I love all things media & technology, solving business problems, always challenging the way we do things and I believe in lifelong learning. I think life is too long to be doing only one thing and too short if we do nothing well and make no impact.

My experience spans from investor and media relations, advertising, content, data, technology to entertainment across three continents, which gives me an all-around and future-oriented view of the media, entertainment, and information industry. I firmly believe that the future of these disciplines lies in their intersections rather than each of their own silos.

I hope I will be able to continue to learn, adapt and develop, and try to have a positive impact on both business and society.

BSc in Business Administration and Management at Bocconi University (Milan, Italy). MSc in Accounting and Corporate Finance at Bocconi University (Milan, Italy). I started my career at Deloitte as Analyst for Financial Services before moving to Retail Industry in Ralph Lauren where I covered several roles in the Finance department (Commercial Finance Manager and Financial Analytics and Planning manager), managing teams up to 3 direct reports.

Fadi Ghandour is the chairman of Wamda and founder of Aramex, one of the leading logistics and transportation companies in the Middle East and South Asia.

Before heading the EDB, Al Rumaihi spent over 10 years at Investcorp as a Managing Director where he was also a member of the Management Committee and Head of the Institutional Placement Team covering Investcorp’s clients in the Arabian Gulf. This was preceded by a 9-year term in J.P. Morgan as head of its private client group in the Gulf region.

He also chairs the Boards of Bahrain Real Estate Investment Company (Edamah) and the Bahrain Development Bank. In addition, he also serves on the Boards of other companies such as the McLaren Group, Oil and Gas Holding Company (Nogaholding) and is a member of the Advisory Board of Harvard Business School Middle East and North Africa.

With a Masters’s degree in Public Policy specializing in Economic Development from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, Al Rumaihi has also chaired the Board of the Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) and has held Board positions at Gulf Air and Securities Investment Company.

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Khalfan Belhoul is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF). Belhoul brings more than a decade of experience as a driving force in transforming businesses and organizations that contribute to Dubai’s strategy of economic diversification.

As CEO, Belhoul leads the DFF strategy across its five strategic business units that include imagining and understanding the future, disseminating future knowledge, building future capacity, designing, accelerating the future, and seeing and experiencing the future. Under his supervision, Dubai Future Foundation continuously works towards achieving its vision and goals of placing Dubai as a leading city of the future, and a hub for innovation and technology.

In his current role, Belhoul’ s focus is to ensure Dubai Future Foundation acts as a catalyst in prompting change and promoting innovation. This is implemented by bringing together individuals, organizations, and government entities to turn their visions into realities, and achieve sustainable and effective business operations.

Under Belhoul’s supervision, DFF is home to several initiatives that also provide the environment and resources needed to promote disruptive, positive change through prototyping, accelerating and knowledge sharing.

Prior to his role at DFF, Belhoul served as the Vice President of Strategy at Dubai Holding, where he was responsible for formulating Dubai Holding’s strategic direction and enhancing its investments and its role in the diversification of Dubai’s non-oil economy.

Earlier in his career, Belhoul played a key role in setting up the Belhoul Investment Office, responsible for launching a sophisticated asset allocation strategy spanning private equity, alternative investments, real estate and conventional assets.

Belhoul holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management Information Systems, and a Master’s degree in E-Commerce, both from Boston University in the United States of America (U.S.A).

Khalfan Belhoul currently holds various memberships across several entities in the UAE; these include:

• Chairman of Dubai Future Council for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystem
• Board Member of Emirates Schools Establishment
• Board Member of Emirates Development Bank (EDB)
• Board Member of UAE Football Association (UAEFA)
• Board Member at Rashid and Latifa Schools Establishments
• Member of Higher Education and Private Sector Council
• Chairman of Future project Committee – Regulations Lab
• Member of Committee of vetting visa requests – Entrepreneurs & Special talents
• Member of Committee for Policies and Legislations – Fourth Industrial Revolution Council
• Member of Dubai International Communication Committee (DICC)

Muhannad Kanaan is a cultivated Cybersecurity, Information Technology (IT), and Solution Executive with over 30 years of noteworthy success working in the USA with IT global companies from the Fortune 100 list. Mr. Kanaan recognized and respected leader in Cybersecurity, Enterprise Solutions, Enterprise Architecture, IT investment, Open Source, Systems Design, and Software Development combined with strong strategic and organization vision, leadership skills, decision-making skills, communication skills, business acumen, and integrity. He has delivered powerful results throughout his career supporting numerous clients, Including US federal government clients from NASA, NIH, IRS, EPA, Department of Education.
Mr. Kanaan assisted in creating Computer Science Corporation (CSC) Solution Leadership Institute (SLI) and its predecessor program, the Solution Architect Development Program (SADP). He has served as an Executive Board Member of the NSL Institute. Mr. Kanaan served as a member of the National Public Sector (NPS) Civil CTO and CIO Councils. Through his involvement in the CTO/CIO councils, he provided a vision, strategy and direction for technology that ensures a strategic, wide approach to IT that minimizes duplication of effort; ensures interoperability, transparency, openness, compatibility, and collaboration.
Mr. Kanaan represented IT companies he worked with at the American Technology Council (ATC) and Industry Advisory Council’s (IAC) Emerging Technology and Enterprise Architecture Special Interest Groups.

In addition to his work in the USA IT and Cybersecurity sectors, Mr. Kanaan is passionate about helping young Palestinians, by creating economic opportunities, and growing and strengthening the tech sector in Palestine. That’s why Mr. Kanaan joined PalTechUS Board of Director and became the Chairman of the board. He is dedicated and passionate about PalTechUS mission to mobilize the Palestinian diaspora and the international community to create economic opportunities for young Palestinians and nurture a thriving Palestinian tech ecosystem. Mr. Kanaan is steering PalTechUS toward achieving its mission and objectives and to play a major role in supporting the Palestinian IT ecosystem through connection, linkage and access to the US and global markets, and transferring knowledge to Palestine’s tech ecosystem.
Mr. Kanaan is very optimistic and hopeful person strongly believe that nothing can be done without confidence, persistence , integrity and hope and when Palestinians work together, great things can be accomplished to his beloved country Palestine ! “Together we build Palestine” is not only a PalTechUS slogan, but also a belief that Mr. Kanaan live by.
Mr. Kanaan holds multiple higher education degrees including a MS degree in Environmental Engineering/Environmental Management from Johns Hopkins University. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Al-Najah University. He has received a graduate certificate from George Washington University (GWU) in Information Security Management and another certificate from GWU in Information Systems. He also received a certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornel University.

I am an Information Technology professional with expertise focused on startups, technology infrastructure and collaboration platforms. I love working with entrepreneurs and I love innovating and developing new concepts and products.

Dr. Mona Nabil Demaidi is an entrepreneur and women’s rights advocate. She obtained her Ph.D. in Advanced Software Engineering and Machine Learning, MSc with distinction in Software Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK. Dr. Mona became an assistant professor at An- Najah National University in 2016. Her research focuses on building personalized learning environments using machine learning. Besides her academic work, Dr. Mona is an active member of societies that globally support youth and women in the technology sector. She has been a board member with Women in Engineering and Arab Women in computing, and the chair for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Palestine. Dr. Mona’s ambition to help Palestinian women was not limited to Palestine, she was keen to find opportunities to improve the global network for Palestinian women. Therefore, in 2019, Dr. Mona became the Co-Managing Director for Girls in Tech in Palestine.

Tammer Qaddumi is a founding partner of VentureSouq, an equity funding platform for early-stage companies.  Tammer also serves as VP pf Private Equity at Waha Capital, an Abu Dhabi-based investment company with assets of c.$3 billion.

Over 30 years of R&D management experience in top global companies in the semiconductor industry. Global President of Akrostar. Served as Vice President of Global R&D at Synopsys and Vice President of Global R&D at Intel.

I’m an Intel Fellow in Intel Labs system and software. Research Lab. My research is focused on creating contextually aware experiences that understand users through sensing and sense-making and act on that context to help with many aspects of their lives. I have 19 years of experience in the areas of context-aware computing, multi-modal adaptive interfaces, sensor networks, computer architecture, embedded systems, and wireless technologies. Previous assignments at Intel involved researching and developing the next generation of self-organizing sensor network nodes (Intel Mote Platforms). I deployed these technologies in health applications as well as various commercial and industrial settings.

A long-time venture capitalist Seth Levine works with venture funds and companies around the globe. His day job is as a partner at Foundry Group, a Boulder, CO based venture capital firm he co-founded in 2006 which as of the end of 2020 had almost $3 billion in assets under management. Easily distracted and a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship, Seth also spends time as an advisor to venture funds and companies around the world.

The intersection of community and business has always been a driving force for Seth. He co-founded Pledge 1%, a global network of companies who have pledged equity, time, and product back to their local communities. He is on the board of StartupColorado, which promotes entrepreneurship in areas of Colorado outside of the front range. He is also a Trustee of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN, where he helped found their entrepreneurship program as well as a popular student hackathon (the “Macathon”). He also works with a number of funds and companies – especially in the Middle East and Africa – to help promote entrepreneurship and economic development.

A passionate cyclist, above-average skier, and general fan of all things outdoors, Seth and his wife live in Colorado their three children. He is the co-author of The New Builders: Face to Face with the True Future of Business.

Yahya Shunnar is the Managing Director of The Portland Trust in Ramallah. He has held various management positions in the public and private sectors. These include Chief Investment Officer of IBDAR Investment Bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Head of Investment at Capivest Investment Bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Chief Marketing Officer at Nassar Group in Palestine, Jordan, Oman, and UAE, Executive Director of Nassar Stone Dubai, Assistant General Manager of the Palestine Securities Exchange and Investment Director at PADICO. He is the founder of YJS Strategy & Business Consulting in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Yahya was a key member in establishing multiple public and private institutions, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics “PCBS”, Palestine Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction “PECDAR”, Palestine Prime Minister Office & Cabinet Secretariat “PMO”, Palestine Securities Exchange “PSE”. IBDAR Investment Bank, Kingdom of Bahrain.
In 1995, during Oslo talks, he served with the head of the Palestinian delegation Ahmed Qurie “Abu Alaa” as the head of the logistics starting from the secret talks in Italy to the signing ceremony at the White House in Washington DC on Sep 28th, 1995. In 2003, he worked as Director-General of the Cabinet Secretariat where he served with two Prime Ministers; Ahmed Qurie and Salam Fayyad.
He holds an MBA from Sam Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, the USA, and a BA in Business Administration and Economics from Yarmouk University in Jordan.

Professor Ziyad Hanna is a Corporate Vice President of Cadence Design Systems, and the R&D General Manager of Cadence Israel, leading the company’s technology innovations and business in the area of Electronic Design Automation with focus on software verification technologies and solutions for the worldwide chip design industry. Prior to that, he was the Sr. Vice President and General Manager of Jasper Israel the first startup company that made its way to exit and managed by an Arab Israeli General Manager. Prior to joining Jasper, Ziyad was a senior principal engineer and senior manager at Intel in Israel and the US. A senior IEEE member, Ziyad is very active in the Hi-Tech field and has participated in many international conferences and workshops. He has published more than 30 articles, has 15 patents, and gave hundreds of talks in various fields in computer science. Ziyad received numerous awards including Intel’s highest achievement award twice, and Cadence move-the-needle award. He obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Tel Aviv University, and PhD in computer science from Oxford University in England, where he serves as a visiting professor in the Computer Science Department. Ziyad is very active to foster the Hi-Tech in the Arab community in Israel and serves as Co-Chair of the General Council of the Tsofen foundation for the development of Hi-Tech in the Arab community in Israel. Ziyad was ranked number 39 in TheMarker’s 100 most influential people on the Israel life for year 2019, also top the list in the Hi-Tech category. Also, his name was included in the list of the most influential people in Hi-Tech for 2020 in the People and Computers magazine.

Mr. Hazzan has over 20 years of experience as an attorney, business consultant and venture capitalist in the Middle East and worldwide.

Mr. Hazzan was the Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Al-Bawader, of Pitango Group, a USD 50 million venture capital fund investing in some of the leading technology, internet and mobile startups operating in the Middle East and worldwide. Prior to that Habib assumed project leadership roles at McKinsey & Co.; the leading business strategy consulting firm worldwide. Mr. Hazzan focused on growth strategy projects for Israeli and international telecom and financial service clients.

I am a researcher and a problem solver by instinct. My passion is finding answers/solutions to the most complex and challenging questions/problems. I have honed my research skills through my time in academia. Nevertheless, my enthusiasm for research is not restricted to inside the walls of the university, I prefer to utilize my research skills in real life just as much, if not more.

Rowan has started her career as a site manager on construction sites after obtaining a BA in Mechatronics engineering from Birzeit University, she worked at Freightos as QA, she got promoted into team lead and after four years, Rowan resigned to pursue her passion of digitalization construction, Rowan is the CEO of Amal, that has 12 employees and raised $300k within less than two years.

Hani Alami, CEO of COOLNET, has more than twenty years of national and regional experience in telecommunications and business development. He is attuned to all aspects of technology and entrepreneurship and supports a wide range of endeavors.

A Curious and Hopeful human from Jerusalem,
A Social Entrepreneur, Sports Addict, and a Tech Geek

Hamdi Hato is an environmental engineer and social entrepreneur specializing in green infrastructure. Since graduating from Birzeit University, he has become involved in several organizations around the world including Good City Foundation, House of Water & Environment, and Global Shapers, where he is currently the Curator of the Global Shapers Ramallah Hub.

I’m Ameer Saqf Al-hiet Nablus Hub Curator, social sciences lecturer, and category manager, got the CEO award for innovation 2020 At APIC.

Mohammed is an entrepreneur from Gaza. He’s the Content & Marketing Manager of Skylanceronline, Online platform to teach people how to freelance, as well as he is the Freelance Program Officer at Gaza Sky Geeks/Mercy Corps. He participated in writing a book entitled “The Mentor in Freelancing”.
In addition to that, he’s the curator of Global Shapers – Gaza Hub 2021-2022. Mohammed believes that a better world is possible by young people who are central to solution building, policy-making and lasting change.

Rateb is the Founder and Managing Director of Intersect Innovation Hub, First Fintech Hub in Palestine, and the Founding Curator of the Global Shapers East Jerusalem Community Chapter-a World Economic Forum initiative spread across 439 cities around the world with 9725 Shaper members that are dedicated to shaping their cities to a better future with a focus on social impact initiatives in 150 countries around the world.

Marwan Tarazi is the Director of the Center for Continuing Education at Birzeit University. His work is focused on the design of developmental models, specific to the local context, for transforming the way people learn, work, and interact within the society in a rapidly transforming world… He firmly believes that only through effective learning paradigms can the region create a workforce prepared for the future of work and a society able to stand up in the face the enormous challenges facing the region. Marwan has dedicated his career to re-designing and creating development models that emphasize the true meaning of learning: knowledge creation, innovation, and development of skills in meaningful contexts relevant to the needs of learners and society.

Alan has a long career running software companies and start-ups. Originally from the UK, he founded his own tech company in London and grew that to acquisition by the US market leader. Subsequently, Alan held senior positions in global software companies, early-stage tech companies, and in the tech innovation ecosystem & venture capital sectors in the UK, USA, Australia, and Vietnam.
Alan recently joined Mercy Corps to run Gaza Sky Geeks, to empower young Palestinians to join the digital workforce, and to help the growth of Palestinian tech companies and the Palestinian tech ecosystem.

Mr. Kanthan Shankar was appointed Country Director for West Bank and Gaza as of May 1, 2019. He has over two decades of experience in post-conflict reconstruction operations at the World Bank.

Usama Sadawi is the Palestinian State Minister of the newly established Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Empowerment.
He is in charge of setting the fundamentals and building the Palestinian entrepreneurial ecosystem with relevant stakeholders, with a specific mandate and focus on youth and women.

Lina Fattom is a US-trained lawyer with over fifteen years of professional experience in corporate and criminal litigation, regulatory and international law across the private, public, and development sectors in the US and in the MENA region. Most recently, her legal and policy experience has focused on the development in private sectors including in infrastructure, banking; legislation regarding business enabling and standardization developments, and private sector needs and challenges for sustainable expanded development and investment in Palestine. She is currently the Project Director of IPSD, a DAI implemented project of the MoNE funded by the World Bank to improve and enable opportunities for Palestinian entrepreneurs.

Yousef Habesch is the IFC’s Resident Representative in the West Bank and Gaza. IFC, a sister organization of the World Bank and member the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets.

Saed Nashef is Founding Partner at Raed Ventures, an early-stage VC investing in transformational startups in MENA. He is also a Founding Partner at Sadara Ventures, one of the first VC firms in MENA, and the first in Palestine. Before Sadara, Saed founded two software companies and was a key team member in a fintech startup. Before that, he worked at Microsoft in various software engineering and leadership roles. Saed is the first Kauffman Fellow in the Arab Middle East and the recipient of the “Class 14” Jeff Timmons Memorial Award.

Laith Kassis is the Managing Director of Fikra – PalTel Group Innovation Hub based in Ramallah, Palestine. Laith has had direct impact on building up the Palestinian startup ecosystem and is also the co-founder of RuWWad.ME and EnterVentures, providing services in mentoring and capacity building to entrepreneurs.

Mrs. Ambar Amleh is a Partner at Ibtikar Fund.

Ambar has over 15 years of experience in entrepreneurship, marketing, communications, and program management.

Prior to Ibtikar, Ambar was directly involved in supporting Palestinian entrepreneurs. As the program manager for Palestine for a New Beginning (PNB), a Palestinian non-profit company focused on entrepreneurial development, Ambar grew PNB from an idea and a loose and small board leadership to an established Palestinian institution. Through PNB, Ambar organized the yearly Celebration of Innovation, a Palestine-wide competition of entrepreneurs, and the follow-up support to these entrepreneurs; as well as Global Entrepreneurship Week in Palestine.

Ambar is a member of the 23rd class of Kauffman Fellows, and was named as one of the “50 Most Influential Women in the Arab World” by CEO Middle East Magazine and “20 Women VCs of MENA” by MENAbytes.

Ambar has an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a Marketing degree from Arizona State University.

MA in International Studies, University of Reading, UK; Arabic Language Certificate, Kuwait University. 2005-07, Director, American Center, US Embassy, Prague, in charge of public information programmes. 2007, Public Diplomacy Specialist, US Embassy in Baghdad, responsible for relations with Iraqi media and for a number of education and cultural projects. 2007, joined the Middle East and North Africa team, World Economic Forum, as a Global Leadership Fellow; since 2011, Head of Middle East and North Africa; since 2013, Senior Director. Head of Europe and Eurasia since 2021.

Hashim Shawa joined Bank of Palestine as Chairman and General Manager in 2007 and has evolved the growth journey of the bank through expansion, inclusion, and digitization, actively developing the real economy of Palestine.

Samer is at the helm of CCC which today is a large conglomerate with a broad range of activities ranging from its conventional engineering and construction role to the more complex role of an oil and gas and power developer. CCC employs more than 100,000 individuals worldwide. According to the annual Engineering News-Record (ENR) surveys, CCC ranks continuously among the top 20 Largest International Contractors and is first in the Middle East region.

Stephanie (Steffi) Czerny is co-founder of the DLD Conference and since 2010 Managing Director of DLD Media GmbH, a subsidiary of Hubert Burda Media, based in Munich.

Professor Klaus Schwab was born in Ravensburg, Germany in 1938. He is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

He founded the Forum in 1971, the same year in which he published Moderne Unternehmensführung im Maschinenbau (Modern Enterprise Management in Mechanical Engineering). In that book, he argued that the management of a modern enterprise must serve not only shareholders but all stakeholders (die Interessenten), to achieve long-term growth and prosperity. Schwab has championed the multistakeholder concept since the Forum’s inception, and it has become the world’s foremost platform for public and private cooperation. Under his leadership, the Forum has been a driver for reconciliation efforts in different parts of the world, acting as a catalyst of numerous collaborations and international initiatives.

The Prime Minister of the State of Palestinian and an economic expert born in Tell, Nablus, in 1958. He served as minister of public works and housing, and minister of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) and holds a doctorate in economic development from the University of Sussex. He worked as a professor and dean at Birzeit University and has published several books on economics, politics, and history.