Middle East Brand Summit

Prof. Christopher Abraham is a permanent resident of Canada with three Post Graduate qualifications in HRM, Business Administration (Marketing), and Labor & Administrative Law and is a PhD scholar in Positive Psychology. He is a Certified Design Thinker from IDEO/Stanford and has thirty-two years’ experience in management consulting, marketing, and management education in India, Canada, Singapore and the UAE.

Currently he is the CEO & Head - Dubai campus and Sr. Vice President (Institutional Development) at the S P Jain School of Global Management, a Forbes Top 10, Economist & FT Top 100 ranked Business School, with campuses in Dubai, Singapore, Mumbai and Sydney

Prof. Abraham has been a visiting Professor at many leading universities in Australia, USA, Canada, Singapore and UK. Earlier in Dubai, he headed the Executive MBA Program of XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Baher is a dentist by study and a serial entrepreneur by practice, with 14 years experience in a broad spectrum of disciplines including product & technology, business, sales and marketing.

Since May 2015, Baher has been the CEO of Medicus AI, applying the latest technologies & trends in AI, mobile and design into redefining the state of healthcare. Medicus operates across 5 markets, between Europe and the Middle East.

Before Medicus, Baher founded a number of startups, including CloudAppers digital agency in 2008, napkin startup studio in 2012, and Wally, a smart personal finance app with millions of users around the world.

With a degree in Management with Industry from the University of Leeds, Negin started her HR journey in fashion as a generalist for Arcadia. She then moved in to the Travel Industry working for TUI Travel where she joined the Management Leadership Programme before transitioning into the recruitment team where she was responsible for the recruitment of the graduate programme, pilots, cabin crew, commercial and marketing roles.

Negin moved to L’Oréal 4 years ago where she joined the HR Luxury team in UK&I as a retail HR partner for Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani and Travel Retail. She developed subsequently to be the graduate recruitment and development manager for L’Oréal UK&I where her role was to develop and deliver the UK graduate and intern strategy.

Most recently Negin has joined the L’Oréal Middle East HR team as the recruitment manger leading the activity for all talent acquisition across the GCC and Iran.

Ganga S Dhanesh (PhD, National University of Singapore), Assistant Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, College of Communication and Media Sciences, Zayed University has had experience in corporate and non-profit organizations.

Her research on corporate social responsibility and strategic communication has appeared in books and journals including Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Management Communication Quarterly and Journal of International Management. She currently serves as Associate Editor for Journal of Communication Management.

Her work on CSR in India won the Bob Heath Top Paper Award at the annual conference of the ICA, 2012 and her paper on CSR in the Journal of Communication Management won the Outstanding Paper Award 2013.

Noella Ekezie is a brand consultant and award-winning designer with combined
experience in impacting corporate performance through the skilful integration of
brand, business, and creative strategies with print and multimedia designs. Her
strategic business approach and expertise in translating business requirements into creative, high impact solutions has translated to her managing high-profile brands through innovative brand strategies.

Her brand building and design expertise have seen her execute multimillion dollar
projects for both Fortune 500 companies and challenger brands including
organisations such as the USAID, BASF Germany, the Nike Foundation, Google Inc, Exxon Mobil, Citi Bank, Cognizant, and many others.
She is the Founder and Creative Director at Ellae Creative Agency, a multi-talented full-service design agency fluent in brand,communications, marketing and advertising services for corporate organisations. 

Noella schooled at the prestigious Parsons School of Design, the New School,
Manhattan, New York and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical
Engineering from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She has attended various
professional courses and workshops and is currently a Cherie Blair Foundation for
Women Mentor in the Cherie Blair Mentoring Women in Business Programme, a
charity organisation set up to develop sustainable solutions to the challenges women entrepreneurs face worldwide.

Hasan is a Serial Entrepreneur – Founder & CEO of Brand Lounge, the region’s leading award–winning branding consultancy whose role is to Our mission is to uncover your point of differentiation and weave it into every touch point of your organization to maximize your brand value and business performance.

He is also the Co-Founder of Fullmoon Experiments, a socially driven incubator that develops and grows purposeful startups in the region. Embodying the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to improve the Arab world through empowering communities, spreading knowledge and nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation.

In 2006 he partnered with Jack Trout – the father of the concept of Positioning Differentiation – to set up Brand Lounge and offer branding solutions to the MENA region.

Equipped with over 20 years of professional consulting experience, today he advises businesses throughout the Gulf and Africa on brand image and experience and in 2014 was recognized by the World Brand Congress who awarded him the prestigious Brand Leadership award in Brand Excellence.

As head of creative, Darien champions the company’s philosophy of Building Brave Brands through creativity. Darien delivers unique creative perspective combining brand design, architecture, visual and verbal expression. Over fifteen years experience across Africa, Asia, Europe and Middle East. Partnered with BP, Castrol, Turkcell, Emaar, Jack Daniel’s, Heineken, Du, Jumeirah Group, Mahindra, PGA, Yum, Brand South Africa, The Louvre and Fairmont Hotels. Previously held Senior Creative positions at Landor Dubai, HKLM JHB/Dubai and Communicate London. Recognised with a Graphis Award, 3 Loerie Finalist Awards, 2 WOLDA Winner Awards and Logo Lounge Publications. Darien is passionate about bringing brands to life and delivering distinctive brand experiences.

At  just 14, Sarah set up a profitable eBay business importing items from across the globe and selling in the UK, igniting a love for e-commerce and developing an acute business mind in the process. Her placement at Deloitte London in the retail M&A team led to an international secondment in the Middle East just a few years later. Spotting a gap in the market on arrival, Sarah secured funding for Mini Exchange in a matter of months, growing from an exchange platform for parents to a hugely successful e-commerce venture in just two years. Never one to rest on her laurels, in 2016, Sarah turned her attention to growing the brand portfolio thus paving the way for Mini Exchange to evolve and become the destination providing Everything For Mums.

As Design Director at FITCH Dubai, Jimmy Kmeid leads a team of creatives on a day-to-day basis delivering brand solutions across the MENA region.

Having been in the creative industry for more than fifteen years, Jimmy has gained extensive background knowledge and understanding of design and the important role it plays when applied to brands and businesses.

He takes a special interest in cross-cultural design, developing creative solutions that blend global and local cultures into unique brand experiences. In his twelve years at FITCH, Jimmy has worked across different studios in the FITCH network including London and Delhi. He has been involved in developing and designing brands strategically and creatively for clients like Vodafone, Nestlé, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Indigo Hotel, Jumeirah, Chalhoub Group, Qatar Foundation, Qatar Football Association and Aljazera Markets.

Projects he has worked on have received recognition at awards across the region and globally, including Cannes Lions, Design Week Awards, Dubai Lynx, and Transform Awards MENA for best overall visual identity.

Lene joined Greenspace in 2012 to develop the London-based brand and design consultancy’s purpose-driven proposition of ‘Creating Legacy’. Greenspace specialises in creating legacy driving ideas for visionary organisations that generate positive and long term value.

As the former head of Brand and Model Communication Strategy for Toyota Motor Europe and a senior strategist for Saatchi & Saatchi, Lene brings both client and agency strategic thinking alongside strong delivery values to every project Greenspace undertakes.

Founded in 2003, Greenspace is an award-winning, strategy-led creative consultancy that designs brand, digital and experiential communication in a multitude of forms including exhibitions, events, retail and interiors. 

Notable projects that Lene has managed include: creating the world’s largest hydrogen-powered car sharing scheme in Munich for Linde AG, launching a new social mobility enterprise in Kenya for Kibo Africa, rebranding Denmark’s largest Mortgage provider Totalkredit and designing a 12,000 m2 brand flagship store for Toyota in Abu Dhabi.

Dale Potts, Director, Marketing and Communication, MEA, SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business.

Dale is chartered marketer and qualified building engineer and has spent her career in construction and engineering professional services marketing and communications

With Atkins since 2000, now part of the SNC-Lavalin Group, she has held roles in Atkins regions, corporate communications and group businesses, Faithful+Gould and Acuity.

Dale is also a qualified business coach and has mentored and developed teams and individuals throughout her career and is passionate about seeing team members progress and find their unique contribution in the world of work.

Melanie has worked with non-profits for over 10 years as either an employed member of staff or as a volunteer. She is passionate about making a difference by bringing together those in need, and companies and individuals that have a desire to give back to the community.
She worked as a marketing coordinator for Coopers & Lybrand in Derby, UK before graduating from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) in 1998. Since then she has lived in South East Asia and West Africa and been involved in various non-profit initiatives.
In the position of marketing and communications manager for Make-A-Wish UAE for the last 5 years, she works mainly with the expat community to increase awareness, raise funds and build the brand of the Foundation. She believes in building strong long-term relationships with the community.

Asma Shabab is the Marketing & Communications Leader for Watson Internet of Things at IBM Middle East, Africa and Turkey where she explores how artificial intelligence is making ‘things’ smarter. She is passionate about how Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence is progressing citizen convenience and as a marketing leader, tries to investigate its impact on communications. Asma was previously the Territory Marketing Leader for the Enterprise and MidMarket portfolio at IBM Middle East.

Before joining IBM, Asma was engaged in B2C and B2B communications as Director, Account Management and Business Development, at Corporate & Marketing Communications, CMC (an affiliate of Ketchum) one of the largest PR firms in Pakistan where she focused on public policy and corporate communications. During her tenure, CMC expanded into digital communications services and successfully executed campaigns for blue chip companies including P&G, Nestle and Microsoft.

Asma is a Fulbright Scholar and received her Master’s in Strategic Public Relations from the University of Southern California, USA. She has another Master’s in Business Administration from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA). Asma sits on the board of the CMO Council Middle East and the College of Media and Mass Communications at the American University in the Emirates. She is also a Co-Founder of Afterwork Dubai, a community initiative that provides a platform to UAE expats to network.

She is also a public speaker on topics including Marketing & Communication trends, Internet of Things and gender equality.

Zeinab Stapic is a very passionate researcher who holds the role of Consumer Insights Manager MENA + SEA at OneFoods. For the past 6 years; her career was focused on overseeing strategic and Sensory Insights in FMCG with an exciting role of guiding the business to the journey of getting closer to consumers by understanding their needs, evolving with them and help them progress alongside to ensure added value.

This challenge has driver her to seek a combination of traditional and scientific approach to ensure we truly understand their needs with the objective of bringing quality with simpler life that will drive business growth.

Gavin Walford–Wright MA, FCIPD, FCMI, FIRP is the Executive Director of Talent Acquisition and International Mobility at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, reporting to the Chief of Human Capital.

An outstanding HR professional and people strategist, Gavin holds more than 15 years of experience and a proven record of success working in a diverse range of commercial market environments including Healthcare, Telecommunications, Financial Services and Retail within different geographies like UK, Middle East, India, Africa and Turkey.

Always looking to stay up to date with all the latest market trends, Gavin has completed his Master’s Degree in Strategic Human Resources from Middlesex University in Dubai and is currently a PhD candidate at Middlesex University in London.

Roscoe Williamson has over 12 years of experience working within companies at the forefront of the music industry such as MassiveMusic, ExtremeMusic, Universal Publishing Production Music and Warner/Chappell Production Music.

Roscoe is currently Head of Sonic Branding at leading music agency MassiveMusic, where he has worked with brands as diverse as UBS bank, the Saudi Stock Exchange and the Premier League to create music, sound and voice strategies that stand the test of time.

A keen futurist with a vision for establishing an innovative brand sound, this year Roscoe worked with Samsung to develop their latest voice assistant, Bixby. Within his repertoire, he has also worked on Cannes Lion award winning interactive audio projects for ASOS.

In April 2017, Roscoe and his team at MassiveMusic won the Gold Award for best use of audio branding with the Premier League at the Transform Awards Europe.