MENA IPO Summit Series Dubai Agenda

H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Hadari is the Deputy CEO of the EmiratesSecurities and Commodities Authority (SCA), in charge of the organizational andsupport affairsdivision. He performs anessential role supervising the adoption of the international best practices in the areas of human resources, financial and administrative governance, customer satisfaction, information technology, quality management and performance development.

During his extensive 25-year long career, H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Hadari gained a professional insight in his area of expertise which qualifiedhim to assume prominent positionsat finance and business level in the UAE and the region. Such insight is boosted with his vast knowledge in his area of specialty, an effective public relations network and his significant contributions to the development of the administrative systems and policy and procedure structures which contributed to the growth and development of the SCA and upgrading its performance. Thanks to his efforts, the SCA has a track record of achievements and has received recognition and numerous awards in the areas of excellence locally, regionally, and internationally.On top of such awards, the SCA received five awards under Sheikh Khalifa Government Excellence Program, four awards under the Emirates Award for Human Resources in the Federal Government, not to mention other awards, including“Employer of the Year-Public Sector Award",“Best Employer- UAE”, “Best Smart Applications”, and“Best Social Media Application for Government Institutions”.

Mr. Al Hadari led the UAE capital markets’ efforts towards the adoption of the XBRL system  byleadingthe UAE's XBRL Committee.Hewas elected as a member of and ambassador to the XBRL International in the region where he actively contributed to adopting and applying the XBRL technologies in many capital markets in the Arab region.

Al Hadari obtainedhisMBA degree from the University of Lincolnshire and Humberside in the United Kingdom. He also obtained Bachelor in Political Sciencefrom the College of Business and Economics at the United Arab Emirates University.

Luma Saqqaf is the CEO of Ajyal Sustainability Consulting. Drawing on three decades at the forefront of finance, Islamic finance, sustainability and entrepreneurship in MENA and Europe she advises corporates, financial institutions, funds and asset managers on all aspects of sustainable value creation; and counsels regulators and financial markets in MENA on sustainable finance issues and regulations.

She is a member of the Social Value International and Women Action Sustainability in Spain. She is also a regular speaker at conferences and contributor to articles on the topics of sustainable finance in the MENA region.

Luma has more than 20 years’ experience in legal practice, including practicing at the two “magic circle” law firms, Allen & Overy and Linklaters, where she was a finance partner and global head of the Islamic Finance Group. She led teams across Europe, Middle East and Asia on groundbreaking transactions covering finance and capital markets including Sharia’a compliant sukuk (bonds), loans, securitisation and structured finance, derivatives and funds transactions. 

Luma is also an investor and entrepreneur. In 2013, she founded Ajyal Group which invests in diverse sectors and founded the ethical luxury womenswear brand, BYLUMA in 2017. She has advised and mentored several social enterprises in MENA and in 2014, she set up non-profit platform JeeranSME, linking mentors from the Gulf with small businesses in Jordan and Palestine.

Luma holds a Masters in Law from the University of Bristol, UK, and Bachelor of law from the University of Jordan ; and has attended Harvard executive business education (YPO Harvard Business Leadership Program 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019).  She also has obtained a number of sustainability related certificates in Impact Measurement and Management, Duke University; Sustainable Finance, International Capital Markets Association ICMA; Climate and Green Bonds, Climate Bond Initiative; Sustainability Reporting and GRI Update, GRI.

Marie Freier is Barclays Global Co-Head of Sustainable & Impact Investment Banking.

Marie and her team advise and raise capital for emerging growth companies that are addressing a wide range of sustainability issues, as well as for existing clients navigating their own transition. She is deeply engaged in market-wide ESG discussions, serving on the Barclays Sustainable Finance and Climate Council as well external groups, such as the European Risk Management Council’s Sustainability Think Tank.

Marie was previously Global Head of Cross Asset ESG Research at Barclays, leading the integration of ESG considerations into Barclays research product. In this role she built a global team of ESG subject matter experts to support credit and equity analysts in assessing how ESG attributes affect financial risks and valuations across sectors and companies, ultimately driving security pricing, as well as being in close dialogue with institutional investors globally.

Marie joined Barclays from Sanford C. Bernstein, where she served as Head of European Product Management and, most recently, as both co-Head of European Sales and Global Head of ESG, spending more than 13 years at the firm. She previously worked in the reinsurance industry for Aon and Willis Re, now part of Willis Tower Watson. Marie holds an M.A. in Mental Philosophy from the University of Edinburgh.

Diako is a Director in HSBC’s ESG Solutions Group, a cross capital markets advisory team supporting clients on strategic ESG dialogue and positioning. Prior to this, Diako was Sustainable Finance Lead for HSBC in the MENAT region. Before joining HSBC in 2019, Diako spent a decade at the consulting firms PwC and EY, focused on sustainability, ESG and climate consulting, first in Australia and then the UAE.  Diako holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne, and a Masters in Corporate Sustainability and Environmental Management from Monash University. Diako is also a member of the DFM and ADGM Sustainable Finance Working Groups, as well as the Green Sukuk Standards Working Group, in collaboration with the Climate Bonds Initiative.

Damian Regan is Deloitte's Middle East – Sustainability Reporting & Assurance Leader, helping clients to understand their contribution to society and their environmental impacts; and assisting them in effectively communicating and reporting their sustainability strategies, goals and results. He also works with industry bodies and regulators to develop standards of sustainable practices, reporting and assurance.

Abdallah has over a decade of experience advising on transactions in the Middle East and North Africa, with particular experience advising on some of the region’s leading capital market transactions. Abdallah’s practice focuses on representing issuers, sponsors and underwriters in connection with initial public offerings across various securities exchanges, direct listings, cross-listings, carve outs and cross-border public M&A. Additionally, Abdallah’s wider practice includes advising regional and international financial investors, corporates and financial institutions on investments throughout the MENA region

George is the Head of Client Development for the Global Family and Private Investment office coverage within the Wealth Management group, based in the Middle East. His 20 years of experience spans financial services. George has advised families, private offices and financial institutions cross asset class. Experienced in digital transformation, technology for family offices, banks, and asset owners including sovereign wealth and pension funds. Prior to joining Northern Trust George led the Wealth & Asset Management practice for the region at Ernst Young based in the UAE. Focussed primarily on banking, asset and investment management as an industry practitioner has held leadership roles at public and private institutions. George holds a BSc (Hons) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment, educated at Sandhurst and a member of the Chartered Institute of Insurance.           

As Senior Executive Officer, Steve leads Emirates NBD's Asset Management business. He has over 25 years' experience in investment distribution in the UK, Middle East and Far East and has been resident in Dubai since 2001. Prior to becoming SEO, Steve led the institutional sales team, with additional responsibility for wholesale channel distributors such as insurance companies, private banks and wealth advisers.Prior to joining Emirates NBD Asset Management in 2010, Steve worked with a number of regional institutions, holding roles including General Manager (ME) for Anglo Irish Bank (IOM) PLC, Sales Director for Amiri Capital and Business Development Director at Dow Jones International. He is a member of the Institute of Directors, the London Institute of Banking & Finance and the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments and is a Board member of Emirates NBD SICAV, Emirates NBD Fund Managers (Jersey) Ltd and Emirates NBD AM SPC.

Faisal is a senior investment professional with a career spanning 21 years during which he managed diverse award-winning departments such as Asset Management, Direct Investments & Treasury, Investment Research and Business Development.

His previous role was in capacity of Sr. Executive Officer at FundRock (ME), which is part of The Apex Group. He also was part of the senior leadership team in KAMCO Investments Company and Global Investment House in Kuwait.

Faisal is a financial markets expert who has been speaker at various international conferences and is well quoted in the media on economic trends and financial markets. He holds a master’s degree in finance from Delhi University, India and is a CFA charter holder from CFA Institute, USA.

Barry Leipsic joined Citadel in 2008 as an associate specializing in equity capital markets.  He was promoted to analyst in 2012 and portfolio manager in 2021.  In his role, he has successfully scaled his team and deployed capital globally, across numerous equity related investment strategies.

Citadel was founded in 1990, currently has $60bn of investment capital.  Citadel Global Equities is Citadel’s founding equities business established in 2001.  Our seasoned portfolio managers and analysts work in sector-focused investment teams, combining deep industry knowledge with bottom-up fundamental research. Our rigorous investment process and market-neutral risk framework allow us to form differentiated views and make thoughtful, risk-adjusted investments. Our investment professionals specialize in a narrow subset of their industry. They develop a deep understanding of the companies they cover and build long-standing, trusted relationships with management teams. Barry began his career as an analyst in the Media & Telecom Investment Banking division at Citi.  Barry received a joint honors degree in economics and finance from McGill University

Fadi Ghandour is the Executive Chairman of Wamda Group, a platform that invests, nurtures and builds entrepreneurship eco-systems across the Middle East and North Africa.

Fadi was also the co-founder of Aramex, one of the leading global logistics companies based in Dubai. Fadi spent the first 30 years of his work life as CEO of Aramex, building the company, to become one of the leading emerging market logistics companies, and making it the first company from the Arab world to be listed on Nasdaq.

Passionate about impact and social entrepreneurship, Fadi founded and chairs Ruwwad for Development, a private-sector led community engagement platform that helps marginalized communities, across several countries in the MENA region, overcome marginalization through activism, civic engagement, education and financial inclusion.

Sharif El-Badawi is the Chief Executive Officer of the newly established Dubai Future District Fund, an evergreen venture fund of funds and direct investment vehicle of the emirate of Dubai.The fund is anchored by Dubai Future Foundation and the Dubai International Financial Centreto invest in the Future of Finance and Future Economies with the aim of bolstering economic development in Dubai, the UAE and the broader region.

Previously, he co-founded and managed Plus Venture Capital (+VC), a leading seed stage investment firm in the Middle East and North Africa region, investing across sectors from seedto growth within the region and diaspora. Before that he was a founding managing partner of thefirst US-based venture capital firm with a dedicated fund for the MENA region and was the most active venture capital investor in MENA during its investment period from 2017-2020. In his role,he managed the 500 Startups MENA fund, 500 Falcons, which invested in over 180 startups across 15 countries.

In addition, Sharif serves on the board of San Francisco Bay Area based non-profit TechWadi where he was the chairman of the board from 2015-2019 helping build meaningful bridges between MENA startups and Silicon Valley. He also serves on several advisory boards for startups, organizations and governments in the MENA region and Silicon Valley.

Prior to his career in investing, Sharif was the Partner Lead to VCs and Startups at Google where he worked with top tier VCs and their most promising startups on strategies that bring allof Google to their businesses. Before joining the Global Partnerships team, he spent 5 years leading performance advertising strategy and solutions for Google's largest customers in North America covering Mobile, Search and Display ads.

He joined Google through the $750m acquisition of AdMob, the world’s leading mobile advertising network. Before AdMob, Sharif was a technologist and serial entrepreneur having founded or co-founded several companies in the Consumer Internet and B2B space over a twelve year period starting in 1998.

Sharif earned his Master of Business Administration from University of California, Irvine Merage School of Business and his Bachelor’s of Science in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2018, he relocated from his home state of California to Dubai with his wife and three children.

Mr. Joost Smulders is the Chief Investment Officer at Dubai Green Fund, the impact investment fund setup by Dubai Government and anchored by Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA).

At Dubai Green Fund, Joost has led the funds’ green investments, including utility scale solar IPP projects and energy efficiency projects.

Joost has over 16 years of experience in Private Equity, Project Finance and Investment Banking, having executed dozens of transactions with a combined value of over USD 100 billion, across Europe, Middle East, and Asia, in diverse sectors such as renewables, energy, infrastructure, and industrials.

Prior to joining DGF, Joost was the Vice President of Investments for a private investment company headquartered in Abu Dhabi, and Associate Director M&A and Capital Markets at UBS Investment Bank in Dubai and London.

Joost holds an MSc in International Business from Maastricht University, and is CFA charterholder.

May Nasrallah is the Founder and Executive Chairman of deNovo Corporate Advisors, an Independent, Middle-East focused, corporate finance advisory firm, offering international bulge bracket expertise to MENA-wide and centric corporates and institutions.

deNovo Corporate Advisors under May’s leadership has over the past 10 years established its reputation and track record as the pre-eminent independent, regionallyheadquartered boutique advisory firm. deNovo has successfully executed numerous sellsides, buysides, stake sales, restructurings, valuations, fundings, capital structure and strategic reviews on behalf of its continuously growing client base. May and deNovo’s advice is consistently sought by the region’s leading family groups, corporates and sovereign wealth funds as well as global firms seeking regional acquisitions. deNovo entered a Strategic Alliance to enhance global coverage with PJT Partners in 2020, and with Bank Itau in 2019.

May has also served as a non-Executive Chairman and Senior Advisor to BlackRock across the Middle East region, between 2020 and 2022, supporting development of BlackRock’s strategy in the region and fostering relationships with key regional stakeholders, including clients, regulators and governmental bodies.

prior to founding deNovo, May spent over 15 years at Morgan Stanley in numerous Investment Banking roles and geographies including New York, Hong Kong, London and Dubai. Most recently, she was Head of Investment Banking for the Middle East and North Africa region, where she established, led and grew Morgan Stanley's inaugural investment banking presence in the Middle East, based in the DIFC, Dubai. She retired from the firm in late 2009.

rior to founding deNovo, May spent over 15 years at Morgan Stanley in numerous Investment Banking roles and geographies including New York, Hong Kong, London and Dubai. Most recently, she was Head of Investment Banking for the Middle East and North Africa region, where she established, led and grew Morgan Stanley's inaugural investment banking presence in the Middle East, based in the DIFC, Dubai. She retired from the firm in late 2009.

May currently holds the following Non-Executive positions: Board Member of the Dubai International Chamber of Commerce, Member of the International Advisory Council for PJT Partners, Independent Board Member for The Kanoo Group Holding Company, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Lebanese Professional Diaspora Organization “LIFE”, Member of the International Advisory Council of the Middle East Institute (MEI) and Member of MIT MENA Senior Advisory Board. 

May speaks fluent Arabic and English and lives in Dubai with her husband and four sons.

Highly accomplished, result driven and well oriented with over 25 years of progressive experience in Banking and Capital Markets. Demonstrated ability to develop corporate wide strategy, streamline business and operations that drive growth, increase efficiency that contributes to the organization bottom line. He was in charge of Nasdaq Dubai acquisition project consolidating IT and Operations infrastructure.

Developed and managed new financial products, scheme cards products and platforms diversifying revenue streams through rationalization of existing services capitalising on Fintech.

Before joining DFM he was the COO of Dubai Bank, and also worked with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi in various roles with focus on Islamic Finance and Capital Markets. He project managed over 50 IPO’s and Right Issues as Lead Manager or Co Lead Manager bank role. He led two main core banking system migration projects, conversion to Islamic bank, M&A’s transactions, trading and back office systems.

He has consistently produced a very high standard of work and possess the ability to adapt to frequent new situations, master new techniques with solid leadership, communication and interpersonal skills to establish rapport with all levels of staff and management.

Ali Al Hashimi holds an MBA and Bachelor degree in Business Administration and Finance from the University of Baghdad.

With almost two decades in capital markets experience, Saad Chalabi is currently working on strengthening Dubai Financial Market's competitive edge as the CEO of xCube, the recently established fin-tech. xCube is a trading member of the Dubai Financial Market, currently operating as a market maker on listed equities and futures. The fin-tech utilizes high-frequency trading algorithms to enhance liquidity and support orderly markets and is also a Stock Lending and Borrowing (SLB) agent on the DFM.  Chalabi oversees the team in creating a robust solution to offer stock lending to other market markets, institutions, and participants to hedge their overall risks and create additional liquidity to listed futures, among other initiatives. 

Originally coming from an institutional sell side background, Chalabi spent almost twelve years with Al Ramz Capital, where he built and operated the market-making and liquidity-providing desk.  Some of his achievements include leading some of the first end-to-end transactions in SLB in the UAE stock markets. Chalabi is a CFA charter holder and Chartered Market Technician (CMT). 

Akshay Coppa is the VP of Products and a Partner at Euroland IR. Euroland IR delivers Best Practice Investor Relations services to more than 1300 stock-listed companies worldwide. Akshay has more than 12 years of experience leading product/R&D teams, strategic planning, scaling solution delivery, and building partnerships. Akshay often represents Euroland IR at global conferences and keenly follows SaaS and digital industry trends. Akshay has a Bachelor of Technology in Biotechnology from Anna University and a Master of Science in Finance from the School of Business in Gothenburg.

Shereen Mitwalli is a renowned keynote speaker, moderator, and motivational speaker.  Having spoken on various platforms internationally including Ted. A sought-after speaker and educator, well-known for her public speaking skills & a true inspiration in her field.Shereen has worked on a number of high-profile celebrity interviews & cover stories, local & international event presenting & speaking engagements with the likes of Richard Branson, Lewis Hamilton, Chris Gardner, Zac Efron, Gigi Hadid, Penelope Cruz, Nicolas Cage, Prince Albert of Monaco, and most recently, Steve Madden.

Mr. Hamed Ali was appointed as CEO of DFM on 8th of November 2021. Prior to this appointment, Mr.Hamed Ali has served as Deputy CEO of DFM from July 2020. He is also leading Nasdaq Dubai as the CEO  since 2012.

In these roles, he develops and implements the expansion of existing markets and activities at bothexchanges and is creating new areas of growth, building on the synergies between DFM and NasdaqDubai.

Under his leadership Nasdaq Dubai launched equity derivatives on UAE stocks in 2016 and on Saudistocks in 2019.

Nasdaq Dubai has become one of the largest exchanges in the world for Sukuk listings. It is the largestexchange in the Middle East for US dollar denominated bond listings, many of them from Chinese andother international issuers as well as GCC issuers. Under Mr. Ali’s direction Nasdaq Dubai has alsopioneered the UAE’s listed REITs market. The exchange’s MarketSite event space, launched in 2018, hasbecome a leading venue for thought leadership and media activity.

Mr. Hamed Ali was previously Executive Director of Nasdaq Dubai from 2006 to 2008. His experience includes serving as Chief Operating Officer of DIFC Authority and most recently as Executive Director at theDubai Knowledge & Human Development Authority.

Mr. Hamed Ali played a key role in the development of the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 and participated invarious strategy development exercises. He holds an Executive MBA from London Business School, a B.Sc.in Applied Computing from Leeds Metropolitan University, and a Master Certificate in Project Management.

Jaap Meijer is head of research, chief strategist, economist and head of FIG at Arqaam Capital, with 26 years experience in research, leading a team of 20 analysts who cover over 200 stocks, the largest coverage in MENA. He covered the European banking sector in London at amongst others Dresdner Kleinwort prior to moving to Dubai.

Lee is head of the legal corporate affairs office at DIEZA (formerly DAFZA), joining in 2016. He is also the acting general counsel for the World Free Zone Organisation. 

Prior to joining DAFZA, Lee was in private practice for six years with the Dubai office of Clyde & Co and with the London office of Eversheds Sutherland. Lee was also the legal director for leading real estate developer Omniyat for 8 years. He is an English qualified solicitor. Lee holds a Doctorate in International Law and a Masters degree in Law, both from the University of Nottingham

Salmaan is the Chief Business Development Officer for the Dubai International Financial Centre. He is a member of the management team and is responsible for overseeing the DIFC client portfolio as well as the DIFC’s growth strategy. Salmaan has 25+ years of experience in North America, Asia and MENA with leadership roles at global firms such as Oliver Wyman, Citibank, American Express and PwC. Mr. Jaffery holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BA in International Relations (Phi Beta Kappa) from Colgate University in the United States and serves on the Boards of several non-profit organizations.

Executive Director – Future Design and Acceleration at Dubai Future Foundation, an innovation ecosystem formed by the Dubai government to challenge the status-quo and design a future-ready city powered by innovators and disruptors. In this role, he leads the Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA), Area 2071, and Dubai Future Labs. Most notably, he spearheads the accelerator program that connects government entities with technology companies, start-ups, and entrepreneurs from all over the world to work closely with decision-makers in Dubai to tackle and solve current and future challenges through cutting-edge technologies such as AI, IoT, Blockchain, etc. 

Prior to joining Dubai Future Foundation in 2018, Saeed served as the Executive Director of Retail and Strategic Alliances at Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE) of Dubai Tourism and led several departments such as Strategic Alliances and Sponsorships, Retail Permits, and Retail Promotions and Raffles. He also played a key role in developing and rolling out Dubai's Retail Calendar (DRC) in 2017 that introduced new shopping seasons. 

Saeed earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Colorado and completed his Master’s in Information Technology from Bond University in Australia

Brandy Scott has presented Dubai Eye 103.8's interview-based flagship show The Business Breakfast every weekday morning since 2006, except for a brief sabbatical studying for a Masters in creative writing – a move which secured an international publishing and television deal for her first novel, Not Bad People. The pandemic has seen the four-hour radio show expand to television on Dubai One.

▪ Kapil is heading up Standard Chartered Bank’s Global Commercial Real Estate business for the Middle East and Africa. His international mandate is focused on originating, structuring and executing real estate M&A and financing transactions for corporates, developers and investors across Europe, Middle East and Africa – as well as following capital flows into Asia and the USA

▪ Kapil joined Standard Chartered in 2011 and has 19 years of transaction experience focused on Private Equity, Real Estate and Corporate Finance deal generation and execution, across Europe and Emerging Markets

▪ Kapil started his career with KPMG in London, where he was part of the Corporate Finance team, advising blue-chip corporates and public sector clients on real estate financing / monetization options (sale and leaseback; OpCo PropCo; JV structures) and M&A transactions 

▪ Kapil holds a BSc (Hons) in Banking & International Finance from the Cass Business School, London. He also holds a Certificate in Corporate Finance with the Securities and Investment Institute (SII) and is a member of the Association of Tax Technicians (ATT)

Eric Salomons leads the product development initiatives for the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) to further expand the diversification of asset classes traded and cleared on DFM and NASDAQ Dubai. Previously, he was leading the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) Markets Division and served as a member of the DFSA’s Executive Committee. 

He has developed his career in derivatives and securities markets over the past 25 years and has been involved in trading, risk management and regulation of cash and derivative market products. Eric served as a member of the IOSCO Committee for Secondary Markets, as well as its Derivatives Committee, and was a senior adviser to emerging markets’ exchanges in Africa and Asia. Eric has further gained wide ranging and valuable experience of exchange operations, clearing houses and settlement systems as project manager for licensing and supervision of markets in Europe and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Prior to joining the DFSA, Eric was responsible for exchange regulation and was a member of the Euronext College of Regulators at The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).

He started and developed the first 10 years of his career as a market maker on Euronext and Eurex for Amsterdam Option Traders (AOT), a listed proprietary trading firm.

Rizwan advises on capital markets and securities issuances, structured finance, securitisations, Shari’ah-compliant fund formations and other transactional matters. · Widely recognised as a leading lawyer within the realm of capital markets and Islamic finance. · Has developed a reputation for advising on “first of its kind” transactions. Practice Rizwan Kanji’s practice focuses on capital markets, finance and securitisations using both conventional and Islamic finance structures. He advises investment banks, financial institutions, multilateral development banks, sovereign states, insurance companies and multinational regional corporations on high-profile transactions. Widely considered one of the leading lawyers within capital markets and Islamic finance, Rizwan has earned a reputation for advising on “first of its kind” transactions.

Charbel Azzi is Managing Director and Head across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, India, & CIS at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). He joined the company in April 2009, and is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Charbel has extensive experience in investment management, portfolio construction, strategy and product development, capital raising, and marketing and selling investment products and services across the Middle East and Africa. He works closely with clients to design and deliver indices and strategies that utilize S&P DJI’s expertise in custom index design, Shariah-compliant investing, asset allocation, commodities, equities, and emerging markets. 

Prior to joining S&P DJI, Charbel worked at Standard Chartered Bank in Dubai as director of origination for the Middle East and North Africa, working with regional family and private offices, corporates, pension funds, investment and insurance companies, and high net worth clients.

Charbel holds a BBA from the American University in Dubai. He is fluent in English, Arabic, and French.

Anthony Sassine is a Managing Director, Senior Investment Strategist at KraneShares. Anthony is responsible for researching and advising on China’s capital markets and innovation sectors, including climate investing, clean technology, and future mobility. Anthony also advises clients on asset allocation and thematic investing, in addition to co-designing and co-managing ETF model portfolios. Anthony is leading KraneShares expansion in the Middle East. Anthony is a frequent contributor to various U.S. and international media outlets, including Bloomberg, Asharq, and Cheddar News, and has been quoted by Reuters, Bloomberg, and Forbes.

Dr. Ashraf Gamal El Din, FCG is the Chief Executive Officer of Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance, the DIFC. He is a Fellow and Certified Governance Expert from the Chartered Governance Institute, UK (ICSA). He was a jury member of the Arabia CSR Award. Prior to joining Hawkamah, Dr. Ashraf was the Executive Chairman of Egypt Post. Before that, he was the Deputy Executive Director of the Egyptian Banking Institute, the training arm of the Central Bank of Egypt. He was also the founder and Project Manager of the Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Center working on promoting the concepts and application of CSR in Egypt. Furthermore, he was the Executive Director of the Egyptian Institute of Directors (EIoD), the Institute of Corporate Governance in Egypt and the Arab Region Dr. Ashraf served as a board member and head of the Audit Committee in a number of listed, non-listed, State Owned and family owned companies, such as Egyptian Resorts Company, Sahl Hashish, Egypt Reinsurance, Misr Life Insurance, Suez Canal for Technology, Thebes International, Misr Qena Cement, just to name a few. He also served a member of the General Assembly of the Holding Company for Transportation.

Dr. Ashraf served as an advisor to the Minister of Investment 2004-2010 in the areas of corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, privatization and restructuring. Furthermore, Dr. Ashraf is a Professor of Management, Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University. He holds a PhD degree from Manchester University, UK, and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Carleton University, Canada. He further holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Cairo University with highest honors.

Mohammad Junaid - Head of Corporate Governance Section – at the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), and working with SCA for the last 13 years, plays a key role in identifying weaknesses and building strong corporate governance practices, examining and recommending methods to Improve public companies’ compliance with SCA regulations. In addition, Mohammad is an expert for issues that are relevant to promoting good corporate governance practices by public companies in the UAE.

In addition to his role in SCA, Mohammad played a major role in improving UAE's ‘Protecting Minority Investors’ rank at The World Bank "Doing Business" KPI, also he has lead the transition of physical general assembly meetings to Virtual General Assembly Meetings for listed companies during the Covid 19 Pandemic early days and he leads the Disclosure working team in the Sustainable Finance working group with a goal of creating a sustainable finance ecosystem in the UAE.

Mohammad has a Master’s Degree in “Applied Finance and Banking” from the - University of Wollongong, and is a graduate from the Government Leaders Programme -FUTURE LEADERS – administered by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) – UAE.

John Gollifer joined the Middle East IR Association (MEIRA) as General Manager in January 2019.

John was the General Manager and an executive director of the Board of the UK’s Investor Relations (IR) Society from 2012 to 2018. On joining the IR Society, which works in partnership with other IR associations, including MEIRA, John led IR training for the International Certificate in IR (ICIR) in Chile, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and the UK, as well as for the Certified IR Officer (CIRO) in the Middle East. From 2016 to 2018, John lectured at the University of Liverpool in London on the MSc in Strategic Communication programme for the IR module which he created. In 2018, John was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the UK’s IR Society in recognition of his services to IR.

Prior to this, John spent 11 years at the Singapore Exchange where he was Senior Vice President and responsible for investor relations, among other roles in corporate strategy and communications. He established and ran the IR Professionals Association of Singapore from 2006 to 2008, is a multiple IR award winner and he created and taught an IR course at the Singapore Management University from 2009 to 2012. 

John was trained as a banker. He spent 15 years in Asia and Europe in corporate finance and equity capital markets. He worked for Barclays Bank as International Manager, Hoare Govett Asia as Senior Manager and Head of Corporate Finance, ABN Amro Rothschild as Assistant Director - Equity Capital Markets, Asia and at BNP Paribas as Director - Equity Capital Markets, Asia and Australasia.

John has a BA (Hons) degree, Diplomas in Banking (ACIB) and Marketing (ACIM) and MBA degree. John has lived and worked in Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London and Singapore.

Michael Grifferty founded and leads The Gulf Capital Market Association (formerly known as The Gulf Bond and Sukuk Association) the industry association representing the Arabian Gulf debt and equity markets. The GCMA is composed of the region’s leading banks, law firms, issuers, ratings agencies and service providers and plays a leading role on all major matters concerning development of capital markets in the region.

Previously, Michael served as advisor for the US Treasury on sovereign debt and bond markets, advising over forty countries and regional organizations. He has also consulted extensively for the International Monetary Fund and Arab Monetary Fund.

Prior to his international career, Mr. Grifferty was a senior vice president at Government Finance Associates, providing problem-solving financial advisory services to US state and local governments. He has degrees from New York University and Georgetown University in Public Finance and International Relations, respectively.  A native English speaker, Michael speaks French and Russian.

An experienced capital market regulator, Basheer joined the DFSA in 2008 and isresponsible for primary market regulations and for managing the DFSA Listing Authority. He is the Islamic finance subject-matter expert at the DFSA and is also responsible for the development of the ESG securities requirements. 

An experienced capital market regulator, Basheer joined the DFSA in 2008 and isresponsible for primary market regulations and for managing the DFSA Listing Authority. He is the Islamic finance subject-matter expert at the DFSA and is also responsible for the development of the ESG securities requirements. 

Oliver Schutzmann co-founded Iridium Advisors, a Dubai-based management consulting firm that unlocks the potential of organizations and leaders by advancing the science and practice of Investor Relations.

He has worked at the heart of the investor relations industry for over two decades. Credited with introducing best practice investor relations to the Arabian Gulf in 2006, he is a trusted advisor to private and public companies, investment banks, and exchanges; offering strategic advice on investor relations, ESG, and capital markets.

Before Iridium, Oliver was Head of Investor Relations and a member of the senior management team at SHUAA Capital for eight years, a DFM-listed investment bank. Before moving to Dubai, he worked at Euromoney, The Economist, and Charles Barker - a consulting firm that pioneered investor relations in Germany.

Oliver served as Chairman and founding Board Member of the Middle East Investor Relations Association, where he devised the Certified Investor Relations Officer (CIRO) accreditation. He is a regular contributor to IR Magazine and regional media.

John has over 30 years of experience advising companies on all aspects of their capital market communications

John has also worked on numerous international IPOs, listings and spinoffs including, C&W Worldwide from C&W Group (London), TNT Express from Post NL (Amsterdam), Worldpay (New York) and Emaar Malls (Dubai).

He has worked extensively on cross border and domestic M&A and restructuring projects for businesses including AkzoNobel, Brookfield Asset Management, CME, De Beers, DP World, Ferrero, Mubadala, Heineken, Seagram, Scottish & Newcastle, Stagecoach, Vantiv and Walt Disney.

He has advised on activism and shareholder disputes including TNT Express, Kirin, Nissan, AkzoNobel and Punch Taverns and on special situations in the pensions sector for schemes including AA, Boots, BAA, Co-op G4S, M&S, and Kodak.

John is co-founder of Smithfield, which is now Edelman’s wholly owned global financial media and investor relations practice

Ted leads Edelman’s U.S. Investor Relations practice and advises the senior management and boards of public companies on strategic communications including investor relations, financial and corporate public relations, transaction communications, crisis communications and leadership positioning.

Past IPO engagements include Rocket Companies, LegalZoom, European Wax Centers, Sterling, Latham Pools, VTEX, and Hudson Group.

Prior to joining Edelman in 2015, Ted advised Parkway’s establishment of an industry leading IR program that led to a 25% increase in sell-side coverage. Ted helped execute an IR strategy to support Parkway’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Thomas Properties Group (NYSE:TPGI) in 2013 as well as the completion of two secondary equity offerings that generated approximately $350 million in net proceeds.

His past experiences also include executing a product development strategy for the firm’s $50 million+ IR advisory services business and leading NASDAQ’s Technology and Consumer advisory practice teams as well as running the firm’s Special Situations Advisory Program, which provides intelligence to clients facing increased interest from activist investors.

Alex leads Edelman Smithfield's EMEA Capital Markets practice drawing on 20 years' experience in corporate finance and financial communications

Alex is an experienced board adviser and provides strategic corporate and financial communications advice to companies and investors. He has led and worked on a wide range of complex and high profile situations across the capital markets worldwide, including M&A, restructuring, equity and debt fundraising, and shareholder activism.

In addition to transaction advice, Alex has extensive experience advising companies on their communications and positioning with investors and other stakeholders, complex tax and financial reporting matters, and managing crisis and litigation situations.

Simon brings two decades of experience in high profile media relations roles spanning financial services, broadcasting and the UK Government.

He leads Edelman’s Financial Communications practice in the Middle East, advising financial services companies, central banks, private capital firms and listed entities on all forms of reputation management ranging from media to investor relations, capital market transactions, executive positioning and public affairs.

Simon joined Edelman from Barclays in London where, as Director of Group Media Relations, he led the bank’s efforts to rebuild trust after the financial crisis, advised the Group CEO, and ran proactive campaigns, strategic comms, financial reporting, M&A and executive media engagement. He also led on a variety of issues including regulatory and litigation matters, ESG, Brexit, COVID-19 response, and the bank’s successful defense against an activist investor.

Prior to working in financial communications Simon was Chief Press Officer for the British Broadcasting Corporation, and also for the UK Government Housing and Communities Department serving six cabinet ministers.

Dhanya brings a wealth of knowledge and decades of experience in financial and corporate communications to her role as Head of Dubai at Edelman Smithfield.

Dhanya has a diverse sectoral communications background and has advised companies in banking and finance, payments, fintech, real estate, legal, oil and gas, insurance and derivatives. She has proven experience in developing and implementing contextual communications strategies that are aligned with her clients' objectives, and has advised clients on realigning communications strategies, particularly in the face of crises and special situations.

In her previous role as Senior Director at Asda'a BCW, Dhanya led impactful stakeholder engagement programs for major global and regional companies such as Visa, SHUAA, SALAMA, Eshraq Investments, Zand and AECB. She also has extensive experience in capital markets communications, including Anghami's listing on Nasdaq, SHUAA's reverse listing on DFM, and Eshraq's acquisition of Goldilocks, to name a few.

Previously, Dhanya worked at Weber Shandwick in Dubai, where she managed award-winning campaigns for global and regional financial institutions including Standard & Poor's, Credit Suisse, EY, Strategy&, Dubai Islamic Bank, Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (APICORP), Henley & Partners, Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX), Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), RAKBANK, Baker Botts, Amlak Finance and Deyaar.

Dhanya holds a Masters in International Business from the University of Wollongong, Dubai. She is also certified in Investor Relations by the Middle East Investor Relations Association. Born and raised in Dubai, Dhanya is well versed with the intricacies of the region