SPEAKERS

Abdulaziz Alnashwan is currently the Chief Credit Officer at SME Bank where he held multiple positions including the Chief CX Officer and the Executive Director of Product Development. Prior to that, Abdulaziz led the Equity Funding activities at Monshaat where he was responsible for activating investments in startups and SMEs through regulatory changes and funding.

Prior to that, Abdulaziz was the Deputy Director of the Financial Sector Development Program where he led the development and implementation of vision initiatives in different sectors including Banking, Asset Management, Insurance, Fintech, and Islamic banking. Abdulaziz also worked at Hassana Investment company, managing a multi-billion-dollar portfolio for the General Organization of Social Insurance. He currently serves in multiple committees in banking and asset management.

Badr Tharwat is a seasoned leader in the world of technology with almost 20 years of experience. As the EMEA Field Chief Technology Officer, Badr plays a crucial role in helping our clients develop their tech strategies and turn their big ideas into reality. Working with top tier EMEA enterprises to help them shape and then build their vision. Before this, Badr led the AI and Cloud Native Application Development team across EMEA. His organization worked closely with clients across the EMEA region to create advanced solutions on Oracle Cloud. They didn't just handle complex technology; His organization was the trusted partners in making their clients' projects a success, often introducing creative use cases of emerging technologies.

Badr is also passionate about how technology can change the world. He believes that cloud computing and artificial intelligence have the power to transform industries and how we live and he is working towards realizing that vision working closely with different large enterprises.

Badr holds an MBA in Management of Information Technology and has published several papers on the role of technology in telco and smart cities, he is a recognized public speaker, sharing his insights on AI and cloud computing.

Dr. Cristian Giacomini – impact driven, serial entrepreneur with a focus on growth in MEA. After multiple years of cross-sector experience and having travelled to and worked with over 110 countries Dr Giacomini is now the Principal of his own family office: Giacomini Family Group.

The groups businesses range from AI driven fintech solutions in Europe, Asia and Africa to supporting project structuring and development in green energy, industrial and real estate from both private and public institutions.

He is acting executive positions in the principal companies related to its conglomerate, i.e. CEO at Modefinance International, a Modefinance Company (the first rating agency company in Europe), Deputy CEO at Toyo Europe, Toyo Machinery & Metal Co LTD company, a Japanese listed company in the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Dr. Giacomini holds a number of board roles and is a senior advisor to European and Middle Eastern companies operating in Transport, Green Energy and Real Estate.

He is also an active Member in some major European projects in infrastructure and across the financial sector. He was also a former visiting Professor at the University of Trieste, Italy.

Holds 20+ years of experience in Operation Management and Technology leader, one of key member in establishing the first national credit bureau “SIMAH” in Saudi Arabia. In the Credit Bureau acquired credit information from almost 300 members of Banks, NBFI’s, Government agencies, Telecom, Auto Leasing, and SME’s. Standardized data submission at national level and achieved data quality of 99.9%.

Currently holding position of Chief Business Development, Studies, & Public Relationssince Jun 2023, where we have expanded Kafalah membership portfolio to reach 72 Financing Members and additional capital of 2 Billion.

Board and Executive Experience: 1- Founding Member of Saudi Credit Bureau SIMAH 2004
2- Member of GCC Credit Bureaus Committee 2012 – 2017
3- Board Member (founding member) of Qarar Consulting Co. 2013 - 2019
4- Board Member Global LEI Foundation “GLEIF” June 2020 – June 2022
5- Member ARAB CGS’s Committee Member, initiated in collaboration with Arab Monitory Fund (AMF)
6- Board members of Riyad Financing Fund II & III

Omar AlShamsi is a UAE national who has spent most of his career in the investment field. Omar graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting, and a Masters of Law (LLM) from University of Dubai, he also holds a degree in Executive MBA from INSEAD with a focus on the digital world.

Omar established KPISOFT ( today Entomo.co) in the UAE and closed the largest deal for the company globally in their first year of operation. He has also consistently helped KPISOFT establish a solid footing in the GCC. Today some of their clients include 25 Dubai Government Entities (including the Dubai Digital Authority), the Ministry of Finance, and Al Dar Properties.

In July 2021, Omar moved from Entomo to establish Watermelon. A food and beverage ecosystem to help all entities within that value chain manage and advance their business. Watermelon is quickly establishing itself as a market leader and essential tool for anyone working within the FnB space. Today Watermelon has grown to become an instrumental part of the Food Security Initiatives of the UAE, and is the partner platform for the MInistry of Climate Change and Environment. Omar sits on the 6 member task force for the National Farm Sustainability Initiative of the Ministry which is tasked to improve the local circular economy of the food and beverage industry and Watermelon is playing a vital role in realizing that initiative.

Osama AlRae, CEO and co-founder of Lendo, is a seasoned professional with a diverse background in consulting and technology. He earned his bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems from King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals, before embarking on a career with leading firms like E&Y and Strategy& as a consultant. Further enhancing his expertise, Osama pursued an MBA from Duke University, which led to key roles at Amazon and McKinsey & Co. Prior to establishing Lendo, he was instrumental in driving innovation at the Misk Foundation, a Saudi non-profit dedicated to youth empowerment. His blend of international experience and a passion for financial technology innovation defines his journey in the fintech sector.

Rachel is a Director in AI & Data practice within Deloitte’s Middle East firm. She has over 16 years of experience in AI and Data consulting projects in the Middle East mainly focused on AI & Data Strategy, Data Governance and Management and Data Transformations programs mainly in Financial Services and specifically in the banking sector.

Rachel has led many AI & Data strategies with banking clients helping them transform their business through Data, Analytics and Artificial Intelligence and unlock tremendous value. She has a rich experience in both consulting and leading banks in the region as well as working with Fintechs to drive innovation across the banking industry to unlock the power of data.

Rachel holds Masters degree in Computer and Communication Engineering and is a CIMP Ex Certified – Certified Information Management Professional – Expert Level.

Yousef AlYousefi is CEO at Joa Capital, a Riyadh-based alternative asset management firm, and managing partner at S3 Ventures Fund, an early stage venture capital firm. Prior to joining Joa Capital, Yousef was founding partner at Marco Partners, a Riyadh-based consulting and advisory firm. He sits on the board of directors of Marco Partners, Enhance Ventures, MedGulf Insurance, Catrion, SASCO, and Saudi Post. Yousef holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Zev J. Eigen is an internationally recognized expert in the HR Tech and Legal Tech fields, a technology entrepreneur, and the Founder and Chief Data Science Officer of Syndio, world leader in equity tech, empowering modern organizations to make consistent, equitable, transparent, and compliant compensation and other personnel related decisions based on trusted methods and data science that improve productivity, retention and bottom-line profitability. Syndio’s first of its kind and best in class pay equity SaaS has been deployed globally and has helped hundreds of thousands of people get paid fairly and equitably.

Dr. Eigen has been at the forefront of cutting-edge HR and legal tech for over a decade. The Financial Times honored him as one of the ten most innovative legal practitioners in North America, and he was one of the National Law Journal’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars. He combines his uniquely overlapping areas of expertise in data science, predictive modeling, statistics, labor economics and the law to invent and develop solutions to the toughest problems. He is the author of more than a dozen scholarly articles and book chapters, and has appeared in the media frequently (WSJ, NYT, Forbes, NPR, Bloomberg News, etc.), and his work has been cited by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

His former roles include: full time professor of law and business (Yale, Northwestern, NYU), Global Head of Analytics (Littler Mendelson), Senior Counsel, Labor Relations (Twentieth Century Fox). He holds a PhD from MIT, a JD from Cornell Law School, and a BS from Cornell University (ILR)