Anas Almarie is an Executive and Founding Member of Arab Social & Digital Media Council, Co-Host of the weekly show #HRMEChat in affiliation with (SHRM) Society for Human Resources Management – MEA, Award Winning Entrepreneur by Dubai Internet City 2015, Founder of MENA Social Media Awards, TV guest speaker, Keynote speaker and a featured speaker at various conferences and trade shows across Middle East and Africa, Former Lecturer at University of Sharjah – Engineering School, active member at Social Media Club, Chair Judge at International Business Excellence Awards, Gulf Customers Experience Awards, he’s currently the Director of Training & Consultancy at Focus Social Academy in Dubai Media City. www.AnasAlmarie.com

Ian Golding is a Certified Customer Experience Professional. A highly influential freelance CX consultant, Ian advises leading companies on CX strategy, measurement, improvement and employee advocacy techniques and solutions. Ian has worked across multiple industries including retail, financial services, logistics, telecoms and pharmaceuticals and has deployed CX tools and methodologies all over the world. An internationally renowned speaker and blogger on the subject of CX, Ian was the first to become a CCXP Authorised Resource & Training Provider.

Bala leads CRM and Customer Experience engagements for his clients in Automotive, Healthcare and Technology space. He is a Customer Strategist with over 15 years’ experience in helping brands to focus on customer-centric business management practices in the Middle East. Bala is an accredited practitioner of SCHEMA® Customer centricity framework, a Fellow of IDM, UK and a Certified Customer Experience manager committed to the highest levels of professional and personal excellence. He is excited to be at the intersection of big data and customer loyalty science

Customer focus and experience measurement characterize Akram’s 36 years career. His experience spans Consumer Research, Advertising & Marketing Services, Direct & Loyalty Marketing, CRM, Customer Experience Management & connected practices. While member of the Executive Board of the IAA-UAE Chapter Akram co-organized or chaired several Awards editions from 1993 till 2003, with particular emphasis on jury appointment, entry screening & assessment methodologies and criteria. Akram currently advises other entities that award via jury selection or public voting

Edward is an experienced leader with almost 20 years of leadership experience in Human Resource Development, Sales and Financial Services, where he has proven his ability to manage, motivate and influence others through strong and effective communication skills and a commitment to realizing individual and team success.

Prior to moving to Dubai to head up CCM Consultancy, Edward lived in Toronto and was Regional Director for Canada’s largest financial planning firm. He spent 14 years working with his team of over 90 wealth managers, financial planners and support staff (having started off with 19 individuals) managed over US$540 Million in assets for clients and achieved an annual turnover of US$65 Million. This success led to his region ranking number one in Canada for Asset and New Business growth. He had received several awards for exceptional achievements as a Division and Regional Director. Edward and CCM Consultancy have won numerous awards for the work they’ve done and the results they’ve achieved.

Edward currently delivers keynote speeches focusing on customer experience, employee engagement and leadership essentials. He has also personally delivered over 1000 workshops and has co-designed several interventions on organization culture and memorable customer experiences. He has worked with clients in several industries and sectors such as Automotive, Aviation, Pharmaceutical, Retail, Hospitality, Oil & Gas, FMCG and Financial Services.

Ghassan is a marketing strategist and one of the pioneers in digital marketing in the region with over 16 years of experience in both strategic planning and cross-departmental tactical management working with multinational companies, including Fortune Global 500 brands and major GCC corporations and government organizations.

A writer and a public speaker who gave talks at many events in six countries across the Middle East and Europe.

Ahmed currently is PhD candidate in IBS-UTM (International Business School - UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia) and holds MBA degree from the University of Atlanta in USA and Bachelor’s Degree in Communications Engineering from Cairo University of Egypt.

His PhD thesis is Data Driven Customer Experience and the Road Map to deliver Happiness, 

Ahmed has over 15 years of professional experience in Gov. Service development, Service delivery, Customer Experience Strategy, Research & Consultancy, Service Excellence and Organizational development in both government and private sector corporations, where he led different related initiatives in different UAE gov. entities.

Hesham Almekkawi is a Food and Beverage industry expert with more than 25 years of experience in managing global and international chains of restaurants in the USA and the Middle East. He is the founder and president of AHRAMIZ FZ LLC, a leadership development and management consulting company.

Prior to AHRAMIZ, Hesham was the Group Managing Director of Hospitality for Marka Holding PJSC and the Country Director for Kuwait Food Company (Americana) in UAE.

Prior to moving to Dubai in 2008, Mr. Almekkawi was the Regional Director of Pizza Hut for the Mid-Atlantic Region in the United States where he spent 15 years with YUM! Brands.

Mr. Almekkawi holds EMBA from the Zicklin School of Business in New York. where he served afterword as an adjunct professor from 2003 to 2006 teaching service strategies and operations management. 

Among his credentials, Mr. Almekkawi is a Certified International Life Coach, NLP Practitioner and Certified Public Speaker, Mentor and Coach by John Maxwell and the Author of the upcoming book “The 9 Traits of HERO Brands”.

With 22 years professional experience in mature and emerging markets, Ayesha delivers the combined value of a seasoned international CEM professional and advisor to executives of leading organisations. Ayesha has led critical efforts to create competitive advantage across business strategy, customer experience and delivery within consumer services; telecoms, technology, banking, retail and financial services.  With unequivocal passion and knowledge, Ayesha has the unique ability to combine a customer first mindset with commerciality to make organisations relevant to the new consumer. Strongly reputed, Ayesha continues to spearhead launch and transformation for leading brands.

Strategic, action oriented, and results driven member of the leadership team providing senior-level guidance for global support initiatives and customer success programs, and resource assignment and scheduling. Has been instrumental in development of growth strategies and marketing plans. Focus on Performance Solutions while maintaining internal performance and productivity standards to increase efficiencies and productivity. A Customer Experience thought leader who is passionate about helping to build people-focused organizations.

• An innovative problem solver who is passionate about customer success, and able to demonstrate the value of excellent customer service
• A strategic planner with hands on exposure in implementing customer experience management and Key Account Management.
• Core competencies include leadership, diverse customer relations, performance management, process management, data analysis, problem solving, effective communication, business acumen, and technical aptitude.
• Effective in Event Planning & Management, Public Relations & Media, Advertising & promotions. Self-starter with a proven track record of driving customer success and aligning complex customer solutions at the executive and department levels
• Superior communication skills (verbal and written) and well-developed presentation skills
• A strong, passionate, optimistic, global team leader with a "will do" attitude that is contagious

Christina is the Head of Customer Experience and Innovation at Old Mutual Wealth. She has worked in the financial services sector in the customer experience world for nearly 25 years. Her unique, unconventional and creative thinking has brought the customer to life in the most unexpected but impactful way. She has won a series of internal and external awards for her work and was awarded the UK Customer Experience Professional of the Year in 2016.

Ayman has spent his career on both sides of the industry as a Creative & Digital strategist as well as a Marketing Director. He has worked across Dubai, Chicago, and Washington D.C accumulating a portfolio that includes Sony, Philips, Infiniti, Nissan, Huawei, Caterpillar, and the Majid Al Futtaim Malls. As a keen researcher, Ayman has published several articles in industry publications, presented his research at international conferences, and mentored numerous Palestinian start-ups. In 2017, he launched INTEGR8, a data-driven, creatively-charged advertising agency.

Craig Lee is a Customer Experience transformist, speaker, advisor and coach. He is Co-founder of TribeCX, (UK, US, Dubai), a customer experience business supporting companies building customer competence. Craig is a recognised globally for his expertise in customer experience, employee engagement, integrated marketing and bringing brands to life. He has led on customer centered change in the financial services, telecoms, retail, technology sectors, hospitality and travel. Craig consults internationally and has lived in Dubai for 20 years. Craig recently also held the position of CX &Brand at Emirates Group.

Richard Rodwell is Partner and Co-founder of Whitehook. British (and proudly Welsh), Richard moved to Malaysia in 1997 and has since worked across Asia for blue-chip IT, Outsourcing and Communications companies. A calculated risk taker, CX pioneer and experienced sales professional, Richard has developed profitable business models for high-end enterprise IT services organisations; been in the trenches with a CX vendor during the push to Cloud and the drive to Omni-channel. He co-founded Asia’s largest On-line Giving platform. Today, his focus is on the intersection of business and technology to ensure brand and service excellence and he specialises in providing virtual customer insight into enterprise voice and contact centre service performance. An avid golfer; consumer of historical fiction and aspiring vintner Richard, more by luck than judgement, holds a BA in Economics and International Finance from Hult International Business School.

Helen develops strategy that drives focus and direction for client organisations to deliver superior customer and employee experiences and dramatically improve business results.

Using design thinking and service design tools and techniques she inspires cross functional creativity to innovate current and future customer experiences. Her non-traditional approach to consultancy is focused on building internal capability through knowledge transfer training programmes and workshops to foster a truly customer centric culture.

Her 20+ year career has delivered excellence across a range of industry sectors including publishing, education, government services, real estate, retail, telecommunications and leisure. Helen founded the customer experience consultancy Customer at Heart in 2010 and now works as an independent customer experience consultant.

German national and 13-year Permanent Resident of Singapore, Marcus has more than 25 years in the Sales and Service Management Industry.

Marcus conducts Customer Experience-based Mystery Shopper programs, Customer Satisfaction Survey programs and Focus Group discussions to inspire & improve Client service delivery across all touchpoints to help people & organizations to make their Customers’ lives better.

In training sessions Marcus gets people inspired, motivated & skilled to improve their performance, while sharing real-world experience gained working with organizations around the globe.

Since 2017 he is Associate Faculty Member of the Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business in Malaysia.

Daniel Ord is a 30-year veteran of the Contact Centre & CX industries with half his career spent in the US and now nearly 19 years in Asia.

Daniel is an ICMI Certified Associate, a CIAC Strategic Leader and a Certified Customer Experience Professional as well as an Associate Faculty at a Graduate School in Malaysia and an Associate Trainer at the Singapore Civil Service College.

Daniel founded his company, OmniTouch, in Singapore in 2001 and conducts global workshops and training on CX, Contact Centres, Leadership, Management and communication skills. Daniel’s company also conducts CX-based Mystery Shopper research.

Kashif is a dynamic, results-driven leader with years of progressive experience leveraging management consulting skills with legal acumen to drive business growth, protect assets and, assure legal compliance. He is currently working as Director Corporate Services with Biznet Consulting advising Entrepreneurs, Corporates and Business Owners on Company Formation and Business Setups in UAE.

His is also an active Council Member of GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group) and successfully incorporated many local and MNC’s in UAE. His expertise and knowledge includes; structuring of legal entities and help foreign companies to setup branches and investment companies in UAE.

Saif Jarad is an internet entrepreneur who founded the 1st online performance marketing company in the Middle East back in 2010 “Chain Reaction” and he is the current MD of the company. At the moment Chain Reaction has 4 offices across the region, serving regional and local brands including some Fortune 500 companies in the region.

Chain Reaction has become the region’s 1st Google analytics premium partner hiring more than 25 digital experts and helping many e-commerce businesses thrive and scale through digital marketing.

Saif is also the 1st judge from the ME to judge at the prestigious UK Search Awards.

Chain Reaction has managed to sign representation deals for the Middle East region with Baidu from China and an agency partner for Yandex from Russia.

Saif holds a BSc in Mechatronics Engineering and starting his MBA next year.

Ismail Al Hammadi is an expert real estate professional. He is founder and Managing Director of Al Ruwad Real Estate and Biznet Consulting. Before starting his journey as an entrepreneur, he served as Executive director (Business Development) in TECOM, Sales Director in TECOM investments, Manager Government Relations in Dubai Industrial City and Senior Coordinator in Department of Economic Development Dubai.

His versatile experience enables him to provide appropriate consultancy to real estate investors and streamlined solutions for startups. The entrepreneur and resourcefulness in Mr. Hammadi helps organization to create profitable changes through unconventional and futuristic thinking using nimble and advance technology cutting down unwanted time constraints and road blocks. His venture and synergy till date have complimented hundreds of campaigns, non-profits, legal boards and brands.

HR Professional with over 15 years of experience with a proven track in many sectors in UAE. Extensive experience in working in Human Resources and demonstrated strong leadership, ownership and responsibility in achieving objectives. He has Developed, managed and supervised the Emiratisation, also have developed policies and directed and coordinated human resources activities, such as Recruitment, HR Business Partner, Training and Development. He believes in keeping employee engagement and motivating them to always keep the best practices to the organization.

Having over 17 years of experience across various functions within the Banking and Technology industry, having a background in strategy, sales, product development, process enhancements and service excellence - my skills include utilizing data from diverse channels, both internally and externally, to build and assist in improvement of organizational decision making capabilities, resulting in improved customer experience and an relevant impact in increased profitability or enhanced performance.

Serial Entrepreneur and Tech-Geek at heart with more than 16 years of professional experience.

Founder and Managing Director of NOCC, a systems integrator and network security solutions company; Co-founder and Partner in WebMisc., a Digital Marketing Agency; Co-Founder of HeyDoc! a global and award winning healthcare revolution as the Middle East's first telemedicine platform that connects patients with Doctors via in-app advisory.

A passionate Tech-thusiast, International Speaker and Executer that's been consulting, innovating and delivering solutions for over 12 years. Managing Director of WebMisc. a Digital Marketing Agency and Co-Founder of HeyDoc! - an award winning telemedicine platform that is disrupting healthcare relationships and the way Doctors advise patients by focusing on emerging and innovative communication technologies.

May has spent the past 9 years working within the Marketing Communications department at Jawwal, Palestine's largest telecommunication provider. In her role, she worked across creative management and writing, branding and advertising, marketing planning &project management. She was also involved within the creation and direction of creative ideas and processes, overlooked and supervised marketing campaigns, branding management & executions, as well as consulted and managed projects both technically and commercially. In 2017, May joined INTEGR8 as a Sr. Account Planner, handling the agency's largest client.

In his current role, Fady leads the Sales Operations across 5 countries. Fady’s responsibilities include driving and forging close relationships with the government and private entities and ensuring that Cisco’s business objectives and goals are closely aligned. Since joining Cisco in 2005 as a Senior Account Manager, Fady has held multiple responsibilities including UAE General Manager, Enterprise Sector Regional Sales Manager and Service Providers (Telco) Sector Regional Sales Manager. He led cross-functional engagements for multiple opportunities and built relationships across all levels. He also worked on multiple Smart City initiatives. Fady frequently represents Cisco at leading industry events.

Prior to working for Cisco, Fady held a number of senior positions within the IT industry, including Sales Support Senior Manager Middle East and Africa for Nortel, and Product Manager for Ericsson.

Fluent in English, Arabic and French, Fady holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer and Communication Engineering from the American University of Beirut.

Mr. Kumar has over 19 years of experience in roles of strategy deployment, customer centricity, performance management, process re-engineering, sales and consulting across the various industries and verticals including projects, engineering, energy, commodities and healthcare industry. Most of his experience has been with the TATA group across 3 different group organizations. Currently heading the operations of Weathermaker, Mr. Kumar oversees the P&L of a wholly owned subsidiary of Voltas which manufactures HVAC ducts and Prefabricated MEP Modules.

Stephen has more than 16 years of experience in managing Business transformation and Customer Experience initiatives in Banking, Telecom & Real Estate industries. Recognized for seamless span of capabilities in strategy formulation to ground-level execution, Stephen leads Customer Experience and Digital transformation programs for Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) in line with its vision to keep Dubai at the center of global business trade. DMCC was named “Global Free Zone of the Year” for the second year in succession by The Financial Times fDi magazine and continues to adopt and transform is business offering to its member companies. Prior to Joining DMCC, Stephen worked with leading bank in UAE and a Large Telecom service provider in India.

Stephen received Executive program in Business Management (Indian Institute of Management Calcutta) and Masters in Applied Economics.

With over 35 years of experience Heidi brings with her an extensive wealth of knowledge across industries, countries and solution areas. Heidi has been responsible for large integrated Human Resources projects in EMEA region.

She has provided comprehensive HR support to clients, and assignments have included: setup and reform of HR functions, performance and engagement, succession planning and talent management. Her passion is supporting homegrown talent, and she has successfully implemented Nationalisation development frameworks, and provides executive coaching to key stakeholders.

With over 15 years’ experience in the banking industry in senior HR roles, Hessa has become a trusted advisor to senior business leaders in the UAE across all critical aspects of HR.

Currently, Hessa is the Chief Human Resource Officer of CBI and appointed Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. Supporting over 750 employees across the region, she is committed towards implementing best people practices that advance talent and leverage business strategy.

Previously, Hessa was the Chief People Officer at Tanfeeth; the GCC’s first-ever Shared Services organization and fully owned subsidiary of Emirates NBD. She established the HR structure and function at Tanfeeth, which was highlighted as a business case study in Harvard Business School.

Recently, Hessa's regional leadership and influence was recognised by Linkedin with a UAE Power Profile award and last year she was awarded "Inspirational Female Leader" at the 2016 IBX Awards for her expertise and innovative leadership style.

Due to her accomplishments, regional leadership and expertise, Hessa is commonly requested to be a keynote speaker and awards judge,within the GCC and internationally. As a keynote speaker, she provides insights on cutting-edge topics such as: Talent Development, Emiritization, HR Strategy, Employee Engagement, Workforce Analytics and Women Empowerment & Leadership.

A high Medical and Operational Professional with superb leadership skills, impressive record of growth and success for more than 11 years of experience healthcare sector,

I strongly believe in passionate and inspirational business leadership which energizes both organizations and individuals. Investment in people is a key pre-requisite when embarking on new opportunity

Very dedicated to helping people live healthier and Happier life .I'm deeply believing in “ Follow your passion, do what you love “

As a Customer Experience and Employee Engagement practitioner I have worked in the Middle East and wider AME region for over 20 years. During this period I have seen how brands in different sectors - banking, telecom, automotive, government etc. have done in terms of customer experience and what contributed to their success - use of customer insights, actions and implementation. This means I will be able to look at entries by bringing in the most important customer perspective in a customer-centric era.

A passionate digital marketing strategist with more than 6 years experience in both agency and client side, managing a leading multinational’s above the line budget for the LGCC market that passes the 6 figure mark and one of the digital ambassadors of the group.

Currently Managing up to 5 agencies while constantly pushing them to exceed KPIs through digital innovation and best practices.

Previously, she managed digital campaigns of major players in the telecommunication, e-commerce & hospitality in the UAE & the region while constantly over achieving the expected KPIs.

In 2017, Sara became one of the digital ambassadors across 130+ affiliates of the group after joining a digital bootcamp for 3 months. During that time, she has gained a lot of digital knowledge & shared her expertise & best practices with the HO.

She is also part of the innovation team within her affiliate, working with a small team to come up with innovative solutions to customer & employees.

Sara is a holder of Law, Economics & business administration degree from Sorbonne University.

Issa Younes is a digital marketing expert who works with leading brands to help them establish a strong thought leadership presence regionally & globally.

Issa believes that “the digital reality we live in, is the way to reach to global prosperity, as it has had proven its value by reaching the furthest corners of the world. In a glimpse; Artificial Intelligence is challenges and aids experts in all fields with precision. Digital twining is paving the way for new innovations at a fraction of its cost, which proves that we need to change the global mindset towards adapting and channeling our digital reality for a better history tomorrow.”

Holding a business degree in marketing with over 10 years of experience. Issa worked with leading brands such as Etisalat, HSBC, MBC, OSN & Mubadala on digital and social media marketing, social impact, social customer service, digital customer experiences, digital rights & social TV integrations.

Sara De Rosa has over 15 years’ experience as a Client Services Director. Currently working at Pulse Group, a global creative design agency, leading the Dubai office Sara is responsible for the direction and management of the Middle East region. A consummate professional, Sara is proficient and skilled at developing and leading new business pitches and winning clients, with a strategic mindset she offers counsel to clients seeking to grow their brands through ‘live experiences’. Her experience spans across many industry sectors including property, aviation, retail and logistics.

Chris is TripAdvisor’s Middle East & Africa Sales Manager and has been with the business since December 2013, Chris is responsible for driving TripAdvisor’s continued growth in the region and is tasked with ensuring TripAdvisor remain a key partner for MEA travel and hospitality brands. He is also responsible for expanding the regional office here in Dubai.

Prior to TripAdvisor, Chris worked for Abu Dhabi Media Company having moved to Dubai from London in 2012 where he spent 5 years working for BSKYB. Chris brings with him over 8 years of experience working with both media agencies and clients direct to leverage the best in advertising and content creation across digital platforms.

Technologist and Digital Strategist, Syed is currently the performance marketing leader for IBM's portfolio of Collaboration and Talent solutions, across the Middle East and African markets, with an objective of delivering engaging customer experiences across client journeys, translating to tangible business outcomes.

In his previous role at IBM, spanning 5 years, as web and social media manager for IBM's digital presence in MEA, Syed built out the brand's digital footprint across the region, establishing internal best practices with a data and customer-centric approach.

John is a well-respected figure within the luxury yacht industry, and Director of the UAE’s leading yacht brokerage, Bush & Noble. With his extensive knowledge of the Middle East market and over 25 years’ experience in Business Development, John is a highly regarded consultant, regularly asked to give advice on 360 marketing strategies, management practice, and revenue generation for some of the key players in the GCC.

Before devoting his fulltime work to Bush & Noble, John worked closely with a portfolio of International Yacht brands, including Edmiston, Burgess, and Sunseeker; orchestrating the sale of world famous Yachts.

He currently serves on the board of Dahab Partners DMCC, and is the co-founder of The Marine Leisure Association of the Emirates.

Cezca comes from a journalism background and has a MPhil in Strategy, Marketing & Operations. She decided to venture into the Digital Industry and has 6 years of experience handling both, regional & global brands from various industries like P&G, Unilever, Majid Al Futtaim, Baskin Robbins, Ericsson, Landmark Group, Lacoste, Sony, Philips, Dubai Music Week, to name a few. Fast Foward to 2017, she found her passion in the F&B industry and joined Horizon Hospitality as Regional Group Marketing Manager.

Dr Rita Younes holds a Doctorate degree in Business Administration from the Paris School of Business. She is Co-founder and partner of Quantz Consulting, a marketing research and consulting company. Prior to Quantz, she was a senior marketing research analyst at Leger & Leger International and has more than 20 years of experience in the field of education, FMCG and service industries covering marketing strategy, brand and marketing management, market research and business development. She enjoys a proven track of record in growing bottom-line figures; combining innovative strategy with hands-on management of operations.

On the academic side, she has gained valuable experience as chair of the school of Business in the Canadian University of Dubai and later as Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning in similar industries. She has an extensive experience in the educational sector and has championed many programs’ accreditation providing leadership, vision and direction for activities related to institutional planning, research, institutional effectiveness and quality control.

Dr. Rita Younes is a Certified Customer Experience Professional (CCXP) and an EFQM assessor.

Kashif is a dynamic, results-driven leader with years of progressive experience leveraging management consulting skills with legal acumen to drive business growth, protect assets and, assure legal compliance. He is currently working as Director Corporate Services with Biznet Consulting advising Entrepreneurs, Corporates and Business Owners on Company Formation and Business Setups in UAE.

His is also an active Council Member of GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group) and successfully incorporated many local and MNC’s in UAE. His expertise and knowledge includes; structuring of legal entities and help foreign companies to setup branches and investment companies in UAE.

Hessa is a member of the Executive Committee as a Chief People Officer for Tanfeeth; the GCC’s first-ever Shared Services organization and fully owned subsidiary of Emirates NBD.

Hessa has established and drives the HR function for Tanfeeth and demonstrates capability in leveraging human capital and expertise in Emirati development. This includes Emiratization strategic planning and resource planning, as well as recruitment strategy, succession planning and rightsizing.

With over 15 years’ experience in the banking industry in senior HR roles, she is positioned as a trusted advisor to senior business leaders in the UAE across all critical aspects of HR.

Prior to becoming Executive Director for SHRM MEA Dubai, Brad Boyson spent 15 years holding senior HR roles in globally diverse organizations including Mitsubishi Corporation (Tokyo), Royal Caribbean International (Miami) and most recently, Hamptons/Emaar (Dubai). A globalist by nature, Mr. Boyson has practiced embedded HR on every inhabited continent and has first-hand HR experience in almost every major industrial sector. He holds three business degrees, six active professional HR certifications, is a published author (Global HR Economics), frequent international keynote speaker and board member on UAE government & UAE university HR advisory committees.

Anas Almarie is an Executive and Founding Member of Arab Social & Digital Media Council, Co-Host of the weekly show #HRMEChat in affiliation with (SHRM) Society for Human Resources Management – MEA, Award Winning Entrepreneur by Dubai Internet City 2015, Founder of MENA Social Media Awards, TV guest speaker, Keynote speaker and a featured speaker at various conferences and trade shows across Middle East and Africa, Former Lecturer at University of Sharjah – Engineering School, active member at Social Media Club, Chair Judge at International Business Excellence Awards, Gulf Customers Experience Awards, he’s currently the Director of Training & Consultancy at Focus Social Academy in Dubai Media City. www.AnasAlmarie.com

Bala leads CRM and Customer Experience engagements for his clients in Automotive, Healthcare and Technology space. He is a Customer Strategist with over 15 years’ experience in helping brands to focus on customer-centric business management practices in the Middle East. Bala is an accredited practitioner of SCHEMA® Customer centricity framework, a Fellow of IDM, UK and a Certified Customer Experience manager committed to the highest levels of professional and personal excellence. He is excited to be at the intersection of big data and customer loyalty science.

Customer focus and experience measurement characterize Akram’s 36 years career. His experience spans Consumer Research, Advertising & Marketing Services, Direct & Loyalty Marketing, CRM, Customer Experience Management & connected practices.

While member of the Executive Board of the IAA-UAE Chapter Akram co-organized or chaired several Awards editions from 1993 till 2003, with particular emphasis on jury appointment, entry screening & assessment methodologies and criteria.

Akram currently advises other entities that award via jury selection or public voting.

Nancy is a Talent and Organizational Development professional with over twelve years of experience in Talent Management, Leadership Development, Psychometric Assessments, Succession Planning, Performance Management, Learning & Development, Reward, Recruitment, and Coaching. Nancy has experience in a variety of industries and has held several HR positions in Government, Semi-Government, and multinational organizations, most recently Regional Talent Development Manager for Middle East, Africa, and Asia at Granites Services International, an affiliate of GE Power. During her tenure with different organizations, Nancy led the development and implementation of various projects including but not limited to Nationalization Development Project, Leadership Development Programs, Behavioral Competency Framework, and Mentoring Programs. Nancy is a Certified Professional Coach, she is trained as well in Organization & Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) ; She coaches teams and individuals within the organization . She is in the process of becoming Associate Certified Coach (ACC) with ICF. Nancy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from the Lebanese American University, an MBA from the American University of Sharjah, a SHRM-SCP, and an HR Management Professional (HRMP) Certificate from the HRCI. She is well versed in several psychometric tools and is registered with the British Psychological Society. She is a member of the SHRM, ATD, and ICF communities, and FAHR Club. Nancy is passionate about leading personal and organizational growth and inspiring others to do the same.

I'm an American national with 30 years in the Contact Centre & Service Management industry. I spent the first 15 years of my career in the U.S. in senior leadership roles and the last 17 years in Asia as the Founder of OmniTouch, a Service consultancy.

I help and inspire corporate and governmental Clients to dramatically improve Service delivery across the Customer journey including Contact Centre, Face to Face, Telemarketing, Email, Live Chat, Social Media and the Enterprise at large. I also design high value Mystery Shopper and Contact Audit programs – delivering in-depth qualitative and quantitative research.

Currently the Managing Director, OmniTouch International, Marcus is a German national and 11-year Permanent Resident of Singapore. Through design, execution and analysis of next-level Mystery Shopper programs, Marcus helps Clients improve all aspects of their Customer journey.

Through delivery of next-level ‘Customer experience training, he helps Students improve their employability and performance at work. In his role as Managing Director, he helps our 16+ year old company maintain its competitive edge through design of products & services, marketing & sales, Client service and management of finance and administration

Ian Golding is a Certified Customer Experience Professional. A highly influential freelance CX consultant, Ian advises leading companies on CX strategy, measurement, improvement and employee advocacy techniques and solutions. Ian has worked across multiple industries including retail, financial services, logistics, telecoms and pharmaceuticals and has deployed CX tools and methodologies all over the world. An internationally renowned speaker and blogger on the subject of CX, Ian was the first to become a CCXP Authorised Resource & Training Provider.

Odisseas Trikaliotis is head of Loyalty for IPSOS UAE. He has been in the Middle East region for 6 years, advising clients on customer experience related issues from a plethora of industries. He has presented at the ESOMAR Best of MENAP conferences in Dubai in ‘13 and ‘14, on customer experience and UAE demographics.

He has 5 years of academic and applied marketing research experience and holds a MSc in Consumer Psychology from INSEAD, France. He also has an MBA from the University of Miami, USA, and a BA in marketing from the American College of Greece. He has taught courses in statistics and marketing and trained clients on research techniques.

A people oriented, insights driven and design thinking mind-set who can effectively translate business objectives into innovative services, smart business models and transformational experiences by leveraging the most relevant and engaging frameworks and tools.

Abdalla is a pioneer in the areas of Customer Experience and Service Design in the MENA region with a great focus on the development of these two areas by empowering citizens, policy makers and professional business people.

He has 10 years of professional experience in both public and private sector organizations with different customer-centric based positions in the areas of Marketing, Digital Marketing and Service Design.

A passionate tech-thusiast thats been consulting, innovating and developing solutions for over 12 years. Ahmad is the Managing Director of WebMisc. a Digital Marketing Agency and Co-Founder of HeyDoc! a global telemedicine platform. He is a Holder of a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and equipped with experience across a variety of roles, spanning business development and technical consultancy. These roles involved architecting enterprise solutions and executing effective and creative online marketing strategies across the digital realm.

Salah has over 20 years of experience, setting up his first company at the age of 15 which grew to be one of the leading Systems Integrators in Lebanon. Entrepreneur and visionary, always seeking challenging ideas, projects and opportunities where I can implement the expertise I have built up, and gain more new ones.

A veteran of the communication and marketing fields with 25 years of experience. Following a BS degree from AUB, Joe successfully managed P&G, HSBC & Nissan brand communication in the MENA region.

Foreseeing the need for strategic guidance, Joe launched the Brandcell consultancy in 2008 developing high-level business & branding strategies to clients in the service, retail and media sectors to name a few extending from Beirut to Cairo, GCC & Yemen.

Today as we move into the experiential age the Brandcell partnership with Livework global Design firm will spur an innovative Business Design offering based on a more Human-centric approach.

Riadh Boukhris founded and started in 2008 Blue Mena Group, the leading Customer-Service-Elevation company across the MENA region. Riadh Boukhris also set up Altitude Software in Dubai Internet City, UAE to serve as Altitude President for Middle East & North Africa since 2000. He has built and managed a successful team of contact center experts that implemented contact centers for forward-thinking organizations in the region, like Etisalat, ADIB or NBAD in the UAE. These strong business achievements made Altitude one of the leaders in its market.

Previously, over a period of 12 years, Riadh held several key international positions at Alcatel Telecom, including Managing Director of Alcatel Pakistan and Key Account Manager for the United Nations worldwide. He holds two Master degrees, one in Computer Sciences and one in Electronics, from the Institute of Technology of the University of Nice, France, and he completed his business studies at INSEAD Business School.

Imad Hazeem is Head of Marketing at National Insurance Company and Customers Service Manager and founder of NI Events Company. Imad holds 13 years extensive professional experience in Customers Service, Service marketing with different service providers (Banking, Consulting and Training, Events Management and Insurance companies) at the region.

Imad established and drives the Marketing department at National Insurance Company, serves more than 25 clients from Palestinian private sector by organizing more than 125 events within last 6 years, helps in establishment Up2Date Consulting Firm to provide their services for local companies to help them delivering great customer service, and to promote their services in competitive ways with systematic methodologies and approaches plus training over 4000 persons.

Najia Maqsood is an established Business Consultant with 15 years of experience encompassing Banking, Corporate Learning & Development, Education and Business Consultancy industries, her career rooted into prestigious global and regional firms like Citi bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Beaconhouse group and Global Management Consultants. She brings world class experience in Project & Relationship Management, Quality & Innovation, Process Improvement, HR- Learning & Development, Organization Development, and Employee Engagement. She has spearheaded and served as SME on global and regional training & organization development projects helping organizations develop their human capital via implementing impactful business learning interventions, innovative solutions and regional/ global best practices & processes. As a contributor to Women in workplace Networks she has established herself as an influencer in discussion forums on diversity, women in workplace, inclusive leadership and employee engagement.

Chris is TripAdvisor’s Middle East & Africa Sales Manager and has been with the business since December 2013, Chris is responsible for driving TripAdvisor’s continued growth in the region and is tasked with ensuring TripAdvisor remain a key partner for MEA travel and hospitality brands. He is also responsible for expanding the regional office here in Dubai.

Prior to TripAdvisor, Chris worked for Abu Dhabi Media Company having moved to Dubai from London in 2012 where he spent 5 years working for BSKYB. Chris brings with him over 8 years of experience working with both media agencies and clients direct to leverage the best in advertising and content creation across digital platforms.

Profusion is a boutique data science consultancy. With one of the largest teams of data scientists, we are able to design, analyse and deliver campaigns underpinned by a very smart form of customer intelligence. We help some of the world’s most innovative brands to deepen their relationships with their customers and drive competitive advantage through pattern identification and predictive analytics drawn from a rich variety of data sets. We are excited to grow our business in this region.

A qualified Mechanical Engineer with 27 years of experience in Production Engineering and currently QMS Manager with Dutco Balfour Beatty LLC, a leading construction company in the region. He has till date conducted more than 2150 audits on both projects and departments to verify their compliance to the ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001and ISO 14001 standards. In addition to his regular duties, Koshy is also a Team Leader with the Dubai Quality Award (DQA), Team Leader with the Mohammad Rashid Al Maktoum (MRM) Business Award and Senior Assessor with the Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award (SKEA).

Ayesha Al Balooshi is a senior business executive with significant strategic and operational experience gained over 22 years as an achieving, successful manager and executive director operating at the highest levels of the both the local government and the real estate industry. Ayesha is the Senior Executive Director for Operations in one of the leading real-estate companies in Dubai, in her capacity Ayesha leading the Human Resources, Business Excellence, Organizational Performance and the Administrative Affairs. Ayesha is a focused individual offering significant senior management experience and has in-depth understanding and experience in the UAE .Ayesha completed Executive leadership development program with INSEAD, She is the recipient of the Emirates Women Award for Strategic and Financial Planning criteria. Ayesha is a member of the judging panel in one of the Dubai Leading Excellence Awards, She is also an EFQM lead assessor, certified lead auditor for ISO9001 and certified Balance Score Card Professional .Ayesha is known for being passionate, positive and inspirational professional, a competent negotiator capable of developing innovative plans designed to facilitate competitive growth and profitability.

After 13 years working in advertising and design agencies, I joined Daxium as a Key account manager. I am an expert in BtoB client relationship management (listening to clients’ requests, analysing their environment and competition, rewriting their briefing and offering them the best solution according to their needs). Daxium is a software editor, offering companies mobile applications on tablets to facilitate the collection and reporting of data by teams in the field (sales representatives in store or technicians and engineers on site). Time saved, accuracy and comfort gained.

Accomplished Service Quality professional with over 10 years service experience spanning multiple sectors including Retail, F&B, Financial services and Automotive. Hailing from London, Henry has an exhaustive passion for service excellence and has contributed to many of the UAE’s leading brands for nearly a decade. He has consulted, surveyed and trained with Multinationals, Local Groups, SME’s as well as the Public sector in many industries. He understands and implements the needs of both customers, internal and external through his conscientious approach.

Indu is an Engineer & a Business Management Post Graduate, and a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. She heads the EBM group of companies since 1993, and has been involved in Quality, Leadership, and Strategy. Indu is a Team Leader for Dubai Quality Award (DQA) and has been directly responsible for updating the DHDA Model. She has also been Team Leader for Sharjah Economic Excellence Award (SEEA). Indu is proficient in developing Corporate Strategy and driving it through Balanced Scorecard.

HR Professional with over 15 years of experience with a proven track in many sectors in UAE. Extensive experience in working in Human Resources and demonstrated strong leadership, ownership and responsibility in achieving objectives. He has Developed, managed and supervised the Emiratisation, also have developed policies and directed and coordinated human resources activities, such as Recruitment, HR Business Partner, Training and Development. He believes in keeping employee engagement and motivating them to always keep the best practices to the organization.

Amer has over 20 years of diverse work experience across multi-national and regional companies. Amer has held leading positions at Merck Sharp & Dohme, Bayt.com, Altibbi.com and others in the MENA Markets. One of Amer’s many passions is mentoring and advising start-ups and entrepreneurs in the region. He sits on the advisory board of multiple new ventures and dedicates much of his spare time and energy in assisting these local and regional start-ups to grow.

Luis Orozco is Head of Business Intelligence and Analytics for TBBT. He has lived in Dubai, UAE for 3 years. His professional interests include data-driven decision making, CX, mobile, CRM, social media, omnichannel strategy & integrated marketing with previous experience in companies such as Nokia, Dubizzle or DigitasLBi. He holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Engineering from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland, and a Masters in International Business from VLEKHO Business School, Belgium.

Nigel Owen is one of the UAE’s most experienced communications professionals. He’s led PR teams at one of the World’s largest banks (RBS) and more recently provided communications strategy for du in the UAE. Digital has been at the heart of Nigel’s communication approach, whether helping tech startups launch, or supporting Digital divisions and Smart City teams at major brands.