Hawkamah - The Institute for Corporate Governance

Speakers

Lino Cattaruzzi

Lino Cattaruzzi is Google MENA’s Managing Director since November 2016. Previously, he was Country Director for Google in Mexico and before that Argentina. Lino also worked at Google’s Headquarters in California, leading the global Sales Strategy team for Online Media Solutions and was previous to that in charge of the Online Sales Organization for Germany, Switzerland and Austria while based out of Dublin. Before joining Google, Lino held several managerial positions at AOL Latin America, including being President for Latin America and their subsidiary in Argentina. Lino is Argentinean and lives in Dubai with his wife and two children.

Dr. Mounther H. Barakat

Dr. Mounther Barakat is the Senior Capital Markets Advisor at the Emirates Securities & Commodities Authority (SCA). Earned his PhD degree in Finance from Oklahoma State University in 2003. Headed the department of Research and Development and international benchmarking and practices for 8 years. A Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the CFA Institute. A charter holder and a member of the Investment Performance Measurement Association (CIPM).A Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM holder and a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals - GARP). A certified Anti Money Laundry Specialist (CAMS holder from the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundry Specialists - ACAMS). Provided technical assistance for writing securities regulations for the past 11 years. Prepared the Islamic Capital Market strategy for the SCA. Authored 13 refereed financial research. Published the first book in 2010. Delivered numerous training and awareness workshops. Worked as a freelance consultant for many institutions including the Government of Dubai, and the Palestine Securities Exchange, and the Islamic Society of the Greater Houston Area among others. Taught Finance classes at the University of Houston, Kansas state and Oklahoma state in the US.

Ignacio Munoz-Alonso

Ignacio Munoz-Alonso, Professor, Financial Times | IE Business School Corporate Learning Alliance Ignacio is currently the CEO of Audax Capital Partners, a financial firm specialized in M&A and fund management and Chief Strategist at Inversis Banco. He has 25 years of investment banking experience having worked in M&A, Debt Financing, and Financial Restructurings. He has worked for BBVA, Rothschild, and Lehman Brothers. Ignacio completed his post-graduate studies at Kiel Institute of World Economics in Germany and the London School of Economics. He is professor of Advanced Corporate Finance at IE Business School in Madrid and a Visiting Professor at the Chicago University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and the University of the Pacific in California.

Dr. Ashraf Hassan Abdelwahab

Dr. Ashraf Abdelwahab is a full professor of computer engineering, Electronics Research Institute (ERI), Cairo, Egypt. He received his M. Sc. in 1988, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University in Artificial Intelligence, and in 1992 he received his Ph.D. in Machine Learning and Evolutionary Algorithms. Beside his research activities, Dr. Abdelwahab used to teach Computer Science courses in Egyptian and American universities. Dr. Abdelwahab was a member of the E-government Initiative team since its launch in 2001 managing ERP applications, and ICT4D projects. In August 2006, he was appointed as the Deputy to the Minister of State for Administrative Development (MSAD), responsible of supervising, monitoring and coordinating E-government and organizational development initiatives. In March 2011 and till August 2012, he was appointed as Acting Minister, MSAD.Dr. Abdelwahab supervised the implementation of many national projects, like: Family Database, Government Procurement Portal, Courts Automation, Real Estate Registration, Quality of Government services, and his latest achievement was the IT infrastructure for the Elections Processes (Received the UN Public Service Award, Government Services delivery category, in June 2012).Dr. Abdelwahab joined Microsoft in December 2012 as the Corporate Affairs Manager, Egypt & North Africa, and starting September 2014 he moved to Dubai as the Corporate Affairs Director for Egypt and Gulf. In July 2016, he has been appointed as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), 4Afrika initiative, based in Cairo. Currently, Dr. Abdelwahab is the Industries Lead in the 4Afrika initiative, managing Digital Transformation in Financial, Agricultural and Public sectors. In addition, Dr. Abdelwahab is a member of several supreme committees for Digital Transformation and Government Modernization in Egypt.

H.E. Hamad Buamim

Hamad Buamim has been the President & CEO of Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry since November 2006. He also serves as the Chair of the World Chambers Federation - ICC in Paris. Educated in the USA, Buamim graduated with Honors (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Southern California - Los Angeles in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. In 2002, he obtained an MBA with Honors in Finance from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. Buamim is a Member of the Board of Directors of the UAE Central Bank, Managing Director and Board Member of Dubai World, Chairman of National General Insurance and Board Member of Union Properties. Previously, Buamim served as Chairman of Emirates Financial Services, Chairman of Emirates NBD Capital and Board Member of Emirates NBD Bank and Network International.

Dr. Assem Safieddine

A professor of finance and the Chair of the Corporate Governance Program at the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut. He served as the associate dean for faculty affairs and academic programs and as an associate dean for graduate programs for years. He was the founding president of the Lebanese CFA Society and the president of the Lebanese Risk Management Society. He has served as an advisor on the matters of corporate finance and corporate governance for several multinational companies and organizations. He has been engaged in restructuring the governance frameworks at some of the largest regional companies including Aramco and Al Qudra Holding and was instrumental in guiding and advising companies on major investment and financing decisions. He served as well as a member of the Corporate Governance Board Committee at Al Hilal Bank. He holds a Ph.D. in finance from Boston College, and has held faculty appointment at Michigan State University and Harvard University Summer School. His research tackles risk management, capital acquisition, mergers and acquisition, money management, and corporate governance and 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 has authored four case studies covering the governance practices of leading firms in the Middle East and coauthored the corporate governance reading of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Level 1 curriculum. Among his several advisory undertakings, Dr. Safieddine has been engaged in restructuring the corporate governance of several large regional companies and presented financing and investing advisory, among which: · Provided recommendations and expert opinion on the Corporate Governance Guidelines for Banks operating in Lebanon (which were being drafted by Banque du Liban and the Banking Control Commission and were later published by the Association of Banks). · Undertook comprehensive governance restructurings at a number of regional companies including Al Qudra Holding, Al Qudra Real Estate, Al Rayan Investment, Fenicia Bank (Lebnaon), Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. · Provided expert opinion on the Draft of Companies law in Saudi Arabia that was being drafted by the Saudi Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2012; particularly in relation to the proposed amendments to the governance practices. · Delivered several workshops on corporate governance to the Board of Directors and senior managers at large regional corporations including Gazco (Saudi Arabia), Al Qudra Holding, Sorouh Real Estate and Tawazun in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Fenicia Bank. · Presented a strategy and financial and operational plan for a large real estate portfolio in Lebanon.

Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin

Dr. Mohieldin is the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, UN Relations and Partnerships. He serves as a Board member on the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data, as well as an observer to the EU Multi-Stakeholder Platform for the SDGs. Dr. Mohieldin previously served as Corporate Secretary, President’s Special Envoy, and Managing Director for the World Bank Group. Before joining the World Bank, Dr. Mohieldin held numerous senior positions in the Government of Egypt, including Minister of Investment from 2004 until 2010. He also served on several Boards of Directors including the Central Bank of Egypt and the banking and corporate sector. He was a member of the Commission on Growth and Development and selected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. He is a Professor of Economics and Finance at Cairo University, an Honorary Professor at Durham University and member of the Advisory Board of the Durham Business School. He also held leading positions in national and regional research centers and think tanks. He has authored numerous publications and articles in leading journals in the fields of international finance, economics, and development in English and Arabic. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warwick, M.Sc. in Economic and Social Policy Analysis from the University of York, and B.Sc. in Economics, first in the order of merit, from Cairo University.

HE. Mohammed Al Shehhi

Engineer Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Shehhi is Undersecretary for Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Economy of the United Arab Emirates. Since assuming the role in 2006, Al-Shehhi has played a major role in enhancing economic relations with other countries through heading joint economic committees and marking an active participation in global meetings, forums and visits. Al-Shehhi has also contributed to strengthening the intellectual property landscape in the UAE and developing a registration framework for patents. To his credit, he played a vital role in establishing and developing the International Patents Centre at the ministry, the first of its kind in the UAE. Currently, he is mandated to develop regulatory economic policies that reflect the UAE’s focus on economic diversification. In his capacity as Vice Chairman of the Higher Committee for Consumer Protection, he directly supervises the Consumer Protection Department in the Ministry of Economy. In parallel, he continues to lead the digitization efforts of the Ministry to ensure the delivery of advanced electronic services to internal as well as external stakeholders. Among the early success that he achieved in this area includes an electronic commodities monitoring system that was subsequently adopted in the GCC countries after proving its effectiveness in the UAE. In addition to his role at the Ministry of Economy, Eng. Mohammed Ahmed Al-Shehhi is a board member of the Emirates Standardization and Metrology Authority. He also heads the Internal Audit Committee and Trade Marks Committee. Previously, Al-Shehhi held senior executive roles at Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) across an eventful career that spanned 17 years. Al-Shehhi holds an executive master’s degree in Business Management from the American University of Sharjah. He has also earned a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Florida in Florida, United States.

Dr. Ashraf Gamal

Dr. Ashraf Gamal El Din is the Chief Executive Officer of Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance, the DIFC. 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. He also served a member of the General Assembly of the Holding Company for Transportation. Furthermore, Dr. Ashraf is an Associate Professor of Management, Faculty of Commerce, Cairo University and holds a Ph.D. degree from Manchester University, UK, and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Carleton University, Canada. He further holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from Cairo University with highest honor. Dr. Ashraf worked as head of Business Administration Department at Nile University for Graduate Studied, affiliated with the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology. Since 1997, he taught a large number of management and business courses in Egypt, the US, and the Gulf Area.

Bryan Stirewalt

Bryan Stirewalt was appointed Chief Executive of the DFSA on 1 October, 2018, after nearly 8 years as the DFSA’s Managing Director of the Supervision Division. In his role as Chief Executive, Bryan will take the lead in steering the work of the DFSA and further developing its capability as a robust regulator delivering world-class financial regulation in the DIFC. Prior to joining the DFSA, Bryan developed his skills over a career that spans more than 30 years. He has held a number of senior positions in financial regulation, both in the public and in private sectors. From 1985 to 1996, he worked for the US Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as a National Bank Examiner, specialising in policy development and implementation, problem bank rehabilitation and banking fraud initiatives. From 1996 until joining the DFSA in 2008, he worked for an international consulting and advisory firm, focusing on emerging markets development programmes in Poland, Ukraine, Cyprus and Kazakhstan. In relation to international development, Bryan plays an active role in supporting the work of international standard-setting bodies. He now serves as the Co-Chair of the Basel Consultative Group (BCG), which provides a forum for deepening the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s engagement with non-member, global supervisors on banking supervisory issues. Through this role, Bryan also serves as an Observer at the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Chris Hodge

Chris Hodge is an independent advisor on governance and regulation working with organisations including ICSA: The Governance Institute (the professional body for company secretaries) and the International Corporate Governance Network. He is a member of Hawkamah’s Advisory Board. For ten years, Chris was Director of Corporate Governance at the Financial Reporting Council in the UK. In that capacity he was responsible for developing and promoting the UK Corporate Governance Code, and for introducing the first national stewardship code for investors in the UK. Chris established, and chaired until 2015, the European Corporate Governance Codes Network which shares information and good practice among the bodies responsible for codes in 28 European countries. He now chairs the Global Stewardship Codes Network, which brings together bodies from 18 markets.

Dr. Ahmad Bin Hassan Al Shaikh

A natural leader with excellent oratory skills and organizational capabilities, Dr.Ahmad Bin Hassan Al Shaikh ventured out to organize entrepreneurial associations in the respective fields of Printing, Food processing etc. Sheer hard work and determination with a firm commitment to excel in all his endeavors brought him more responsibilities in Government and Private sectors. Today he is actively involved with so many decisions making and submit his time and efforts in the capacity of Chairman- Ducab HV; Vice Chairman - DUCAB – Dubai Cable Company; Board Member- General pension & Social Security Authority; Board Member- DAC; Member Advisory Board –School of Business –AUD. A vivid reader and academician, Mr.Ahmed takes time out to express his views on social and business issues in local newspapers and Social Media.

Tariq Sanad

Tariq was heavily involved in building Careem, one of the region’s most successful start-ups and prior to that he worked for over nine years with P&G, managing billion-dollar brands like Gillette and Pantene. At Fetchr, Tariq leads several departments including finance, strategy, and HR. He works on managing the overall performance of the company to help it achieve its long-term objectives. Tariq holds a Bsc. in Accounting from University of Bahrain.

Frank Dangeard

Frank Dangeard serves on the boards of Symantec (USA), Royal Bank of Scotland (UK), RPX (USA) and is Chairman of NatWest Markets (RBS’s investment bank). He is a “board observer” of Arqiva (UK) and a non-voting board member or advisory board member of various listed and non-listed companies, principally in the telecom/technology, finance and energy sectors. He is the founder of Harcourt IGN in Dubai, an advisory firm which provides senior-level services in strategy, board and strategy processes, and family and group governance to companies and families in the Gulf Area, South-East Asia and Europe. He is a “Director-in-Residence” at INSEAD, and is also Chairman of the International Advisory Council of Hawkamah, the corporate governance institute of the MENA region, based in Dubai. Frank Dangeard has served on the boards of Crédit Agricole-CIB (France); EDF (Electricité de France); Orange, Equant and Wanadoo (France Télécom/Orange Group); Eutelsat (France); Hindustan Power (India); Home Credit (Czech Republic); SonaeCom (Portugal). He has been Chairman of Atari (France /US), Deputy Chairman and Acting Chairman of Telenor (Norway), and has chaired the Strategy Board of PwC (France). He was on the International Advisory Board of the Harvard Business School (US) from 2000 to 2017, and on the Advisory Board of Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (France) from 2005 to 2017. From September 2004 to February 2008, he was Chairman & CEO of Thomson, a world leader in video technologies and services. From September 2002 to September 2004, he was Deputy CEO of France Telecom, an international telecom operator. He joined Thomson multimedia in 1997 as Deputy CEO, and was appointed Vice Chairman in 2000. Prior to joining Thomson multimedia, from 1988 to 1997, Frank Dangeard was a Managing Director of the investment bank SG Warburg & Co. Ltd., in London and Madrid, then Chairman of SG Warburg France. From 1986 to 1988, he was with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, a US law firm, in New York and London. Frank Dangeard, who is a French national, was born in Canada on February 25, 1958. He graduated from the École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (Prix Jouy-Entreprise), the Paris Institut d’Études Politiques (Laureat) and from the Harvard Law School (Fulbright Scholar, HLS Fellow). He and his wife live in London and have one daughter. He is Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. His most recent book, “La décision de crise dans l’entreprise – 12 histoires de gouvernance”, was published in February 2011 by Editions Odile Jacob, Paris.

Peter Montagnon

Peter Montagnon is Associate Director, Institute of Business Ethics. Prior to this he was Senior Investment Adviser at the Financial Reporting Council, with responsibility for addressing corporate governance policy and strengthening the FRC's understanding of the investor community. Peter was a Senior Journalist on the Financial Times for twenty years, before becoming Director of Investment Affairs at the Association of British Insurers. After graduating in Modern Languages from Cambridge University in 1972, Mr Montagnon joined Reuters news agency as a financial journalist, completing assignments in Hong Kong, Zurich and Washington before joining the Financial Times. Mr Montagnon is a visiting Professor in Corporate Governance at the Cass Business School of the City University, London, and a member of the Corporate Governance Advisory Board of Norges Bank Investment Management. He is past Chairman of the Board of the International Corporate Governance Network and served on the European Commission's Corporate Governance Forum from 2005 to 2011.

Sophie L’Hélias

Sophie L’Hélias is a corporate governance expert with extensive experience in shareholder activism and investor campaigns. She is co-founder of the International Corporate Governance Network and President of LeaderXXchange, a change-driven organization that launched the Gender Diversity Exchange, an easy- to- use search engine that gives, free of charge, simple and usable information on gender leadership diversity within companies around the world. Sophie serves on the board of Kering, a global luxury group and is an advisor to the UN Global Compact’s Blueprint for SDG Leadership. She holds an MBA from INSEAD law degrees in the United States, France and Germany.

Simon Osborne

Simon Osborne is Chief Executive of ICSA and Joint Head of ICSA Board Evaluation. Based in London, he is responsible for the management of ICSA in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Associated Territories (UKRIAT) region. Mr Osborne is a Fellow of ICSA and has over 40 years’ industry experience. Simon joined ICSA in 2003 as Head of ICSA Board Evaluation. In 2005, he became Chairman of the ICSA Company Secretaries’ Forum. He was appointed Chief Executive in 2011. Before ICSA, Simon worked at Railtrack Group PLC for 10 years, initially as Group Secretary and General Counsel and later as the Group Legal Director. Prior to this, he worked at the British Railways Board as Head of Legal Department. Simon is a member of the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and serves on its Bylaws and Procedures Committee. He is a non-executive director of Crown Business Communications Ltd and of MNN Holdings Ltd. He is also Deputy Chairman of the Railway Benefit Fund. Mr. Osborne qualified first as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales in 1973.

Oliver Ziehn

After a career as an independent advisor, including mandates with Lufthansa, Computershare and Deutsche Börse, Oliver joined Lintstock in 2004. He has more than 12 years experience of delivering board level advisory mandates for a variety UK, European and international clients. Oliver has worked on most of Lintstock’s external board evaluation projects since 2004, and each review since 2010. With a background in capital markets and strategy consulting, Oliver has primary responsibility for Lintstock’s client engagements.

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