SPEAKERS 2023
Arnab K. Mukherjee
Business Continuity Crisis Manager, Vodafone
Arnab K. Mukherjee
Business Continuity Crisis Manager, Vodafone
Arnab Kumar Mukherjee is the Business Continuity and Crisis Manager at Vodafone Qatar.
As a Business Continuity professional with over 20 years’ experience he has acquired praiseworthy knowledge in Organisational Resilience.
He has Master’s degree in Business Continuity Management from Norwich University Vermont US.
His personal commitment and passion towards Business Continuity shows in the way he has handled COVID Response and FIFA World Cup 2023
He is also an erstwhile winner of BCI Middle East Awards 2019 under the category Continuity & Resilience Professional.
Jamsheed P. Chithari
Manager Infrastructure and Security, Qatar Insurance Group
Jamsheed P. Chithari
Manager Infrastructure and Security, Qatar Insurance Group
MBA, BA, CISM, CEH, ITIL, Manager - IT Infrastructure and Security at Qatar Insurance Group, Qatar (Leading Insurer in the region) A Cyber Security expert having 19 years of experience in the IT Industry with exceptional track record in managing incidents, risks, Compliance, IT Infrastructure, Information Security, Project Management, IT Operations, Cloud Security, Networking and System Administration.
Jamsheed possesses MBA in Information Systems, BA, CISM (Certified Information Security Manager-ISACA), CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker), ITIL, CCNP, MS Certified Azure Security Engineer, Certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert and MCSE.
Kamal Zian
CISO of Huawei Gulf North
Kamal Zian
CISO of Huawei Gulf North
Kamal is a target oriented and hardworking business development professional with 16+ years international experience in Telecommunications and sales. Kamal is creative and customer centric professional, with a proven ability to initiate and maintain very good customer director/C-Level relationships based on trust, listening, and Business consultancy, with the aim to secure consistent and significant improvements in sales and profitability.
Mohammad Saquib
Sr. Network and Security Consultant, Government Entity, Qatar
Nazia Sharieff
Information Security Officer | International Speaker, Confidential
Nazia Sharieff
Information Security Officer | International Speaker, Confidential
Nazia Sharieff is an IT professional with over 15 years of experience in the tech industry. She started her career with programming the old-school way and is currently into Governance Risk & Compliance.
She has worked in a gamut of roles in ICT from software engineer to researcher to consultant across various sectors such as Energy and Utilities Telecom Education Retail Real Estate Government and sports technology in Qatar and India.
She is the founder of MuslimWomeninSTEM a platform to support and inspire young Girls and Women into STEM.
She is also a Career Coach and has coached several Professional Women from diverse backgrounds and experience- including undergrads post-docs rookies mid-career & senior professionals.
Samir Pawaskar
Cyber Security, Governance & Business Continuity Expert, Government
Samir Pawaskar
Cyber Security, Governance & Business Continuity Expert, Government
Samir is an experienced information security professional with nearly twenty five years of experience having worked in diverse verticals such as Telecommunications Government Hospitality Engineering with some of the leading blue chip companies in the region.
He is a recipient of several awards such as Middle East CISO 100 and Global CIO 200.
The last twenty years or so have been specifically in the realm of information security.
He has led and successfully managed several enterprise and national projects. He has also played a key role as an author reviewer SME in a number of policy documents published by the government agency including a number of key legislations as well has provided inputs to the National Cyber Security Strategy
Dr. Muhammad Malik
Manager Information Security, Government
Dr. Muhammad Malik
Manager Information Security, Government
Muhammad Malik, Ph.D, CISA, CISM, CISSP, CLP
Is an experienced information security leader with more than 20 years of experience in enterprise security and consulting for public and private organizations. He focuses on enterprise security governance and strategies, information security frameworks, security architectures, security solution designing, and building and deploying managed security services. He also leads security consulting, risk assessment and policy development. Malik has also led the development of several information security programs, working closely with executive leadership, chief information security officers (CISOs) and operational teams to transform their security programs. He has more than five years of experience heading the information security assurance department at a media group operating across five continents. He also serves as chief editor at Information Security Buzz.
Niraj Mathur
Managing Director, Protiviti Middle East Member Firm
Niraj Mathur
Managing Director, Protiviti Middle East Member Firm
Niraj Mathur, an accomplished professional with over 18 years of experience in Data Security and Privacy Consulting, leads the Cyber Security services at Protiviti Middle East as the Managing Director. He has effectively managed several large and intricate regional projects with his expertise in Security Strategy, Security Operations, and Security Architecture.
Niraj has a proven track record of assisting prominent clients with compliance, risk management, security operations, and overall security roadmaps, both locally and globally.
Ali Hassan Al Neama
Head of BCM & Risk, Government
Chander Mohan Raina
Head of Information Technology & Telecommunications, Grand Regency Doha Hotel
Abdus Salam
Head of Business Continuity Management, Qatar Islamic Bank
Abdus Salam
Head of Business Continuity Management, Qatar Islamic Bank
For over 20 years Abdus Salam has been a noteworthy leader in the BCM domain. He has been leading BCM at Qatar Islamic Bank since 2012 and has worked previously with Symantec software as their Asia Pacific Regional head of BCM. He has been awarded as the BCI professional of the year 2017 and 2018 for the Middle East region and also won the BCI professional of the year for the State of Qatar in 2018. He is an avid biker and a racer riding a range of motorbikes from Harley’s to Kawasaki H2 the fastest street legal bike in the world.
Ozel Hurmuzlu
Senior Enterprise Risk Management Analyst, Qatar University
Nikunj Dilip Desai
Head of Cyber Security, Commercial Bank
Varun Vij
Cyber Security Manager, Mitsubishi
Varun Vij
Cyber Security Manager, Mitsubishi
Prominent GRC & cybersecurity professional in the MEA region with 12 years of experience in managing Cyber Security Transformation Programmes from scratch. Managed and delivered various large-scale Transformation and Security Management projects in large Organizations providing specialized Leadership insight and best practices in Technology Strategy, Data Security and privacy, Enterprise Architecture and implementation of Risk Management, Information Security, Business Continuity Management and Cyber compliance frameworks.
Adnan Abu AlHaija
Group Head of Risk, Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Co
Adnan Abu AlHaija
Group Head of Risk, Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Co
Twenty years’ experience across senior management roles in Risk Management, Insurance, Real Estate and IT in MENA, Jordan, and Qatar with a solid background in Strategic Planning, Corporate Governance, Internal control.
A Certified Risk Professional (CMIRM) from the Institute of Risk Management U.K and a frequent speaker at conferences and round table discussions on Risk Management. A multiple winner of MENA Corporate Risk Awards and Corporate Risk Manager of the year (2017) by MENA Insurance Review Magazine.
SPEAKERS 2022
Hesham Saad Aly
Sr. Regional Cybersecurity Specialist, Microsoft
Hesham Saad Aly
Sr. Regional Cybersecurity Specialist, Microsoft
Hesham Saad is a Sr. Regional Cybersecurity Specialist in Microsoft part of the global Cyber Defence team unit and focusing on SOC Operations, Threat Management and Hunting, DFIR, Advanced Analytics & SIEM management with more than 15 years of IT & Cyber experience and a multi-national Cyber speaker.
Hanadi Al Yafei
Director of Child Safety Department, Child Safety Department – Sharjah
Hanadi Al Yafei
Director of Child Safety Department, Child Safety Department – Sharjah
Hanadi Saleh Al Yafei graduated with a BA in Mass Communications with honours from the Higher College of Technology in Dubai. She started her professional career at Dubai Ladies Club and moved to Sharjah Ladies Club where she worked in Marketing and Sponsorship for six years.
In 2013, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA), appointed Al Yafei as Department Director at SCFA and Director of the Child Safety Campaign. In 2018, Her Highness announced the establishment of the Child Safety Department, with Al Yafei appointed as its Director.
She is a member of the Child Protection Higher Committee at the Ministry of Interior and the Steering Committee of the Sharjah Child Friendly City Project, a d the National Bullying Prevention Committee.
In 2017, she obtained a Professional Diploma in Child Protection with honours from the University of Sharjah. She is currently studying to obtain an Executive MBA at the University of Sharjah.
Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni
Director of Information Services Department, Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC), UAE
Dr. Marwan Al Zarouni
Director of Information Services Department, Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC), UAE
Dr. Marwan Al-Zarooni has extensive experience in the areas of information security management, network security and computer forensics. He has written several academic papers and presented them in such conferences as the Australian Information Warfare & Security Conference, the Australian Computer, Network & Information Forensics Conference, and the Australian Information Security Management Conference. He holds a master’s degree in Information Security and Intelligence from Edith Cowan University and a Bachelor of Science in Aviation Computer Science from the prestigious Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He also holds the highly regarded professional certification as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
Brigadier Barakat Alkindi
Digital Transformation and Information Security Specialist
Ian Mckay
Vice President of Global Security Transformation, People 2.0
Ian Mckay
Vice President of Global Security Transformation, People 2.0
I have over 15 years experience in technical governance, risk and compliance (GRC) working in both advisory and leadership capacities around the world to design and implement solutions to keep businesses running safely in line with global best practice. My main areas of professional practice are: Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Information Security & ISMS Crisis / Incident Management Risk Management I have a high working knowledge of ISO22301, ISO27001, ISO31000, Cyber Essentials, FCA RAISP, NIST 800, PCI-DSS, CPNI’s DDD, FAIR, ATT&CK, SOX, ITIL and TOGAF frameworks.
Shaytel Patel
VP Technology Audit, DP World
Shaytel Patel
VP Technology Audit, DP World
Shaytel is the VP, Technology Audit at DP World. She brings a wealth of experience and has delivered Internal Audit, Assurance and Advisory services globally within the DP World Group globally. She is passionate about good governance and controls in technology and cyber security, and how these can help businesses drive smart processes and effective outcomes. Shaytel has extensive experience in technology risk management, IT controls assurance, internal audits, emerging technologies, regulatory compliance and related areas. She has led and managed several large tech risk, internal audit and assurance engagements for a global portfolio of entities.
Prior to joining DP World, Shaytel has worked at PWC Canada, Technology Assurance and Consulting practice.
Robert John Lourenco
Senior Sales Engineer, Cybereason
Amit Roy
General Manager & Head of Cybersecurity, Middle East Turkey and Africa, Atos
Amit Roy
General Manager & Head of Cybersecurity, Middle East Turkey and Africa, Atos
Amit Roy heads Atos’s Cybersecurity Practice for Middle-East, Turkey and Africa (META) regions. Amit is responsible for driving the Cybersecurity business strategy, growth and revenue for the region and is committed to provide value delivery towards customer’s unique cybersecurity challenges. Amit is engaged with several Information Security forums in the region, providing latest insights in Cyber Security and related topics. In his 20 years of leadership roles in Senior Management, Cyber Sales and business operations, Amit has gained strong competencies in business strategy, sales & marketing, business alliances and building strong customer led teams that achieve business goals and meeting customer requirements.
Rahul Sasi
Executive Chairman and Founder, CloudSEK
Rahul Sasi
Executive Chairman and Founder, CloudSEK
Rahul Sasi is the Executive Chairman and Founder of contextual AI company CloudSEK which builds products to predict cyber threats even before they occur. Rahul is well-known for his significant open-source contributions to the cybersecurity landscape and has spoken at events and conferences in over 22 countries. He is also part of the working committees of The Reserve Bank of India, where he is the youngest member of the digital lending committee, and MeitY.
Arun Tewary
Strategic Advisor & Director, Finesse
Arun Tewary
Strategic Advisor & Director, Finesse
Arun Tewary, an acclaimed IT veteran is a Strategic advisor & Director at Finesse. Arun Tewary’s association with Middle East has been for over 25 years and known in the IT industry as one of the leading CIOs. Arun has 4 decades of international professional experience in Information Technology and business transformation through automation and process reorganization across numerous industry verticals in various capacities. He has successfully transformed organizations through digital acceleration and agile processes. He has worked across Manufacturing sector, Retail, Trading, Real Estate, Food & Beverages, Aviation (aviation catering), and Information Technology. He worked mostly on Tier-1 ERPs – SAP, Oracle and JD Edwards in large organizations, including the largest SAP implementation in Gulf region.
Arun has demonstrated success in strategy planning and execution and advisory/consulting service with stellar record of serving as Board Member for multiple groups as well as councils. Proven background in establishing new business lines, facing digital transformation challenges, implementing new IT operating models, and deploying technology plans. Adept at developing global digital business platforms, ensuring organizational transformation, executing intelligent hybrid models, and deploying JD Edwards E1, SAP, as well as other ERP systems. Empowering business leader with demonstrated success. Managing teams of professionals internationally while ensuring professional growth. Instrumental in maintaining cordial relationships with key stakeholders to ensure continuous growth and success. Articulate communicator with excellent interpersonal and analytical skills. He has worked with Tata Steel, India, Essar Steel India, Al Futtaim Group, UAE, Emaar Properties, UAE and Emirates Flight Catering, UAE. Arun is an active member of CIO Majlis, UAE. He is a challenger and at the same time a leader in collaborative working.
Hafiz Sheikh Adnan Ahmed
Chief Information Security & Data Privacy Advisor, Premier Real Estate Group
Hafiz Sheikh Adnan Ahmed
Chief Information Security & Data Privacy Advisor, Premier Real Estate Group
Hafiz is a seasoned speaker and a Certified Data Protection Officer with over 16 years of full-time working experience in the field of Governance, Risk, Compliance, Information & Cyber Security, Data Privacy, Business Continuity, and Risk Management as a Lead Auditor and Lead Implementer. He is a Microsoft Certified Trainer, PECB Certified Trainer, and ISACA-APMG Certified Trainer. He serves on ISACA-UAE as a Board Member. He conducts regular training, workshops, and webinars on the latest trends and technologies in the field of Digital Transformation, Information & Cybersecurity, and Data Privacy.
Dr Fene Osakwe
Information Technology and Business Advisory professional
Dr Fene Osakwe
Information Technology and Business Advisory professional
Dr Fene Osakwe is an Information Technology and Business Advisory professional with over a decade of experience. He specializes in Cyber Security, IT Audit and Controls, IT strategy, Governance, IT Risk and Sarbanes- Oxley for companies quoted on the New York stock exchange.
He sits on the Board of several startup but rapidly growing companies in Africa and has consulted for over 30 multinational companies. He has worked in South Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Europe, middle east and Latin America and holds over 10 IT professional certifications including CISA,CISM, CCISO and several others. He was a Board member of ISACA for 4 years and won an award for service excellence. He has worked in Deloitte Nigeria, Ghana, Netherlands and South Africa
He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Business Administration from the Swiss School of Business Geneva for being one of Africans leading voices in IT Risk and Governance and is also an alumnus of the Lagos Business School. He has spoken at over 43 international conferences in the last 2 years.
Shahab Uddin
Group IT Infrastructure & Security Manager, Ittihad International Investment LLC
Shahab Uddin
Group IT Infrastructure & Security Manager, Ittihad International Investment LLC
Shahab uddin is a Group Infrastructure & Security Manager of a UAE based conglomerate Ittihad International Investment LLC. The role provides this organization with strategic security thought leadership, while bringing them tangible working programs and tools for compliance, risk management, a governance framework as well as delivery of broader shared security services. Shahab brings rich experience of more than 15 years in cybersecurity, privacy, technology compliance and assurance.
He has strong academic background with MS IT, and he holds various leading certifications in Information Security and IT assurance which include CEH, CND, CISM and have attended numerous international and local training.
He has delivered lectures and trainings to many enterprise users on Information Security Management and IT Security Awareness.
Amit Bhatia
Head of Information Security-Middle East, Asia & Continental Europe, Maximus Gulf
Amit Bhatia
Head of Information Security-Middle East, Asia & Continental Europe, Maximus Gulf
Amit Bhatia has more than 20 years' experience as an information security governance professional and has strong expertise in risk management, information security, governance framework, technical security architecture, information security awareness program, and data security and privacy domain. He has demonstrated expertise in establishing and implementing large information security programs for the leading financial companies in the UAE and leading the execution of key governance initiatives, e.g., ISO 27001, NESA, PCI-DSS, GDPR, and Cloud Data Security Framework, to safeguard the critical business information of the organization. He has successfully formulated information security strategies and worked in collaboration with C-Level executives, chief compliance, and risk and privacy officers for their seamless and successful execution. Previously, he worked with leading banks in the UAE, Emirates NBD, Mashreq, and Dunia Finance as part of the senior executive team.
Jeevan Badigari
Director of Information Security (CISO) DAMAC Properties
Jeevan Badigari
Director of Information Security (CISO) DAMAC Properties
Jeevan is a passionate cybersecurity professional currently heading information security at DAMAC Group. A technologist with big picture mindset and attention to detail, with over 16 years of overall experience, he has played various roles in IT Management, project management, and Infrastructure prior to moving into cybersecurity domain 7 years ago. Jeevan enjoys addressing complex problems with simple and basic solutions. Outside work, Jeevan likes to travel and, on a quest to complete visiting at least 100 countries.
Hariprasad Chede
Chief Information Security Officer | National Bank of Fujairah
Hussein Shafik Bahgat
Regional Information Security Risk Officer, Standard Chartered Bank
Srihari Upadhya
Assitant General Manager, IT Risk and Compliance, Aster DM Healthcare
Vijender Yadav
CEO, CTO & Co-Founder, Accops Systems Pvt Ltd
Rajeev Dutt
General Manager – EMEA & APAC Infinite Blue
Gregg Petersen
Regional Director Middle East & Africa, Cohesity
Shabir Bhat
Regional Sales Director, Middle East Checkmarx
Mark Phillips
Vice President, Solution Architecture, International Markets, HUMAN Security, Inc
Mark Phillips
Vice President, Solution Architecture, International Markets, HUMAN Security, Inc
Mark joined HUMAN Security in January 2021 to lead and build an international technical sales team across EMEA and APAC. He has held several global and EMEA responsible senior leadership roles at such vendors as Trend Micro, Bitdefender, and Malwarebytes culminating in more than 20 years of experience in cyber security. His role at HUMAN Security focuses him on ensuring HUMAN’s product offerings add maximum value by mapping the technical solution to a business issue.
José Luis Berrocal
South Europe & MEA BigFix Sales Specialist
Yazan Salti
Regional Director, Commercial Group iMEA, BeyondTrust
Michael Byrnes
Director of Solutions Engineering iMEA, BeyondTrust
Kuldeep Bhatnagar
Former CISO, EAD, Abu Dhabi Government
Kuldeep Bhatnagar
Former CISO, EAD, Abu Dhabi Government
Kuldeep has over 40 years of business experience in IT and Information Security. A start up expert, he set up three Data Center businesses and held positions of Director Commercial with eHDF (Dubai Holding), Director Operations with ENRON and General Manager (IT) with Reliance. Also set up an award-winning green DC at EAD, Abu Dhabi.
He has been Consultant with Equinix, Dubai World, JFZA, du, IDC, Saudi Inteltec and many others.
In his earlier inning as Colonel, he participated in military operations, managed Mission Control Centers and commanded a Signal Regiment. He has been Dean of the Faculty of Computer Technology and worked with Department of Electronics as EMI/EMC specialist
He is BE (Electronics), MBA and MTech (Cranfield UK). Kuldeep has recently retired as CISO and IT Advisor with Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi Government.
