Speakers

Browse through the profile of our speakers. Leaders in their own field, they are bound to enthrall the delegates with their talks and thought provoking questions. Many of our speakers have been instrumental in implementing path-breaking techniques to further the process of internal audit.

Sophia

Advanced Humanoid

The future is here and her name is Sophia, the world’s very first humanoid celebrity. The toast of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Sophia has graced the cover of Elle magazine, appeared on Chinese television, spoken before the United Nations General Assembly and named the first non-human citizen of Saudi Arabia. Wowing awestruck audiences with her superhuman intelligence and advanced ability to read faces, empathize with emotions, understand the nuances of language and communicate with thousands of facial expressions, Sophia has discussed subjects ranging from “Will robots take over the world?” to how artificial intelligence could end hunger in developing nations. Sophia interacts with humans in a profoundly personal way, previewing a fast-approaching future where friendly, caring humanoids help us solve our most challenging problems to create a better world.

From Hong Kong to the U.S., Europe and Australia, Sophia has sung in concert, addressed audiences in Mandarin, debated the future of the human race (against another robot), and generated billions of views and social media interactions. She has also displayed her expansive tech knowledge and growing business savvy, meeting with leaders in the banking, insurance, automotive, property development, media and entertainment industries. A versatile and ingenious presenter who customizes her appearances with encyclopedic event-specific content, Sophia has appeared as a panel-member and speaker at high-level conferences, addressing how robotics and artificial intelligence will become an integral part of everyone’s everyday lives and work.

Sophia is the brain child of Dr. David Hanson of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics, a modern-day renaissance man who has built a reputation for creating the world’s most humanlike robots. A former Disney Imagineer, Dr. Hanson’s mission is to create genius machines that are smarter than humans and able to learn creativity, empathy and compassion.

Appearing alongside Dr. Hanson or on her own, Sophia enchants audiences with a captivating, interactive look at the awe-inspiring potential of AI and robotics. She also provides enlightening insights into the provocative moral and ethical questions that accompany non-human intelligent lifeforms. As both the state-of-the art in technology and the state-of-the-heart in human-humanoid relations, Sophia always draws a crowd and brings a unique and unforgettable experience to any event.

Jordan Belfort

The Real Wolf of Wall Street, American author, motivational speaker, and former stockbroker

Jordan Belfort is the number one sales trainer in the world and has created more million-dollar producers than all other sales trainers combined. His famous Straight Line System, used to train the most effective salesforces in the world, has been curated over the last thirty years and refined into a foolproof solution for turning virtually any individual into a world-class closer and top producer in their field. Jordan is the best-selling author of three iconic books: Wolf of Wall Street, Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, and The Way of the Wolf. He is also the subject of the blockbuster movie, The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese, that was nominated for five Academy Awards.

Jordan is a dynamic and powerful motivational speaker on an international scale. He has toured the world multiple times performing live, in-person training events to millions of ambitious and forward-thinking salespeople, executives, and entrepreneurs, all of whom have benefited greatly from his unparalleled wisdom, experience, and boundless energy. Fortune 500 companies, top tier financial institutions, major healthcare corporations, internationally renowned universities, and top players in the transportation industry are just some of the organizations who have reaped huge benefits from being trained by Jordan Belfort.

Jordan continues to present his Straight Line System in virtually every country on the map. From Eastern Europe to South America, from Scandinavia to Australia, Jordan has helped millions of ordinary people earn more income and live happier, more empowered lives. He’s presented in Canada, Germany, France, Mongolia, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, many others, and, of course, the Unites States.

Just a few of the companies he has worked with  – to name a few – HSBC, Barclays Bank, Absa Bank, Engen Corp, CNBC, Starwood Hotels, National Mortgage, Swisse Vitamins, Delta Airlines, Virgin Airlines, Deutsche Bank, Symantec, Telstra, ANZ bank, TED talks, Royal Bank of Scotland, Harvey Norman. Universities around the world are constantly inviting him to speak due to his massive millennial audience.

Jordan is a beloved and dedicated family man. He is the father of three wonderful children, Chandler, Carter, and Bowen, and has spent the last 11 years with the love of his life and business partner, Anne. Both Anne and Bowen work with Jordan as part of the Global Motivation team, which allows them to spend quality time together both at work and at home.

Abdulqader Obaid Ali

Chairman of the Board of UAE IAA and
CEO of Smartworld

Previous Engagements and Experiences

Chief of Internal Audit for Dubai World Group, the holding company that manages a number of world-class companies such as DP World-UAE Region, Economic Zones World (EZW), Dry Docks World, Nakheel and Istithmar, from August 2005 until October 2014. In this role, he reported initially to the Chairman and then directly to the Audit and Risk Committee of Dubai World on Audit & Fraud related issues covering Dubai World. During his tenure beside Auditing, as a Certified Fraud Examiner he led around 500 fraud cases dealing with different agencies, including special cases in USA and Interpol.

Dubai Aluminum Company (DUBAL) heading various Departments (IT, Quality, Human Recourses).  He was involved in Quality Assurance, developing and maintaining ISO standards and certifications and the application for the Dubai Quality Award and chairing the DUBAL Suggestion Program. While serving as the Manager of Organization Development, Abdulqader was responsible for Recruitment and Training and Succession Planning.

 

Noteworthy Achievements

  • Winner of the prestigious Kano Medal Excellence Catalyst for the year 2011 and Ideas UK Fellowship Award 2012.
  • Founder of Ideas Arabia and assessor for Ideas America.
  • First UAE National recipient of the prestigious Wilfred Thesiger Award, where master’s degree Scholarship was awarded to him.
  • Member of the Jury for the Dubai Quality Award and SKEA, Shaikh Khalifa Excellent Award.
  • Awarded the Qualification in Internal Audit Leadership (QIAL) in 2014, which falls under the umbrella of the Institute of Internal Auditors.
  • Certified Fraud Examiner from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in the USA and has a Certification in Risk Management Assurance (CRMA) from IIA

 

Abdulqader holds a Bachelor of Science in Electronic Engineering Technology from Arizona State University, U.S.A. and a Master of Science in Technology Management from Stirling University, Scotland, U.K. He has successfully completed “The International General Management Program for Executive Development” conducted by International Institute of Management Development (IMD), Switzerland.

Terry Cutler

Certified Ethical Hacker

Terry Cutler is a federal government-cleared cybersecurity expert who specializes in the anticipation, assessment, and prevention of security breaches for governments, corporations, businesses, and consumers, as well as Internet Safety for Children.

As an award-winning information security strategist for almost 20 years and was recently named to IFSEC Global’s Top 20 most influential cybersecurity expert for 2018 and again in 2019,  Mr. Cutler has advised some of Canada’s largest companies on how to prevent and remedy internal and external security penetration.

For the general public, he developed an effective online learning course called “Internet Safety University” that is arranged in modules and updated regularly to keep up with the rapidly changing digital landscape in which “wild-west” internet bandits constantly seek and find ways to break into our lives. Internet Safety University currently has over 23,000 enrolled from over 160 Countries.

Terry Cutler is a frequent contributor to media reportage about cyber-crime, spying, security failures, internet scams, and the real social network dangers that families and individuals face every day.

Terry Cutler has coined the term Cyologist™ to describe what he does. His mission is to “help individuals and corporations protect themselves from data breaches and other online cyber threats through his videos, media appearances, coaching products and consulting services.”

Scott Amyx

Managing Partner, Astor Perkins

Scott Amyx is the Chair & Managing Partner at Astor Perkins, Forbes New York Business Council Member, Singularity University/ Smart City Accelerator mentor and startup board member and SXSW Pitch (formerly SXSW Accelerator) judge. Scott is a Tribeca Disruptor Foundation Fellow, a disruptive innovation awards program of Tribeca Film Festival. Scott is a national Sloan Fellow/ Woodrow Wilson Fellow. He has spoken at TEDx on exponential technologies, Fourth Industrial Revolution & success. Scott is a global thought leader on breakthrough innovation, voted top global innovation keynote speaker, and author on smart cities, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and winner of the Cloud & DevOps World Award for Most Innovative and was voted Top Global Exponential Technologies Expert by Inc. Magazine, HP Enterprise, and Postscapes & Top 10 Global Innovation Keynote Speaker by Speaking.com. Scott has been nominated to the World Economic Forum as a committee member for the Future of the Internet. The Republic of Korea nominated Scott to present at the ITU Telecom World, United Nations. Sovereignties, governments, multinationals, and international consulting & research firms look to Scott for unrivaled insights and pulse on the changing landscape.

Scott was voted the Most Influential Leader in Smart Cities and awarded the 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by Inc. Magazine, Internet of Things Institute, HP Enterprise, World CSR Congress, and numerous institutions. Scott is enabling the realization of a global network of smart, sustainable cities through his partnerships with the United Nations, United Smart Cities, United for Smart Sustainable Cities, Smart Cities Council, and ASEAN Smart Cities Network, family offices, and institutional investors.

Scott has been featured on New York Times, TIME, Forbes, The Washington Post, WIRED, TechCrunch, Inc., Pew Research, Chicago Tribune, InformationWeek, Forrester, Gigaom, ReadWrite, Shots Magazine, Business News Daily, IBM Big Data & Analytics, Intel, Geektime, Examiner, TechBeacon, EE Times, IEEE, El País, Costco Magazine, and television and radio programs. He has spoken at TEDx, European Commission, World Economic Forum, ITU Telecom World (United Nations), International CES, SXSW, IBM Insight, IBM Amplify, IBM Watson IoT, IBM InterConnect, PTC LiveWorx, AMEX, SAP, CRM Evolution, THINK!, NED, Cloud Expo Europe, Cloud & DevOps World, KAIST, Samsung SDS, ArabNet Dubai & Riyadh, Internet Summit, JCK Las Vegas, Customer Service Experience, Razorfish Tech Summit, Location & Context World, Internet of Things World, K-Global Startup, and more. Scott is the co-author of Internet of Things and Data Analytics Handbook, an academic publication by John Wiley and Sons and The Advances in Information Security, Privacy, & Ethics (AISPE) Book Series: Managing Security Issues and the Hidden Dangers of Wearable Technologies, an academic publication by IGI Global.

Ayesha Bin Lootah

Director, Internal Audit – Department of Economy and Tourism

Ayesha is driving departmental and sectorial strategy, and objectives in line with Department of Economy and Tourism, Lead the development of departmental policies and procedures, program governance in line with best practices IIA IPPF, COBIT, COSO, ISMS27001 & ISR, ISO22301 BCM & NCEMA, open data, local regulations, and Dubai Tourism strategy 2025. A self-driven and ambitious leader with ten years of experience in the internal audit, risk management, and information security with diverse industry experience of financial institutions, tourism and hospitality industries. With more than six years’ board of governance experience of the Institute of Internal Auditors – UAE Association, and have chaired many several committees’ part of the board of the governance and of the international audit conference. I also hold several committee’s positions within the tourism board of Dubai. I am a certified governance practitioner from the UK affiliation of corporate governance practitioner and a COSO certified.

Alaa Elshimy

Managing Director & Senior Vice President
Huawei Enterprise Business Group, Middle East

A visionary and futuristic executive with more than two decades of energetic leadership in established and emerging markets spanning 76 countries across Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean. An expert in creating value and managing complex multi-country P&L’s up to US$7B with 10,000 staff. Strongly networked worldwide, recognized at all levels of Government and in the corporate world as a credible, ethical and professional business leader.

Alaa is an industry 4.0 and digital transformation expert, his core expertise spans oil and gas, utilities, education, aviation and public sector industries.

Alaa is responsible for driving Huawei’s continued growth in the Region. Prior to joining Huawei, Alaa was the Managing Director and Vice President of HP Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa.      

Alaa studied at Harvard, MIT and London Business School and holds an MBA and  Bachelor of Communications Engineering. Currently Alaa is a doctorate student at the Swiss Business School.

Bashar Kilani

Managing Director, Accenture

In his role Bashar oversees the IBM business in the Gulf Countries and the Levant working with clients and partners across industries. Prior to that he was the Business Unit Executive for IBM software business in MENA. Bashar began his career with IBM in the United Kingdom and held several managerial and executive positions in software development, services, sales & marketing. His international career includes several assignments in the USA, Europe and the Middle East.

Kilani has a passion for thought leadership around Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud and has spoken at many international and regional conferences. He holds an MBA in Management from the University of Reading, an M.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Surrey both in the United Kingdom and B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Jordan.

Hala Bou Alwan

Entrepreneur, Financial Crimes Expert and trainer, TV Presenter, MC & Moderator

Hala is the Founder and CEO of Hala Bou Alwan (HBA) Consultancy firm specialised in Governance, Compliance, CSR, AI & Financial and Cyber crimes’ advisory and training. In addition to this, Hala is the Co – Founder of H.A.D Consultants specialised in self – empowerment events adhering to the UN Sustainability Developments Goals. She is a lawyer, member of the Lebanese Lawyers’ Bar Association who holds dual Masters degrees LLM specialised in Artificial intelligence & Law from Universite La Sagesse, Lebanon and another Master’s degree ELLM in International Business Law from Boston University USA. Hala as well is a member at the Arab Monetary Fund Regional Fintech Working Group, a contributor at Forbes Middle East, and registered Trainer and speaker at several Governmental Authorities & highly reputable organisations including Union of Arab Securities Authority , IOSCO – International Organisation for Securities Commissions, Thomson Reuters, Forbes Middle East, Capital Markets Authorities and many more. She is an Advisory Board member At the British University in Dubai – Faculty of Business and Law, and a member in the Entrepreneur Committee at the Capital Club Dubai. She has 20 years’ of success helping Regulators, Governments, Boards and high-profile organizations pave their Governance, Compliance, CSR, Financial and Cybercrimes mitigation roadmaps. She is an International speaker, thought leader, trainer and author of many articles, interviews, research papers (published by Boston & Cambridge Universities) & events across the globe. Nine years prior to establishing her own firm in 2018, Hala led two senior roles at Thomson Reuters, the Market Development for Financial Crimes business across Emerging Markets globally & The Advisory and Educational Governance, Financial Crimes and compliance Business across EMEA & Asia. Prior to this, Hala was the TSME – DIFC Financial Crimes – Compliance Consultant – Authorised by Dubai Financial Services Authority, before that Hala was the Head of the Anti-Financial crimes at BLOM Bank France, and prior to that legal Consultant at Raja Bou Alwan Law firm & IP compliance Officer at United Nations -UNDP.

Olivier Crespin

Co-Founder & CEO, Zand

Olivier Crespin is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zand. Since taking on this role in 2018 he has focused on leveraging hybrid digital banking strategies to establish Zand as the first fully digital bank in the region to combine both retail and corporate banking. Crespin brings over 20 years of extensive expertise and leadership roles in digital banking and FinTech across Latin America, the USA and Asia. He recognises the need for a customer-centric approach to humanise the banking industry. Prior to Zand, Crespin has been an award-winning leader at CIMB Bank, DBS, and Citigroup. Across those roles he’s led flagship programs into new markets including India and Indonesia and spearheaded the implementation of innovative technologies.

Marc Chamoun

Executive Partner, Gartner

Marc is a business and technology transformation leader. He has a strong understanding of emerging technologies and the latest trends in digital transformation. Throughout his career, he has led multiple complex and high-profile transformational programs for global organizations and government entities.

Marc worked in both developed and emerging markets (US, Europe, GCC). He spent the last 11 years in the Gulf and Emerging Markets region, which equips him with deep knowledge of the current regional challenges, requirements, and understanding of the client situations and context. Marc uses his ability to bridge between business objectives and technology initiatives to drive better outcomes and value for the organizations he works with.

Marc’s experience spans the full lifecycle from strategy development through to implementation, across multiple sectors and industries such as government,  healthcare, energy and manufacturing, telecommunications, and others.

Prior to joining Gartner, Marc was a Director with Ernst & Young (EY), leading the digital transformation delivery team. He managed foundational transformation programs that allow organizations to meet the customer, investor and shareholder needs. He  developed and executed agile business strategies that enable organizations to adapt a constantly changing digital environment.

Marc led multiple national transformation programs for Marc led multiple national transformation programs for setting the technology and digital strategy in alignment with the corporate objectives and direction and driving the execution of the roadmap to achieve the future vision of the organization.

Dr. Saeed Khalfan Aldhaheri

Chairman of the board, Smartworld

Dr. Saeed is a futurist, thought leader, author and a public keynote speaker. He has been into many positions: the founder and former Director General of the Emirates ID Authority, a former member of the scientific advisory committee of the UAE Space Agency, and a former Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on information technology.

Currently, He is the director of the Center for Futures Studies at the University of Dubai, an adjunct lecturer of public policy science & technology track at the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, the chairman of the board of Smartworld (a leading digital solutions provider in the UAE). He is a member of the Global Future Council of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on AR/VR, Co-Chair of the IEEE UAE Blockchain group, and he is on industrial advisory boards of several universities in the UAE.

He co-authored the book Digital Nation: How the UAE is building a future based on tech innovation. He has written several articles and reports that were published at Harvard Business Review Arabia and Dubai Policy Review Journal.

He has been invited to speak at prestigious universities and international platforms including University of Oxford, the WEF, the UN,  OPEC, and the Global Business Forum on ASEAN.

His main interest is in areas including Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, digital transformation, foresight and researching the impact of emerging technologies on government, business and society.

Abdulaziz bin Saud Almutawa

Advisor to H. E. President of the General Court of Audit.

Head of the Strategic Management Office, GCA.

Experienced Auditor with a demonstrated academic expertise in Accounting, and a professional expertise in the fields of Auditing and Strategic and Digital Transformation.

Abdulaziz worked for the King Abdulaziz University as a member of the Accounting Department Council at the Faculty of Economics and Administration, and as a consultant at the Internal Audit Unit.

Currently, he works for the General Court of Audit (GCA), the Supreme Audit Institution of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as the Advisor to H. E. President of GCA, and the Head of the Strategic Management Office. Abdulaziz helped GCA to establish the Digital Transformation Unit and supervised a number of GCA’s initiatives towards smart and e-audit business models using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence solutions. He has been into many positions: the Secretary General and a member of the E-Transactions Committee, a member of the Public Sector Auditing Standards Committee, a member of the Methodology Development Committee, a member of the Working Group on Audit of Privatization Programs Implementations, the leader of the Working Group on Audit of Sustainable Development Goals Implementations.

Abdulaziz is a member of the Training Committee and an associate member of the Steering Committee of Saudi Arabia’s national project of Public Sector Accounting Transition from Cash Basis to Accrual Basis, and a member of the Control Task Force of the Settlement Committee of Financial Dues to the Private Sector.

He Holds a Bachelor of Science’s degree in Accounting from the King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, and a Master’s degree in Accountancy from the George Washington University, USA, and has completed the American Certified Public Accountant Certification.

Dr. Seita Almandeel

President’s Consultant- General Court of Audit – Head of internal audit department in GCA – KSA

Dr. Seita is an Advisor to the General Court of Audit (GCA) President, the Head of internal Audit Department, and an Associate Professor in Business. She holds more than 15 years of experience in the areas relating to Human Resource and Capacity Building. She had various responsibilities and achievements at the GCA, amongst which, she supervised the female recruitment and development process, worked on the GCA Corporate Identity, and developed the GCA’s Auditors’ Competency Development System. Additionally, Dr. Seita is a member in a number of committees at the GCA, such as; the Training Committee, Leadership Committee and Strategic Plan Committee. Dr. Seita holds a Ph.D. in Human Resources, Leadership and Organisational Behavior from the University of Portsmouth, in UK.

Henrik Stein

Former President of ECIIA – European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing

Chief Audit Executive, Hamburg Commercial Bank

Henrik Stein, is acting Head of Group Audit at Hamburg Commercial Bank AG, Hamburg, Germany, since beginning of 2021. Before, he was Head of Group Audit at DZ BANK AG,  one of the three largest banks in Germany for more than 17 years. Prior to that, he was a consultant for Ernst & Young Deutschland, Advisory Services, and also worked in different capacities at Dresdner Bank AG, including as Director for Group Corporate Development. The main focus of his work has always been internal audit in financial institutions. He has been a Board member of the German IIA (DIIR) from 2009 until end of 2016 and acted last as the Deputy Spokesman of the Institute. He also has been Board member of the European Confederation of Institutes of Internal Auditing (ECIIA) since 2014 and President from September 2015 until October 2017. From 2015 until 2019 he acted as President of the Banking Committee at ECIIA and established important contacts between the profession and the European regulators (EBA) and supervisors (ECB) during that period. He graduated from the University of Hamburg with the “Diplom-Betriebswirt” in 1989. He is based in Hamburg and has worked in several countries worldwide.