Hawkamah - The Institute for Corporate Governance

Speakers

Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl

Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl is a member of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament. Her constituency is the Lower Saxony. After obtaining a MS in chemistry, she served as a Fellow from 1972 to 1973 at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Leuven (Belgium) and received her PhD in physical chemistry. From 1974 to 1979, she researched for the Medical University of Hannover before working as Research Fellow (Akademische Rätin) at the University of Hildesheim from 1979 to 1989. Today she teaches pro bono at the University’s Institute of Social Sciences and has been an honorary professor at the Department of Education and Social Sciences since 2009. Quisthoudt-Rowohl is a member of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and serves on its regional board in Lower Saxony as well as on the national party board. She was first elected to the European Parliament in 1989 and has since been continually reelected. She focuses on international trade and international affairs and is an expert on education. Currently she serves on the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade. She was born in Etterbeek (Brussels region, Belgium), is married with four adult children, and lives in Hildesheim.

Majdi Hassen

Majdi Hassen is the executive director of IACE responsible for strategy and he is also an assistant professor at ESSEC (School of Economic and Management Science) in Tunisia. Mr. Hassan has been working with IACE since 1997 in a variety of capacities culminating in his current position as executive director and he is expert with numerous international organizations in corporal governance Entrepreneurship and private sector promotion. Under his leadership several centers were created such as the center of Entrepreneurship, the Center of Governance and Business Intelligence .under the guidance of Mr. Majdi Hassan, the organization has conducted partner programs with international organizations such as the World Economic Forum and the Fredrich Naumann Foundation as well as IACE national “Enterprise Days” conferences and topical workshops.

Vanessa Jones

Vanessa Jones is the Head of Corporate Governance at The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). She is the Secretary to the ICAEW's Corporate Governance Committee and is responsible for the "Dialogue in corporate governance" thought leadership work that the ICAEW undertakes. She is a qualified Barrister (1984) and Chartered Secretary (1997) and has worked within the FTSE 100 listed sector in both in-house legal and company secretarial roles.

Lies Kerrar

CEO Humilis Finance, Founder Hawkama El Djazair Lies Kerrar is heading Humilis Finance, a Corporate Finance Advisory firm developing pioneering investment banking activities on the nascent Algerian financial market. During the last five years he has been structuring more than USD 2 billion market transactions related to Corporate Bond market, Private Equity and Project Finance. Before its involvement on the North African market, Lies Kerrar built its career in Canada in Investment Banking and in Asset Management. Lies Kerrar founded with other motivated stakeholders Hawkama El Djazair, as the Algerian reference and promoter of Corporate Governance. He is a Board Director of LeadingBoards.com, a Canadian company devoted to the development of corporate governance tools as boards of directors web portals. He is also an Executive member of the Forum des Chefs d’ Entreprise (FCE), the Algerian Businessman association. Lies Kerrar studies Electrical engineering at Polytechnic School of Montreal and holds an MBA from HEC Montreal.

Rob Melville

Rob Melville Professor of Internal Auditing, Faculty of Management Rob Melville has taught and researched Internal Auditing, Corporate Governance and CSR at Cass since 1990. He has been active in national, European and international research projects for the Institute of Internal Auditors and other sponsors, and has published and presented papers in these areas. Primary topics: Corporate Governance; Internal Auditing; CSR; IT governance; control and strategy; management of charities, and the Balanced Scorecard.

Nick Nadal

Nick Nadal is the Head of Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance and Mudara Institute of Directors in charge of growing the institutes through business and membership development and developing programmes that will bridge the corporate governance gap in the region. He has led a number of confidential corporate governance assessments of regional banks, family enterprises, listed and non-listed companies, and state owned enterprises. He has participated and/or led a number of regional policy task forces initiated by Hawkamah to include those for banks, insurance, state-owned enterprises, Islamic financial institutions, insolvency and creditor rights, and private equity. These task forces have produced research papers, policy briefs and advocacy programmes that aim to foster better corporate governance in the region. He has also driven a number of Hawkamah’s professional development initiatives for directors, company secretaries, and economic journalists. Prior to joining Hawkamah, he was the Program Officer for Middle East and North Africa programmes at the Centre for International Private Enterprise, a non – profit affiliate of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, building linkages with and supporting regional business associations, developing and conducting training programmes on association governance and developing programmes to advance entrepreneurship, economic journalism and corporate governance in the region.

May Nasrallah

May Nasrallah – Founder & CEO, deNovo Corporate Advisors Professional Experience <ul> <li>May Nasrallah is Founder and CEO of deNovo Corporate Advisors</li> <li>deNovo Corporate Advisors is an investment banking advisory boutique which specialises in advising corporates on a number of activities including:</li> <ul> <li>strategic advisory such as sale, acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, capital structure and restructuring; and</li> <li>capital raising advisory including assisting corporates in preparing themselves, structuring and coordinating the execution of varying forms of capital raising from debt to equity, both privately and in the public capital markets</li> <li>deNovo was founded in late 2009 and is incorporated in the Cayman Islands with an active representative office in the UAE. Its team is comprised of a group of highly experienced professionals with decades of investment banking track record in leading global financial institutions.</li> </ul> </ul>

Mr George Pickering

Mr George Pickering’s regulatory and financial markets experience spans over 30 years. In his most recent role, Mr. Pickering was the Chief of the Funds Management and Banking Department at Bank of Canada where he was responsible for the fiscal agent policy in government debt, foreign reserves, and risk management and the Bank’s government banker activities. He served as an Adviser to the Governor and was Secretary to the Governing Council from 2004-2005. He was a member of the Financial Stability Review Committee from 2001-2010 and Chair of the Canadian Foreign Exchange Committee from 2004-2008. Mr. Pickering worked at the Bank for International Settlements from 1990-2001. He was the first Chief Representative for Asia and the Pacific for the BIS in Hong Kong from 1998-2001. He held several management positions in the Banking Department and Risk Section of the BIS in Basel from 1990 to 1998. He was Advisor to Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC from 1984-1986. Mr. Pickering holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and a Master’s degree in Economics from Carleton University in Ottawa (Canada).

Chris Pierce

Chris is the CEO and founder of Global Governance Services Ltd. He holds a number of board appointments in the UK and overseas. He is a regular chairman and speaker at international conferences, and has written many articles and books on corporate governance. His latest book, "Corporate Governance in the Gulf", was published in January 2012. He was formerly Director of Professional Standards and Professional Development at the Institute of Directors (IoD) in the UK. Prior to joining the IoD he was the Director of the Centre for Director Education at Leeds Business School and has held senior management positions in British Airways and the Overseas Development Administration. Chris is a Fellow of the Caux Round Table and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has an MBA, an MSc and an MPhil and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. Chris is based in the GGS office in London and works world-wide.

Charbel Cordahi

Economist, Head of Investor Relations at al Khalij Commercial Bank (al khaliji) QSC. Charbel has 12+ years of professional experience in Macroeconomics, International Finance, and Investor Relations gained through working in the financial and banking industry in Lebanon, France, and the GCC. He is also committed to the Academic field and has been teaching economics and finance since 1997. Charbel holds a Ph.D. in Economics, a Master in Money and International Finance, a MBA, and a Bachelor in Management. He published several articles in English, Arabic and French.

J. Chris Razook

J. Chris Razook is the Corporate Governance Program Manager for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets for the IFC-World Bank. Chris has over 15 years of experience providing business advisory services to companies, banks, and other organizations around the world in the areas of corporate governance, risk management, strategic planning, and organizational improvement. Chris has conducted corporate governance assessments for numerous banks and companies and has developed and delivered extensive client training for board directors. He has provided assistance to central banks, capital market authorities, and other regulatory bodies in drafting corporate governance codes, laws, and listing rules. Chris has published several articles and publications to help raise awareness of the business case for good corporate governance. Chris has undergraduate degree in Engineering, followed by an MBA in International Finance and an LLM in Corporate Law.

Paul Reynolds

Paul Reynolds has over 20 years' experience as an adviser in the banking, debt and equity capital markets, having worked at Barings and Cazenove, before joining Rothschild in 2005. He advises governments, large and small companies and trustees on capital structure, financing and restructuring across the debt and equity product spectrum. He has been principal adviser on 92 transaction in respect of over €200 billion of financing since January 2003, having also provided non-transactional advice to 52 clients on capital structure and funding strategy over that period. Based in Dubai, he is currently Head of Middle East Debt and Equity Advisory at Rothschild, a founder committee member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers Middle East, and Chairman of the Middle East Investor Relations Society.

Dr. Assem Safieddine

Dr. Assem Safieddine is the associate dean of the Olayan School of Business for Faculty Affairs and Academic Programs and the director of the Corporate Governance Program at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He is serving as a member of the board’s corporate governance committee of Al Hilal Bank. He is the founding president of the Lebanese CFA Society and the regional director of the Global Association of Risk Professionals and the president of the Lebanese Risk Management Society. He served as a member of the CFA Institute speaker retainer program and has been invited to speak on Corporate Governance and other topics at investment firms worldwide. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from Boston College, and has held faculty appointment at Michigan State University for five years and visiting faculty appointment at Harvard University Summer School for more than four years. His research has been published in leading finance journals like the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, and has been profiled in the Business Week, Harvard Business Review, CFA Digest and the National Bureau of Economic Research along with others. He served as a co-chairperson of the Task Force assembled by the Institute of International Finance that has published its report entitled “Corporate Governance in Lebanon: An Investor Perspective”. His area of research is risk management, capital acquisition, mergers and acquisition, money management, and corporate governance.

Dr. Nasser H. Saidi

Dr. Nasser H. Saidi was the Chief Economist of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) since 2006. He leads the links with governments, central banks, and international organisations. Dr. Saidi is also the Executive Director of the Hawkamah-Institute for Corporate Governance and The Mudara Institute of Directors at the DIFC. Dr. Saidi is a member of the IMF’s Regional Advisory Group for MENA and Co-Chair of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) MENA Corporate Governance Working Group. He is a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group of the Global Corporate Governance Forum, an institution of the World Bank driving global corporate governance reforms. He is also Chair of the regional Clean Energy Business Council. In 2011, he was named among the 50 most influential Arabs in the World by The Middle East magazine, for the fourth consecutive year. Dr. Saidi was the Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry of Lebanon between 1998 and 2000. He was the first Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon for two successive mandates, 1993-1998 and 1998-2003. He was a Member of the UN Committee for Development Policy (UNCDP) for two mandates over the period 2000-2006, a position to which he was appointed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his personal capacity.

Jeffrey C. Thomson

Jeffrey C. Thomson is president and CEO of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA®), the world's leading association for management accountants focused on driving business performance in the areas of decision support, planning and control. Mr. Thomson was promoted to this position on April 19, 2008 and is responsible for leading and directing IMA's operations, programs, products, and services. He was previously IMA vice president, research and applications development. Joining IMA in 2005, Mr. Thomson conceived and launched the IMA Research Center of Excellence, which has delivered global applications, tools, and guidance enabling management accountants to perform as strategic business partners. He is also responsible for guiding the association's global strategic planning process and serves as program chair for IMA's Global Conference and Annual Conference and Exposition. Mr. Thomson holds an M.S. degree in Statistics from Montclair State University, received a certificate in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School, and completed the Columbia University Senior Executive Leadership Program. In 2008, he also participated in the MIT Sloan School of Management Certificate Program in Innovation.

Joe Tortorici

Joe Tortorici is Weil, Gotshal and Manges’ Managing Partner of the Dubai office and Middle East operations. Mr. Tortorici has extensive experience in private equity, M&A, corporate governance, privatizations, capital markets transactions, joint ventures, and financings, particularly those in a cross-border setting. Major clients have included Citigroup, Deutsche Telekom, Bell Atlantic International, Cesky Telecom, and GE Capital Corporation. Mr. Tortorici practiced law for more than seven years in New York prior to moving to Weil Gotshal’s Budapest office in 1991. He established the firm’s Prague office in 1992 and worked throughout Weil Gotshal’s European network through 2008, playing a key role in establishing most of the firm’s European offices. In 2008, Mr. Tortorici took a leading role in developing the firm’s plans for its Middle East operations and is now based in Dubai. Mr. Tortorici holds a B.A., cum laude, from Columbia University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law.

Avinash Totade

Avinash Totade is a graduate engineer, a professionally qualified accountant and an IT professional. He has 20 years experience in the engineering and IT and another 10 years in Internal Audit. He posses varied expertise and interests in Engineering, Automation, IT Governance/Security, ERP, Corporate Governance and Internal Controls. He started his career as Instrument Engineering and then moved to IT before joining Internal Audit. During his long career in IT, he designed a number of process automation systems, architected and installed open systems, networks and RDBMS infrastructure, developed IT solutions, implemented Y2K project and ERP systems. Now he heads the Internal Audit function of Dubai Aluminium Company (DUBAL) and also is the secretary of the Governance and Internal Controls Committee of DUBAL. He is also an advisor to the Finance and Audit Committee of Emirates Aluminium Company (EMAL) Abu Dhabi. He is on the Board of ISACA UAE Chapter since 2006 and presently serves as Vice President. Avinash is a Certified Management Accountant from IMA, USA and is a Chartered Engineer from Institute of Electrical Engineers (UK). He holds a B.Sc degree from Nagpur University, India and a B.E degree from University of Poona, India.

Alexandar Mathew Williams

Alexandar Mathew Williams is presently the Director of Strategy and Policy at Dubai SME, a government agency under the Department of Economic Development (DED) – Government of Dubai - tasked with the development of Entrepreneurship and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Dubai. He has logged more than 20 years experience and expertise in public policy and strategic programme development focusing on economic, business, industry, SME & Entrepreneurship development; and new business creation. Prior to his current position, Alexandar was Deputy Director, Planning Division in SPRING Singapore, the national SME and Standards Development Agency. He served more than 17 years in the Agency shaping policies and developing programmes covering such diverse areas as workforce development, productivity & quality, SME and industry development. This included a 2-year stint with the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, as Senior Assistant Director for Workforce Productivity and Quality. Alexandar received his tertiary education (Bachelor of Arts with Honors- Second Upper) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1990. He received his Masters in Public Policy and Administration at the London School of Economics in 1996 and attended the INSEAD International Business Management Programme in 2003.

Jahanara Sajjad Ahmad

Jahanara Sajjad Ahmad is the Program Manager Financial Institutions and Capital Markets at Hawkamah, responsible for driving Hawkamah’s Task Forces on Corporate Governance of State Owned Enterprises, Islamic Banks and Insolvency and Debtor Creditor Rights leading to the task of implementing the Policy recommendations culminating out of the work of the Task Forces throughout the MENA region. She has carried out corporate governance assessments of regional companies, developed Codes of Corporate Governance for listed and un-listed companies at the Country level as well as at the company level. She has also organized and spoken at a number of Hawkamah’s corporate governance awareness sessions and programs in support of the work of the various Task Forces she manages on Islamic Finance, Insolvency and Debtor Creditor Rights and Islamic Mortgages. She has been invited to speak at a number of external conferences covering capital markets, Islamic finance and executive remuneration. She has also prepared research pieces on Corporate Governance structures of Shari’a Supervisory Boards and a GCC focused analyses of corporate governance codes. Prior to joining Hawkamah, she was Director Securities Market Division at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan where she was responsible for regulating the Primary Capital Market of Pakistan, ensuring adequate disclosure in the prospectuses of companies proposing to be listed on the Pakistan and the International Stock Exchanges, Development of the Debt Capital Market, Licensing of Special Purpose Vehicles, Monitoring the implementation of the Takeovers and Acquisition Law for Listed Companies and Enforcement of the Code of Corporate Governance of Pakistan. Jahanara is a Chartered Accountant and as member of the Debt Capital Markets Committee, has participated in the preparation of a Report on ‘Proposed Reforms to Pakistan’s Debt Capital Market’ for the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan.

Leonardo Peklar

Leonardo Peklar Chief Executive Officer – Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance Leonardo F. Peklar has joined Hawkamah as the Chief Executive Officer. He brings extensive experience in the field of corporate governance internationally and in emerging markets. Mr. Peklar has over 25 years’ experience as corporate director in large international listed companies, major State Owned Companies as well as leading family owned corporations. Mr. Peklar is a Master Trainer appointed by Global Corporate Governance Forum for The Corporate Governance Board Leadership Training, as well as Trainer for Developing Corporate Governance Codes of Best Practice and Building Director Training Organization. He was actively involved in the establishment of six Institute of Directors and participated in international teams for preparing and drafting Corporate Governance Codes in four countries. Mr. Peklar is a visiting professor of Corporate Governance at University UDG Podgorica, Montenegro. He is a visiting speaker on Corporate Governance at the London Business School and has been teaching CSR at London School of Public Relations.

Osman Sultan

Osman Sultan Chief Executive Officer, du Osman Sultan, the CEO of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, du, has a wealth of experience having worked in telecommunications and information technology. The holder of a Degree in Engineering, Mr. Sultan was the Chairman of the Arab Working Group for the Private Sector in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) from 2003-2005. He began his professional career with the France Telecom Group in 1983, going on to receive the award for The Best Web Site-Legal Product from the American Information Association in 1996. He later received the Man of the Year award from the Professional Electronic Information Services Community in France. Mr. Sultan comes to du having completed an eight year stint at the helm of the Egyptian Company for Mobile Services (MobiNil), a company he helped set up in 1998 to operate a GSM licence in Egypt. Mr. Sultan was a board member of both the National Telecommunication Institute in Egypt as well as the French University of Egypt.

Alissa Amico

Ms. Alissa Amico (Koldertsova) is responsible for managing the OECD's work on improving corporate governance in the Middle East and North Africa region. Since joining the OECD in 2005, Ms. Amico has been working with both government and private sector representatives in the region on advancing national and regional corporate governance priorities though capacity building activities, research and policy roundtables. She has provided technical assistance to a number of governments in the region in design of regulatory initiatives and institution building. Ms. Amico has authored and co-authored a number of publications as well as articles in regional and international media. In recent years, her work has focused on improving corporate governance of listed companies and state-owned enterprises in the MENA region. Ms. Amico holds a degree in Business Administration from York University (Canada) and a Masters degree in Political Economy from the London School of Economics (UK). She is a member of the French Institute of Directors (IFA) and has in 2011 been named one of the Top 100 Leaders in Europe and the Middle East by the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence.

Alec Aaltonen

Alec Aaltonen is the Vice President at HAWKAMAH Institute for Corporate Governance He is in charge of the HAWKAMAH/S&P Pan Arab ESG Index, HAWKAMAH’s SME initiatives, as well as corporate governance assessments. He is also an accredited facilitator for the Director Development Programmes run by the Mudara Institute of Directors (MIOD). He was engaged with boards assignments for listed companies within the Oil, Gas and Energy Sectors in the Middle East. Prior to joining HAWKAMAH, Alec worked for HSBC Global Asset Management in London, where he engaged with boards of FTSE-listed companies on their corporate governance practices. This entailed detailed corporate governance analysis of companies from sectors such as Banks, Financial Services, and Telecommunications and covered areas ranging from executive remuneration schemes to board balance and audit independence. He also prepared voting instructions for HSBC shareholdings at the general meetings of these companies. Prior to HSBC, he worked for a corporate governance consultancy in London as a Corporate Governance Executive. He holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees in International Relations, a Graduate Diploma in Law and a Master’s degree in International Commercial Law.

Dr. Grant Kirkpatrick

Dr. Grant Kirkpatrick is a professional economist with 25 years’ experience in the OECD, academic research institutes in Germany, universities in UK and Australia and in chartered accountants practice, undertaking audits of public companies and management work. He supervised the OECD report on the Mexican state oil company PEMEX. This report also covered the important subsidiaries of the company as well as relations with the Ministries. Dr. Grant has worked closely with the International Corporate Governance Network in training investment analysts covering ESG issues of UK Listed Companies, which was a highly company specific assignment. Dr. Kirkpatrick has experience of working on analysing economic problems in Papua New Guinea, Eastern European economies, Romania, Poland, in G20 countries such as India, Russia and Indonesia as well as in Japan and Germany. He was previously the Deputy Head of the Corporate Affairs Division of the OECD’s Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs where he was responsible for overseeing the review of the Principles of Corporate Governance in 2004. He was also responsible for development of the Methodology to assess the implementation status of the Principles and was a member of the Basel Committee’s Corporate Governance Task Force to revise its Core Principles covering the corporate governance of banks. Grant is a member of the Australian Institute of company Directors and Institute of Risk Management UK and has authored numerous books on Corporate Governance including “Linking Islands of theory and Techniques in Political economy”, Kirkpatrick and U. Widmaier. Most recently Grant has authored several consultation papers for the OECD and is a consultant to the OECD, World Bank and Hawkamah.

Jan Bladen

Jan Bladen joined the DFSA in February 2005 as Director for Risk Management and Special Projects and was promoted to COO in June 2005. Prior to the DFSA, Jan spent 7 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Geneva and Dubai as a Member of the Global Risk Management Practice. Jan has also held managerial positions in other European countries and spent 3 years as a management consultant with McKinsey Partners. From 1998 to 2003 Jan was President of Executives International, a Swiss-based business networking association of 300 members. In 2000, Jan was elected to the Committee of the British Swiss Chamber of Commerce and remains both a Councillor and Committee Member. Jan is fluent in English, French and Spanish and obtained an MBA (Summa cum laude) from Lausanne in 1993.

Wissam Adib

Wissam Adib is a Managing Consultant at TCO Management Consultants, an advisory firm focused on public sector and semi-government clients. At TCO, Wissam specializes in areas related to governance, restructuring, and organizational change resulting from new strategies, fast growth, disruptions in the business environment, and more. Prior to joining TCO, Wissam was the Head of Institutional Management at The Executive Council of the Government of Dubai, where he was heavily involved in the high-level institutional design of Dubai Government, as well as the related governance frameworks. Wissam then led several large-scale public sector transformation projects to align Dubai Government entities with these new frameworks. These projects included the establishment and restructuring of the Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, the Dubai Health Authority, and the Department of Economic Development. Wissam was also a key advisor to the Secretary-General of the Executive Council of the Government of Dubai on institutional and governance matters. He has extensive experience advising private sector clients in the region on restructuring, change management, and financial management.

Mahmood

Mahmood’s responsibilities include managing the development, implementation and communication of procedures and guidelines designed to enhance corporate governance, and advising Board Members about their corporate governance responsibilities in the execution of board functions. Prior to joining Du, Mahmood was a consultant at The Executive Office and a house lawyer at the DIFC legal department and Deputy Registrar of DIFC Courts. He recently participated as a panel speaker in the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance’s annual forum at Yale University in addition to a number of other speaking engagements across the region.

H.E. Sultan Al Mansoori

H.E. Sultan Al Mansoori Minister of Economy, Ministry of Economy, United Arab Emirates His Excellency Eng. Sultan Saeed Al Mansouri joined the Federal Government in February 2008 as Minister of Economy responsible for the development of economic activities, national industries and exports, and small and medium enterprises sector, as well as spearheading the diversification of business activities to create a knowledge-based economy. Besides his ministerial responsibilities, His Excellency Eng. Al Mansouri is Chairman of General Civil Aviation Authority and Securities and Commodities Authority in addition to Chairman of National Bureau of Statistics, Insurance Authority, and Supreme Committee for Consumer Protection. Before taking over as Minister of Economy, His Excellency Eng. Al Mansouri had also been Minister of Transport and Minister of Government Development. His Excellency Eng. Al Mansouri has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Management Systems from Arizona State University, USA, and Diploma in Computer System Analysis from the Institute of Computer Technology, Los Angeles. Born in 1959, His Excellency Eng. Al Mansouri is an avid reader and a sports enthusiast.

Mr. Yasser Akkaoui

Mr. Yasser Akkaoui, MBA is the founder of KConcept Holding, the mother company of Capital Concept, PrimeJob, NewsMedia and the Center for Strategic Studies. Mr. Akkaoui has become one of the reference names in Corporate Governance activism in the Middle East. He also contributed to the development of several codes that deal with corporate governance of companies in Lebanon and the region and plays the role of connector between the IFC, CIPE and the Middle East markets as well as they rely on his expertise. Mr. Akkaoui also created PrimeJob, a headhunting agency working alongside some of the biggest companies around the Middle East. Across this work, his overlying interest has been in the area of sustainable development, and the effects of foreign direct investment and technology/human resources transfer to attain such development. This is especially important in the Middle East, to ensure that Foreign Direct Investment attains its desired goals over the medium/long term. Mr. Akkaoui represents the interests of EXECUTIVE Magazine Middle East’s most respected economic and trade publication since 2001. He strives to ensure that EXECUTIVE continues to be the leading business publication in the region, reaching the highest level of journalistic integrity. Mr. Akkaoui is the Vice Chairman of Young Arab Leader, and is also a Management and Entrepreneurship instructor at The American University of Beirut.

Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader

Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader is the Founding Executive Director of GCC Board Directors Institute. He also is an Advisor at the Ministry of Higher Education and a Board Member of The Gulf International Bank, a leading regional bank. Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader recently completed his five year term (2004-2009) as a commissioner with the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA), where he participated in its founding board and developed the corporate governance code. He joined the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) where he has been teaching, researching, and consulting in the area of Management Information Systems ever since. Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader has a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado, USA (1988), a MBA from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals (1983) and a BSc in Business Adminstration. Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader ‘s extensive experience includes his position as a Board Member in the Saudi Computer Society, the Saudi Organization of Certified Public Accountants and Saudi Telecom (STC). Besides his board member assignments at Saudi Telecom, Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader served as a member of the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee of the board, through STC’s ambitious growth and service level goals in the Kingdom’s telecommunication. For six years, Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader has participated as a member in the Accounting Standards Committee in the Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA), where the committee develops accounting standards and provides professional opinions and advisory services. Throughout his career, Dr. Al-Abdul-Gader’s participation has involved speaking at numerous conferences and attending executive training programs at renowned institutions such as Harvard Business School (USA) and University of Bath (UK).

Ahmed Al Ansari

Currently, Ahmed Al Ansari is the Deputy Chief Audit Executive of Audit & Risk Assessment Group of Dubai Aviation City Corporation. His position makes him responsible of all functions related to Audit and Risk Assessment assignments in addition to the Corporate Governance initiative.DACC is the holding company of the following entities which are: <ul> <li>Dubai World Central</li> <li>Dubai Airports Corporation</li> <li>Airports Engineering Projects</li> <li>Dubai Duty Free</li> <li>Dubai Aviation Navigation Services</li> <li>Dubai Aviation Club</li> <li>Airport Hotels</li> </ul> Prior to his joining Ahmed was the Vice President - Acquisition (Logistic, Aviation, Industrial) in Dubai Investment Group – Dubai Holding. Ahmed worked for H.H. Ruler’s Court – Financial Audit Department for more than 6 years. During his service he audited the government investments and Dubai Government Departments. He was recognized as a financial expert by Dubai Courts. His professional experience started with Arthur Anderson immediately after his graduation, being an auditor in such international firm allowed him to gain a wider understanding of the advanced practices of the Audit and the Assurance. Ahmed is a Board Member in two investment companies: <ol> <li>Smart World (JV between Etisalat and Dubai Aviation City Corporation) – ICT Services and Technology</li> <li>SouqExtra (An investment company specialized in building community shopping centers)</li> </ol> He is also a board member in different institutes: <ol> <li>Institute of Internal Auditors</li> <li> Professional Advisory Committee in the Higher Colleges of Technology.</li> </ol>

Philip Armstrong

Philip Armstrong heads the Global Corporate Governance Forum, based in Washington DC, United States. The Forum was co-founded by the World Bank Group and the OECD to promote global, regional and local initiatives to improve the institutional framework and practices of corporate governance in developing countries and emerging markets. The Forum is currently located in the Sustainable Business Advisory Department of the International Finance Corporation. Philip is a widely acknowledged expert on corporate governance and was closely involved with the internationally-acclaimed 2002 King Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa. He was also instrumental in producing the Commonwealth Guidelines on corporate governance and served as an expert resource on corporate governance for the NEPAD initiative in Africa. He has been conferred with an honorary doctorate in business administration from the Oxford Brookes University in the UK in recognition of his contributions to corporate governance. Philip Armstrong has had a distinguished and varied career in executive and senior management in a number of South Africa’s prominent listed companies and has served with distinction on a number of boards of companies, governing bodies of professional institutions, and policy initiatives in South Africa and internationally. He continues to serve on a number of advisory bodies of prominent institutions around the world and is regularly cited in leading journals and publications for his work on corporate governance around the world.

Dr Mounther Barakat

Dr Mounther Barakat is the Senior Advisor for Research and Studies at the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority and the Head of Research and Financial Analysis. He earned his PhD in Finance from Oklahoma State University, MBA from Annajah National University and Bachelors from San Francisco State University in the US, CFA level III candidate and a CFA member. Dr. Mounther worked as a professor of Finance for Masters and Bachelors students at a number of universities for 10 years including The University of Houston, Fort Hays state University in Kansas and Oklahoma State, the Arab American University, Annajah National University, and the King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals. Dr Mounther worked as a freelance consultant for many institutions including the Government of Dubai, and the Palestine Securities Exchange, among others. Dr Mounther published his first book, 40,000 copies of his book are available on the shelves of bookstores in 22 countries mostly in Europe and the US. Dr Mounther published many professional and academic works in top refereed journals in the US and in the proceedings of many conferences. Dr Mounther delivered numerous training and awareness workshops and sessions to Brokers and Financial Analysts and the general investing public alongside university students and other professionals. He is currently involved in the technical aspects of writing financial regulations, IPO valuation, listed company analyses, investment funds licensing, and authoring refereed financial research.

Dr. Mohamed Belkhir

Dr. Mohamed Belkhir is assistant professor of finance and banking at the UAE University’s College of Business and Economics (AACSB Accredited). He is currently teaching various courses of finance to undergraduate and MBA students, including corporate finance, financial management, risk management, and Islamic finance. Since he joined the UAE University, Dr. Belkhir has been active in Executive education and training, such as with the Morgan Institute (CMA candidates) and Cambridge University (LEAD program for Abu Dhabi executives). He has also delivered consulting work on various finance and banking issues to UAE and international organizations, such as the Marriage Fund (UAE), Ergo Advisers (U.S.A) and USAID (U.S.A). His research is focused on the effects of corporate governance mechanisms, such as the ownership structure, the board structure and management compensation, on performance and risk-taking of financial institutions. He has published several papers in academic journals, such as the Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Applied Financial Economics, the International Journal of Managerial Finance, and Banques & marches. Dr. Belkhir presented his research work at various academic conferences such as the Financial Management Association conference (FMA International), the Australian Finance and Banking Association Conference, the European Financial Management Conference, the Multinational Finance Society Conference, etc. Prior to joining the UAE University in 2006, Dr. Belkhir spent a term at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C, as an Economist working on issues related to the development of the financial sectors in MENA countries. He also was a Fulbright visiting scholar at the department of Finance of the University of North Texas during the 2003-2004 academic year. Dr. Belkhir holds a Ph.D in finance from the University of Orleans (France) and a Master’s of Science degree from the University of Tunis.

Amina Benjelloun

Amina Benjelloun is currently advisor to the Moroccan Prime Minister and Head of Economic Development Department in the Ministry of Economic and General Affairs in Morocco. Her work focuses on business climate enhancement, SMEs and micro-enterprises development, entrepreneurship improvement and good corporate governance practices promotion. Ms Benjelloun is in addition board of directors member of several public institutions and agencies in Morocco, founder member of the Moroccan Institute of Directors, and interlocutor of international institutions (OECD, World Bank, European Union, USAID, GTZ) in the preparation and execution of economic cooperation programs. Prior to her current assignment, she was advisor to the Minister of Privatization and UNDP consultant for technical assistance of the privatization process in Morocco. She also worked as financial analyst in Price Waterhouse Emerging Markets Corporate Finance Department in Washington DC. Ms Benjelloun graduated in 1996 in Paris with a master of business administration.

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