Kanchan Ghoshal is the Director - HR Advisory Services at KPMG Bahrain and Qatar. He has 15 years of varied work experience ranging from HR consulting and talent acquisition to project management in the process industry and heads the HR Advisory Business Unit for KPMG in Bahrain and Qatar. His areas of HR Consulting expertise include large scale change management, organisation and job structures and manpower planning; HR strategy and diagnostics, career and succession planning, training & development solutions, competency development and performance management; and compensation and rewards. Having spent more than 7 years continuously in the GCC region, Kanchan has worked with the national oil companies and their subsidiaries in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain and focused on people and change advisory assistance closely related to Nationalisation related issues which has led him to initiate relevant research on this subject to make his work with future clients more effective. Kanchan is the HR Advisory lead for KPMG’s people related plans and initiatives directed to assist the Nationalisation strategy implementation led by Tamkeen – the Bahrain Labour Fund. He has additionally provided start–up structuring and restructuring assistance for a number of organisations across Government, Investment Banking, Real Estate, Oil and Gas and diversified family run businesses. Prior to joining KPMG, Kanchan worked for Ernst & Young and Andersen including their Middle East offices.

Imran Ahmad is the Head of Organisation Development at Al Jomaih Automotive Company in Saudi Arabia, the largest Automotive dealers in Middle east. He is a Senior HR professional with over 14 years of experience in the region.

Imran was previously the Country HR Manager at the British MNC Inchcape Plc in Jeddah KSA, Group HR Manager for the French Retail Chain Geant Groupe Casino in Bahrain and then Head of Group HR- ME for Geant group in Dubai.

He was credited with exemplary nationalisation results at Geant Bahrain, through successful Employment & Training Strategies and on-job training programs increasing the participation of local nationals across all functions and developing organisational capability and key retail talent. Imran has developed strengths in leadership development, employee engagement, change management & cultural transformation and process automation.

Sara Khoja qualified in England and Wales in 2002 and specialises in employment law. She joined Clyde and Co's Dubai office in 2008 where she provides employment advice for the Middle East region, in particular the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council member states. She has worked with a large number of clients, in a variety of sectors including construction, hospitality, retail, technology and insurance, setting up business in the UAE and GCC in general. Sara provides advice on all aspects of employment law, including recruitment, termination, terms and conditions of employment (benefits, bonuses, and remuneration), and the application of quotas for the employment of nationals in various AGCC countries.

Selim Sadek consults and teaches in the areas of selling skills, supervisory management skills, leadership for results, public speaking, presentation and body language skills, NLP techniques and practices, effective communication, team building, problem solving & decision making, and mostly in the areas of developing all the managerial skills.

Dr. Sadek used to draw insights from his own personal career as Pharmacist in Charge, Medical Representative, Sales Supervisor, Country Manager, Business Development and Training Manager, Business Consultant for one of the top consumer companies, University lecturer, VP of UAE Academy, as well as international free lance trainer.

Beside his work as international trainer and speaker, he is working for one of the leading companies as Consultant and Business advisor. He studies Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Sciences as well as Business Administration and Psychology. He had been through many different challenges and obtained different accredited degrees; Bachelor Degree in Pharmaceutical Science, Master in Pharmacology, Diploma in Marketing, Master Practitioner of NLP, Diploma in Sales Management, MBA and Ph.D in Business Management from the USA.

Dr. Sadek had been training people all-over the world for 17 years. Through his extensive career development he is considered as a reference in solving some major business confrontation in some of the big industrial players. He is recognized by most of the European Business School, as well as the top Management institutes and quite famous for his typical work example.

Zuhair Al Haj is a UAE National who finished his High School in Dubai, Bachelor of Business Administration in Canada and Master of Business Administration in the UK. He has many years of experience in HR, Recruitment, Administration and Training.

He began his working career in 1994 and worked in a selected few multinational organizations before joining Al Futtaim in 2004 as the Administration Manager and progressing in his career today as the Head of HR, Administration & Localisation in GCC of the Al Futtaim Group of Companies. He is responsible for managing the Emiratization Team and over 400 UAE Nationals working in the various automotive, retail, insurance, electronics, real estate, services and joint venture companies. He is also responsible for the Centralized Group Administration, Government Relations, Commercial Registration and Archiving Departments and supervises HR & Government Relation Dept in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

Wael Al Bassam is the Corporate HR Manager of Zamil Industrial. He has an MBA from University College of Bahrain. He is also a Certified HR Manager and a Chartered HR Consultant.

Before joining Zamil Industrial, Wael worked for British Aerospace in the training function, and Khalid Al Turki as a Group HR Manager.

He has participated as a speaker in several workshops and seminars. He is an active member of SHRM, and ASHRM. He is also a member of the HR Committee in the Eastern Chamber of Commerce. Wael is working on his Ph.D. which is a study on the impact of organizational work environment on retention of talents.

Saeed M. Fahd Qahtani graduated from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals with Bachelors of Sciences in Industrial Management. He started his career in year 2000 with one of ARAMCO approved GES Engineering Consultancy firms where he worked in design, Saudization, Quality, , Safety and HR fronts. He has moved to Aujan KSA BU in 2007 as a Country HR Manager serving 12 branches around the Kingdom. Currently, he is the HR Manager for the company’s biggest factory in the Second industrial City. His areas of focus are on developing and discovering the potential in people and on how people attract their current lives.

John Mowatt is currently Senior Human Capital Consultant, Emirates Business Consulting (EBC). John's role at EBC is to focus on developing initiatives covering workforce localization for organizations within the UAE and Gulf.

John previously was Director Emiratisation Projects, Center for Emiratisation Research & Development and The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management for 8 years.

During his tenure at The Academy he developed the following employability preparation training programmes for UAE National job seekers working in partnership with DTCM on the Career Development Summer Programme, DTCM/TANMIA on the Hospitality MAHARAT Programme, TANMIA/ENDP on the Retail MEHNATY Programme, TANMIA on the IDAD for Below High School/High School Programme, TANMIA on the IDAD for College/University Graduate Programme.

And as a result of these 5 tailor-made training programmes being developed 1,223 UAE Nationals were trained and prepared for entry level employment in the private sector.

As well as training UAE Nationals and working with industry to assist industry to employ UAE, John while at The Academy also trained private sector managers and supervisors on how to facilitate best practice on-the-job training, coaching, nurturing and retaining of UAE National new hires/employees as well as setting up in-company Emiratisation plans and systems. He also did consulting in KSA.

Prior to working at The Academy John was Head of Department, Center for English as a Second Language (CESL), University of Dubai (formerly Dubai Polytechnic), Dubai Chamber of Commerce for 5 years. His role as Head of Department at CESL entailed managing the college's undergraduate degree foundations program, undergraduate degree student study skills and language support programs, and corporate communication training programs for industry.

Prior to working at the University of Dubai, John was a Business Lecturer, United Arab Emirates Higher College's of Technology (HCT), Business and Communications Technology Departments, Dubai Women's College for 5 years.

In 1995, John received the Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching from His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Chancellor, Higher Colleges of Technology - DWC.

Essa Al Mulla is currently the ENDP Executive Director reporting to the Director General of Knowledge and Human Development Authority. The mandate of this program is to develop and train UAE nationals to join the private sector. Before being appointed in this role, he was working as the Deputy Director of the program.

As the ENDP Executive Director, he initiates Corporate Relationship Building, through effectively managing strong partnerships with private sector companies in the assigned sectors. He actively networks with external positions/groups that influence the deliverables of the department in order to ensure success of the departmental initiatives. Essa liaises with senior management members of the sectoral committees to conduct periodic meeting to highlight concerns and discuss possible solutions. He provides the sectoral committees with all the information and support in order to ensure achievement of the objectives of ENDP. He works actively with the companies of the assigned sectors in identifying job vacancies for the ENDP candidates in order to ensure that the department meets its objective of finding jobs for UAE Nationals in the private sector. His responsibility also calls for to create attitudinal change in key stakeholders by which the vision of the ENDP gets translated into action. He monitors trends, maintain records and disseminate information through reports, newspaper articles and other media to ensure shared vision and people participation. Essa proactively participates and presents the role of ENDP in seminars and discussions at educational institutions, MNCs, and other private sector employers.

Before joining ENDP, Essa worked for EPPCO/ENOC as a Marketing Manager then Category Manager. Prior to that, he has worked with Microsoft as Account Manager looking after the entire Federal Government Accounts and the Education sector “Universities, colleges and schools” for both the private and government sector.

Abdul Hakim Al Bannay is the General Manager, HR & Corporate Affairs at ETA ASCON STAR Holding Company, with a focus on HR and Emiratisation tasks development as a one of HR board of directors in the organization.

Before this role, he worked at the Federal Government, Finance Department. Abdul Hakim worked at Dubai Courts and many national banks as well. He started his career at ETA ASCON as a General Manager, HR for several divisions in December 2004 and has worked with the same team members for years.

He has gained his BA certificate Major in Finance from Cairo University and Masters from UK and accomplished different courses in the same field from USA academies; Abdul Hakim is a member of the Dubai Academy committee that offers many courses and sessions in different scientific fields.

Atul Gokhale holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Certified Hospitality Educator (CHE) degree from the American Hotel & Lodging Association. He is the Executive Director of National Hospitality Tourism Institute (NHTI), Riyadh KSA since 2008. In his assignments with the Institute for last 7 years, he has worked with the Tamkeen Project in Bahrain in training more than 1800 candidates in entry level positions for Hospitality and Retail sectors.

Currently, he is actively involved with National Project for Tourism HR Development of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) for training Saudi Nationals. This project envisages training and of over 10,000 Saudis in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector.

Prior to his assignments in GCC, he has worked as consultant and as Principal for a hotel and Tourism Schools in India. He started his career as Chef in various hotels across India and also is credited with Culinary TV shows during mid-90.

Abdulla Ahmad Al Mansoori used to be the Director of Qatar Career Fair Center. He has been a member of Qatar Foundation for education, science and community development, since 2008 and a credited Qatari reference in relation to Career Guidance, which acquired him the very well deserved title of “Career Man” as his friends, colleagues, audience and students like to call him.

Prior to joining Qatar Foundation, Abdulla successfully took on the responsibility of creating, leading and managing student and career activities’ related centers within Qatar University, where he surely left a remarkable and unforgettable trace throughout almost a decade.

Alongside his achievements at Qatar University, he served as a faculty member at the Institute of Administrative Development in Qatar for around a couple of years, teaching several management and accounting courses, and lecturing about an array of administration topics.

Being a highly qualified accounting and finance expert by education as he holds an M.S. in Accounting & Finance from De Montfort University, U.S.A, in addition to being an academic instructor/lecturer and a career counselor by passion and practice, he has weathered the storms from 3 main angles: business, academia and social/community development.

Essa Ali Al-Zaabi is the Deputy General Manager of Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies. Essa has extensive experience of 15 years in HR and National Development. Prior joining EIBFS Essa served Dubai World Trade Centre as VP Human Capital and Tanmia as head of Dubai Branch. Essa holds EMBA from Ehsal University and a B.S. in Economics from the University of Louisville, USA. He also completed general management program with Cranfield University, UK. Essa is the UAE Delegation leader to ASTD and Founding member of UAE HR Club.

Wadi El Karkouri is the Human Resources Manager of Schlumberger for the Middle East and Indian sub-continent Area. He has graduated from l’Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble in Electrical Engineering, and has completed an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management.

He has now been with Schlumberger for 13 years, and has worked in the fields of Operations, Training and Human Resources Management in many countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Before joining Schlumberger, he has briefly worked with TOTAL as a research engineer.

Dr. Naji Al Mahdi is a dedicated Human Resources Development and Management professional with over 28 years experience in the field. He holds a first degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Numerical Analysis from the United Kingdom. He held senior management roles within the education, training and employment sectors. His performance record includes providing strategic, academic and operational leadership to promote high level performance and innovation in the development and delivery of quality vocational education in accordance to the needs of the business community and society at large. He has a wealth of experience in developing policies and strategies related to the management, budget, performance, quality, standards, evaluation, licensing, accreditation, funding, delivery, assessment, verification and organization of educational institutions.

Dr. Al Mahdii has the breadth and depth of experiences across all aspects of vocational education in Arabian Gulf countries and is well informed about the vocational education systems in developed countries. He has been able to contextualize his international experience to the needs of the people and economies of Bahrain, the UAE and other Arabian Gulf countries.

Dr. Al Mahdi’s extensive knowledge of government, business and industry as well as his ability to develop partnerships has enabled him to forge links between education and the market place. His continuing interest and professional development in all these areas has greatly enhanced the value of his contributions to vocational education throughout his career

Jalal Alkhaled currently holds the position of Chief Human Resources Officer at Abu Dhabi National Insurance Company (ADNIC). Joining the company in July 2010, he is responsible for developing and managing the Human Resources function according to the company’s objectives.

Before joining ADNIC, Jalal served as Director of Human Resources and Administration in Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA). In 2006, he was assigned as the Director of the Human Resources and Administration at Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), where he was responsible for the establishment of the Human Resource function of both ADAC and its operational arm SCADIA. Jalal began his professional career after graduating from the USA in Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) in 1992. He held various positions within the leadership team until he left in 2005 as Senior Advisor for Organizational Development.

Jalal is a dynamic professional, with extensive experience in the region. With over 15 years of practical hands-on experience in delivering real business change, he is known for being an excellent facilitator with strong advisory and consultancy skills, and the ability to translate personal skills and competencies into bottom line business results. Jalal has an excellent track record of working in high pressured, results-driven environments.

Jalal holds a Masters degree in Entrepreneurial Leadership from INSEAD, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management from the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

Aisha M. Al Shareef graduated from University of Dubai in Computing and Information System. She joined HSBC Dubai in the project department as an IT Projects Executive. After 6 months, she was part of the HSBC Future Managers and was send to HSBC Management Campus in London. This Program trains selected high performance individuals to develop their technical knowledge and management potential. After graduating from the program, she was promoted to IT Project Quality Manager.

After three years with HSBC, Aisha was headhunted to join The Executive Office of H.H Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and worked as a Senior Project Manager where her main achievement is Development of Mohammed bin Rashid Foundation.

After the completion of the foundation, she changed her path and smoothly moved to work in Talent and Leadership development for UAE Nationals, joined the Mohammed Bin Rashid Programme for Leadership Development (MBRPLD), she manages the leadership development programmes with a central integration function with all its values and mission, handling almost 90 UAE National participants and ensuring the deliverable of their Leadership capabilities, also managing the Dubai Opening Study visit (DO) for all the Leadership Programs. She also organised the US Delegation visit in March09 (90 CEO/VP from Seattle). Her last stop now is at Dubai Holding working as a Director of Resourcing and Talent Management; in her new role her main responsibilities are the talent development and implementation for the top 25 in the organization and Board training.

Dr. Olga Kampaxi holds a PhD in Psychology from Bristol University, UK. Olga is currently working for Rotana Hotels as the Area Director of Human Resources – UAE. Prior to that, Olga spent 3 years with Jumeirah Group at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management and worked for a short period of time with Dubailand as Senior Talent Manager.

Prior to that, Olga held the position of Researcher for the E-Commerce department in a direct marketing company based in Bristol, UK. She moved to Airbus UK where she was employed as a Project coordinator for Intranet and other enterprise communications projects. In 2000, she returned to Greece to work as an HR Manager for an IT company, UniSystems.

Olga has also facilitated two re-engineering projects, worked for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games as a Regional Staffing Manager. She has worked with as a consultant and/or trainer on a variety of subjects including Coaching and Team Integration for leading companies including Siemens, Motor Oil, Swissport Hellas, Médecins sans frontiers and others.

Among other success stories Olga was recognized with an award for her contribution to the Future Leaders Program organized by the Dubai Ethics Resource Center.