NASSER ALSHAALI
Chief Executive Officer
Dubai International Financial Centre Authority

Nasser Alshaali was appointed chief executive officer of the DIFC Authority in November 2006. Nasser also serves on the board of the DFM, Emirates University, Business College Advisory, (Ministry Social Welfare Fund) and Dubai Statistics Centre.
Prior to this, Nasser held the position of chief operating officer at the DIFX, where he helped to launch the region's only international exchange for a range of financial products and attracted leading regional and international companies. During this time, he also saw the DIFX established as the world's largest Sukuk exchange.
In 2004, he was appointed to the corporate planning department at the DIFC Authority, where he was engaged in strategy formulation, risk assessment, performance management and special projects. This followed on from his work as a freelance consultant on strategy and business development, business diagnostics, marketing and technology for several regional firms based in Dubai.

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R. SEETHARAMAN
CEO
Doha Bank

Seetharaman is a well-known speaker on banking, finance, economics and related subjects and regularly appears on CNBC as an industry expert. With over two decades of experience in the banking and information technology sectors, Seetharaman has played a pivotal role by introducing innovative banking products and services, deploying consumer-centric technology, and developing new business models that have transformed the banking industry in the region.
Seetharaman is credited with successfully transforming Doha Bank to a leading global brand and for it being recognized as the "Best Commercial Bank in the Middle East in 2007" by Banker Middle East.
In recognition of his contributions to the banking industry, Seetharaman was recently recognized as the "Best CEO in the Middle East banking Industry 2008" by the Middle East Excellence Awards Institute, and awarded the "Banker of the Year" at the 2007 Banker Middle East Industry Award ceremony.

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PAUL McNAMARA
Editorial Director
CPI Financial

Editor-in-Chief of CPI Financial since August 2004. Spent two years in London with Euromoney Institutional Investor where he heading up four book publishing divisions. Published books on a range of subjects - project finance, hedge funds, Islamic finance, capital markets and derivatives. Also published Islamic Finance Weekly for Euromoney. Prior to that was publisher of Asia-Inc magazine in Singapore and Brunei for two years. Before that - worked in Australia for 8 years at Fairfax Business Publishing - on general business, institutional property and personal finance magazines. Prior to that worked for the Financial Times in London for 9 years. BA Honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Christ Church, Oxford.

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ISAAC VARGHESE
GM - Human Resources
BankMuscat

Isaac is a master's degree holder in human resources management and a graduate in law, having obtained first rank and the university gold medal at the graduate and masters level. He has over 18 years experience in leading firms in India and the GCC. Since 2001 he is head human resources at BankMuscat, the largest bank in the Sultanate of Oman with a total asset of over $11 billion and a network of over 115 branches. The bank was the recipient of the People Development Award under the Flame of Excellence Category in 2004 & 2005 & 2006. Prior to this Isaac worked in the HR consulting practice of KPMG Consulting between 1999 and 2001 with responsibility to plan and execute human resources consulting assignments in GCC countries.

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ISMAIL AL NAQI
Director
Dubai Outsource Zone

Ismail Al Naqi is the director of Dubai Outsource Zone (DOZ), launched in 2004, DOZ, a member of TECOM Investments and the world's first free zone dedicated to the outsourcing industry. He is responsible for strategic leadership of this unique project which seeks to create a business enabling environment to support both captive and third-party outsourcing operations servicing a regional and worldwide market.
Al Naqi has extensive experience in the ICT industry. Prior to his appointment to DOZ, he was the sales manager for Dubai Internet City (DIC), a state of the art business hub holding 1200 of the world's largest ICT companies. In this position, he was instrumental in bringing several major international companies to the DIC community.

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MAJID SIDDIQUE DAWOOD
Chief Executive
Yasaar

Majid is an experienced financial services professional. He has been a key individual in the establishment of Yasaar Limited, the first Shariah compliance services company. In 2004, Majid was presented the Deloitte & Touche award for the most innovative Islamic finance product for the Caravan 1 Sukuk. Under his leadership and guidance in December 2007 Yasaar was voted “The Best Islamic Finance Advisory Firm” by the readers of Islamic Business and Finance magazine. Majid in his capacity as chief executive of Yasaar assists financial institutions structure cost-effective Shariah compliant financing structures around the globe.

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ROBI DATTATREYA
Managing Director
Total Solutions

Robi Dattatreya started his career at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam teaching graduates in Business  Administration. He then joined Royal Ahrend NV in the treasury department. During this period Robi  built up an in depth  knowledge of the financial markets and her products and became founding and honorary member of the Dutch Association of Corporate Treasurers. Robi then moved to ABN AMRO bank in various  product development roles and ended as COO of the Investment Bank activities  of ABN AMRO in Frankfurt. In 2001 Robi started Total Solutions, a Consulting, Recruitment and Financial Training  company specialised  in the Banking and Financial Services Sector. In 2004 the Dubai office was opened and delivers  services to financial institutes in the Middle East.

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SUZANNE L.DUNCAN
Financial Leader
IBM

Financial markets industry leader, IBM Institute for Business Value Suzanne is responsible for research and thought leadership for the financial markets industry within IBM's business research group, the Institute for Business Value. She has presented her research at over 30 conferences throughout the world and has won several awards at conferences including the Economist, SIFMA, China International Banking Convention, Seoul Financial Forum, among many others. She is the author of several white papers. Her white papers include: Get global. Get specialized. Or get out, The trader is dead, long live the trader, Asset managers turn up the heat, and Capturing the sell side upside.

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GHAZANFAR NAQVI
Director
Islamic Products Saadiq,UAE

Ghazanfar is responsible for global development of Islamic retail and corporate offerings of Standard Chartered Group. He has over 6 years of direct Islamic Industry experience including 3 years at HSBC Amanah Finance where he held global responsibility for HSBC Group's Islamic retail and commercial (middle market) banking offerings. In addition he was directly responsible for HSBC Amanah offerings in USA, UK, and the Middle East. He was also a member of the Bank of England's working committee on Islamic banking which paved the way for launch of Islamic banking in UK. Ghazanfar holds an MBA from the Illinois State University.

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IAN READ
General Manager
PIC Solutions

Ian Read has over 20 years experience in the credit risk and management industry. For the first 10 years of his career, Ian worked for a number of UK and international financial service organisations including National Westminster Bank plc, JCB Credit and Associates Capital Corporation, now Citicards, in a variety of roles, where he gained in-depth experience of both retail and commercial lending practices. Since 1995, he has worked extensively within the international credit risk consulting and ICT marketplace for companies such as Experian, Jaywing and Fair Isaac. He has worked with clients and credit bureaux in over 30 different countries advising on best practice consumer/SME risk management and credit marketing methodologies.

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KEITH BLANKLEY
Director
Euro Banking Solutions

Keith Blankley is the Managing Director of Euro Banking Solutions. He started the company in 1997 to specialise in the management and reduction of both transactional and non-transactional based Operational Risk. Uniquely, the company now supplies expertise and systems to banks all around the region to comply with corporate and regulatory governance and reduce risk exposure.
Prior to forming Euro Banking Solutions, Keith worked for over 20 years in the IT industry focusing on the Financial Software market. He has worked with Banks, Trading Houses and Investment Companies in Europe, the Middle East, Australasia and Africa.

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SANJAY VIG
Managing Director
Alpen Capital

Sanjay Vig is managing director, Alpen Capital (ME) Limited. He also serves as a member-advisory board on Bank Sarasin-Alpen (ME) Limited, a subsidiary of Bank Sarasin, Switzerland, located in Dubai.
He is an economics / finance professional, with over 23 years of corporate/investment banking experience in India, UAE and the Middle East. An Order of Merit Holder of Indian Institute of Bankers, he has undergone management courses in India as well as executive management courses in US & Europe.
Alpen Capital is an investment bank located in the Dubai International Financial Centre with offices in Qatar and Oman. They cover conventional / Islamic debt, equity and private equity with a primary focus on Middle East and South Asia. They have already in a short stint of three years in the GCC, executed mandates of over $4.5 billion covering conventional debt / Islamic finance advisory, M&A, JVs, divestments and private equity.

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ROBERT KEAY
Managing Director
Ethos Consultancy

Robert is the owner of Ethos Consultancy, the UAE's leading specialist customer service consultancy firm. Additionally he is the co-founder of The International Customer Service Institute and was behind the development and launch of The International Customer Service Standard.
Robert has throughout the past 17 years has developed into one of the leading exponents of developing and implementing efficient measurable customer service and process management systems for Banking and Public sector Organisations globally.

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Naveed Ahmad
Head of Investments
Wealth Management
Dubai Islamic Bank

Naveed Ahmad is currently the Head of Investments – Wealth Management for Dubai Islamic Bank. Naveed joined Dubai Islamic Bank in 2005 to establish the Wealth Management- Investment Dept. In 2007 Dubai Islamic Bank won the Best Islamic Wealth Management Dept from Bankers Middle East. Naveed has over 12 years experience in various roles within Wealth Management working both in Dubai and Canada.

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