as ventures to support the tech startup eco-system. A long time journalist, Mike has written for UK national newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New Statesman. He is a former editor of New Media Age magazine, the leading new media weekly in the UK, and the European edition of The Industry Standard magazine. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Mike co-founded TechHub, a project to bring European technology entrepreneurs and investors together in a club environment (@TechHub), in London initially. He has spoken at the prestigious Monaco Media Forum and Le Web, among many other conferences. Mike is a regular commentator on the technology business, appearing on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 and Bloomberg.

Maryse Thomas is responsible for establishing corporate relationships, and business planning activities. In addition to her position as CEO, she focuses on the implementation of effective digital advertising programs, e-commerce solutions, and the execution of aggressive revenue goals. She brings deep insight and extensive expertise into emerging and disruptive technologies, knowledge of digital media, interactive advertising, and most importantly, common sense. Her principal focus is to equip advertisers and content producers with POKEWARE's proprietary tools, in conjunction with partnerships that will enable and organic integration of contextual product placement, compatible interaction, and measurement. Maryse majored in Biology at the University of South Carolina. Maryse is fluent in Spanish, enjoys learning French, playing tennis and competing in golf events. She divides her time between New York, Minnesota and California.

Christopher M. Schroeder is a leading entrepreneur and investor in interactive technologies and social communications. Until December 2011, he was CEO and board member of HealthCentral, which was then acquired by Remedy Health Media. HealthCentral, the highest quality collection of condition and wellness-specific interactive experiences focused on people finding and sharing real-life experiences related to their health needs. Schroeder is an investor and advisor for a series of technology start-ups and funds ranging from news and media, education, social networks and marketing. He is also engaged in exploring more global trends towards entrepreneurship, with a special focus on the developing world and the Middle East. A veteran of online media, Schroeder served as CEO and Publisher of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, which hosts washingtonpost.com and newsweek.msnbc.com, among other leading news sites.

Frank Meehan is part of the successful Horizons VC team, representing Mr Li Ka-Shing's private investments. Horizons was an early investor in Skype and holds investments in Facebook, Spotify, Second Market, Waze and many others, plus were an early investor in SIRI before it was sold to Apple. Our recent investment in Summly, created by 16 year old Nick D’Aloisio from the UK shows our focus on unique breakthrough tech driven investments. He was a board member of Spotify from 2009-2011 and also of SIRI from early 2009. Frank also founded INQ Mobile, a Hutchison Whampoa venture which won best handset at MWC 2009, and he is currently also on theboards of Trapit, Tripboard, Tout, Summly, Magisto and the TOM Group.

Amina Belghiti is Facebook’s Head of Platform Partnerships for New Markets. Her team is tasked with increasing the use and engagement of the Facebook Platform across CEEMEEA markets through the establishment of partnerships with media, commerce and gaming companies and innovative start-ups. Prior to Facebook, Amina held senior roles at eBay and PayPal where she led PayPal’s developer platform in Europe and previously worked in the strategy & business development team at the company’s headquarters in San Jose, California. Amina holds a degree in Economics from Williams College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Born in Morocco, she has lived across the US, Europe and MENA- she is now based in Paris.

Hatem Dowidar the current CEO of Vodafone Egypt S.A.E, enjoys more than 20 years of experience in multinational companies, where he spent 10 years of them in the telecommunications business. Dowidar initially joined Vodafone in 1999 as the CMO of Vodafone Egypt. He was appointed as the Global Director of Consumer Voice Services in Vodafone Group in the HQ for 18 months. After this he became the CEO of Vodafone Malta for two years and in 2007, he returned back to Vodafone Group in England and appointed as CEO of Partner Markets with partnerships covering over 45 markets in five continents. Before Vodafone, Hatem worked in various managerial roles in Procter & Gamble as well as AEG (Daimler Benz Group) in Egypt. Hatem has a BSc degree in Telecommunications Engineering and an MBA as well as participating in senior management executive programmes in IMD and LBS.

Rashid AlBallaa is the founder and CEO of N2V, an internet holding company that is Disrupting Digital Arabia and stimulating the growth of a multi-billion $ internet industry in Arabia. N2V enables web ventures in Arabia by investing capital and offering essential infrastructure services, mentorship, and support to help accelerate their growth. Rashid is also a board member of National Technology Group (NTG), MENA’s largest ICT conglomerate and key provider of Financial Technology and Services. NTG annual revenue grew to over 700 million through 20+ subsidiaries and JVs in the MENA region. Before N2V, Rashid founded and managed Mubasher Financial Services (MFS), MENA’s first STP e-brokerage company and the only provider of DMA to MENA equity markets. Rashid now serves on the board of MFS. Rashid holds a B.Sc. in Computer science with honors degree from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Rabea Ataya is the founder and CEO of Bayt.com, the Middle East’s leading job site, which now serves over 7,000,000 professionals and 40,000 employers from its 12 regional offices. He is also a co-founder of Gonabit.com, the region’s first group purchasing site. Prior to Bayt.com, Rabea founded and managed InfoFort, the Middle East's first and leading records management company with operations throughout the Middle East. Rabea is a graduate of Stanford University with a BS in Electrical Engineering and an MS in Engineering Economic Systems.

Firas currently serves as Advisor to the Minister of Telecommunications in Lebanon, Advisor to Middle East Venture Partners, a Beirut based Venture Capital firm, and Managing Director at Fortitude Partners, a New York-based Private Equity fund. Prior to that, Firas was Director and Head of Technology & Telecommunications Investments at Vision Capital Advisors, a New York-based hedge fund. Prior to that, Firas worked at Credit Suisse’s Technology investment banking group in New York specializing in corporate finance and M&A. Firas was a founding engineer of Airvana, Inc., a worldwide leading vendor of wireless infrastructure equipment, acquired by a consortium of private equity firms after going public on the NASDAQ. Firas holds an Engineering degree in Computer & Communications with Distinction from the American University of Beirut, a Master’s in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis on Telecommunications from Northeastern University (Boston), and an MBA in Finance and Economics with Honors from Harvard Business School. Throughout his career, Firas generated six internationally patented inventions in the field of technology and telecommunications

Con has always been passionate about innovation and excellence in media and marketing. Back in 1998 he created Egypt’s first pocket guide to entertainment in Egypt (The Croc). After co-founding Sarmady Communications in 2001, the company created some of the Egypt’s foremost online Arabic language media in: Sports (FilGoal.com), Arab film and music news (FilFan.com), Automotive marketplace (ContactCars.com), Citizen News (Mujaz.me) and Egypt’s first ‘social directory’ (FilBalad.com). In the last 3 years Sarmady has led the mobile revolution in Egypt – innovating in mobile internet, mobile applications, and mobile marketing. Con has recently exited from Sarmady/Vodafone Egypt is currently involved in a mentoring role in Flat6Labs and Google Ibda2, as well as pursuing new entrepreneurial activity.

Ziad Matar is currently senior director and head of the Middle East and Central Asia region for Qualcomm. Ziad joined Qualcomm in 2010 as director of business development in the Middle East. Prior to that, Ziad spent more than 10 years at Ericsson in numerous technology, marketing and sales positions across the Middle East and West Africa. Ziad holds an MBA from Notre Dame University and a BE in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University of Beirut.

Ahmed AlKhatib is the Founder and CEO of MarkaVIP, a private sales website focused on the Middle East. After living and working in Silicon Valley for 10 years, Ahmed moved to the Middle East in early 2010 and founded MarkaVIP in Jordan in November of the same year. Earlier in his career Ahmed was fortunate to work at a number of exciting e-commerce businesses, including eBay, Amazon and Zazzle.com where he developed worldwide content delivery of Zazzle.com’s e-commerce application platform. Ahmed brings a wealth of expertise in developing business and technology solutions, and applying them to augment, improve, and transform e-commerce environments.

Jad Melki, Ph.D. is a journalism and media studies professor, trainer, researcher and consultant and a freelance multimedia and broadcast journalist. He is also the research director of the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA) at the University of Maryland, College Park, a visiting faculty at Johns Hopkins University, USA, and at the Salzburg Academy for Media and Global Change, Austria. Melki is also a media education, media development, and digital journalism training consultant working with various institutions, including the Jordan Media Institute, the Salzburg Global Seminar, and the International College. Melki has been a broadcast and online journalist for over 12 years working with American and Arabic media. He was part of the Webby award and Press Club award winning Hot Zone team (Yahoo! News), covering the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war. He received his Ph.D. in journalism and media studies from the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

Dr. Khaled Ismail is the Founder and CEO of SySDSoft, a company focused on the design of wireless communication system modems. In March 2011, SySDSoft was acquired by Intel making Dr. Khaled Managing Director of Intel Mobile Communications. Dr. Ismail worked as Senior Advisor of the Egyptian Minister of CIT, responsible for Technology Development, as well as VP of Engineering of Ellipsis Digital Systems in Carlsbad, CA. He was with IBM’s Watson Research Center in NY, receiving the IBM Invention Achievement Award and the IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in 1997 and 1995, respectively. Dr. Ismail received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1989. He is an IEEE Fellow since 1997 and has published over 160 papers in international journals and holds 22 US patents. He is the recipient of the Eta Kapa Nu “Best Young Electrical Engineer” in the US award in 1994, and the Shuman Award for the “Young Arab Engineer” in 1995.

Innovative Business Solutions is a group with different companies each focusing on specific area such as e-Commerce, Smart Buildings, Program Management and Financial Services. Osama received his education at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and California State University at Long Beach. Osama says that the best business education he received is from his father and from his toughest clients. Osama started his career with Procter & Gamble as a student, he was the youngest manager to work with the seasoned executives that established P&G Gulf FZE in Dubai. Osama has recently started a initiative that invites young Saudi inventors to come pitch their internet and mobile innovations. He is committed to work with selected Saudi inventors to bring their products to market; two products are scheduled for a 2012 launch. He recently started a project with a set of Saudi investors to improve the e-commerce infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

Rasha Khouri, CEO and founder of DIA, spent her formative years travelling between New York, Paris, Beirut and London. Educated at Brown University, Sciences Po and INSEAD. She launched her career as an investment banker at JP Morgan in New York. From there, she merged her interest in fashion with finance as a luxury goods analyst with Merrill Lynch and UBS, in London. Khouri sits at the helm of DIA a new online fashion group attracting notice and investment. 2012 marks the launch of Dia-style.com, a new digital luxury fashion shopping portal and community in English and Arabic. Discerning a niche in the digital e-commerce space for a luxury e-tailer with a product mix aimed at modern nomad such as herself, Khouri launched Dia-boutique.com in summer 2010. The site delivers fresh fashion from independent upscale designers around the world to audiences across the globe. Khouri is based in London where the Dia-style.com and Dia-boutique.com are headquartered.

Omar Tayeb is the Co-founder and CTO of Blippar, responsible for building and directing the technology of the world's first image recognition platform targeted at consumer-brand interaction. Blippar has attracted global brands including Virgin, Kraft Foods and Mercedes-Benz. He is a graduate of Imperial College, London in Mathematics and Computer Science.

Mona Ataya is the CEO and Founder of MumzWorld.com, the Middle East’s First and Largest shopping site for all things Mother, Baby and Child. Mona started her career at Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, USA, after graduating with a dual honors degree in marketing and finance. Mona spent 5 years at P&G working on leading brands in P&G’s Soap Sector. After which, Mona moved back to the Middle East to work with Johnson & Johnson MENA followed by Johnson & Johnson Europe managing a broad portfolio of 5 leading global brands. Mona led the re-launch of Johnson’s Suncare and Piz Buin brands in Europe and was a member of the global skincare franchise board. In 2000 that Mona co-founded Bayt.com and in 2010 Mona launched a second startup Mumzworld.com, in aim of revolutionizing the way moms shop in the MENA region.

Ziad Alshobaki is responsible for directing business development activities and establishing a strong network of partners in the EMEA and Far East regions. Before joining MOBIbucks, Mr. Alshobaki was New Ventures Director at Dubai World. Previously, he served as Director of Business Development at SAP and as a regional sales manager with IBM. Mr. Alshobaki started his career in 1994 with opening one of the first companies to develop websites and WAP in The Middle East. In 1998 he was part of the team that started the first IT Mall as well as a member of the team that started Tejari.com, the first G2B & B2B portal in the MENA region. He has extensive experience in Business Development management in the information technology sector. He completed his studies in the United States and holds a degree in Economics from the University of Chicago.

Tarique holds a Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from Mumbai University. He has been a part of the initial start up team at Cleartrip and has been involved in multiple functions in the company which included managing Suppliers Relations for Air, Hotel and Train, Setting up the Corporate Travel Division and setting up the distribution channels for the company. Tarique heads the new markets initiatives at Cleartrip and is responsible for taking brand Cleartrip to new geographies. Prior to Cleartrip, Tarique worked with Kuoni India as Sr. General Manager New Projects and was also responsible for launching Emirates Holidays in India and was also its Business Head. Tarique has over 14 years of experience in Travel and has worked with large travel brands such as Cox and Kings and Indian Express.

Dr. Al Jaber is the Founder and Chairman of MENA Apps which is specialized in Consultancy, Content Market Research, Applications Development, Telecom services, Media Services as well as a multitude of other services related to ICT across the region. He was the COO of Zain Group and CEO of Zain Jordan, where he was responsible for a double digit profit growth and for positioning the company as a key regional player in Mobile, Data and Content. Dr. Al Jaber serves as chairman of the Golden Wheat Mills Company, and Holy Land and United for Energy Services, as well as member of the board of the Cairo Amman Bank in Jordan, Arab Business Council, The World Economic Forum, The Arab Technology Forum, The Young Presidents Organization. In 2001 he was awarded His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al Maktoum’s “Best Arab Manager Award for Excellence in Management” in recognition of his status as the leading business executive in Palestine.

Abdullah Hamed is the founder of GameTako.com which is a web game development platform for Arabic developers that helps them develop joyful games and monazite from them. Abdullah wanted to develop games, and decided to build the platform that he wants to develop games for. Abdullah is an Indie Game Developer who might have developed the first Arabic android game أنقذهم. He is a true believer in having joyful experiences and rejects joyless games. He is inspired by people like Jonathan blow (Braid), Team Meat (Super Meat Boy), Phil Fish (Fez), Andy Moore (SteamBirds). Abdullah is secretly a pixilated blue hedgehog who is as lazy as an italian plumber in overalls.

Abdullah Mando is the co-founder and CEO of UTURN, an online network that creates and distributes local and entertaining content. Abdullah's vision is to stimulate and nourish thought through mass media. Under his leadership UTURN sparked the new media industry in Saudi Arabia and has created a hub for talents and content creators in the region. In it’s early days, Abdullah was involved in every aspect of the organization, including content development and creation. Today, his role is to ensure that UTURN is in the right direction and meeting its objectives, while developing processes and departments. His academic background enabled him to put the company on the right track to success, balancing between content creation and business aspirations.

As the Area Lead for the Developer & Platform Group (DPE), Aben leads a team of professionals who are responsible to drive the awareness and value of the Microsoft platform to Developers and IT professionals through technical evangelism, community engagement and audience marketing. In addition, he also leads the efforts for Microsoft's engagement with startups, venture capitalists as well as establishing business relationships with strategic industry partners to help foster local software economies across the Region. With over 28 years of IT experience, 15+ in the Middle East & Africa Region, Aben joined Microsoft in 1997 after having managed several strategic projects in India and the Asia Pacific Region. He is also a Technical advisor and mentor to several organizations across India and the Middle East. He holds an MBA from the Colorado State University.

Ahmad Dimachkie is the Senior Consultant at Social AIM. As the consultancy arm of NEL Interactif, Social AIM specializes in consultancy on all things digital: social media campaigns and marketing, mobile marketing, advertainment, and Web 3.0. As the Senior Consultant, Ahmad is responsible for consulting with key clients, developing comprehensive digital strategies, and leading cross-functional teams to ensure the highest rates of client acquisition, satisfaction, and retention. Ahmad holds an MBA with Marketing focus as well as dual bachelor degrees in Finance and English Literature from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.

At his role, Ahmad Hamzawi is responsible for growing the company through strategic partnerships, new business and product initiatives, and promoting innovation and entrepreneurism. Previous to this role, he held various engineering roles for the past 17 years and most recently, he spent 5 years in Engineering management roles at Google and was leading engineering teams focused on building and adapting products for the Arab world as Head of Engineering for Middle East & Africa. Ahmad joined Google in 2006 from KNOVA Software in Silicon Valley where he was Senior Director of Engineering, where led the onshore and offshore engineering development and operations of an award-winning enterprise CRM search and knowledge management product suite. Previously, he managed engineering teams at early stage startup companies as well as large enterprise companies such as Autodesk and Gateway. He has also taught courses in the Department of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco.

Ahmad Elkaragy is a computer engineer, graduated from Alexandria University, Egypt. Ahmad started his entrepreneurial venture prior to graduating; his graduation project received the Young Innovators Award (YIA) for its idea. He later turned his into a business plan which was ranked among the top 3 in the region in the Arab Technology Business Plan Competition by ASTF. Having tried different jobs from a TA, software developer, system admin to a database developer, Ahmad finally started his business by founding a technology startup, IRWAA LLC in mid 2010. The first product of the company, Medica App, shined so fast that it was awarded internationally and locally by Nokia, Samsung, the United Nations, and the Egyptian MCIT. IRWAA works on a list of ideas for innovative commercial apps and systems in healthcare, social education, and tourism.

Ahmed Adel is the DPE Sales and Operations Director for Microsoft Middle East and Africa. DPE (Developer and Platform Evangelism) delivers programs targeting Software developers and IT Professionals in Academia, ISVs, customers and communities ensuring latest Microsoft technologies and platforms are accessible. Ahmed has 21 years of experience in technology with focus on the Software industry with a mix of different roles in multinational companies and managing Egyptian Software houses. Ahmed is a graduate of Engineering Cairo University 1990 and holds a M.Sc. degree in Computer science from University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. During July 2009, Ahmed led the hosting of Imagine Cup WW Finals in Cairo, Egypt.

Ahmed is a veteran investor and VC from California with over 25 years of experience in top executive and management positions. Ahmed’s investment track record over the last 17 years includes the execution of numerous successful transactions in technology, Internet, healthcare and financial services at various stages of development. He has executed many rewarding exits including several IPO’s on the NASDAQ. He relocated to Egypt in 2006 as the CEO of EFG-Hermes Private Equity. He subsequently founded Sawari Ventures, to which he brings a wealth of experience, superb industry insight and an invaluable international network.

Alessio Artuffo heads the Docebo International Business Operations. Alessio has extensive expertise in the field of Learning Technologies, including Authoring solutions, Mobile Learning, LCMS and LMS solutions, for both the educational and corporate sectors. Alessio has supported large organizations and universities in the development of their e-learning initiatives. Alessio has an educational background in Business Communications, 13 years experience in IT and Learning systems, and a technical background in IT and Networking Security. Originally from Italy, Alessio relocated to the United States in 2009. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. His industry knowledge and passion make him a regular speaker at worldwide industry events.

Alexander McNabb is director at Spot On Public Relations - Dubai, with responsibility for client services, counsel, management and the profitability of the firm’s client account teams in the region. He has worked with information technology, media and communications in the Middle East for over 25 years. Alexander spent the past fifteen years developing marketing strategies and communications programs for leading global brands in the Middle East. In addition to consulting work with a number of Arab governments, he has built strategies and managed national and regional communications campaigns for GSM operators, fixed line operators, regulators and legislators in the region’s telecommunications markets. Alexander is an experienced presenter and public speaker as well as conference moderator, MC and workshop leader. He is a regular commentator on marketing and communications issues as well as emerging technology and communications trends and is a regular contributor to radio, television, print and web-based media.

Alexandra has worked in the UK, UAE, Lebanon and Qatar for multiple industry sectors including financial, automotive, pharmaceutical, and retail, in a sales and commercial capacity. Her real passion is how information, products and people evolve online. Since 2006 she has worked with the online projects database of MEED.com, the Zawya.com community network and news portal, and advertising agencies including Cleartag and Leo Burnett. She now works at OgilvyOne in Dubai for global clients such as IBM, British Airways, Volvo, and Metlife Alico helping them with strategy and planning for web and mobile. Alexandra has spoken at several events, writes for different publications and most importantly is passionate about the startup space in the Middle East trying to help grow those projects with her skills in marketing and consumer outreach. She is very interested in collaborations between big business and entrepreneurs for a better outcome.

Ali Munawar has been involved in the Information Technology industry since the early 1980s. During that period, he has served in broad range of technical, operational, managerial and executive positions in the fields of IT Systems Engineering, Marketing and Sales supporting clients in many industries including Oil & Gas, Finance & Banking, Government, Healthcare and Education. He is currently responsible for marketing demand generation for IBM for the MEA region based on the latest market insights. In addition to this, he takes a keen interest in understanding the business challenges facing the various industries, particularly Banking, Government and Healthcare. Ali is currently based in Dubai although his home country is Malaysia. He is a graduate of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) degree with honors.

Alper Akcan, is the founder and CEO of Mikro Odeme AS, has a BSc degree in engineering, has an MBA degree and has a PhD on Contemporary Management in well know and highly credited universities of Turkey. He has an experience of 2 years in Yapı Kredi Investments Inc., 4 years at Vestel Information Technologies and 5 years at Turkcell – the largest GSM operator of Turkey. He started Mikro Odeme just after he left Turkcell, in 2008 and led it become the largest mobile payment company of Turkey. After investment to Mikro Odeme, Alper Akcan still holds the CEO position and director of board.

Aly Ibrahim has been a Software Engineer at Google since 2007. He is currently working on Google’s Customer Relationship Management platform. Previously he worked on the Billing and Payments team, helping to building one of the world’s most flexible and global monetization systems. Aly holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Anas Toumeh is the Director of Operations at Vardot, a company that provides web and mobile services to clients and partners within the region and worldwide. His role is to drive the strategic positioning of Vardot by building global partnerships and creating the internal platform that allows Vardot to provide technical road maps that target their specific business growth. Anas uses his expertise in agile project management and data mining to build and manage teams that successfully implement data driven decisions and effectively (ultimately) execute well structured projects. In addition to web development, Anas has worked in engineering, specifically robotic path planning using artificial and computational intelligence.

Angus' background is in venture capital investments and corporate finance advisory, focused on startup and early stage businesses in the broader TMT space. Angus recently joined STC Ventures as a Partner based in Dubai, targeting VC investments in internet, information technology, communications and digital media/entertainment across MENA. Previously Angus was responsible for setting up and leading the venture capital activities of Abu Dhabi based twofour54, tasked with providing sector specialist start-up – growth capital funding and support to help develop the Middle East’s entrepreneur base, in digital media, media and entertainment.

Anna Chernova works as a Quantitative Analyst at Google. She is responsible for data analyses for Google Geo teams, including Google Maps for Desktop and Mobile, Google Earth and other geo-related products. She has been with Google since 2007, conducting data scientist work in London and Zurich in close collaboration with engineering and user experience teams. Anna holds a B. Sc. in Physics. She studied at the University of St-Petersburg, Russia, and in a Ph. D. programme at the Oxford University, UK, and worked in a bioinformatics group at the National Institute of Medical Research in London. The main focus of her studies and work prior to Google was quantitative data analyses and statistics, applied to various fields of knowledge.

Arda Kustal is the founder and CEO of Webrazzi, the leading and most influential online publication in Turkey on new media and digital economy, both on local and regional levels. Having a background in IT and project management in prominent companies in Turkey, Kutsal joined the ranks of investment firm Argentum Ventures as Technology Investment Manager. Simultaneously he started the weblog Webrazzi covering his own opinions and reporting on major developments in Turkish and regional internet markets. Under his leadership, Webrazzi has become the leader positioning Kutsal as one of the rare names with abundant knowhow on regional and local investments, startups, management, strategies and marketing in internet and digital economy. Arda Kutsal has been profiled under Fortune magazine's '40 under 40' list, and featured together with Webrazzi on the cover of Forbes Turkey, October 2010 issue.

After graduating from the American University of Beirut, Aref started at Procter & Gamble in Beirut as a consumer & market knowledge associate manager, in charge of market research for the Near East region. He then moved to marketing working as an Assistant Brand Manager on multiple brands in the same region, including Pert Plus and Wella. Aref was then given a regional assignment managing the Head & Shoulders brand for the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region out of Dubai. As of 2010, he was promoted to Communications Brand Manager in charge of the region’s media department as well as the added responsibility of heading digital, from both content development and media aspects. As of Jan 2012, he is managing the delivery of both Pantene and Head & Shoulders brands, on top of his current responsibilities.

Ashraf Busila has over 17 years of experience in the IT industry, project management and network engineering. Ashraf planned and deployed state of the art infrastructure solutions for clients, and collaborated in the design, installation, and testing of such solutions. He has a strong record of success in managing robust health IT organizations. Ashraf has proven ability to bring the benefits of IT to solve business issues while delivering applications, infrastructure, costs and risks. He provides strategic direction to senior leadership on technology and has led innovation projects for infrastructure delivery to improve the delivery of care in the nation’s largest non-profit health care organization.

Asmaa Honsy has over 20 years of experience in information technology and over 15 years in leading posts. Ever since she joined Mobinil in 1999, Hosny has led on strategic initiatives, both on the country roadmap and the company roadmap, including, Mobile Financial Services (MFS), mHealth, mGovernment, mLearning. Acknowledged as active lobbyist, Hosny has succeeded in establishing key alliances on several strategic initiatives in addition to establishing two successful companies, Solutions Plus inside Egypt and Health Insights in the United Arab Emirates focused on delivering technological solutions including software development and system integration. Hosny started her career at Orascom Group, establishing a reputable path for herself since start, from acquisition of the HIPAA Compliance from USA to delivery of a Claims Management System (USA), Sheikh Zayed Hospital Solutions, Al Salama Hospital, Hadi Clinic in Kuwait to libraries automation for Bibliothica Alexandria and the Egyptian Engineering Libraries, to name just a few.

Ayman is the IT Operations Director at the Children’s Cancer Hospital in Cairo, Egypt since April 2009, where he manages a team of 29 people between the hospital network, help desk, call center, data centers, desktop support, telecommunications, messaging services, audio-video and VOIP. He is responsible for maintaining the IT system, evaluating, recommending, contracting and installing new technologies and services, indentifying trends and determining system improvements, allocating budgets for IT, and shaping the hospital’s long-term IT strategy. Before assuming this position, Ayman was the Telecommunications Manager at the hospital for 2 years, and has been a key element in the conceptualization, planning and implementation of the digitization of the CCHE. He holds a number of certifications including a Project Management Professional Diploma (PMP), he is a certified trainer in Cerner Millenium Fundamental, and carries several Cisco networking certifications. Ayman has over 8 years of experience in the management of all aspects of health information systems from his work at the CCHE.

Ayman Itani is a forward-thinking Digital Media Strategist who uses his powerful combination of creative vision and rigorous analysis in the media to help build, restructure and transform companies. Through New Media Marketing Agency Think Media Labs (thinkmedialabs.com), he helps bridge the gap from established Media to new types of Digital Media in the Middle East. He lectures and gives workshops on communication, media, user interaction design, history of technology, Internet architecture, the social web and fully takes advantage of the industry shifts incubated by the Internet, specifically on content generation, consumption, distribution, and commercialization.

Basel Al-Naffouri is a Software Engineer on the Google+ Mobile team. Specifically, he works on the Messenger feature of the Google+ app, helping users communicate on the go. Prior to that, Basel was part of the Arabic Engineering team working on improving Google technologies for the Arab world. Basel joined Google in 2010 from Oracle Corporation where he was a Senior Member of Technical Staff. At Oracle, he developed tools to help DBAs manage and tune Oracle Databases as part of the Enterprise Manager team. He has also worked at ArsDigita corporation and started his own venture, Validyss corporation, specializing in cloud storage management. Basel holds a Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Ben Rooney is the Technology Editor for The Wall Street Journal, Europe, covering technology across the whole EMEA region, but with a special focus on start ups and entrepreneurialism. An award-winning journalist, he joined The Wall Street Journal in September 2010 after starting his journalistic career with the U.K.'s The Daily Telegraph, the country's highest circulating quality newspaper. While at The Daily Telegraph Ben was the launch editor of the the paper's website in November 1994, the first daily online newspaper in the U.K., and was then the editor of the paper's successful technology section. Before launching the website he was on the newspaper's acclaimed international newsdesk. The author of four books, Ben has appeared regularly on national and international television.

Beshr is a Python and web developer based in Beirut. He is managing the development of ArabNet's online services and leading the ArabNet Developer Days. Beshr is involved with the open source community, specially projects related to the Python programming language and Django web framework. He's passionate about algorithms, web design, and indie music.

Brahms Chouity is the Founder and CEO of At7addak.com, the Arab World’s biggest Competitive Online Gaming Community, where gamers can compete in head-to-head and team action using their existing gaming platforms, such as consoles, PCs & mobile devices, to challenge other players globally using their favorite gaming titles, for cash and prizes. At7addak.com won the Wamda Reader's Choice Award "Best Startup of 2011"

Dan Stuart is the CEO and Founder of GoNabit.com, the first group buying website in the Middle East, and the first globally in Arabic. GoNabit expanded from the UAE to Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt and was acquired by LivingSocial in June 2011. Previously Dan was Chief Possibility Officer at Bayt.com where he oversaw strategy, product development, user experience design and new initiatives, as well as strategic and emerging business development. Dan was also founder and director of Intilaq - Bayt's corporate venture capital arm. Dan holds a Masters Degree in Curriculum, Theory and Learning from the University of Toronto in Canada. He also has an English Literature & History Degree that he quickly followed with an early retirement, spent as a ski and snowboard instructor and a mountain bike guide.

Daniel is an 8-year veteran of R/GA, and leads Business Operations for the pioneering agency’s European offices. He has been creating innovative opportunities in the digital space for nearly 17 years. Prior to relocating to London, Daniel worked at R/GA New York, heading the device UI and digital brand identity businesses for Verizon Wireless, launching R/GA’s Verizon Telecom digital advertising unit, and leading groundbreaking client work including Barnes & Noble Nook, NIKEiD, and Nike Plus. Prior to working at R/GA, Daniel developed breakthrough digital solutions at media companies including Nickelodeon/MTV Networks and the SCI FI Channel. Daniel received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, studying the Biological Basis of Behavior, and received his MBA from the Graduate School of Business executive program at Columbia University.

DMN is passionate about high impact innovation & entrepreneurship, and youth/alternative media. He is co-founder of DevIneMedia/Hibr (www.hibr.me), a youth-powered alternative media outlet in Lebanon, and Mayor (CEO – Chief Entrepreneur & Organizer) of AltCity.me (www.altcity.me), a new media/tech/social impact collaboration space and startup support space in Beirut. He grew up between California and Beirut, studied at UC Berkeley (political economy), worked at Stanford University (Communication Dept), UC Berkeley (Education Dept), and Google, interned at Cisco Systems HQ and KQED (SF public media), and moved back to Lebanon in 2004. In the region he worked as a freelance journalist (radio, print, TV), co-founded Mideastwire.com, and worked as a research/communications consultant for the UN/FAO (supporting a policy reform/applied economics research center in Damascus). He has conducted research on social entrepreneurship, and the relation between regime interests, the education system, and economic development in Egypt.

Dr. Abdullah Almegren is an Asst. Professor of Education at King Saud University, and also serving as a GM for the National Centre for e-Learning and distance learning (NCeL) in Saudi Arabia. Providing vision and leadership to NCeL Board, agency staff, and institutions of higher education has been one of his responsibilities. Dr. Abdullah represents e-Learning strategies and development at the national front and dedicatedly worked on a multi-million dollar educational Projects and helped in establishing several projects: Saudi Learning Object Repository (MAKNAZ ), Saudi Digital Library (SDL), National Centre of Excellence in e-Content, the first Saudi e-University, the first bylaws for distance learning in Saudi Arabia, Higher Education TV Channels Network.

Dr. John Austin was named headmaster of King's Academy in 2010, bringing with him over 25 years of experience as a teacher and residential school administrator. Dr. Austin graduated from Williams College in 1987, where he majored in English. He received a Master's degree in English literature from Middlebury College in 1991 and a Master of Philosophy and PhD in English and comparative literature from Columbia University in 2000. Dr. Austin began his career at St. Andrew's School, a leading US boarding school in Delaware. Over the course of his career he has served as a teacher, class advisor, department chair, dean of students and academic dean. He has written extensively on the literature of the American Renaissance and about a range of educational issues for Independent School magazine. He regularly presents at the National Association of Independent Schools and at the Association of Boarding Schools. He is a board member of the Global Online Academy.

Dr. Michael Orey has innovated in the field of eLearning for over 25 years. In that period of time, he has designed Intelligent Tutoring Systems for the U.S. Army; developed standards-oriented, computer-based training, and designed learning games for a major entertainment company. Dr. Orey is a tenured faculty member at the University of Georgia, helping to pioneer the field of Instructional Technology and eLearning, using both synchronous and asynchronous technologies. For the past 10 years Dr. Orey has helped define the standard for synchronous online graduate education, having delivered dozens of online graduate level classes. More recently, his work with many cultures around the world has led him to create a design and development strategy to make Open Educational Resources truly open. His undergraduate degree was from Purdue and his Masters degree and Doctorate were from Virginia Tech.

Dr. Mounes Kalaawi a surgeon, trained and certified by the Royal Colleges of Surgeons in Glasgow and England, certified in Medical Management from the American College of Physicians Executives and awarded MBA from the University of Massachusetts in the United States. Dr. Kalaawi is a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Clemenceau Medical Center affiliated with Johns Hopkins Medicine International. CMC is JCI accredited and one the top ten world’s best hospitals for medical travel. He is the Chairman of Clemenceau Medicine International (CMI), an organization whose main duty is the advancement and spread of the Clemenceau Medicine’s mission of patient care regionally.

Dr. Usama Fayyad is Executive Chairman of Oasis500. Until September 2008, he was Yahoo! Chief Data Officer and EVP of Research & Strategic Data Solutions. He also founded and managed the Yahoo! Research organization globally. Yahoo! Research is the premier scientific research organization to develop the new sciences of the Internet, on-line marketing, and innovative interactive applications. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Fayyad co-founded and led the DMX Group, that was acquired by Yahoo! in 2004. In early 2000, he co-founded and served as CEO of digiMine Inc, a data analysis and data mining company that built, operated and hosted data warehouses and web analytics for some of the world's largest enterprises. From 1989 to 1996 Fayyad held a leadership role at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where his work garnered him the top research excellence award that Caltech awards to JPL scientists, as well as a U.S. Government medal from NASA.

Chairman of The Board and CEO Rafik Hariri Governmental University Hospital (RHUH) 2005- present * RHUH is a 500 bed public university hospital, the largest and busiest in Lebanon affiliated to several universities including Lebanese University, AUB, Beirut Arab University, and Lebanese American University and others. Hospital was the first in Lebanon to adopt a fully integrated HIS , EMR and PACS- RIS in the year 2004. It is currently upgrading all these systems and applying new services.

Elie Diab is a travel and travel technologies professional. Elie co-founder and managing director of hoojoozat.com, the leading and first B2B and B2C online hotel provider the Middle East and Travel-Systems, a technology company that creates and develops online reservation systems for the travel industry. He holds an MBA from Ecole superieures des Affaires ESA and a BS in Bio-Chemistry from Universite Saint Esprit Kaslik.

Evren is a successful technology investor focusing on Turkey and the surrounding region. Among others, he is a cofounder and investor of Trendyol.com, the top fashion ecommerce business in Turkey and Peak Games, the biggest social gaming house in Turkey/MENA and top-10 player globally. Besides ecommerce and social gaming, Evren has also invested successfully into mobile research, health and online travel. Until recently, Evren was a Partner of Oliver Wyman, a leading management consulting firm. In his 14-year career there, he advised over 60 leading financial institutions on strategy, finance and risk management, with a particular focus on Middle East, Africa and Turkey. Evren graduated from the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania, with a dual-degree summa-cum-laude in Finance and Mathematics.

As a student at the Lycee du Galatasaray, Fatih Isbecer participated in AFS exchange program where he noticed that the technology revolution in the United States will spread to Turkey soon. Upon his return to Turkey, Isbecer initiated his first internet venture, Pentagraph, while completing his degree in Istanbul Technical University. At the age of 24, he founded Pozitron. The company is now providing mobile solutions for over 30 Fortune 500 companies from Turkey, Middle East, and Europe. Isbecer’s success was recognized by Endeavor when he was selected as “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2007. Later in 2010, he was honered with an invitation to “Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship” held by President Obama. Isbecer is also a member of Endeavor Advisory board, and TUBISAD administrative board and has given speeches in well-established schools like MIT Sloan School and Stanford GSB.

Fawzi Baroud has a Ph.D. in eLearning development in higher education from Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He has been the Director of Computing Services, eLearning Center and the Division of Continuing Education at Notre Dame University-Louaize, Lebanon since 1989, during which he initiated eLearning synergies to expand the use of technology in higher education. As a researcher, Dr. Baroud has published a number of studies on eLearning and ICT use in education, participated in conferences, coauthored the informatics national curriculum for Lebanon, and offered consultancy to academic institutions. His research centers on the use, integration and evaluation of Information and Communication Technologies and eLearning implementation in higher educational contexts.

Based between Beirut and Dubai, Fawzi Rahal is the Founder of The Next Web Middle East, and Digital Director at Grey in the MENA region. Born in Lebanon, he started his digital career in the creative field, working for Leo Burnett in Dubai. He then worked shortly for McCann Ericsson, and moved to Grey Group, to head the digital arm of Grey MENA. With over 12 years of experience in the digital field in the Middle East, Fawzi has a passion for technology, social media, gadgets, and type design, and rants a lot about the regional and global digital cyberspace.

Fayez is a pioneer of mobile marketing and advertising in MEA. Having sold his first Internet banner campaign early in 1996, Fayez came back to pioneer the sale of media on mobile Internet property as well as mobile campaign design and planning. He is a telecoms veteran who took charge of building the mobile advertising market for Nokia in the MEA region. He conceived, sold and managed interactive mobile advertising campaigns in the Levant, GCC, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Angola, Kenya, South Africa and others. Prior to that, Fayez served as Nokia's Essential Insight manager For the Middle East and Africa, as part of the strategy process and insights team. He currently leads Boost Communications operations in the Middle East & Africa. Fayez is very passionate about the success of Arabic language in the digital world and is also an entrepreneur currently developing solutions to enable equal participation in Web 3.0.

Fida Taher is the Founder & CEO of Zaytouneh.com, the region’s leading video recipe website. Prior to Zaytouneh, Fida has been working in different areas of the media domain for the past 9 years, where she produced more than 500 hours of videos content. Coming from a production background, Fida strongly believes in the power and potential of the audiovisual content. Fida holds a BA in communication Arts, with emphasis on Radio, TV, & Film from the Lebanese American University.

Firas Alfanney was appointed as General Manager for Intel in the Levant and North Africa region in 2010. Having played an integral role in driving the company’s business for several years in addition to spear-heading several roles across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa region. Alfanney brings with him a wealth of industry experience; he was the Trade Marketing Manager for Orange in Jordan and Sales Manager for Fry’s Electronics in Palo Alto, California. Alfanney joined Intel in 2001 as a Channel Manager in Jordan and went on to manage the Channel Marketing and Distribution for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa Region based out of Dubai where he helped to shape the distribution network and spearheaded Intel’s Channel Programs. Alfanney received his Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University of California, 1994 and his Associate of Art degree in Business Administration from Canada College, Redwood City, 1991. He is a member of the American Marketing Association.

Fouad Masoud started as a web designer / UI developer in late 90s, and was involved in the creation of many well-known online startups either as a freelancer or a partner. Fouad played a major rule in the UAE startup community during 2008 by helping to organize events and hangouts to bring together various online players. He helped setup MBC Ventures; the startups investment arm of MBC Group. Fouad's current role as “Social Media Supervisor” encompasses responsibilities on two different levels: planning social media campaigns thoroughly to support on-air programs and monitoring their success and effectiveness, as well as, being constantly on the lookout for new, trending social media platforms that MBC can introduce to the region to ensure the company and its audience are always on the leading front of innovation and progress.

George caught the digital bug in the late 90s and since then he's immersed in 0 and 1, particularly the user experience aspect of the digital sphere. He believes that simplicity is beauty in all design contexts. From interfaces to interiors to architecture to graphic design. He found himself in the User Experience field after one of his managers pointed out a natural tendency for usability and UX in general. By putting people at the heart of the design process – from brief to execution, George aims to deliver top-notch experiences that are reflected in the diverse portfolio he worked on. Prior to heading the digital planning at Born Interactive where, he was an interactive manager at Wunderman with an emphasis on mobile and a user experience consultant for different agencies.

Ghassan focuses on the promotion and adoption of Microsoft Platform technologies. Before joining Microsoft, Ghassan has more than 8 years of experience in the IT industry. He was a software developer at An-Nahar Newspaper. At the same time he was managing his own company that deals with software/web development. Ghassan is also the creator of the Green Search Engine Gusfinder.com, an engine that combines all search engines.

Ghassan Hasbani is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Operations of Saudi Telecom Company (STC). His responsibilities are primarily focused on supporting the group in creating value across the global community of partners and operating companies. The role includes the management of synergy creation activities, post merger integration, market monitoring, legal and strategic governance of board and executive management relationships across the group companies in addition to manging mergers and acquisitions activities. Mr. Hasbani is the Chairman of the Board of Axis in Indonesia, and a board member in Maxis Communications Berhard in Malaysia, Turk Telecom, Viva Bahrain and Kuwait. He joined STC from the global management consulting firm Booz & Company, where he led the firm’s Middle East Communications and Technology practice. Mr. Hasbani has more than 17 years of experience in the telecom industry in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Africa.

Gideon is Head of ibtikar, which aims to help establish the foundations of a sustainable Arab media industry by providing funding and business support to talented Arab individuals, content ideas and businesses. He is experienced at business development and investment across a wide variety of media and content sectors. Recently he was head of M&A and strategic investment at FremantleMedia, a 1bn Euro global company - one of the world’s largest television production and IP companies.

With over 10 years in new products & services development and deployment in the telecommunication industry, Gilles is focusing on the enabling of novel applications and services for mobile networks ecosystems at Qualcomm regional offices in Dubai. Prior to that, he held senior management positions in technology, marketing and business development in Europe and North America at companies such as Texas Instruments, Nortel, and Conexant.

Prior to working in Microsoft Goksin Bakir led one of the leading manufacturing software companies in Turkey. Besides his experience of over 17 years in the IT Industry, Goksin used to be the Microsoft Regional Director for Middle East and Africa. During his work as Regional Director, He also worked as a part time faculty for Bogazici University, MIS department. He is in the INETA Speakers Bureau and has spoken to many groups worldwide as well as at international conferences and seminars like Microsoft Teched, MDC, PDC, and NDC. He contributes to IT publications like PC Week, IT Weekly. Goksin has many excellence awards from leading software and IT companies. Goksin’s main areas of interest are; Cloud computing, parallel programming, data perception and Security. He has completed many projects in academia and large corporations with his teams; His recent work includes Enterprise solutions on .Net technologies.

In this current role, Gustavo Lang is responsible for bringing new business opportunities around technologies, platforms and services to local markets through Nokia mobile phones. Bringing 11 years of experience working for Nokia in product marketing and sales positions in Latin America, he is now helping Nokia to connect the next billion internet users across Africa, Middle East and India. Gustavo holds a BE in Telecommunications Engineering from the Faculdade de Engenharia Industrial, Sao Paulo.

Habib is a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Wamda. He is also the founder of Yamli.com and YallaStartup. In 2009, the World Economic Forum recognized Habib as a Young Global Leader and the ArabianBusiness named him one of the most influential Arabs under 30. He currently serves on the Global Agenda Council on fostering entrepreneurship, and advises several startups and non-profits. He holds a Bachelor of Computer and Communication Engineering from the American University in Beirut and a Master's in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Hala Zawati is the founder and Managing Partner of Easyinfo, the first content development company in the region that is specialized in developing content for cultural and tourist sites. Easyinfo offers guidance inside museums, galleries and tourist sites in multi languages using multi platforms, and recently began to utilize smart phones capabilities to provide tourists and visitors with interesting content relevant to their geographic location in order to guide them at places of interest, providing directions, and information services so that they know where, how and what to do. Hala has 24 years of diversified experience at the regional level in computer engineering applications and management information systems. Prior to founding Easyinfo, she worked for more than 15 years as an ICT Consultant supporting 17 national and regional projects . Hala holds a BSc. in Electrical Engineering, a mini MBA from Instituto de empressa – Spain. She is a board member in several private and non governmental organizations.

Dr. Hamad M. Al-Omar holds a Medical Doctorate (MD) in Internal Medicine and Hematology and he also holds a Physician Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA). He has founded and chaired companies in different sectors of Healthcare including National Blood and Cancer Center, Specialized Academy for Medical Training, mHealth Company, and others. In addition of being a serial entrepreneur himself, he is active in healthcare venture capital. He also was a founding member of the Gulf Venture Capital Association.

Hani Dahlan, General Manager of Dahlan Tours and Travel, Travelsheikh.com. Hani received his BA in Marketing from IUE-England in 1986, and started work in the construction Industry from 1986 - 1990 between Kuwait and Iraq. He later moved to Jordan in 1991 worked in many different fields, mainly Import/Export. In 1996, he established Dahlan Tours and Travel with no previous experience In the field, however managed to be recognized locally and regionally being a Travel Agent with different approach to the Travel Industry in the Middle East. In 2009, Dahlan launched Travelsheikh.com b2b targeting Travel Agents in remote areas or with no access to the IATA or GDS. B2B site in 2011 sold at about $25million worth of travel services to its clients. During July 2012, travelsheikh.com launched a business-to-consumer site that jumped rapidly in the ranking and number of fans, and is selling an average of $40,000 since the beginning.

Hussein is an angel investor or advisor to several early stage startups including Bea’s of Bloomsbury, European Leaders, Eventasaurus, Exclusively.in, Flypost, GoCardless, Jaycut (acquired by RIM), KBG, Kiosked, LLUSTRE, Signpost, Stylebox and Tarmin. He is also an advisor to the Chairman of Eros International Plc (EROS:LN), an Indian media and entertainment company, and Different Capital, an early stage venture firm run by four former video game executives. He also helps the UK government with technology policy. He was formerly with Accel Partners, where he focused on consumer internet, financial technology and software investments. Hussein joined Accel from Microsoft Corporation, where he held several strategy and product management roles, and was selected to the company’s leadership program for his work building the speech recognition business. Hussein holds an MBA from London Business School, where he sat on the International Alumni Board, and did his undergraduate studies in Symbolic Systems at Stanford University.

Ibrahim Kivanc is responsible for client technologies development, Windows 8 and HTML5. He is focused on XAML + C# development and User Experience on client applications. Ibrahim holds a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering and has started his Master degree in MIS.

Jawad Abbassi's career experience spans 17 years. Jawad founded the Arab Advisors Group in 2001. As General Manager of Arab Advisors Group, Jawad directs the research and consulting activities of the company in addition to steering its marketing operations. 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; this allowed AJIB and the Arab Advisors Group to leverage strategic synergies to enhance the quality and scope of services of Arab Advisors Group. Before founding Arab Advisors Group, Jawad’s career experience includes working as a senior telecommunications and technology consultant with the Yankee Group in Boston - USA. Between 1998 and 2000, Jawad was a Senior Analyst with the communications research arm of the Economist Intelligence Unit in Boston. Jawad also worked for Apple Computers dealership, in addition to being a weekly columnist on Information Technology in Jordan’s leading English weekly.

Jihad Srage serves as the Senior Vice President and President for Qualcomm’s Middle East and Africa operations. 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, Jihad spent more than 10 years at Texas Instruments (TI), most recently overseeing marketing operations for TI’s wireless terminals business unit. Jihad 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. Jihad 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.

Josh has worked with a number of marquis fortune 500 clients helping them define their infrastructure requirements and educational needs as well as developing complex and multi-tiered curricula that maps to their organizational competencies. Josh spends much of his professional time working with large educational systems, working to help them understand their learning infrastructure requirements from both a technical perspective as well as a pedagogical perspective. Having worked with micro and macro implementations as well as ministry level systems he brings a wealth of experience in both technology and pedagogy. Josh is a frequent presenter at international educational conferences and is always excited about new opportunities to help education expand in new areas and evolve to meet the demands of 21st century learners. Josh has studied at a PhD level in the Learning, Design, and Technology program at the University of Georgia.

Joumana has a background in graphic design from the American University of Beirut and a Masters in Design Management from IED, Barcelona. Passionate about connecting brands to people, she works on creating processes that engage users and create loyalty. She enjoys facilitating workshops to reach a customized process that combines design, user needs, and market demands, helping companies change perspectives. Truly passionate about visual expression and storytelling, she is always looking for inspiration from street photography to blogging with her cat.

Karim Daoud is the CEO of Intigral, created to enable telecos and regional ISPs to deliver a compelling digital media experience to consumers across Mobile, Web and IPTV. Karim has over 10 years of experience in Strategy and Business Development. He was previously an Executive Director with Twofour54 where he defined the zone’s growth strategy, focusing on collaboration between global and regional media houses and creators/entrepreneurs. Formerly, Karim was the Director of Strategy and Business Development at LBC where he formed an alliance with Rotana group. Karim founded a consulting venture at LBC, providing management and operational support to broadcasters. The unit was behind the re-launch of Al Iraqiya TV. Earlier in his career, Karim was a Senior Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton where he led engagements across the Middle East in telecommunications and technology. Karim earned an MBA from INSEAD and received undergraduate and advanced degrees from the Ecole Polytechnique in France.

Prior to joining BLOM Bank in early 2011, Krystell spent 3 years with one of the leading new media agencies in Lebanon where she had the opportunity to interact with major brands as well as leading advertising networks. Her experience and strong digital background as well as her interaction with banks and financial institutions allowed her to land the position of Head of Retail Communication in BLOM Bank where part of her responsibilities is to manage the entity’s digital communication and develop successful and powerful social and digital experiences.

Leila Khauli Hanna is a full time instructor at the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut. She teaches Marketing Communications and Social Media Strategy. Ms. Hanna is also a Communication Consultant to several major local and regional brands specializing in Brand Strategy. She conducts workshops and lectures on digital branding and developing social media presence for local brands. Ms. Hanna is has always been a pioneer in using technology in her courses. She embraces it and makes her student embrace it too.

Lisa Nyman joined Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden as a participant of the Ericsson Global Leadership Program to undertake the role as Strategic Project Manager within Business Unit Multimedia before moving on to become Business Development Manager in Taiwan as well as Costa Rica. In her current role as Strategy & Marketing Manager in Region Middle East, she is also responsible for driving Ericsson’s Networked Society Vision regionally. Lisa attended Stockholm School of Economics where she earned a Master of Science in Accounting and Financial Management; plus a Master of Science degree in Computer and System Sciences at the University of Stockholm. As part of her education, Lisa has also partaken in exchange programs at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the University of Economic Sciences of Budapest, Hungary.

Dr. Mahmud Shihab is the Educational Technology Program Administrator, Moodle Administrator, and Webmaster at International College (IC) in Beirut, Lebanon. He works on technology integration with four multilingual curricular tracks: the Lebanese Program (French, Arabic, and English), the French Baccalaureate Program, the American High School Program, and the International Baccalaureate Program. He has been actively training teachers on IT integration tools, Interactive White Boards, Student Response Systems, and Moodle. In addition to his home country of Lebanon, Shihab has attended, often as a presenter, education conferences in Greece, Thailand, Egypt, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Oman, France, Austria, and the United States. Shihab is in his second year as Ambassador of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), home of the widely used National Educational Technology Standards (NETS).

Marwan Hayek took the helm of Alfa, the first Lebanese mobile operator managed by Orascom Telecom, as Chairman and CEO since the beginning of 2010. Hayek is an experienced telecom executive with close to 17 years of field and operational experience. He started his career with France Telecom in Lebanon – Cellis, (Alfa currently), where he was part of the team that built the first GSM network in Lebanon, before joining later on the Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) family in 1999. Within OTH, Hayek held several assignments including, VP Technology of Egypt’s Mobinil, Pakistan’s Mobilink CTO, CTO of Yemen’s Sabafone, and OTH Technical Director. Hayek holds a Master’s degree in Telecommunications and Electrical Engineering from the “Faculte Polytechnique de Mons” in Belgium. 
In June 2011, Hayek was awarded the “Pan Arab Telecommunications Man of the Year” title by the Pan Arab Web Awards academy for his contributions to the sector.

Mashhoor Aldubayanis a User Experience Designer passionate about improving how things work, and understanding how users think. Worked with a plenty of companies and startups in improving their web and mobile experiences to reach their potential. Mashhoor started a specialized resource about User Experience in Arabic at uxfix.com, with more than 100 specialized articles to evangelize the benefits of this field.

Maya Zankoul is a visual artist and UI/UX designer, specialized in web, mobile and tablet. Her passion is designing fun, hand-crafted and unique apps which stand out from the crowd. She's the author of two best-selling comic books based on her popular blog 'amalgam'. She enjoys all types of challenges: from designing a local small home-made website to a full-fledged mobile application for international brands. She currently works from her own design studio in Beirut, by her own rules. You can find more about her work on pro.mayazankoul.com

Melanie has worked in advertising for over a decade. Her digital focus kicked off in ’04 by innovating on projects like the first mobile storefront for a consumer brand in the U.S. A few years later, she flew from YYZ to DXB to join OgilvyOne as a Senior Copywriter. During that time, she helped the agency become one of the top 10 direct agencies in the world by The Big Won Report, with recognition at Cannes, Loeries, One Show, Gemas Effies and Dubai Lynx. Presently, she develops work for a range of international clients such as GE as Head of Content, Digital Arts at TBWA\RAAD. Mel graduated from Queen's University with an Honours degree in English Literature. Twitter: @melclancy

Meredith leads OMG’s specialist social media division, developing social media solutions designed to put brands in close contact with their target audiences. Meredith brings 360-degree experience in marketing communications, which she has gained over the past 11 years, in the APAC and MENA regions, with additional exposure to markets in Russia, CIS states and territories, UK, Greece and Cyprus. Meredith’s specialist experience is in social media, public relations and strategic communications planning, with solid experience of marketing and brand management, event and media production. Meredith has been a UAE resident for nearly four years. In this time, she has worked on global social media and communications activities with organizations such as PepsiCo International, Henkel, Environmental Agency of Abu Dhabi, Peugeot, Rolls Royce Motor Cars and Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

Mert Pozcu is a founder and CEO of Pordiva a mobile tech company and developer based in Turkey. In March 2011 Pordiva launched Cepyol a mobile and web based online travel agent platform which quickly became the most downloaded mobile travel app in the turkish market. With Pordiva he has lead the development of a wide range of mobile apps in finance, government, retail, travel and Internet portals. Mert has over 11 years experience in the telecom and mobile commerce sector and was previously CEO of Birebir one of the leading mobile services companys in Turkey and solution partner of over 11 operators in Turkey, Europe and MENA.

Mia Azar completed her MA in Spatial & Product Design at Kingston University London in 2009 after obtaining her BFA in Graphic Design from the American University of Beirut. In February 2010, she joined PenguinCube, an award-winning design consultancy in identity design, interface design and wayfinding design, and has been part of their team of design enthusiasts ever since. Mia has the incredible ability to appear composed and nonchalant in stressful situations. She makes even the most extreme sports look like casual Sunday activities. A technophile and serial ‘tweeter’; her laugh will resonate in your ears for hours.

Micheline Tobia, lived in Jeddah for 17 years, before moving to Beirut in 2005. Micheline is the co-founder and co-editor of Mashallah News, a non-profit, transnational and urban platform for social and cultural news. Mashallah News is based in Beirut and covers over 20 cities from the Arab world, Turkey and Iran. Since its launch in November 2010, the website has gathered over 30 journalists, writers, students, bloggers, photographers, translators and graphic designers. In November 2011, Mashallah News won the UN, ICNM World Summit Youth Award for path-breaking e-content. Micheline is also currently writing her masters’ thesis in International Relations at AUB, dealing with the impact of the Turkish foreign diplomacy on the Arab world.

Mohamed Yamama works on evangelizing Windows Phone Platform and development to MEA developers. Yamama’s history with mobile development is not recent. He developed an application on Windows Mobile during the Imagine Cup 2009 in Egypt that was awarded the “Best Windows Mobile Application” trophy by Steve Ballmer personally. Yamama holds a Bachelor degree in Computer Science from the American University in Cairo.

An industry veteran and a proud geek. Started writing games in an early age and released his very first title, "Rescue" for the MSX platform at the age of 15. Upon graduating with a degree in Computer Science from the university of Alexandria, Muhammad founded eSpace along with a group of his colleagues. Muhammad left eSpace after a few years to work as a technical manager at Gawab.com were he was responsible for handling services that millions of users relied upon. He then went back to eSpace as a products manager and then assumed the CTO position. In early 2010 Muhammad started to pursue his long life dream of building great, inspiring games. He founded Nezal and went on to build the greatest game production team out there. Nezal are gearing up for a major release in the near future, one that Muhammad hopes will establish their name in the Middle East social gaming industry.

Muhammed is a co-founder of Namshi, the Middle East's fastest growing fashion e-commerce business. He moved to Dubai from Silicon Valley, where he completed his MBA at Stanford University and was a technology entrepreneur. Prior to founding Namshi, Muhammed was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, serving clients across the GCC. As an Iraqi-American, he is interested in linking the US and Middle East to encourage a mutually beneficial exchange of people and ideas. Muhammed holds bachelor's degrees in economics and political science from the University of Pennsylvania and is a Fulbright Scholar with expertise in Islamic Finance. Ever the travel addict, he has visited over 50 countries and is always looking for the next adventure.

Mustafa Bilge started in 2002 at SSMS, six-sigma process automation software, with R&D support from Tübitak. He continued his career with Hospital Automation and ERP software development. He then managed the IT Department of BioTekno, Deloitte's fastest-growing company in EMEA in 2009. Afterwhich he gave consultancy to banks like Akbank, Yapı Kredi, İş Bank, Halkbank, on software and technologic improvements. He established Mirsis Information Technologies in 2008 as a partnership, targeting financial sector, outsourcing and project development team, reaching150 IT people in 2011. Mustafa transferred his shares in 2011 and established Rintek. To serve local and global players by SAAS products, therefore he developed the Social Media Monitoring, Analysis, Reporting, CRM platform: Semanticum. Currently he is heavily involved with mobile technologies, sentiment analysis and sound technologies. Java, JEE, C #, ASP.NET, SQL and Data warehouse technologies such as SOA, SaaS, Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0, Semantic Web, Speech Recognition, Bioinformatics, Mobile Development Environments research and studies are continuing.

Nakhle El Hage joined MBC Group in 1991 in London as chief sub-editor of news. He was the first Arab news editor in a Pan-Arab satellite channel and was among the first to contribute in Arabizing technology in the news business. In 2002, he supervised the move of MBC from its headquarters in London to Dubai and contributed in setting up the work flow of news in MBC and later in Al Arabiya. At the inception of Al Arabiya, he established the department of Current Affairs and was responsible for the launching of 15 different programs. In July 2004, he became Director of News and Current Affairs bringing a wealth of experience in politics and culture to the news. Before joining MBC Group, El Hage started his career in radio as editor and presenter for Voice of Lebanon (VOL) radio station in Beirut. He later moved to television becoming a reporter for Tele Liban covering the Lebanese war.

Nart Bouran graduated from Syracuse University, New York in 1989 with a BA in International Relations and specialization in International Law. Launching his career in television journalism in 1990 as a video journalist in the Middle East covering some of the biggest news stories of the early 1990's such as, Somalia, Libya, Palestine and others. He then moved to London in 1995 to become the MEA Regional Editor at Reuters Television. In 2000, Nart relocated to Jordan, where he became the Director General of the National Broadcaster, Jordan Radio and Television Corporation (JRTVC), where he received the Kingdoms Medal of Honour from King Abdullah II for his role in establishing television facilities during the Arab Summit in 2001 in Amman. He joined Abu Dhabi TV, 2002, as Director of News. In 2006 Nart re-joined the Reuters News Agency where he was responsible for video products and services on the World News Service. Nart joined Sky News Arabia in 2011.

Nawaf Saad Al-Shalani is General Manager of Corporate Communications at Saudi Telecom Company, as of 2011. His responsibilities include overseeing the development and execution of the overall public relations strategy for STC Group covering all of its sectors, rolling out both internal and external communications programs, and the development and implementation of PR programs. Mr. Al-Shalani joined STC in November 1998 and has followed a fast track career path with a multi-disciplinary profile based on his academic and technical background and personal determination to innovate, develop and implement while continuously looking for bigger challenges. Prior to his current position, from December 2007 to April 2011 Mr. Al-Shalani was General Manager – Marketing, Home Services Business Unit, heading the newly created BU with the brief to attain STC’s strategic goal to re-invent home communications with high focus on customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention through providing innovative home telephony products with best in class service performance.

Born in 1976 in Istanbul, Nevzat Aydın studied computer engineering at Boğaziçi University. After graduation, he went to Silicon Valley to pursue his MBA degree from the University of San Francisco. In 2000, he returned to Turkey to realize his project “yemeksepeti.com”. As of now he is the Global CEO of Yemeksepeti.com, which brought a new dimension into the e-business concept in Turkey and later on expanded to Russia as ‘izrestorana.ru’ and to UAE as foodonclick.com. In 2007, Turkey office of Endeavor announced Mr. Aydın as “The Endeavor Entrepreneur”. In 2010, Mr. Aydın was chosen “The Most Successful Young Entrepreneur” by CNBC-e Business magazine. He is also the founding member of Galata Business Angels. Mr. Aydın was among the 150 entrepreneurs invited to the Entrepreneurship Summit, held by US President Barack Obama in April, 2010. Lately, Mr. Aydın was one of the speakers at the DLD12. He is a member of Editorial Advisory Board of GQ Turkey, Board Member of Trabzonspor SK, an attendee of the Champions League 2012 and among the dragons of popular TV show, Dragons’ Den.

Dr. Nibal Idlebi is the chief of the ICT Applications Section at ESCWA working on issues related to the ICT policies and strategies, enabling environment for the Information Society with special focus on Cyber Legislation, the development of ICT applications, e-Services and Digital Arabic Content. She is supervising various activities at ESCWA, such as preparation of reports and publications, organization of expert group meetings and workshops, implementation of field projects for the development of Information Society as well as providing advisory services to ESCWA member countries. Ms. Idlebi was recently a Jury member of various e-Content and e-government Awards in the Arab region and in the World Summit Award. Previous to her work with ESCWA, Dr. Idlebi was Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Communications and Technology (MCT) in Syria for two years, and ICT professor at the Higher Institute of Applied Science & Technology (HIAST) in Damascus for more than 8 years.

Nour Merza is a journalist with Thomson Reuters in the Middle East. She covers business and politics in the Gulf and has a particular interest in examining investment opportunities and entrepreneurship in the region. She has covered topics including diamonds in Dubai, Palestinian films, and online gaming in Saudi Arabia. She believes strongly in the region's potential as a hub of creative growth and enjoys exchanging ideas with others who share that conviction.

Omar Christidis is the Founder of ArabNet, the premier conference for the Arab web/mobile industry. In 2011, the ArabNet Digital Summit brought together more than 1,000 attendees and 100 speakers from more than 22 countries, and featured 20 pitches from promising entrepreneurs. He is also the Vice President of the family-owned business, IBAG, which has 15 years experience in organizing corporate events, and which manages ArabNet. Omar co-founded and serves as a Board Member of the Yale Arab Alumni Association (YAAA), a community of over 200 Yale alumni and affiliates with an active interest in the Arab World. Born and raised in Lebanon, Omar holds a BA and MBA from Yale University and has a background in consulting (Booz & Co) and finance (private wealth management - family office).

Pamir Gelenbe is a Partner at Hummingbird Ventures and an expert in digital media and e-commerce companies. Pamir serves on the board of Peak Games, MarkaVIP and On Device Research. Previously, he co-founded Flytxt, a pioneer in mobile marketing technology in Asia, Europe and the US. Prior to that, he worked at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, D.E.Shaw and Juno Online Services. Pamir received his BS in Electrical Engineering Summa Cum Laude from Duke University and a Master of Science in Operations Research from Columbia University. He led the selection committee of two Web/Mobility Tech Tours and is a Mentor on the London Business School's Entrepreneurship program. Pamir is the founder of the Nubridge Venture Summit, an invitation-only event which brings together Turkey's best Internet entrepreneurs and a number of international investors.

Raffy Karamanian is the Head of Delivery Channels at Bank Audi since January 2011. His main responsibilities entail developing alternative channels and delivering seamless cross-channel banking experiences. He is responsible for the development of the “Novo” concept, initiating a new retail banking experience to customers. Raffy held the position of Head of Retail Banking in Sudan where he launched the Bank’s initial Islamic Retail Banking operation. Prior to joining Bank Audi in 2005, he worked in the retail banking field in New York for 6 years with JPMorgan Chase [Washington Mutual] and Commerce Bank.

Ramzy Hamadeh is the head of the Payment Systems Department at Banque Du Liban (The Central Bank of Lebanon). He is member of the Payment System Committee chaired by the Governor and a member Board at MIDCLEAR. He represents BDL at the Arab Committee for Payments and Securities Settlement Systems at the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). Currently, he is working with BDL team on implementing the New Payment System for Lebanon, by introducing the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), Automated Clearing House (ACH) and PAYGOV (Solution for Government Payments). He is also responsible for managing and overseeing the payment system operated by BDL, in accordance with the relevant regulations and international principles. Mr. Hamadeh holds a B.A in Accounting and Finance from the Lebanese University and obtained a certificate in computer programming from the American University of Beirut.

Riad Farah has more than 20 years of experience in Medical Engineering, combined academic proficiency with medical equipment technology. He is now a consultant for several national and international Hospitals, represents Order of Hospitals at LIBNOR; the Lebanese Institutes of Norms and Standards, quality auditor on Lebanese accreditation standards, and manages over twenty million dollars valued medical equipment at Saint George Hospital. He is also specialized in JCAHO/AIA American standards for Hospital Architecture, which he teaches at several Lebanese Universities. He also taught medical equipment technology for Nurses and Radiology technology for technicians.

Riccardo Musolesi started his career with a degree in Interior Design from IED Milan, a post grad in designing Food Experiences from POLI.design Milan, and a Master in Design Management from IED Barcelona. He's an infoholic and needs to get his daily dose of world, economy and tech news along with his espresso. Putting all this knowledge to work in order to create the customized programs at Mirada, he bridges the gap between design and business, through training and consulting, engaging people to undertake design that led solutions within their companies.

Passionate about technology and wastes his time figuring gadgets out. Roy has a diversified portfolio of experience spanning over 7 years ranging from the client side to advertising, setting up business strategies to running one. He is currently heading up Mindshare's mobile business division as the Head of Mobile and Technology in addition to running the digital side for Mindshare's two automotive brands as a Senior Manager in the Exchange.

A serial entrepreneur, credited with having started mobile value-added services in the MENA region, Roy has over 25 years experience in the wireless and mobile sectors. Roy is the founder and CEO of Ubanquity Systems, Ltd. an Irish startup specializing in innovative Mobile Self-Care Solutions for the Mobile and Banking sectors. Prior to Ubanquity, Roy was the founder and CEO of Jinny Software, an Irish mobile value-added service provider, which he sold for €14.4M to Acotel Group.

Ruba is a nine year veteran in the content development and instructional design industry. Ruba has worked on a variety of educational and commercial projects involving education, at one of the elite middle eastern eLearning companies. In early 2010 Ruba started Kashida-Learning to serve the needs of the MENA region. Having worked on the team that established the first fully online University in the Middle East (SVU - Syria Virtual University), Ruba has a deep understanding of the needs of the region as well as the challenges that go with working in this arena. When asked what her favorite task is in eLearning space Ruba's typical response is that she loves to create order out of ill defined work. This is especially important in the education environment as definitions are a constantly shifting as Ruba's work with the University of North Carolina can attest to.

Runa is a security researcher and developer based in London, UK. She is interested in security, cryptography, privacy, and online anonymity.

Saad Andary was appointed as the Second Vice-Governor of the Banque du Liban (the Central Bank of Lebanon), in 2009. He is a member of the Bank’s Central Council, and of the Open Markets’ Committee. He chairs the joint BDL-Banking Control Commission Financial Stability Committee, and the Scientific, Technical, and Ethical Qualifications Committee. He is also “Membre du Conseil de Surveillance de l’Ecole Supérieure des Affaires”. He oversees the Banks’, Financial Stability, and Training and Development Institute at BDL. Mr. Andary served as Chairman of the International Chambers of Commerce’s Anti-Corruption Commission. He was instrumental in directing “Lebanon’s Young Entrepreneurship” initiative, which was recently launched by BDL with support from ESA and the civil society. This initiative started its activities by bringing together stakeholders and local and international backers to build economic capacity supported by the financial sector.

Saad Khan is a Partner at CMEA Capital where he leads their digital media and Internet efforts. That includes leading all seed and early stage investments in the people behind Zaarly, Blekko, Luminate, Jobvite, among others. Prior to CMEA, he was a Venture Partner at Garage.com where he helped build Silicon Valley’s first startup incubator. In addition to his day job, he co-founded the Film Angels. Saad is also an Advisor to Lending Club, SamaSource, and the Thiel Fellowship’s 20 under 20 program. Saad has been a guest lecturer at the Stanford Design School and the UC Berkeley Business School. He is a frequent speaker at the US State Department and events supporting the cause of entrepreneurs from Startup Weekend in Egypt to “Silicon Valley Comes to Malaysia”. He has been featured in Forbes (an advisor to Forbes 30 under 30), the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. You can follow Saad's blog; SaadWired.com

Safa Rahal joined Coral Suites Al Hamra in 2009 as an Executive Assistant for the GM and have been working on the team since. In 2010, Safa become the E-Commerce Executive and was tasked with implementing a dedicated e-commerce strategy. As of January 2011 Safa got promoted to handle Revenue Execution as well. Safa managea all customer online reviews and control rates, availability and presence.

Sagar Shetty is the co-founder and director of Clique Media. In his role, Sagar develops industry-leading best practice initiatives in the communications sector and is responsible for creating new business opportunities and strategic partnerships forClique Media's clients and agencies. Sagar has over 10 years' experience in Digital Marketing Communications across APAC, South Asia and MENA. Prior to Clique Media, Sagar was part of the core team that set up OMG Digital for the Omnicom Media Group, where he headed the Digital Trading division for five years. In 2003, Sagar created a marketing and advertising portal that was acquired by the Maktoob Group. One of Sagar's key accomplishments is being recognized as the first dedicated Digital Media Buyer in the Middle East. Sagar holds a Masters degree in Management from the Edith Cowan University in Australia, where he also began his career in the digital space as a trainee at an agency in Perth.

Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Y+ Ventures, Salam is an entrepreneur, angel investor, board member of multiple start-ups, mentor and coach. She founded Active-M in 2009 as a start-ups enabler firm focusing on the MENA Region, where she helped incubate and mentor more than 7 startups within the UAE during the last 2 years. Before 2009, Salam was the Managing Director of Investment Banking at SHUAA Capital, an active member of the management team that grew SHUAA Capital from a small investment company to the Leading investment bank in the MENA region. With over 17 years experience in the Arab Capital Markets within Lebanon Invest, MECG and SHUAA Capital, Salam helped raise more than $7 bn for some of the most prominent regional names including Aramex, Arabtec, Air Arabia, Dubai Ports, HIKMA Pharmaceutical, East Pharma and Petrofac. Salam has a BSc in Computer Science and MBA from American University of Beirut in Lebanon.

Salam Yamout is the National ICT Strategy Coordinator at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Before that, Salam was Program Manager for Corporate Social Responsibility at Cisco since 2005. Salam has 20 years experience in the development and management of ICT systems and the formulation of ICT Strategies and ICT for Development (ICT4D) programs. Salam is the holder of M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona (Tucson, USA) in 1987, and an MBA from the Ecole Supérieure des Affaires (Beirut, Lebanon) in 2005. Salam is the founder and past president of Women in IT and Secretary General of the MIT Enterprise Forum for the Pan Arab Region. She also founded the Lebanese Broadband Stakeholders Group, the Beirut Internet Exchange Point, and the Lebanon Chapter of the Internet Society. She is a member of the Order of Engineers of Beirut.

Sammy Tuffaha has over 18 years of Management, Consulting, Marketing, and Telecommunication experience at top global industry players including IBM Corp, AT&T Global Networks, and Orange Telecom. He coordinated and deployed mobile banking and mobile payment services with direct management of various aspects including technical, legal, regulatory, distribution, delivery, and marketing. In addition, Tuffaha managed the design and implementation of various mobile applications and mobile advertising solutions. As an entrepreneur, he created 4 startups businesses in different industries.

Sébastien Marteau is the VP of Mobile Services at Intigral, with a mandate to oversee the company’s mobile operations and manage third-party ecosystem. Sebastian also supports in the migration of traditional mobile services (SMS/MMS) into the more advanced internet mobile applications. He plays a key role in expanding the company’s operations regionally and internationally. Prior to joining Intigral, Sebastian was Vice President - Sales and Business Development of Fox Mobile Group. He led the sales and operations team to secure content portals & services outsourcing partnerships with major operators in Europe across all content verticals. He established successful account management strategies with key service providers. He was also in charge of all billing aggregators and mobile operators wholesale & direct connectivity activities in 23 countries. Sebastian has extensive experience in the mobile industry in both large multinationals and start-ups and is very well versed in all aspects of mobile content and value added services.

Prior to founding SolidPass, Selahaddin Karatas was the vice president of Sonera (the leading telecommunications provider in Finland and currently TeliaSonera) in charge of the Product group launching value added services and data platforms for telecom service providers. Selahaddin has been a noted speaker on the conference circuit covering the mobile internet, data security and convergence. Selahaddin has helped spearhead many world firsts in the space of the mobile internet and value added services, launching consumer facing non-voice mobile data applications from the year 1999 onwards. Selahaddin graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA.

Responsible for the Amadeus e-Commerce, Leisure & Mobile Solutions product portfolio for the Middle East & North Africa Region, George has more than ten years of travel & tourism e-Commerce experience in the region and has got a good knowledge of the local markets. Previously he has worked as the Amadeus e-Commerce Engineer for Middle East & Africa region. Over the past 12 years George has gained extensive technological and strategic experience in many solution areas of travel and tourism including, Internet Booking Engines, Corporate Booking Engines, pure Leisure Solutions , Mobile Technologies for Corporations and Travellers, e-Marketing etc. He also represented Amadeus in many e-Commerce related conferences including IOETIs 2nd Arab International e-Tourism & e-Marketing Conference in Elgona, Egypt & The Secrets of E- Marketing arts Seminar, Beirut, Lebanon. George has an Engineering degree in Electronics and Communications from Mangalore University,India. He is based in Amadeus IT Group SA, MENA Regional office in Dubai.

Sidar Sahin founded Peak Games, the fastest-growing emerging markets gaming company, in November of 2010. Peak Games is focused on providing culturally relevant games in emerging markets including Turkey, MENA, South America and Mexico, and already has 16 million monthly active users. Right before Peak Games, Sidar was a partner in fashion e-commerce startup Trendyol.com. He helped Trendyol.com grow from 3 to 300 people and reach a $100 million valuation within a year. His previous ventures include Funpac, a mobile gaming studio which he set up in 2003. Funpac games were distributed in 30 countries through more than 50 operators and portals. Izlesene.com, Sidar’s second venture was focused on social video sharing, launched in early 2006. Izlesene was the highest value Internet business exit in Turkey in its time. His third venture GameGarden is also a gaming company and was acquired by the Dogan Group, the leading media group in Turkey.

Connecting hungry people with restaurant owners, that was Sleiman's first mission when he decided to leverage the tools available online. Going through the different stages of the "one website project", he turned that into a lot of websites and his project into an agency. The agency's focus: digital emotions through innovative use of available tools and creative set of custom made development. Based on the idea that most of the industries have yet to adapt to this new world order, he built a team of passionate people to support companies willing to make the move. He believes in SEO, content and emotions.

Sohrab is the Head of Sales and Operations of LivingSocial Middle East following the acquisition of his company GoNabit in 2011 - the first group buying website in the Middle East. Sohrab co-founded GoNabit in 2010 and served as Chief Operating Officer until October 2011. As Head of Sales and Operations, Sohrab is responsible for sales strategies, Operational strategies and processes, the expansion of the business across the region and overall revenue growth. Sohrab has been involved in seven start-ups throughout his career and has over 15 years of experience in the technology sector. Highlights from Sohrab’s entrepreneurial background include overseeing two acquisitions with Your Communications; launching the UK’s first DSL broadband provider with Bulldog Communications; co-founding NYT Limited, a leading mobile payments and content provider; acquiring Touchsoft an application software developer, and developing and launching a mobile-enablement platform; as well as co-founding Kulacom where he oversaw the commercial deployment of the world’s first Wave II Wi-Max network in Jordan.

Stephane Crozatier is a software engineer at Facebook based in Paris. His team is tasked with helping strategic regional partners build social products leveraging the Facebook platform through the open graph. Before Facebook, Stephane worked for Microsoft. He helped software companies build scalable solutions on the Windows Azure cloud computing platform, and managed the technology partnerships with the leading Independent Software Vendors in France. He also previously worked on Windows Phone, Windows and .Net.

Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi is a UAE based columnist whose columns have appeared in publications within and outside the Arab Gulf region. His columns have appeared in The Gulf News, The National Newspaper, The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Open Democracy, The Globe and Mail amongst others. Sultan Al Qassemi is also non-resident Fellow at the Dubai School of Government, and an active presence on Twitter at @SultanAlQassemi.

Tammam Yamout earned his bachelor of Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut in 2004. Since then he has been working at PenguinCube, a design consultancy which he co-founded that same year. PenguinCube, which provides consultancy in identity design, interface design and wayfinding design, has gone on to gain international recognition for their work and have been recipients of the Red Dot Design Award, the IF Design award as well as the prestigious SEGD honor award in wayfinding. Starting off as a team of two, he has seen the company grow to a multidisciplinary team of fourteen enterprising individuals working together. Tammam has super-human energy and an uncanny ability to think of (and tackle) twenty things at once. A geek and admitted air miles addict, with a passion for running, and a ridiculously good memory.

Tarek has sixteen years of experience in entrepreneurship, corporate finance and direct investments, primarily with early stage companies in the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America. He is the Managing Director of Endeavor Lebanon, an Economic Development non-profit focused on supporting and growing outperforming entrepreneurs. Prior to Endeavor Tarek was co-founder and Managing Partner at MEVP, a Beirut-based Venture Capital fund, which invests in early stage opportunities in the Middle East. Before MEVP, at the Emerging Market Private Equity fund of Dubai International Capital (DIC), he invested in growth companies in the Middle East and Asia; he, in tandem, served on the investment committee of DIC’s ABAN. Previously, he was a founding partner of Access Advisory, a London-based venture partner firm, geared at principal investors, and before that was part of Merrill Lynch’s Mergers and Acquisitions team in London, focusing on the TMT sector. He also co-founded, built and exited two ventures in mobile content and automotive services, in Mexico.

Turi Munthe is the CEO and founder of Demotix, the multiple-award winning image newswire, with over 6,000 reporters in 190 countries around the world.The Daily Telegraph describes Demotix as "journalism for the 21st century". Turi is English-French-Swedish and was brought up in London. He has been a publisher, editor, political analyst, lecturer, journalist and talking head. He has written for many of the world’s leading English-language newspapers, appeared on CNN, BBC, NBC, al-Jazeera, Asahi, Reuters, and elsewhere, and has lectured on new media all over the world. He is the author of The Saddam Hussein Reader (2002).

Vince Ghossoub is the co-founder and CEO of Falafel Games, a producer of Arabic and Islamic Massively-Multiplayer Online Games for the Arabic and Islamic users, with distributed studios operating in the Middle East and China. A closet gamer frustrated by the lack of Arabic content and cultural references on the Internet, he is taking Falafel Games on a mission to fill that gap. In this quest, Falafel Games is a finalist in the prestigious Red Herring Asia 100 Award for 2011, and had its title Knights of Glory elected by users best Arabic browser-based game for 2011. Vince holds a BS in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University of Beirut and a MBA from China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. His hobby is doing business and his business is making games.

Since he cofounded ITWorx in 1994, Wael Amin has been responsible for steering the company through its remarkable growth and transformation into a regional software powerhouse. Even before graduating top of his undergraduate class from the American University in Cairo, Wael's entrepreneurial drive was in high gear as he cofounded software firm MicroLabs. Wael is a frequent lecturer on Managing Professional Services and is a founding member of the Software Engineering Competence Center in Cairo. He is fluent in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

Wael Hattar set up and heads the Branded Content division for VivaKi in the region and brings with him experiences from the production, advertising and branding sectors. He has been developing the industry and the division since it’s initiation about 4 years ago and has supported many brands in developing a closer interaction and brand appeal with their audiences’ as well as win awards both regionally and internationally. Starting off in advertising he was one of the earlier creative raised in the region which enabled him to work and develop interesting project for big brands like Pepsi Kraft and Nestle Wael moved to production where he worked on his award winning early attempt at branded integration through directing the M&M's Miss Green music video to being awarded a high grant and commission to develop the video art piece and installation for the Victoria and Albert museum in London.

Walid's fifteen years of experience include corporate finance, new venture development, and private equity. Prior to founding MEVP, he was the CEO of Dubai International Capital's venture arm, the Arab Business Angels Network (ABAN), which manages two regional seed venture funds as well as a Business Angels network. Before ABAN, he was on the investment-management team of Abraaj Capital. Walid has also co-founded, invested in, or led several startups in Lebanon, spanning a range of industries, including technology, consumer finance, and hospitality (Orange Holding). Walid is a member of the Young Arab Leaders, a member of Lebanese Business Angels and a founding board member of the World Business Angels Association. He holds a Bachelor's of Economics from McGill University (Canada), and a Master's in Finance from Hautes Études Commerciales, H.E.C (France).

Walid Tahabsem co-founded Integrated Technology Group in 1989 after receiving his B.Sc. in Computer Science from Yarmouk University, Jordan. Today, as ITG President & CEO, Walid leads one of the most successful IT solution providers in the Middle East offering quality end-to-end IT solutions and services in the field of education and government solutions. Walid was able to grow ITG in size, revenue and technological innovation, including the development of the first Arabic artificial intelligent parser, and an Electronic Data Interchange solution, in addition to EduWave®, which holds the largest base of deployments worldwide. Walid is an active member of Jordan’s National Agenda, Jordan’s Board of Education, Jordan University for Science and Technology (JUST) Advisory Council, German Jordan University (GJU) Advisory Council, Jordan’s ICT Advisory Council, Information Technology Association of Jordan (INT@J) Board, and Jordan’s Youth Development Program INJAZ. Walid is a co-founder and board member of the Oasis-500.

Wassim Bassil founded Interesting Times, a creative marketing solutions company, in 2010. Interesting Times was able in less than 2 years to attract brands such as Red Bull, Safi Danone, Thuraya, Nokia and Lebanese Brew to its roster of clients. Wassim gained exposure and understanding of the MENA market through a very rich experience at JWT for over 7 years. He was a core member in shifting the mindset towards adopting digital and was at the core of the establishment of RMG Connect across 4 markets; JWT’s digital arm prior to the merger of both entities. Earlier in his career, Wassim was as a Project Manager with Zentropy Partners NY, the digital arm of Interpublic Group in 1998; where he was tasked to support in the Launch of the EESEE Process.

William Kanaan, New Business Development Manager - Emerging Markets, is a high tech veteran who has founded and worked for several startups in the Silicon Valley and Canada. He has been a senior software architect and consultant at Netscape, Sun and Fujitsu consulting. During the last 7 years at Google, William worked on Mobile, News and Ads systems. William holds a bachelor degree in computer science.

Yorgos co-founded ‘UP Greek Tourism’, the first digitally crowdfunded initiative in Greece, in December 2011. Through this project he successfully convinced 333 supporters of Greece to share the cost of an advertising billboard for Greek tourism in central New York. He has been responsible for overall strategy, marketing and execution of this initiative. As his day job, Yorgos is currently head of research, planning and strategy of a Marketing Communications agency in Dubai. He has previously held strategy and business development roles for a leading FMCG, two online startups and a Dubai government corporation. Yorgos studied business administration in the Athens University of Economics and Business and Copenhagen Business School, and holds an MBA from INSEAD. On his free time Yorgos enjoys traveling, playing squash, doing board sports and helping online startups with their marketing.

Yousef Ghosheh is the Deputy CEO of Dimensions Healthcare, a leading healthcare informatics company based in the United Arab Emirates with offices across the Middle East. He has more than 8 years of experience business development in the SME and ICT industries with private, public, and non-for-profit organizations. He was engaged in multiple pioneering initiatives in the information technology and healthcare sectors over the past few years including the implementation of the first pharmacy benefit management solution in the United Arab Emirates in partnership with MedImpact International. Mr. Ghosheh has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Information System from the United States and a Master Degree in Development Management from Germany.

Yousef Tuqan Tuqan is one of the region’s most experienced and respected digital marketing experts, with a diverse agency career in the UAE that spans over 15 years. He is an outspoken and visible evangelist for the role of digital marketing in the region. He is a regular university guest lecturer & keynote speaker, and is a frequent contributor to regional publications on digital marketing in the Middle East As CEO of Flip Media – the region’s leading digital agency and now also a member of the Leo Burnett MENA Group of Companies - Yousef has been at the forefront of the region’s most successful online initiatives, leading a global team of 120 staff across four offices worldwide. Yousef is a Board Member of the International Advertising Association's UAE Chapter, a Goodwill Ambassador for the charity Gulf For Good and an Adjunct Professor at the American University of Dubai.

Ziad is the Founder/CEO of The Alleyway Group and the Treasurer of the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafes, Nightclubs and Pastries in Lebanon and has a BA in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut and a MSc in Marketing Management from the University of Surrey, UK. Ziad Kamel began his career in 2002 in Beirut by founding and organizing New Year’s Eve events at the famous Sursock Palais in Ashrafieh for 4 years. In 2005, Kamel established his first company which went on to launch two popular nightspots in Beirut, Gauche Caviar & Cloud 9. Kamel then completed The Alleyway in 2009 by developing a diverse selection of concepts specializing in great food (Couqley – a French Bisto-Restaurant), nightlife entertainment (Gauche Caviar, Cloud 9, The Angry Monkey), shopping and indoor tanning. Ziad’s most recent launched restaurant is Amarres, a French Cafe-Bistro in Zaitunay Bay.