Speakers

Pedro Cosa
Global Senior Insights Manager,
Vodafone Group – UK

Maged Ateya
Market Analysis Manager
Pfizer International – UAE

Leana Less is currently the Media Director for Eurasia and Africa Group. She is based in İstanbul and leads Company’s Connection efforts including connection strategies across all mediums, asset management, leading digital transformation, agency management and capability building in all the areas mentioned. Core responsibility is also to drive productivity to ensure marketing efforts are effective and efficient. Leana has 16 years of experience in the field of media and expanding connections. She started her career in 1995 working at various agencies, including OMD, TBWA, FCB and MediaCom – as well as the largest fashion retailer in South Africa as Marketing Services Manager.
Leana joined the Coca-Cola Company in 2005.

Josh Saunders
Head of Technical & Creative
EMI Music Group – UK

Josh Saunders has been working in the new media and digital sector in London since 1998. Starting out working at digital creative agencies in Shoreditch, he has worked at EMI for 9 years as a creative technologist and project manager for Digital Marketing campaigns. Managing 3rd parties and inhouse teams, he has delivered website, social media, and mobile app campaigns fror artists such as Gorillaz, Kylie, Tinie Tempah, Lily Allen, Chemical Brothers, Coldplay and The Beatles. He also had a one year role in 08/09 at the BBC World Service Trust, working as mobile producer for a groundbreaking and award winning mLearning project (SMS/WAP/IVR) in Bangladesh, called Janala.

Ashish Chaturvedy
Marketing Manager,
Ducab – UAE

A qualified Mechanical Engineer with MBA in Marketing, Ashish has over 12 years experience, both in brand and product management areas, across varied industries having worked with the likes of Tata group, Cummins and ICI Dulux in the past. Responsible for all internal and external brand development and management programs for the Ducab Group, Ashish has been involved in actively building and strengthening Ducab’s market presence and stature across the Middle East, Europe & Asia. Managing a team of young marketing & communications professionals, Ashish has been instrumental in having repositioned the Ducab brand with a slew of new-age marketing initiatives with clear focus of key segments towards relationship marketing activities in a B2B environment.

Jon Wilson
Senior Lecturer and Course Leader, Advertising & Marketing Communications Management
University of Greenwich – UK

Educated at The Manchester Grammar School and the University of Dundee Scotland, Jon has over 15 years of collective academic and practitioner experience in: marketing communications (advertising, sponsorship, sales, public relations); branding; key account management; print and new media; management and training – in both the private and public sector. Jon previously worked in media full–time for Emap [now Bauer Media], Haymarket Business Publications and the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) journal. He has also offered consultancy to, amongst others: the Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) [now EngineeringUK], 1&1 Internet Ltd, SAIPA automotive, culture and sport (Iran), and DMA/ Rockstar Games (on Grand Theft Auto). Jon has published over 50 academic peer reviewed papers, articles, book chapters and case studies.

Thomas Mueller
Global Director - Customer Experience|
Siegel+Gale - EMEA

Jeremy Foster
Head of Marketing
Government and Industry Relations

Jeremy Foster leads Ericsson's engagement with Government and Industry in the Middle East and North East Africa region. With telecoms being a cornerstone for growth in both GDP and development of society, Government policy becomes all the more important to ensure a sustainable telecoms to continue driving every other industry.

Jeremy graduated from the University of Auckland with a BSc majoring in Physics. After applying for a place on a graduate development program, Jeremy completed most of the Ericsson engineering courses over the succeeding few years to build up a platform of knowledge over every aspect of Telecommunications. Post the development program Jeremy held technical and sales support roles before joining Vodafone New Zealand as an Account Director looking after some of the largest corporate customers Vodafone had in NZ at that time. The last role Jeremy had at Vodafone was Head of Business Product Marketing at Vodafone responsible for all business products in the NZ market. Jeremy was also involved in the launch of 3G in New Zealand meeting many customers and presenting at the largest telecoms forums leading up to and post the launch.

Jeremy returned to Ericsson in 2006 as Marketing Director for the Middle East region. Responsible for marketing the complete product portfolio of Ericsson, Jeremy was also engaged with sales development and customer value propositions post his 5 years at Vodafone. In July 2010 Jeremy was appointed Head of Marketing, Government and Industry Relations to spear head Ericsson’s cooperation with Government across the ME and NEA region.

More detail on Jeremy’s back ground can be found at http://ae.linkedin.com/in/jeremyfoster/

Arto Joensuu
Digital Change Agent
Dubizzle – UAE

"Arto Joensuu is a digital change agent at Dubizzle.com. Together with his team of experts, he is redefining marketing inside the company. Throughout his career, Arto has held several leadership roles in the area of digital, with work ranging from pioneering in mobile marketing at Terra Mobile, to crafting and executing digital marketing strategies for Nokia. His work has been rewarded with several industry awards and for the last years, he has acted as a spokesperson on digital marketing and social media. Today, Arto is the "comandante" of marketing at Dubizzle.com, overseeing their marketing & PR activities. He is based in Dubai, UAE."

Flora Fang Pen
Digital Marketing Manager,
Jumeriah Group – UAE

Flora is in charge of digital strategy in China market, which includes Mandarin social media channels, multilingual pay-per-click campaigns on Google and Baidu, integrated online advertising, email marketing, website development and other online marketing activities. She is ultimately responsible for defining company’s online strategy and translating it into a daily practice in the Asia-Pacific region.

James Piecowye
Associate Professor
Zayed University, UAE

James earned a Ph.D in Communication from the University of Montreal, in Canada, where he used a socio-critical methodology to explore the contradictions that exist between culture and commerce in Telefilm Canada's Feature Film Fund. James is a rarity in the UAE's academic community in that he not only teaches communication theory at the University level but he is also a communication practitioner hosting Nightline, a long form interview and call-in program, on DubaiEye 103.8FM 4 nights a week.

Vikram Krishna
Head Of Group Marketing and Branding
Emirates NBD, UAE

Vikram Krishna is Head – Group Marketing and Branding at Emirates NBD, with the mandate to consolidate the bank’s dominant market position across retail segments. He leads Emirates NBD’s Group Marketing and Communications team, spanning the areas of Group Brand Management, Event Sponsorships, Public Relations and Digital Marketing. A senior banking professional with in-depth knowledge of Retail Banking, Retail Assets and Mortgages, Krishna also brings along a rich and varied sales and marketing experience across financial products and brands.

Mohammed Bin Rashid Abaaalkheil
Head of Marketing and Communications
Bank Albilad, KSA

Mohammed Bin Rashid Abaaalkheil has an MBA with emphasis is Strategic Marketing from Cardiff Business school in the UK. He also has a Masters of Science: Environmental Design of Buildings from the Welsh school of Architecture also from the UK. His undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Architecture) was from the College of Environmental Design at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.

Since starting his professional career, Mohammed has been working in image and personality building for organizations from both a branding and an environmental perspective. He had lead in 2005 the re branding exercise of one of the largest local banks in Saudi Arabia. His task included the brand itself and the bank’s environmental appearance. Since then, Mohammed had leaded various tasks in different sectors from real estate to consultancy and banking until he established The Specialized Consultancy Studio early 2009. Today, Abaalkheil is the head of Bank Albilad Marketing and Communications Division.

Mohammed leads his tasks through believing that proper marketing strategies lead to successful operational marketing.

Noaf Ereiqat
Content Manager
Commercial

Having started her career with eBay’s ecommerce platform Shopping.com in the UK, Noaf brings over six years experience within the online marketing and partnership management field. After nearly three years at eBay looking after online marketing activities, product developments and partnerships as well as a year with buy.at UK which was acquired by AOL’s “Platform A” doing the same, Noaf moved to join Maktoob.com’s marketing team in Dubai working on the key revenue generating brands. Since then, she transitioned to the agency side with The Content Factory looking after online developments, social media and integrated marketing communications activities. Having seen many sides of the marketing mix, Noaf now looks after content projects under du’s commercial marketing team across mobile, tv and web.

Heba El Shaar
Director of Institutional Marketing and Communications
Dubai Health Authority (DHA)

Ms Heba El Shaar is the Director of Institutional Marketing and Communications Department at the DHA since 2009. She is responsible for overseeing the entire internal and external marketing and communication strategy for the DHA.

Al Shaar has over 20 years experience in marketing, communication and brand strategy.

Prior to this, she worked with Nestle for over 11 years as the regional director of marketing and communications and was responsible for all branding and communication requirements for 13 countries in the Middle East region.

Al Shaar holds a Bachelor’s degree in political studies and public administration from the American University of Beirut. She is a member of various councils and committees in the UAE, including the Institutional Communications Committee at the Dubai Executive Council. She is also the member of the advisory committee for several prestigious congresses such as the World Diabetes Congress, the World Cardiology Congress and the Arab Children Health Congress.

Saad El Zein
Founder & CEO
El Zein Consutancies

With over 22 years of experience in the fields of advertising, marketing and media in the Middle East and North Africa region, Saad El Zein has successfully accumulated invaluable experiences in a variety of industries that include retail, banking, FMCG's, airlines, media and communication. His multi-cultural experiences and collaborations in the MENA region, and especially in the highly cosmopolitan Dubai, add value to the all-important human element of cultural understanding and reciprocation.

Equipped with a wealth of practical knowledge and a distinctive nature that boasts inquisitiveness, respect and passion for whatever he is doing, Saad was able, over the years, to tread many venues and explore the numerous facets of business, while insisting upon engaging himself in the know-how's of business growth, management and development.

In 2011, Saad decided it was high time he began utilizing his expertise, passion and experiences in a consultative manner that adds value to businesses in need. Thus Saad's latest vision came into fruition in the form of el zein management consultancies

Hasan Fadlallah
Managing Director
BrandLounge

Hasan Fadlallah is the founder and managing director of BrandLounge in the Middle East.

He has started his career with leading multinational communication agencies as a passionate brand builder at D'Arcy and later on as the Deputy General Manager - Lower Gulf for Publicis; creating, introducing, developing and nurturing brands like Red Bull, British Airways, Burger King, Philips, Al Jazeera TV (Children channel), Deira City Center, Sanofi Aventis, Audi, Mars, Tameer Real Estate, and many more. Equipped with over 15 years of professional branding, marketing and communication experience, he took the decision to establish BrandLounge in 2006, to cater to the ever increasing branding needs arising from local, regional and international organizations.

Today, Hasan is focused on insuring that every brand we lay a hand on has its point of differentiation.

Paul Louzado
Executive Director, Middle East
Siegel+Gale

Paul has always had a fascination with how things work. His intense curiosity for understanding the mechanics of mundane objects to complex feats of engineering has led him to appreciate the value of gathering and analyzing data, and providing innovative solutions.

Today Paul brings that same approach to branding, cutting through the noise and communicating clearly and concisely with his clients. While building brands at Siegel+Gale, Paul has worked on an array of assignments for Saudi Aramco, Dow, Qtel, Renault, CooperVision, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Delta Energy Systems, to name a few.

Paul joined Siegel+Gale with several years of Middle East management experience under his belt. In his previous position as sales and marketing director with SIG Combibloc, a leading packaging supplier, he was responsible for large projects across the GCC, Iran, Pakistan and India, and spoke regularly at key industry events on the power of developing brands. Earlier in his career he served as an internal strategy consultant for ING Bank, applying academic branding theory to the complicated task of product extensions in cross-border markets.

Paul holds an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands.

Miriam Farshoukh
Public Relations Lead,
Microsoft Gulf

Miriam is a communications and public relations professional with an in-depth understanding of the Middle East industry, particularly in the launch and operations of brands in competitive markets. In-depth industry experience within communications for both local, regional and international brands within the Aviation, Corporate, Technology, Finance, Automotive and Consumer sector.

She has provided strategic counsel to a diverse client portfolio which includes : Microsoft, The Economist, HSBC, Cisco Consumer Products, Coca Cola Corporation, flydubai, National Bonds Corporation, Volvo Cars Middle East, Unilever Arabia, Turner Broadcasting Systems. Through here work, she has connected with key industry media & opinion leaders within government & private associations locally and internationally.

Qurratulain Sikander
Lecturer
College of Business Administration (CBA), Jeddah, KSA

Ms. Sikander is an Educationist, actively involved since 2005, in creating and delivering courses in Business Management and Marketing at CBA. She has also worked on various professional consultations, thus exploring both the application and implications of Strategic Management, and Marketing concepts in the Business Field. Ms. Sikander has previous experience in participating in both local and international conferences, by delivering knowledge and instructional based presentations. Currently she is exploring the effectiveness of Social Media Marketing in the Saudi Market.

Michael Maksoudian
Head of Brands and Digital Marcomms
anayou, Du Media Lab

Michael Maksoudian is the Head of Brands and Digital Marcomms at anayou. Within this rapidly growing brand, he is responsible for developing anayou’s communications strategy and planning innovative ways of communicating the brand and its various offerings.

Michael’s experience includes 11 years in brand management for leading multinational blue chip organizations. He has played an integral role in the growth of several international brands such as Nokia, Intel, Oracle and Standard Chartered Bank, as well as regional brands such as Arabian Automobiles, Emirates Computers and the Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai.

Aside from his passion in technology and gadgets, Michael has a keen interest in filmmaking and the film industry. He has produced several short films and he blogs about the latest movies on www.movieblogbuster.com.

Ahmed Habiba
Customer Manager & Sustainability Team Leader
Henkel AP – KSA

Ibrahim Ahmed Elbadawi
Strategic Planning Specialist
Emirates eGovernment – UAE