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.

Benito Ybarra is the 2022–23 Chairman of the Global Board of Directors of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) and past chair of The IIA’s North American Board. He joins a long line of successful and dedicated internal audit professionals from around the world who have served in this role.

His theme for his term is “One IIA – Building Trust Together.” The One IIA concept aspires to harness the power of internal audit professionals worldwide and recognize opportunities for collaboration and improvement.

Benito has made a firm commitment to working through geographic, cultural, and industry diversity, ensuring that all of our global members feel connected, understood, and supported — and that no matter their career position, location, or language, we all operate as One IIA.

Benito is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP) with more than 25 years of extensive audit, compliance, and investigation experience.

As Chief Audit and Compliance Officer for the Texas Department of Transportation in Austin, TX, he focuses on improving organizational practices, risk management, accountability, and governance through value-driven audits, evaluations, investigations, and advisory services engagements. He also serves as a Texas State Department Representative to the Southwest Intergovernmental Audit Forum.

Jenitha John is a seasoned executive with more than 28 years of corporate experience in diverse industries traversing the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. For the past 17 years, she paralleled her executive role by having served as a non-executive director of both public and private sector entities. She has served as the Chief Audit Executive in many major companies in South Africa. She is currently providing independent consulting services globally and was recently appointed to the Global GRI’s Due Process Oversight Committee for Sustainability Standards.

She was the 2020-2021 Global Chairman on the Global Board of Directors of the Institute of Internal Auditors (head office based in Florida, USA) serving over 200000 members in over 170 countries.

She has addressed multinational conferences (as an executive and as a non-executive) across the world on varied topics ranging from corporate governance, risk management, compliance, women in leadership, the impact of AI and robotics on industries, emerging issues in the financial services industry, the value of key performance indicators etc.

She is also active in many forums as an ambassador of developing young minds and talent. She actively participates in mentoring circles, panel discussions and networking sessions around the world. She is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Director, a Certified Internal Auditor, holds a QIAL and is a Harvard business school Alumni.

She is happily married and has two daughters aged 21 and 15 and a Maltese poodle – “all of which are her tension breakers.

Over the past 40 years, as a BBC-trained journalist, UN ECOSOC Main Representative for Vienna and public speaking master coach, Dave has worked and shared his expertise with decision-makers of global & regional entities like United Nations, US/Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Pepsi, Google, P&G, Grant Thornton, IBM, BP, SASREF, ITP, ADFD, PwC and STC.

Coaches international speakers from different countries, representing US Chamber of Commerce, Australian Embassy, National Government Ministers, Nigerian Government Representatives, Politicians, Influencers, Start-Up Founders & C-Suite Executives.

Headlined & hosted events that reached 2 billion people & entertained over 100,000 over the course of 20 years at Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, World’s Ultimate Strongman, FIFA International Beach Soccer, Special Olympics & World Club Tens Rugby.

Ian Ross is an Associate Professor of International Law at Bircham International University. Has 30 years’ experience in compliance management and financial crime investigation and prevention.  A former UK police officer now supporting the corporate sector, governments and regulators, and international law enforcement.

In 2021 Ian was appointed as a ‘Listed expert’ to the Cour pénale internationale (The International Criminal Court of Justice (‘ICC’) The Hague.

Director of Financial Crime Management & Mediation, DETECTA Academy, Bilbao.

Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI)

Overall, has delivered over 1000 hours of professional training.  Has carried extensive audits of AML and related investigative procedures.

Published author of 4 books:

• Exposing Fraud, Skills, Process, and Practicalities (Wiley, 2015)
• Corruption:  The Hidden Nemesis of International Law (2022)
• Superar el narcisismo y heurística. Entrevista investigativa de defraudadores corporativos (Overcoming narcissism and heuristics. Investigative interviewing of Corporate fraudsters) 2019
• CC1’ The Investigations’ Toolkit (2019)

With over 25 years’ international experience in the audit, training and business, Tracie Marquardt is a highly sought-after audit communication specialist, empowering Chief Audit Executives and their teams to bring more added value to their global communication, and ultimately to their businesses.

Tracie is passionate about inspiring audit professionals to be more, do more and create more through positive communication. Her strategic approach addresses the heart of audit’s challenges: to derive and communicate results that add more value to stakeholders, positively impacting the organization’s productivity and profitability, and wherever possible, applying an agile approach to communication.

She has trained 5000+ international internal auditors in major global banking and insurance groups, industrial, mining and pharmaceutical conglomerates in both Europe and the US, and numerous DAX-listed companies in Germany. Tracie has also held training events on behalf of regional IIA associations and has been a speaker at both international and regional IIA and ISACA conferences, in the North America, Germany, Sweden, Slovenia and Luxembourg, in addition to the Women in Audit Leadership Forum in the US.

In addition, Tracie is the Host of The Audit Room, a live weekly webcast focused on hot topics in the audit profession, and is a Senior Training Partner of the Audit Research Center/ARC Institute and a Coordination Partner for Serious Business Games. She is the author of ‘Communicate Your Way to Global Business Success’. Tracie is a CPA and Deloitte alum with a degree in Chartered Accountancy from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

Shargiil Bashir is the Chief Sustainability Officer and Executive Vice President at First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). In this role, Shargiil is responsible for developing, leading, and implementing the bank’s ESG strategy and initiatives. He was among the main drivers behind FAB joining the UN convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance as the first bank in the UAE and GCC to make a net-zero commitment by 2050. Under his leadership FAB was awarded Best Bank for ESG in the UAE 2022 at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence.

He is a seasoned banker and experienced leader with over 20 years of experience. He has led various aspects of Corporate Governance, Strategy, Risk Management, Risk Assurance, and Sustainability throughout multiple countries.  

Before joining FAB in November 2020, Shargiil held various senior leadership positions at Danske Bank, based in Denmark.

Shargiil holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and an Executive MBA from the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark – and has completed Executive Education at INSEAD in France.

Adil’s professional career of 37+ years includes 29 years at Emirates Group, where his last position was Vice President Internal Audit. He holds a FCA, CIA, CFE, CRMA and CT31000 certifications.

Adil has extensive experience in Internal Auditing, including Risk Management, Corporate Governance, Forensic audits, Business Process Due Diligence, and other Internal Auditing specialty areas.

Since 1997, Adil has been actively involved in committees of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), both at national and international levels.

• Member on the Committee of Research & Education Advisors, USA
  • Former Vice-Chairman of the Internal Auditing Standards Board of the IIA, USA
• The only review team member outside of North America and Europe for the re-write of Lawrence Sawyer’s Guide to Internal Auditing
• Founder member of the IIA Dubai Chapter and was the President of the Dubai Chapter of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) during 1998-99

PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC FORUMS:

Adil is an accomplished international speaker, and has consistently been rated very highly for his presentations on internal auditing related topics, as well as motivational subjects. He has been voted among the top speakers at several National and International Conferences, including Annual Gulf Regional Audit Conference in Dubai, General Audit Management conference in USA, Canada National Annual Conferences, The All India Conference of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, All Star Conference (USA), IIA Annual International Conferences worldwide, International Association of Airline Internal Auditors (IAAIA), etc.

Walid Shukri went to King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor’s Degree from the School of Industrial Management (with honors). He also holds a CPA License from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. He was also awarded the Governor’s Award of Academic Excellence.

After graduating from College in 1989, Walid joined the Deloitte Firm in Saudi Arabia and then relocated to Deloitte U.S.A. in 1993. In 1995 he returned to Saudi Arabia and had direct responsibility for various clients in the Oil and Gas ( Saudi Aramco )Mining (Ma’aden) Petrochemical, Construction Engineering and Manufacturing industry. In 1999, Walid became a partner with AlJuraid/PWC. In 2003, he was selected by PWC global to work on a poverty alleviation project with the United Nations in Moldova. In 2006, Walid became the Managing Partner of PWC Saudi Arabian practice and was part of the PWC Middle East Leadership Team based in Dubai. In 2010, he sold his interest in AlJuraid /PWC Saudi Arabia. In 2011, Walid became an advisor to the Ernst & Young, Oil and Gas Centre of Excellence in Bahrain.

Walid has served various accounting and audit setting committees at the Institute of Internal Auditors, Institute of Management Accountants and regularly speaks at Corporate Governance Forums. Walid was a former instructor and regularly speaks at the MBA classes at King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals.

In 2012, Walid developed a Hotel in Madinah. In addition, in 2016 he established “Afaq Cold Storage” company in Jeddah and Manarat Jeddah Investment Company in 2019.

Walid currently serves and has served as a board member and chairman of various board committees of various companies. The companies are in various stages of maturity, ranging from family businesses to being listed on the stock exchange and global companies. The companies span various industries, i.e. Minning Construction and Engineering, Hospitality, Utilities, oil, and Gas ,Agriculture,Manufacturing, Consumer Electronics, Digital Business,Recycling and Real Estate.

Dr. Nashwa Joy Saleh is a Senior Policy Advisor, CNED, educator and published author. She has more than 25 years of experience across global EM with a special focus on EMEA, holding various senior policy, equity, debt and capital markets roles with a number of international organizations and regulatory bodies. Her track record spanned mandates with USAID, EBRD, AfDB, Central Bank of Egypt, S&P Global and KPMG Corporate Finance. She is the founder of BAST Ratings (www.bastratings.com), and BAST Analytics UK Ltd (www.bastanalytics.com) aspiring to become the first premium provider of MSME data analytics in EMEA.

She has covered financial markets & institutions across a number of Global EM and frontier markets including: Brazil, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia, Yemen and a number of Sub-Saharan African markets: Sudan, Ivory Coast, Togo, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, and South Africa.

As an educator, Dr. Saleh is an Associate Professor of Finance & Fintech at Kingston Business School in London and has held several senior affiliations previously with Cranfield University, ESCP Europe, De Montfort University, Cambridge University & The American University in Cairo.

She is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, FHEA, Chevening Scholar, receiving her PhD in Finance from Bayes Business School in London, MSc in Finance from London Business School, and obtained her BA in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo (AUC). She is a CFA charter holder, member of the UK CFA Society and Chartered Management Accountant (CMA) by the US Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). She also holds a CFA certification in ESG Investing and is a Certified Company Director from the UK Institute of Directors (IoD ). Some of her board roles include non-executive director & board member, chair of the audit committee at Sandah Microfinance (founded by KfW & AAIB) and NED at EBE Factors (subsidiary of the Egyptian Export Development Bank of Egypt).

She published a book in 2010 entitled An Anatomy of the Financial Crisis, Blowing
Tumbleweed. She speaks French, English and Arabic. In 2023, Dr Saleh was selected for the highly regarded UK Innovate Finance ‘Women in FinTech Powerlist 2022’, among only 17 women in the ‘Industry and Knowledge Champions’ category. The Powerlist shines a light on some of those making a difference in FinTech globally.

An enabler of local and global partnerships and an ecosystem connector dedicated to integrating all key players to strengthen the UAE’s position as a thriving hub of trade, technology, and innovation.

Digital Transformation & Financial Technology. With over two decades of experience in the financial services and a track record of successfully turning around and enabling businesses, including her tenure as Executive Vice President at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), Raja Al Mazrouei contributed to the establishment of one of the most successful tech financial hubs in the region and one of the world’s top fintech innovation labs (The Fintech Hive), which has played a significant role in building a vibrant community and attracting over 200 tech and innovation companies to the Dubai International Financial Centre, creating a comprehensive ecosystem and bringing together innovation and FinTech entrepreneurs, leading financial institutions, government entities, tech partners, and investment capital to achieve a shared goal of shaping the future of financial services in the region.

Education & Career. Raja began her career in financial technology with an MBA in Global Leadership and Management from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in 2005. Since then, she has held several significant executive positions, including Senior Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications and the Data Protection Commissioner at DIFC, in addition to key roles such as Head of Operation and Head of Information Technology at the same Centre. Earlier in her career, she served as Head of Information Technology at National Bonds Corporation, Director of IT Relationships at Dubai Holding, and Director of Systems Development at Higher Colleges of Technology. Over the past years, she has expanded her credentials over the years by completing programs at Harvard Business School, London Business School, University of California at Berkeley, Singularity University and Hawkamah Institute for Corporate Governance.

Raja’s entrepreneurial vision and passion for innovation, combined with her commitment to the growth and development of individuals and institutions alike, have made her a significant contributor to the dynamic success of innovation and FinTech in the UAE, the Gulf region, and beyond.

Vijay Malhotra is the Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit and Risk Management Committee at DP World, Chairman of the Board at DP World Financial Services Ltd, Member of Group Excom and Group Audit and Risk Committee at Jashanmal Group, Senior Advisor at FTI Consulting.

Previous appointments include Chairman of KPMG Lower Gulf network. Mr. Malhotra was one of the most senior and respected KPMG partnersin KPMG’s global network and continues to be regularly consulted on various complex issues.

Mr. Malhotra is also on the Board of Governors of Indian Business and
Professional Council (IBPC), Dubai.
As Chairman and CEO of KPMG Lower Gulf (UAE and Oman), he drove the growth of the practice for more than 30 years and the firm now comprises of more than 65 Partners and over 1500 staff housed in seven offices across the UAE and Oman.

During his tenure at KPMG as Executive Chairman, Mr. Malhotra has held the Chairman’s position for KPMG – Middle East and South Asia (MESA), Executive Chairman – KPMG India, Board Member KPMG Europe Middle East Africa, Member of KPMG International Human Resources Executive Committee, among other leadership roles.

Mr. Malhotra founded the KPMG India practice in 1993, was actively involved in the leadership of the practice from 1993 to 2008, including acting as Executive Chairman, and was instrumental in growing the business to a market leadership position.

Professional and industry experience Mr. Malhotra is esteemed for his extensive experience in providing strategic and financial advice to the leadership of regional Sovereign Wealth Funds, Private Equity firms and large Family-owned conglomerates. In addition, Mr. Malhotra provides counsel to various heads of government entities on a wide array of policy issues.

Throughout his professional career, Mr. Malhotra has been involved in some of the most prominent crossborder transactions, financial restructuring exercises, and strategic reviews of companies in the Middle East region.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Mr. Malhotra was named as one of the top 10 Indian Executives in the Arab World by Forbes in 2017

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Dr. Khalid is the former Saudi Aramco Chief Audit Executive and Board Audit Committee Secretary, who retired in summer of 2015 after 32 years of diverse career. Since then he has been serving as an independent member of several Boards and Sub-Committees, such as, Board level assignments at, Vision Invest and First Health Cluster, and Chairman/member of Audit, Risk and Compliance Committees at Saudi Tabreed, SABIC, STC (Telecom), ACWA Power, Bupa Arabia, SPIMACO (Pharmaceutical) and most recently Board Risk Committee member at the Public Investment Fund, PIF

Dr. Khalid is a Mechanical Engineer with a PhD from the Imperial College, London University. He also attended an Executive Program at Harvard Business School and others on Leadership, Finance and Corporate Governance.

Siddharth is a Partner in the Advisory practice of KPMG Lower Gulf with a particular focus on the consumer markets, retail, ecommerce, hospitality, logistics, media and IT/ITS sectors. His current leadership role entails assisting clients in their risk management and internal control assessment initiatives. Siddharth has been with KPMG for over 14 years and has over 20 years of overall work experience.  He is a Chartered Accountant from India as well has done his CPA from USA.

His clients have included Unilever, Castrol, Colgate, Novartis, Emaar, RTA, Union Coop, Miral, Meeras, Reliance Retail, Shoppers Stop, Flipkart, Ebay, Blue Dart Express, Aramex, Mattel Toys, Walt Disney, Sony Television, Hexaware Technologies, WNS Holdings, Dubai Tourism, Bateel, Cravia, Agthia Group, ESI, Strata, ITC, ADNOC, Emirates Steel etc.

Representative Client Experience

• Siddharth leads multiple engagements for clients in Internal Audit, Model Business Processes, Enterprise Risk Management, ICOFR, Process reengineering, COSO implementation and other Risk Advisory services.
• Siddharth’s portfolio of clients in UAE includes EMAAR (Enterprise Risk Management across hospitality, malls and properties), Meraas Holding & Miral (Standard Operating Procedures), Bateel (Risk Assessment, Internal Audit, Delegation of Authority), Union Coop & Planet Pharmacies (Internal Audit), Intigral (ICOFR implementation), DTCM (ERM), ADNOC, Agthia, NPCC, Strata, Emirates Steel (COSO implementation, SOPs), Modern Bakery (IA, DOA & SOPs), Novartis, Colgate (Dealer reviews) etc.
• Siddharth has worked expensively in rolling out the legal compliance solution in India and is leading the same in UAE.

Fadi is currently leading the EY Climate Change and Sustainability team in MENA, with full P&L responsibility for operations and delivery of consulting and assurance services in 14 countries with a team of 35 consultants.

He is an experienced management consultant with excellent bilingual communications, engagement and coaching skills. He has a reputation for getting things done, on time, to quality. He has a deep understanding of business development, finance, people management and client delivery matters. This is supported by strong technical and analytical skills, exemplary project management skills and an engaging leadership style.

His technical areas of expertise cover Sustainability Advisory (Sustainability strategy development, Sustainable supply chain), Non-Financial Reporting and Assurance, Outcomes Measurement and Valuation including Social Return on Investment (SROI) and ESG, Climate Change and Energy (including Greenhouse Gas (GHG) footprint and emissions, Water footprint, Waste management, Energy efficiency, Green Buildings, Sustainable finance, Circular economy, Green growth and smart / renewable energy advisory), and Health, Safety and Environment services.

• Anjani retired from EY in 2019 as their firm’s Global sector leader and Global Client Service Partner for some of the largest conglomerates (Tata, Aditya Birla).
• Starting as an Audit Partner, he handled Transactions & valuations, before setting up the Advisory practice for EY in India.
• 40+ years of professional experience, 26 years as partner at EY, worked across most industry verticals
• A Chartered Accountant (1980 – National Rank holder), CIA (IIA USA),  Advance Strategy from INSEAD, Business Sustainability Management from Cambridge UK
• Anjani has been National committee member and speaker at National Industry Associations like CII, FICCI, FIMI, ICC,  IIA, IMC etc.
• Fellow Member of Institute of Directors and IIMA. Guest Faculty at ISB, SDA Bocconi & other business schools  and Institute of Directors.  
• Has worked closely with Central Government, NiTI Aayog on Policy making & strategy
• Has published more than 25 Thought Leadership reports on various sectors and themes
• Active in Impact Investments, Social Entrepreneurship development and Social development  space.

Professional experience

• Apart from being Director in public listed companies,  Anjani is also Founder of a Board Advisory firm focusing on Strategy, Governance, ESG and long term value and Board mentorship.
• His areas of expertise & interests include Corporate Governance, Strategic Risk Management, Sustainability strategy, Transformation of Governance, Risk and Controls,  Sustainability Reporting, Policy frameworks etc.
• At EY, Anjani has led several Advisory engagements that included sector strategy, market opportunity & growth strategy, enterprise risk management, performance improvement, supply chain management, Enterprise Intelligence, BPR, Data Analytics, Digitisation, Internal Audits, Cost Reduction, SOPs, Large IT transformation programs, and other areas of Advisory. 
• Anjani was Sr advisory partner on sustainability related engagements with some of the largest clients the firm worked with. 
• He has worked on client engagements in North America, Latin America, Europe, CIS, Middle East as well as South – East Asia.

Jayanthi is a Director at Protiviti. She has close to 15 years of experience in the areas of sustainability and climate change, including sustainable strategy development, high performance design in the built environment, resource efficiency (energy, water, waste, carbon, wastewater). She has supported many companies in their sustainability activities with a board portfolio of services, including materiality analysis and roadmap development, ESG risk management, ESG audit, program management and sustainable culture change. This also includes identifying relevant data, selecting and applying relevant framework, and sustainability reporting. Prior to joining Protiviti, Jayanthi was practicing as a sustainability consultant, advising many corporate on their sustainability strategy and high performance, Net-zero design and energy efficiency.  Some of her focus sectors in real estate include Hospitality, Manufacturing, Commercial, Retail, Institutions, among others.

Major Projects

• Sustainability Strategy : Jayanthi has guided large Indian conglomerates with their sustainable design strategy development, along with a roadmap and implementation plan. This included setting of realistic sustainable strategy design goals and targets to reverse contribution to global climate change in architectural design, MEP design, among others. Jayanthi has led several projects in the development, implementation, reporting and evolution of ESG Strategy. Develop targets and roadmap on reduction of CO2 emissions, energy, waste and water usage.
• She has delivered sustainable solutions backed with complex simulations and aligned with international standards to varied clients in the real estate sector. She has guided clients, who is a leader in sustainability in the Hospitality sector in achieving their sustainability goals in many of their existing and upcoming new hotels in India. In the manufacturing sectors, she has guided many leading manufacturers of Lifts, laminates & FMCG products PAN India & Middle east to achieve their sustainability goals.
• Sustainability Certifications: Jayanthi has led several real estate clients to achieve green building certifications like LEED, WELL, NET-ZERO, IGBC, GRIHA as part of their sustainability goals for more than 40 Million square feet of spaces. Such certifications has involved detailed analysis and simulations of the architectural & MEP design to optimize the resources used and reduce their environmental carbon footprint at the Initial design stage.
• Setup of the sustainability strategy for an e-commerce unicorn company. The project included all necessary steps to build a comprehensive sustainability strategy, gap analysis was conducted and ESG framework derived. Identifying goals for the most material issues, underlying with specific targets and KPI’s. Creating a dashboard for the management board to monitor the company’s performance on ESG matters.
• She has involved with top real estate developers in commercial, retail and institutional projects spread across southern India. She has guided many corporates to achieve NET-ZERO building design backed with detailed simulations renewable energy design calculations.

Alexander has 26 years of experience in professional services, of which 20 in forensic. Alexander started his career in Assurance in another Big 4 firm in London. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant and moved to Forensic. Prior to joining EY, Alexander was the regional head of forensic in another Big 4 firm.

Alexander has led a number of large-scale and complex fraud investigations, anti-corruption, money laundering and fraud risk management engagements in Europe, Russia and the CIS region. He has significant experience in banking. 

Alexander Ied an investigation for a UAE fund to assist them to ascertain how funds invested in a certain country outside of the GCC were applied, whether there was evidence of fraud and to assist with recoveries. The report and Alexander’s witness statement were disclosed as part of the legal proceedings to achieve recoveries.

Alexander led an investigation for a banking group which uncovered diversion of assets in its recently acquired subsidiary in excess of USD200 million. The report was eventually disclosed to the law enforcement authorities and Alex gave evidence in court.

Alexander led an investigation for a European banking major which focused on review of a pattern of trades in excess of USD 10 billion which could have breached AML legislation of 3 different European countries.

Alexander led a fraud investigation into potential misstatement of financial statements by an international FMCG group (with significant footprint in Eastern and Southern Europe). The work led to disclosure of the findings to the US regulator and re-filing of its financial statements.

Alexander led an investigation for a law enforcement authority of a Central Asia country which focused on analyzing certain transactions by several former civil servants (in excess of USD 100 million). The report was disclosed to a prosecutor in Switzerland.

Yasir is the Partner and leader of the Climate Change and Sustainability Services (CCaSS) Practice at EY for the MENA region and brings about 20 years of experience in ESG, sustainability and climate change consulting spread across 30 countries Asia, Europe, Africa, Americas and Australia.

Yasir has experience in driving multiple service areas like ESG and Decarbonization strategy, Net Zero, Sustainable Supply Chains, Circularity and Blue Economy, Technology-enabled ESG services, ESG Due Diligence and others. He has worked extensively with the Private Sector in their Sustainability and ESG journey and has focused on the Investors and FIs on integrating the Responsible Investments principles into their lending process. He has also worked with Government entities and Regulators on sustainability policy development and implementation. He was the GRI Certified Trainer for sustainability reporting and also Certified Sustainability auditor for conducting the HSSE reviews.

Yasir has an Masters in Technology (M. Tech) degree in Environmental Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, and Bachelors of Technology (B. Tech) in Civil Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University. He is member of several committees and panels related to Sustainability and has two of his papers published in reputed journals (refereed). He has undertaken a number training sessions and workshops around the ESG and Sustainability theme, and is also a frequent speaker at multiple conferences and events.

His key focus is bridging the gap between the global ESG frameworks and the regional nuances, helping organizations become “future-proof” with respect to Sustainability challenges and importantly, help in entities move from risk based approach towards a value driven one from both short term and long term perspectives

Fadi Sidani is the Managing Partner of Governance Dynamics and also the Group Chief Internal Audit Officer at Beeah. Prior to establishing Governance Dynamics in 2018, Fadi founded and was the managing partner of the Risk Advisory Practice for Deloitte, Middle East. Fadi also set up the Risk Advisory Practice at Arthur Andersen in the UAE before joining Deloitte in 2002. His geographical coverage included the whole Middle East including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait among others. Fadi is also the authorized trainer, through Governance Dynamics, of the Governance, Risk and Compliance Professional (GRCP) certificate. His experience spans over Audit and Consulting providing various fit for purpose solutions, including Financial and Internal Audits, Business Restructuring, Governance including Board Advisory, Risk Management, Compliance, Valuations, Due Diligence among others.

Asif Shafi is a seasoned procurement professional at BEEAH Group with over two decades of procurement experience of working for some of the most recognized global brands. He has been involved in and has led many significant business projects, from the construction of office facilities to the development of fully automated warehouse operations alongside the greenfield implementation and upgrades on SAP Procurement Systems. Having global experience and an understanding of varied cultural and regional business practices has enabled him to deliver key projects in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Educated in London, England, Asif has been extensively involved in the supply chain and logistics industry which are cornerstones of the Procurement Process. Asif focuses on harnessing best practices to drive change and business transformation.

Asif is a champion of Environmental and Sustainability matters and is vocal on the changes that need to be undertaken, specifically in Procurement & Supply Chain, to deliver the needs of the wider community.

Excellent Customer Service, both internal and external, coupled with Value for Money Procurement, are the mantras which Asif continuously advocates.

Moosa Tariq Khoory is currently Group Head of Internal Sharia Audit at Dubai Islamic Bank and a member of various Sharia Boards and Committees in the UAE. Moosa is also a TEDx Speaker and a Life Coach. Moosa holds dual Master’s Degree in Islamic Law & Legal Theory from University of Sharjah and Masters in International Business Law from Paris 2 University. 

Azzah Fawzi is a Partner with PwC, leading the firm’s Risk Services for the Energy, Utilities and Resources sector across the Middle East region. She has over 25 years experience in delivering advisory and risk assurance to Energy, Oil & Gas, and Government clients around the world, including the US and GCC, where she has been stationed for the last 12 years. Azzah has worked across the entire energy supply value chain, including marketing and shipping, venture projects, operations, subsurface and reservoir engineering directly within organisations such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Qatargas.

Azzah is also the Middle East ESG Reporting Strategy and Embedment leader. She advises clients in areas such as climate change, sustainability, and assurance against ESG standards and reporting – this includes conducting materiality assessments, benchmarking, reporting, risk and controls and assurance. Azzah is also the leader in the establishment and implementation of effective governance and compliance frameworks and subsequent monitoring programs in line with internal policies within an organisation as well as with regulatory and statutory requirements. This includes the development of policies and procedures, assessment reviews and driving the capability of GRC functions.

Azzah also has a vast background in the area of assurance and audit: internal, quality, supplier, HSE, and IT. She helps clients in developing internal audit functions and provides quality assurance review services comparing structures and practices with Institute of Internal Audit (IIA) standards. Azzah advises clients on a wide range of other risk related activities, to help drive operational excellence and business continuity, and assists in the articulation and implementation of operational & marketing strategies. Her experience includes business process mining, re-engineering, and optimisation, further developing policies and procedures, as well as establishing benchmarks against industry standards and best practices to drive continuous improvement and capture value. She helps clients to establish and implement quality management systems for the effective and efficient administration of business, internal, financial, quality and IT controls. Azzah is also a leader in the establishment and implementation of Corporate Enterprise Wide and Operational Risk Management. She has actively led the development of ERM frameworks further aligning to corporate systems including HSE & Quality. She is proficient in ISO 31000 and certified in COSO ERM frameworks.