Speakers

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.

• ‘Listed expert’: Cour pénale internationale (The International Criminal Court of Justice (‘ICC’) The Hague.
• Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist
• Certified Mediator (IMI)
• Fellow: Chartered Management Institute

Ian Ross has 30 years’ experience in risk management and financial crime investigation and prevention.  Supporting governments, audit authorities and regulators, national banks, specialist financial intermediaries, multi-national corporate entities, and international law enforcement.

Training: with a lively and engaging training style with excellent interpersonal skills, Ian has delivered fraud and ranges of ‘AML’ risk management training in 20 countries, with over 1000 hours of training.

Ian holds a PhD in International Law and a Masters’ Degree in Counter Fraud and Corruption Studies.

Published author of 3 books:

•  Exposing Fraud, Skills, Process, and Practicalities (Wiley, 2015)
• Superar el narcisismo y heurística. Entrevista investigativa de defraudadores corporativos (Overcoming narcissism and heuristics. Investigative interviewing of Corporate fraudsters) 2019 (ISBN: 978-958-8993-39-3)
• ‘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.