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2011 Legal Partner

2011 Exhibitors


2011 Media Partners




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2011 Speakers

H.E. Dr. Abdullah Hassan Ghareeb Al Bloushi
Executive Director – Municipal Affairs Support Sector, UAE
H.E. Dr. Abdullah Ghareeb objectives in Municipal Affairs Sector is to Establish relationships with different partner entities and community engagements, Monitor strategic initiatives and their KPIs to assure their completion, oversee the coordination of municipal training in terms of needs assessment, identifying training providers and oversee the establishment of database for all documents relating to dispute and interaction from relevant offices within DMA and other Municipalities.

The Key initiatives and projects such as Private Public Partnership & Outsourcing (PPP); Knowledge Management (KM); Business Process Reengineering (BPR); Project Management Office (PMO) CRM; Business Excellence.

Tony Douglas
CEO, Abu Dhabi Ports Company, UAE
Tony Douglas is responsible for steering the development of ADPC’s extensive portfolio of projects, including the flagship Khalifa Port and Kizad (Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi). He was previously COO and the Group Chief Executive designate for Laing O’Rourke where he had a broad executive remit and also sat on the board of the ALDAR Properties / Laing O’Rourke joint venture. He has held a number of senior executive positions with BAA, the UK’s leading airport infrastructure operator, including Chief Executive in charge of Heathrow. He was an executive member of the BAA Group Board and an active participant in the £16.3bn takeover of BAA by Grupo Ferrovial and has also been Managing Director of Heathrow Terminal 5, with overall executive responsibility for the delivery of the £4.3bn Terminal 5 build programme.
Saed Arar
Senior Manager Business Development – Mubadala Infrastructure Unit, Mubadala Development Company, UAE
Saed Arar is a Senior Development Manager within Mubadala Infrastructure, responsible for a portfolio of projects within the Unit. Saed is also a board member of Manhal, Al Maqsed and Al Hikma Development Companies, the Special Purpose Vehicles formed to manage the Paris Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, the Zayed University Abu Dhabi and UAE University PPP Projects. Saed joined Mubadala in 2006, having spent 5 years with HSBC as a Manager of the Business Banking Unit, Corporate Finance. Prior to that, Saed spent 2 years in Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. Saed has over 12 years of Business Development experience, mostly in financing and development.

Ibrahim Al Hamoudi
Senior Planning Manager - UPC, UAE
Eng. Ibrahim Al Hmoudi holds a bachelor degree in Civil engineering with a focus on Road Engineering.

He started his career in Etisalat. He then worked in the Abu Dhabi municipality as a Traffic Engineer where he was involved in Al Salam Tunnel which is the biggest road project in Abu Dhabi Emirate. Ibrahim also was involved the Road Asset Management System project and the development of the Infrastructure Framework Plan.

In 2008, he joined Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. Ibrahim has been developing Abu Dhabi Urban Street Design Manual which is the new road design standard to be used in Abu Dhabi Emirate. This manual has been internationally recognized, and the seed of creation the new Utility Corridor Manual.

Today, Ibrahim Al Hmoudi is leading the Transport Planning Department in the UPC.

H.E. Ali Bin Hamsa PhD
Director General – Public Private Partnership Unit, Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia
H.E. Ali Bin Hamsa PhD is Director General of the Public Private Partnership Unit (3PU) in the Prime Minister’s Department of Malaysia and has responsibilities for public private initiatives, privatisation, corridor development, smart partnership, independent power producers and urban land development. He previously held senior roles in the government of Malaysia, including Deputy Director General of the Economic Planning Unit - Prime Minister’s Department and Principal Assistant Secretary/ Head of Shipping Unit at the Department of Transport. H.E. Ali Bin Hamsa PhD has also represented Malaysia in a range of high profile Asian and International conferences and meetings.

Christopher Cantelmi
Director of Energy and Project Finance, Mubadala GE Capital, UAE
Prior to joining Mubadala GE Capital PJSC, Chris served for 11 years in London, UK as Vice President and Head of Project Finance of Marubeni Europower Ltd (MEL), Marubeni Corporation’s power development arm for the EMEA region. At Marubeni, Chris was the face to the financing community, where he negotiated and arranged multi-billion dollar financings for Marubeni’s power projects; he also served as de facto head of M&A and key member of MEL’s management team, strategically preparing and structuring deal strategy such that MEL was able to build one of the most successful IPP platforms in the Middle East from scratch. He has also held project finance roles for Sakura Bank, now known as Sumitomo Mitsui Bank (SMBC), Citibank and OPIC.

Mohamed Al Hosani
Regional Development Director, Western Region Development Council, UAE
Mohamed is Director of the Regional Development Division of the Western Region Development Council (WRDC), with responsibility for achieving sustainable development objectives in Al Gharbia. He also participates actively in a number of committees including the Union Railway Coordination Committee and the Al Gharbia Taskforce Technical Planning Committee. Mohamed is a qualified civil engineer with over ten years experience of infrastructure planning and the design and implementation of major infrastructure projects in the region.

Michael Palmieri
Partner - Global Infrastructure and Projects Group, KPMG
Michael has over 20 years of experience spanning across private equity infrastructure fund formation and management, project and structured finance, mergers and acquisitions, investment banking and consulting. Michael most recently has been advising the public and private sector on privatisation mandates across the GCC and is currently leading the procurement of Al Ghubrah IWP.

Deepak Chauhan
Manager - Global Infrastructure and Projects Group, KPMG
Deepak has extensive experience advising clients across sectors in the GCC on project finance, valuation, bid advisory and other PPP engagements. He has provided commercial and financial advice on contract structuring, financial modeling, fund raising and restructuring mandates.

Mark Lemmon
CEO, MENA Infrastructure Fund, UAE
MENA Infrastructure Fund was established in September 2007 and to date has made investments in a container port operation in Egypt and in a power plant company (an IPP) in Oman. Mark was previously Deputy Chief Executive of HSBC’s global Project and Export finance business, responsible for growing that business over recent years to its current pre-eminent position in infrastructure and energy finance. He has substantial experience leading business development and winning and executing financing mandates across transportation, social infrastructure, power, water and energy sectors throughout the Middle East and elsewhere.

Hajir Naghdy
Senior Managing Director, Macquarie Group and Head, Macquarie Capital Middle East, UAE
Hajir is a Senior Managing Director in Macquarie Group (Macquarie). He joined Macquarie in 1999 in Sydney as part of Macquarie’s global structured finance team. In 2000, Hajir transferred to South Korea and played a key role in the establishment of Macquarie’s Korean infrastructure and corporate finance businesses. Since 2005, Hajir has been based in Abu Dhabi and is a founding member of the ADCB Macquarie joint venture. He has overall responsibility for Macquarie’s advisory and funds businesses in the Middle East. In 2009 and 2010, Hajir assumed additional responsibilities, in relation to Macquarie’s infrastructure businesses in India and ASEAN. In his 12 years at Macquarie, Hajir has advised numerous clients in Asia and the Middle East in the infrastructure, utilities and construction sectors and continues on various boards for Macquarie fund portfolio companies.

Patrick Townsend
Executive Director, Instrata Capital, Bahrain
Patrick Townsend is an Executive Director at Instrata Capital BSC, a fund manager specializing in Infrastructure in the MENA region. Before Instrata Patrick spent almost 15 years in the project finance departments of Schroders and HSBC where he worked on a number of project finance transactions in emerging markets. Patrick is a chartered accountant.

Thorsten Rauch
Project Control Manager,Shams Power Company (A Subsidiary of Masdar Power), UAE

Dr Hazem Mobarek
Executive Director – Infrastructure, Etihad Rail, UAE
Dr. Mobarek has over 25 years of civil engineering experience in design and construction of major transportation programs which include a wide spectrum of project delivery scenarios focusing mainly on rail infrastructure. He served as the regional manager for Parsons for the North West sector of the United States as well as western Canada, and supported international activities in the Middle East. Prior to joining Etihad Rail, Dr. Mobarek’s program responsibilities were in excess of $8 billion dollars including major Design-build Rail (Light & Heavy) programs. Dr. Mobarek also served as the Executive Vice President for an international construction company working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on American military bases overseas. Dr. Mobarek holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from George Washington University. He later earned a Masters in Structures, from the University of California at Berkeley and a doctorate degree in Risk and Reliability from the University of California, Berkeley/Irvine.

Mark Blanksby
Partner – Construction and Projects, Clyde and Co, UAE
Mark is a construction and projects lawyer. He has over nineteen years' experience of advising on the legal aspects of construction projects, and since 2004 has been based in Dubai. Mark advises main contractors, employers, subcontractors and suppliers in the construction, engineering and oil & gas sectors. He has advised clients in relation to many projects in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

Mark has a masters degree in Construction Law and Arbitration. He has extensive experience of advising on contractual and commercial matters in relation to significant international projects, in the role of project counsel as works progress and in relation to dispute avoidance and dispute resolution.

Liz Jenkins
Partner – International Projects and Construction, Clyde and Co, UK
Liz joined the Clyde & Co team in February 2010 and is a partner in the construction and infrastructure group.

She is a highly experienced lawyer with an outstanding career in construction and projects. Qualified both in the UK and Hong Kong Liz has been involved in drafting and advising on major infrastructure projects nationally and internationally including transport infrastructure projects such as HK airport, M1/M15 Motorway in eastern Europe and the London underground privatisation. She has also advised in relation to a number of outsourcing projects and facilities management contracts.

Since the introduction of PFI/PPP in the UK Liz has been extensively involved advising operators, FM contractors, consortia, SPVs and public bodies on a wide range of projects. She has particular experience in advising on defence, custodial, healthcare, education, and social housing PFI/PPP projects.

Liz is recognised as one of the leading individuals in the field of PFI/PPP and is recognised by Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500 as a leading construction lawyer .

David McElveney
Partner – Projects and Construction, Clyde and Co, UAE
David heads Clyde & Co's construction and projects team in Abu Dhabi. He is a recognised construction, engineering and projects law specialist with over 24 years' experience working on both contentious and non-contentious matters. Prior to joining Clyde & Co in 2008, David was a partner at a major Australian/international law firm where he headed the Construction & Engineering group. David has acted for the full range project participants and his practice has included the provision of advice on project structuring, negotiation and preparation of project documentation, and advice during project delivery. David has significant experience in claims management, dispute resolution, arbitration and litigation. He as acted for the successful parties in a number of high-profile construction and engineering disputes.

David is named as a leading lawyer in the current edition of Legal 500 in both the Construction and the Projects and Energy sections: "Clyde & Co LLP is 'undoubtedly top for construction in the UAE, effectively combining contentious and non-contentious capabilities'. David McElveney … is rated for his 'excellent experience, professionalism and client relations'. … Clients say that his 'professionalism, manner and knowledge are first-rate'.

Eng. Abdullah Saeed Al-Shamsi
Executive Director – Municipal Infrastructure and Assets, Abu Dhabi Municipality, UAE
Eng. Al Shamsi has been Acting Executive Director, Municipal Infrastructure & Assets Sector, since 2009. He was born in Al-Ain city, Abu Dhabi Emirate where he completed his college study and obtained B.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering/ Project Management at UAE University. He started his career as an Engineer Officer in the Armed Forces, Al-Ain and obtained a Masters Degree in the International Business from the Wollongton University- Australia (Dubai branch). Eng. Al Shamsi worked for many years in the Department of Public works as the Director of Materials and Subcontractors Endorsement Committees, Deputy Head of Construction Section, and Head of Maintenance Section. He acted also as a Chairman of the Projects Committee, Department of Municipal Affairs. Since he joined the Municipality of Abu Dhabi, he has been leading several mega projects locally and internationally, such as Al Salam Street Upgrading Project, Sheikh Zayed Bridge, Al Mafraq Bridge, the infrastructure development of new cities (Khalifa City, Mohammed bin Zayed City) and many UAE funded aid projects in Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine and Syria and Kazakhstan. He has occupied several positions in the Municipality such as Manager of Technical Services, Director of Internal Roads, Chairman of Tenders Committee, Chairman of Land Committee and Chairman of the Executive Committees of International Projects.

Eng. Bryan Wilson
Director of Strategy and Policy, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, UAE
Mr. Wilson attended the University or Toronto and received his degree in Civil Engineering in 1978. Upon graduation, he worked as an infrastucture design engineer with a major consulting engineering company. In 1992, Mr. Wilson relocated to the Middle East as Vice-President and Director of a major International Consulting Engineering Company and now has 20 years of experience in this region. Until 1999, he was responsible for the firms services in Muscat Oman. Projects undertaken included roads and infrastructure, residential developments, ports, hotels, embassies and shopping malls. Moving to the UAE in 2000, Mr. Wilson has been in charge of some of the largest developments and infrastructure projects in the region. Prior to joining the Roads and Infrastructure Department at ADM as Project Director in 2010, he was Executive Director of Development for a branch of the Dubai Government responsible for Jumeirah Lakes Towers.

Haris Margaritidis
Head of the Projects Execution Section, Internal Roads and Infrastructure in Municipality of Abu Dhabi City and Program Director for the Infrastructure and Public Realm Program, Khalifa Bin Zayed Cities, UAE

Haris Margaritidis, PMP, A/Head of the Projects Execution Section, Internal Roads and Infrastructure in Municipality of Abu Dhabi City and Program Director for the Infrastructure and Public Realm Program, Khalifa Bin Zayed Cities.

He studied Civil Engineering and has a Master of Science degree in Railroads, Highways and Bridges.

Haris has more than 27 years of Program/Project Management and heavy construction civil engineering experience and has served in roles of increasing responsibility, managing large scale projects that required complex team staff, specialists, multidisciplinary support staff, and consultants; motorways, tunnels, bridges, reservoirs, drainage and hydraulic structures, geotechnical, as well as other infrastructure and development projects in Europe and UAE.

He works in Abu Dhabi since 2003 and his earlier assignments include the construction of the New Corniche Road and other roads in the Capital of UAE.

He is member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Project Management Institute (PMI), Technical Chamber of Greece, International Society for Soil Mechanics & Geotechnical Engineering, and the Greek Tunneling Society.

Stephen Goldie
Abu Dhabi Department of Municipal Affairs, UAE

Stephen Goldie is employed by the Abu Dhabi Department of Municipal Affairs to facilitate the development and maintenance of Al Ain as a livable and sustainable city by providing advice and assistance to the executive leadership of Al Ain Municipality. Stephen has over thirty years experience in town planning and urban design, more than twenty years of this at executive level. His experience ranges from large greenfield estates to complex inner city sites, from high-level policy and legislation to seemingly intractable local disputes, and from detailed urban design to complex management issues. Many of these projects have been distinguished by awards, but more importantly, more than fifty of the projects that he has led, or for which he was the senior planner, are either built or being implemented. His previous roles include Executive Director of Statutory Planning for the State of Western Australia, Urban Planning Director for the 74km Perth-Mandurah rail line, and Director Strategic Projects, responsible for the planning of Perth’s 400 sq km North-West Corridor for a further 150,000 people and 20,000 jobs by 2031.

Lawrence Franklin
Director of Strategy and Policy, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, UAE
As Director Strategy and Policy at Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, Lawrence Franklin has overall responsibility for leading domestic and international market research operations and overseeing the development of the authority’s corporate strategy and operational plans. Lawrence has over 25 years experience in the tourism industry and has been instrumental in the development of tourism masterplans and strategies at national, regional and local levels and the development of a number of major marketing campaigns. Lawrence joined the ADTA in 2008 from Tourism Australia where he was Director Strategy & Research.