SPEAKER BIOS | IN SPEAKING ORDER

Greg Fairlie Broadcaster Dubai One

Presenter, Broadcaster, Multi tasked Video Journalist & Business Communications Expert with a wealth of experience in the UK, Australia, Europe & MENA region. Bringing a warm, personable, informative and friendly approach to presenting, interviewing and drawing out the best of people in many diverse fields. Fully experienced in a live studio environment and on location. Specialties: Facilitating business programming for both TV and Radio stations. Managing teams within a broadcast unit. Presenting, producing, directing, filming and editing live and recorded TV & Radio content. Experience of anchoring in a live environment. Specialist in media training and presentation on-air delivery. Moderator at events. Magazine and newspaper features writer. Voice Over artist and Voice imaging. Experienced in using AVID inews, Final Cut Pro X, Adobe Premiere, audio editing software including soundtrack pro and Twisted Wave.

His Excellency Hani Al Hamli Secretary General Dubai Economic Council (DEC)

H.E. Hani Rashid Al Hamli is the Secretary General of the Dubai Economic Council (DEC) since 2006. The Council envisioned acting as the strategic partner for the Government of Dubai in economic-decision making. It provides policy recommendations and initiatives that enhance the sustainable economic development in the Emirate of Dubai. Prior to his service at DEC, Mr. Al Hamli held a number of senior positions in various government and private entities in Dubai such as the Executive Council-Government of Dubai, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Investment & Development Authority, and Emirates Bank Group. Under his management of the DEC Secretariat, Mr. Al Hamli has realized many achievements for the DEC, notably the establishment of Dubai Competitiveness Center (DCC) in 2008, and the DEC has embraced the stated center from 2008-2013. Additionally, he initiated the “clusters development” and “macroeconomic modelling” for Dubai’s economy. Moreover, Al Hamli has restructured the DEC Secretariat and established two affiliates that form together the think tank of the Council. Those include: the Economic Policy & Research Center (EPRC) and the Legal Affairs & Research Center (LARC). Most recently, Al Hamli created “Driving Innovation Spirit for Dubai” initiative in partnership with Royal Philips aimed at enhancing the concept of innovation in the U.A.E. and strengthen the institutional capacities of Dubai’s businesses. Al Hamli strongly believes in the vital role of the strategic partnerships and alliances with local and international entities in order to exchange knowledge, advice and expertise in various issues. This vision has been translated into practical steps when the DEC has collaborated with a large number of governmental entities at both federal and local levels, world’s leading think tanks; and top companies from China to the North America. These collaborations are inclusive of enhanced coordination and unified visions in many areas of common interest. China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), and the U.S. Ex-Im Bank are among those entities that the DEC linked in partnership projects with.

Coupled with above, Al Hamli believes in knowledge accumulation aiming at materializing the UAE vision 2021 which envisages development of a knowledge-based economy. To this end, he sought to deploy the potentials of the DEC’s experts in developing policy proposals and initiatives in order to reach the best results in the context of economic decision-making, both at the local and federal levels. Indeed, the DEC Secretariat General has conducted in-depth researches along with publications of reports, international books and numerous working papers. Additionally, the Council organized a number of hi-profile conferences, seminars, experts meetings and workshops on various economic issues of strategic importance for Dubai and the UAE. In this context, the DEC Secretariat has created a number of strategic partnerships with respected international research institutions and academics to enhance the scientific efforts being made in economic policy-related studies and research. Al Hamli is an associate member of many forums and associations where he has participated as a keynote speaker in many hi-ranking regional and global events. Some of these include the American Economic Association (USA), World Competitiveness Forum (Spain), World Economic Forum (Switzerland), Economic Research Forum (Egypt), Board member of Trustees at the Kuwait Centre for Knowledge Economy (Kuwait), the Annual Investment Meeting-AIM (UAE), and Young Arab Leaders (UAE) to name a few. He is also a Member of Board of Directors: Oman Insurance Company (UAE), Kuwait Center for Knowledge Economy (Kuwait) and The Competitiveness Institute-TCI (Finland) Mr. Al Hamli holds a Degree in business administration, Higher Colleges of Technology, (UAE). He has been also trained in several reputable international colleges and institutes: LSE (UK), IMD (Switzerland), Harvard (USA), INSEAD (France), Dubai School of Government (UAE). Ahmed Bin Sulayem Executive Chairman Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)

Mr Ahmed Bin Sulayem is the Executive Chairman of Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC).

Suoud Al Agroobi Director of International Relations UAE Federal Customs Authority

Mr. Suoud Salem AlAgroobi joined the Federal Customs Authority (FCA) since its inception in 2003. In 2007, he held the position of Executive Director of the MENA Regional Office for Capacity Building of the World Customs Organization (WCO) up to 2010 to promote regional customs development under the umbrella of WCO. He was simultaneously appointed as Director of International Relations Department in the FCA, which he still holds to this day. As Director of International Relations, Mr. AlAgroobi plays a key role in representing UAE Customs internationally, highlighting the role and achievements of UAE Customs. He is responsible of being the key negotiator for UAE Customs in bilateral and multilateral agreements such as Customs Mutual Assistance Agreements and the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. Using international best practices, he contributed to the development of numerous customs programs in the UAE. Mr. AlAgroobi is a graduate of the Government Executive Leadership Program run by the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, where he was able to further develop his leadership skills in order to benefit the UAE Government.

Sanjay Sethi Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Signature Agri Ventures

Mr. Sanjay Sethi was recognised for his noteworthy contributions to improve the agribusiness and food

security situation in African countries and he won the prestigious “The Africa Food Prize 2013 Award” at

Kampala, Uganda.

Mr. Sanjay Sethi has led Africa focused teams on agribusiness investment, developing and managing large

commercial farms, agri infrastructure and agri business companies. Mr. Sethi undertook many

infrastructure projects like setting up India’s first Mega Food Park and India’s first Free Trade Warehousing

Zone. Mr. Sethi lives in Dubai and has held senior leadership positions in various reputed international

companies in India, Africa and Middle East. His publications ‘Land of Opportunities – The Food Industry in

India’ and ‘Building Exponential Growth in India’s Agricultural Exports’ have been widely referred by

decision makers in government and private sector world over.

Mr. Sethi has a distinguished track record as a Strategist, Entrepreneur, Business Leader, Change Agent

and a Thought Leader. He has been invited to speak on business forums all over the world on the topics

of food security, investment opportunities in Agriculture and building Africa’s Agribusiness. He has been

a Founding Member of G8 Countries’ “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition” and World Economic

Forum’s “Grow Africa” initiative which transformed the investment climate in African Agriculture.

Mr. Sethi recently Chaired Gulfood Conference on Halal Foods and also spoke at Global Islamic Investment

Gateway, Bahrain and at Global Ag Investment Forum, Dubai and GTR Africa’s conference on Commodity

Trade Finance. Previously he has spoken at FAO Conference at Zhengzhou, China, Asia Fruit Logistica,

Hong Kong, Super Returns, Nairobi, Opal Financial’s South African Investment Summit, Cape Town and at

Private Equity World Africa, London.

Jeffrey Rhodes Chief Executive Officer Zee Gold DMCC

Jeffrey is the CEO of ZEE GOLD DMCC, which is based in the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre and focussed on physical precious metals with a regional presence and global footprint. ZEE GOLD is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shirpur Gold Refinery Limited and an enterprise of the Essel Group enterprise, which is one of India’s business giants and best known for its’ ZEE TV media activities. Widely recognized as a leading figure in the international bullion market, with a career spanning four continents and decades, Mr Rhodes has been prominent in the development of the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre, working closely with the Government of Dubai, and has been a member of Dubai’s Gold Advisory Group since its inception in 2003. Jeffrey has a regular weekly slot on Dubai’s leading morning business radio show, Dubai 103.80, talking about precious metals, and participates regularly as a speaker at major precious metals conferences around the world. He is a past chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the London Bullion Market Association and was the founding editor of its popular trade magazine The Alchemist.

Sudhakar Tomar Managing Director Hakan Agro

Sudhakar Tomar is the Managing Director of Hakan Agro DMCC . Hakan Agro , head quartered in Dubai , has offices, factories, distribution hubs and farming operations in 30 countries with turnover of AED 5 billion and sales tonnage in excess of 2.5 Million MTs of food products Born in a farming family in northern India, Mr. Tomar previously worked in management roles in India, Syria and Turkey with agri-multinationals. A resident of UAE since 21 years and an ardent lover of his second home UAE Mr. Tomar serves as the Board Member of Dubai Food Trade Advisory Group of DMCC (Government of Dubai ), The CXO Alliance , Non Profit Krishna Foundation and as Honorary Chairperson (Communications & Sponsorships) of the Global Pulse Confederation which represents over 2 Billion farmers producing 70 million tons of pulse production, valued at USD 100 billion. Mr. Tomar’s keen interest in rural poverty alleviation and global malnutrition in Asia & Africa, helped this initiative to raise over US$ 3.5 million in sponsorships that was used to create awareness about global malnutrition. With over 23 years of industry experience, Mr. Tomar is an oft-celebrated agribusiness professional. Most recently, he was bestowed with the "Grain Asia " & " International Pulse Man of the Year " awards for outstanding contribution to agri-commodities trade. More recently he has been instructed by Prime Ministers of India to present a white paper on reducing malnutrition and improving food security.

John Iossifidis Group Head, Corporate & Investment Banking Mashreq Bank

John Iossifidis is an experienced banking professional having worked in large multinational and regional financial institutions, specifically in the Middle East, Asia and Australia. He possesses extensive leadership talent gained through a unique blend of country and functional general management roles with a particular emphasis on wholesale banking and strategic planning. Currently EVP and Group Head, Corporate and Investment Banking at Mashreqbank, John is a member of the Executive Committee with primary accountability for driving the Bank’s corporate Franchise. Prior to this John was Group Head International Banking. Before Mashreq, John was Regional Head, Origination & Client Coverage, Wholesale Banking with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) where he focussed developing and executing business strategy, driving performance and developing the Bank’s relationship with key clients across the Middle East and North Africa. John was also responsible for delivering the Bank’s transaction banking offering and had geographic oversight of the risk function. John joined SCB in 2000, following the acquisition of Grindlays Bank, where he successfully integrated the two banks. In 2002 he moved to Singapore in a strategy development role for the Global Wholesale Bank. Before joining the SCB, John had a 16 year career with ANZ Bank in various corporate banking, strategy development, project management and finance roles. His last role at ANZ was CEO Sri Lanka. John graduated from Monash University, Australia in 1984 [B.Ec (Acctg)], completed an MBA again from Monash University in 1992 and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Bankers.

Anil Kumar Dudani Head of Treasury Dragon Oil

Head of Treasury in Dragon Oil plc, a company registered in Ireland and engaged in exploration & production of hydrocarbons and listed on London and Dublin stock exchange. Qualified as CPA/CMA/AICWA/MBA with experience of more than 20 years with ONGC & Dragon Oil in areas of energy Insurance, joint venture accounting, and cash treasury management.

Sonam Kapadia Executive Director, Head of Corporate Trade Sales & Advisory MENA Wholesale Banking National Bank of Abu Dhabi

Sonam is the Head of Corporate Trade Sales & Advisory MENA for National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Sonam and his teams work with the Wholesale Banking Corporates of NBAD to structure and deliver complex trade solutions. Sonam joined NBAD from JPMorgan. With JPMorgan he was the Head of Global Trade & Loan Products, Middle East and North Africa. He moved to the MENA region from Singapore in 2010. In Singapore he was responsible for Trade for South Asia. He has also led the Trade Finance business of JPMorgan for the Indian Sub-continent. Prior to JPMorgan, Sonam has worked with GE Commercial Finance, a part of GE Capital and ICICI Bank since 1998. Sonam is educated as a Computer Engineer from Maharashtra Institute of Technology at the University of Pune, India. He holds an MBA in Finance from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies at the University of Mumbai, India. Arif Mir Senior Vice-President, Regional Head of Trade Sales Wells Fargo

Arif Mir is the Senior Vice President and the MEA region head of International Trade Services (ITS) in Wells Fargo’s International Group. Arif manages regional efforts to grow Wells Fargo’s industry-leading trade business through increased cross- sell, product enhancement, sales, and distribution. His team works closely with the regional Global Financial Institutions and Global Banking teams, to ensure trade products are available to all customer segments, including commercial and corporate clients and financial institutions. A veteran banker with over 15 years of experience, Arif held a range of senior positions at Citibank, Samba Financial Group and ABN Amro in Americas, Middle East and Europe to help grow the trade finance business prior to joining Wells Fargo.

Baris Kalay Director, Head of Trade Product Sales, CEEMEA, Global Transaction Services Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Baris Kalay started his banking career at Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi AS in 1999. Having worked in various financial institutions in the Turkey, Netherlands and Russia, he joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2011 as Director, Trade Sales covering Turkey. Based in Dubai, Baris is currently the head of Trade of Trade Finance Product Sales, CEEMEA. Baris got his degree in Economics in Middle East Technical University and have an MBA degree at Koc University.

Bharat Gupta Regional Head, Structured Trade Finance, Middle East & Africa Louis Dreyfus Commodities MEA Trading DMCC

A qualified professional from the reputed Charted Accountancy and Cost Accountancy Institutes of India, Bharat Gupta brings with him a rich blend of banking and corporate experience specializing in Trade and Structuring solutions over last 22 years of post-qualification. He spent more than 14 years working with reputed MNC banks like Citibank N.A. , American Express Bank, Standard Chartered in Corporate and Private banking sectors, Corporate Credit, Global Transaction Banking products and solutions. Over the last 8 years, he chose to move out to the corporate sector having worked with world leaders in agricultural trading houses like Cargill and Louis Dreyfus commodities where he currently leads the Structured Trade Finance solutions business for the Middle East and Africa region, based out of their Dubai Office.

Yusuf Ali Khan Head of Trade for Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan & Turkey, Treasury & Trade Solutions Citi

Yusuf is Managing Director and Head of Trade for Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Turkey for Citi based in Dubai. Yusuf is responsible for implementing the business strategy across the five lines of Citi’s Trade business which include: Trade Services, Trade Finance, Supply Chain Finance, Export & Agency Finance and Commodity Trade Finance. This role covers providing Trade solutions to top tier local corporates, public sector and financial institutions. Yusuf joined Citi in New York and has more than 15 years of experience with the firm having served in Australia, Hong Kong, Poland, United Kingdom and South Africa. Prior to joining Citi, Yusuf worked with the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC and Royal Dutch Shell in Karachi, Pakistan. Yusuf holds a Master of Arts in International Affairs from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, New York and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the University of Texas, Austin.

Sanjoe Mathew Regional Director, Trade & Export Export Finance Huawei Tech

Sanjoe Mathew is heading the Middle East Region as Director of Huawei Technologies, a leading global ICT solutions provider. He is responsible for all the Trade & Export Financing related activities in 10 countries across the Middle East. Sanjoe is a result driven professional with 21 years of experience in Finance & Financing with renowned multinational organizations in various regional roles. He has joined Huawei in 2003 and is responsible for maintaining the relationship with clients International banks, financial institutions & multilateral agencies. He also is taking care of Factoring, Forfeiting, Syndicated / Bilateral loans and Seller’s & Buyers’ Credit with/without ECA Coverage requirements in the region. Sanjoe has helped various clients in the region in structuring trade and export financing solutions which optimize the working capital requirements, easing the cash flow pressures and also the risk mitigation. Sanjoe has demonstrated proficiency in raising structured debt and project financing in domestic and international markets with exposure in the use of trade and trade financing products and asset based financing including Islamic products. He has ample experience of communicating with stakeholders (vendors, lenders, shareholders, management) on strategic and annual plans, and business performance with substantial know-how in vendor / supplier management, price and contract negotiation. Sanjoe holds a Bachelor of Finance from the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala, India & MBA from University of Wales, UK, specializing in Corporate Finance.

Melodie Michel Deputy Editor Global Trade Review

Melodie Michel is the deputy editor of GTR magazine, the world's leading international trade finance magazine. She has extensive business journalism experience, covering GTR conferences as well as events organised by other industry bodies around the world. In her role, she regularly organises and chairs roundtables attended by senior trade finance representatives. Having graduated in France, her home country, Melodie joined GTR in 2012 as a reporter, and returned to the company in 2014 after a year spent freelancing.

Mojtaba Khosrowtaj Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines & Trade Government of Iran

Mr Khosrowtaj has 35 years’ experience in Foreign Trade Policy Making and 10 years’ experience in the field of petrochemical exportation and essential agricultural commodities importation. Presently in Rouhani administration, he is the First Vice-Minister of Industry, Mines & Trade since 2014, as well as Deputy Minister for economic affairs and trade. He is proud to receive the merit of government of Mr Khatami administration.

Arash Shahraini Board Member Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI)

Arash Shahraini is a Board Member of the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI). Elham Hassanzadeh Managing Director Energy Pioneers

Elham Hassanzadeh is the Managing Director of Energy Pioneers.

Gert Demmink Managing Partner Philip Sidney

Gert Demmink is partner with Philip Sidney. Philip Sidney a trade compliance consultancy firm, specializing in Sanctions, export controls and other trade restrictive measures. Clients are manufacturers, freight forwarders, oil&gas/offshore companies, banks (trade&supply chain finance) and (re-)insurers. Gert holds a law degree from Amsterdam University and a post graduate (forensic) auditing degree from Erasmus University. He worked with the Justice Department, negotiating treaties in the Schengen and EU frameworks, set up the Financial Intelligence Unit in the Netherlands Antilles. Until October 2006 he headed the Central Bank’s specialist department for combating financial economic crime. Gert is a deputy-judge in the criminal courts of Amsterdam, Haarlem, Schiphol and Maastricht. Maninder Bhandari Director Derby Group

A career banker with 27 years’ experience with HSBC, ABN Amro Bank, Emirates NBD and The Bank of New York Mellon in Asia/ Pacific (Hong Kong, Singapore & India), Latin America & Caribbean/North America (Sao Paulo & Miami), Middle East & Africa (Dubai). Specialization was in multiple aspects of banking Maninder is now a founding partner of the Encore Group and Director/Partner in the Derby Group.

Mihir Kulkarni Regional Head of Credit Johnson Control

Mihir Kulkarni's career spans more than 20 years of experience in diverse industry sectors, including Equity Funds, Automobiles, Banking, Telecommunications and Heavy Engineering, with positions in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been instrumental in structuring and implementing financial solutions including supplier and distributor financing programs as well as asset backed securitization. He has also been involved in setting up a Receivables Services banking unit. Mr. Kulkarni holds a Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a MBA in Finance. He is currently responsible for credit risk management at Johnson Controls.

Jamshed Patel Chief Financial Officer Rivoli Group

I am Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a Certified Management Accountant from ICMA – USA. After qualification I did a short stint of 2 years in India with Wall Street Finance ( a foreign exchange company) and then moved to Dubai in 1995. My first career step in Dubai was with Jumbo Electronics as a management accountant. On completing my 3 yr contract with Jumbo, in 1998 I joined the Rivoli Group as their Finance Manager and since then have been working with them for the past 17 years. Rivoli Group is a retailer for watches, textiles, luxury communicator, writing instruments and accessories and has over 400 points of sale across the GCC. Transiting from the role of a finance manager, over the years I took over as the head of Finance and Group services which includes Logistics, Customer care and I.T. and am today the CFO of the Group.

Yazan Al Nasser Chief CSF Officer Tawreeq Holdings

Yazan Al Nasser leads the development and marketing of Tawreeq’s offering, leveraging more than a decade of experience in the financial services sector across the Middle East, including expertise in Islamic finance. Prior to joining Tawreeq Holdings, he served for three years as Senior Products Manager of Commercial (SME) Banking at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), where he managed the development of new assets, liabilities, and investment products for SMEs, and oversaw performance and growth of existing and newly launched products. Al Nasser has previously handled a variety of roles across the financial services sector as well as government sector between Jordan and UAE starting from Citibank – Jordan where he handled an operational role in Cash Management and Treasury Operations before moving to DIB Capital (a Dubai Islamic Bank subsidiary) as Deputy Head of Operations where he served as a key member of the team that worked on the company’s license upgrade to a DFSA-regulated category-one “Full Fledged Islamic Investment Bank,” in addition to his role in developing various Sharia-compliant products and the launch of Sukuk investment programs. Al Nasser has also joined Dubai Roads and Transport Authority where he oversaw commercial and investment aspects of RTA mega projects such as Dubai Metro in addition to Public-Private Partnership and Privatization project based strategies. Al Nasser holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Al-Yarmouk University in Jordan and a diploma in financial analyses from the Institute of Banking Studies, Amman.

Paul Hussey Corporate Vice-President, Treasury Aecom

Paul Hussey is international treasurer for AECOM, a Fortune 500, USD 18bn turnover company with 90,000 employees. A qualified accountant, Paul studied in Dublin City University. Paul is responsible for all treasury and financing activities outside the America’s. Paul is based in Abu Dhabi with his team based in Dublin, Ireland. Paul joined AECOM 6 years ago and has delivered a lot of financing programs, with particular success with an off balance sheet, true sale RF program. Previously Paul worked in the Central Bank of Ireland, Bank of Ireland, Danske Bank, Barings Bank and Tyco International, and has worked in London, Zurich and Atlanta. Paul has worked as a currency dealer, fund manager, head of institutional banking and international treasurer over the last 20 years.

Kwabena Ayirebi Regional Head of Trade & Receivables Finance, MENA HSBC Bank Middle East

Kwabena is currently the Regional Head, Middle East & North Africa for HSBC’s trade and receivables finance business, which provides customers, from SMEs to multinationals, with the financing and risk mitigation solutions they need to meet their international and domestic trade requirements. Based in Dubai, Kwabena leads a team of circa 450 trade finance professionals across 8 countries, with full P&L accountability as well as sales, operations and risk management oversight for traditional trade finance, guarantees, receivables finance and commodity structured trade finance. He joined the HSBC Group as an International Manager eleven years ago. During this period he has worked in India, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and the UK in roles across Commercial Banking, Credit Risk, Trade Finance and Strategy. Before joining HSBC, Kwabena worked for Standard Chartered in Ghana. He holds a First Class Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, a Bachelor of Science in Financial Services and Management and a Master of Science in Financial Engineering.

Roshun Tulkens International Treasury Manager Reckitt Benckiser

My current role is as the International Treasury Manager – Developing Markets for RB based in Dubai, covering Latam, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific across 40+ markets. Treasury responsibilities include managing FX risk, Liquidity and cash management, developing banking relationships across the region and other Treasury based projects. I’ve been with RB for just under 2years. My Treasury career started in 2010 as an intern working for Alghanim Industries working in Kuwait. I subsequently moved to Rexam as a Treasury Assistant on a fixed term contract to support the roll out of a TMS, in which we won the Large Cap Treasury Team of the Year award. In 2012 I moved to Burberry as the Group Treasury Analyst where I spent 2 years, the position was extremely varied covering front, middle and back office responsibilities, from FX dealing, cash and counterparty risk management, implementing liquidity and cash solutions as well as Treasury board reporting. I became AMCT qualified in 2012 and have just obtained my MCT Diploma in Feb 2015.

Peter Matza Engagement Director Association of Corporate Treasurers

Peter Matza has worked at the ACT in September 2006, was appointed Head of Publishing in May 2008 and Engagement Director in February 2012. Peter is responsible for developing strategy to widen the ACT’s engagement with the global treasury community, as well as the publications business of the ACT. Peter is a Fellow of the ACT (having been a member since 1992) and a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. Peter has over 30 years of treasury and banking experience.

Simon Cook Partner Sullivan & Worcester UK

Simon Cook is a partner in the Emerging Market Finance and Trade and Export Finance Groups in the London office of Sullivan & Worcester UK LLP. He has experience in a wide variety of banking and finance transactions, including in particular in relation to structured trade finance, trade finance, project finance, invoice discounting facilities and borrowing-base facilities in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the CIS. His work in the structured finance area covers a range of pre-export, borrowing base, prepayment, project and receivables financings notably in the oil, telecoms, soft commodities, hydro and metals sectors with particular experience in the Middle East and Africa. Simon has acted for a wide variety of clients including banks, funds, corporate borrowers, sponsors, project companies and government agencies/parastatals across the emerging markets. Simon is regularly included in independent guides to the legal profession. The Chambers & Partners guide to the world’s best lawyers says that Simon “is known for his hands-on approach and huge attention to detail” and he “paints a fair picture of what is possible and what is not”. He is “very commercial, which gives the flexibility to structure the transaction in different ways" and “is a good technical lawyer”. The Legal 500 guide meanwhile says “the cost-efficient, no-nonsense” Simon Cook is a “superb negotiator” and “focuses on the issues that matter”. He is a “great project manager who gets the job done”. Simon has worked and travelled extensively in the Middle East and Africa, including spending over three and a half years based in Dubai. He has participated in a number of structured trade finance and project finance conferences and seminars throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including speaking at conferences on PPP in South Africa; on project finance and structured trade finance at Afrexim's annual structured finance conferences in Cairo, Ghana and South Africa; at ITFA’s annual conferences across Europe on various trade finance topics; and at structured finance seminars in London, Paris, Lisbon, Geneva, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Cairo and Dubai. Rahul Daswani Senior Manager, Structured Finance, Treasury Capital Management Microsoft

Finance professional having 15+yr’s work experience in Banking and Treasury across varied fields including Supply Chain Finance, Regional Treasury Management (Asia & Africa), Credit Risk Management, Six Sigma Quality and Process Management. Qualified Chartered Accountant from India and now has also completed AMCT qualification from Association of Corporate Treasurers. Work experience has been with multinationals like GE Capital, Citibank, Nokia and now currently employed as Group Treasury Manager for Microsoft with responsibility of leading Structured Finance in Middle East & Africa. Has deep understanding of the technology and ‘mobility industry’ and can also share experiences of managing Finance during a period of disruptive change.

George Wilson Regional Credit Controller, MENAP Intertek

George Wilson is Regional Credit Controller for Intertek based in Dubai covering Middle East North Africa & Pakistan, Intertek are a UK multinational Testing & Certification company and are listed on the FTSE 100. He has over 30 years of experience in Credit & Trade Finance spent between the Automotive, Telecoms, Oil and Testing industries covering Middle East & Africa. Four years with Glacier Vandervell manufacturers of Automotive Bearings in his native Scotland. Then spent fifteen years with Motorola Credit Corporation, eleven years in Basingstoke in England at their European Financial HQ and four years in the Dubai office covering Middle East & Africa for all tenors of financing from Short Term Receivable Sales to Long Term Project Financing for all Motorola products, Mobile phones, Radios, Set Top boxes and all forms of Infrastructure. Staying in Telecoms George moved to Bahrain and spent three years with Zain Telecom in Treasury sourcing financing for all fifteen Group companies across Middle East & Africa working with suppliers like Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks and their countries Export Credit Agencies and in particular with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in Washington DC and other National Development funding organisations for the funding of landmark projects in Ghana with the IFC and the first ever Islamic compliant funding by the Swedish ECA EKN and Credit Agricole for the Zain/Ericsson deal in Sudan. Leaving Bahrain in October 2010 George moved back to Dubai and after eighteen years in Telecoms moved back to Automotive and joined Goodyear Dunlop as Credit Manager for Goodyear Dunlop Tyres based in Dubai covering Middle East & Africa for all countries north of the Sahara and a member of their EMEA Regional Working Capital team for all Trade Finance activities throughout the region. In 2013 George joined Halliburton as Regional Manager for MENA & Eurasia before joining Intertek in September 2014. As well as covering the Middle East & Africa region for the last quarter of a century George has lived in Dubai & Bahrain for the last twelve years and has extensive Banking contacts in the region and London and with Export Credit Agencies and International Developments Funds, experienced in the use of all forms of Documentary Credits and an acknowledged expert in the use of Credit Insurance and its use as risk mitigation and in the sale of Insured Receivables.

Gergely Abraham Head of Structured Finance, MEA Nokia Networks

Gergely Abraham is Head of Structured Finance, MEA region at Nokia Networks – the world’s specialist in mobile broadband. Based in Dubai, Gergely is responsible for project finance activities in 43 countries across Middle East and Africa regions. Gergely is a financial services professional who’s carrier spans more than 15 years with Nokia. He joined the company in 2000 in Budapest/Hungary before moved to Kuwait in 2006 to oversee subregional duties. He lives in the UAE with extended regional responsibility since 2008. As a corporate finance expert, Gergely is facilitating trade finance solution for Nokia Networks and its clients. He also overseas Nokia’s risk management operations in the MEA region, including but not limited to project de-risking, Short-Term Receivables Sales, Documentary Credit arrangements, cash repatriation and FX risk mitigation. He has helped Nokia Networks clients in Middle East and Africa to obtain more than USD 4bn ECA financing commitments since 2010. Gergely holds a MSc degree in Economics from Corvinus University of Budapest and BSc diploma in Mathematics from University of Szeged.

Lamin Sanneh Executive Director / Acting CEO Commodity Connect DMCC

Responsible for implementing CCDMCC’s strategies for market penetration, expansion and deal origination in the designated regional market. My role is to manage client relationships first hand and oversee the end to end implementation of the marketing strategy. This includes identifying prospective clients, evaluating their associated risks and structuring deals for trade finance products. Escalating client needs and ensuring seamless transitions between deals and client, providing advisory services on both Islamic and Conventional banking.

Anisse Terai Corporate & Structured Finance Manager, MENA International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC)

Anisse is a Corporate & Structured Finance (CSF) Manager at the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, an International Financial Institution gathering 56 member countries across the world. He manages a portfolio of investments in MENA and Latin America. In addition, he works on the energy sector, as well as macro and trade economics and policy. Earlier in his career, he worked for IHS-PFC Energy and Schlumberger’s Strategy Consulting Division - SBC. Later on, he served as Advisor to the Chairman of the French Energy Regulator – CRE. Then, after Algerian NOC 2010 reshuffle, he worked as Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of Sonatrach. Anisse has also assumed the position of Adjunct Professor at HEC Paris Business School, and was prior to that Assistant Professor of energy economics and Director of the Master in International Energy at Sciences Po Paris. He published numerous papers and spoke at various conferences. Anisse is an alumnus of HEC Algiers Business School, Sciences Po Paris, the French National School of Administration - ENA, and Harvard University. He speaks fluent Arabic, English and French. Huny Garg Regional Head of Trade, Transaction Banking, MENA Standard Chartered Bank

Huny Garg is the Regional Head of Trade Finance Products for MENA at Standard Chartered Bank, based in Dubai. Huny’s career spans over 17 years in the financial services sector working banks like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and ABN AMRO in India followed by last 10 years with Standard Chartered in the Middle East. He has strong expertise in trade finance, supply chain and commercial banking across these markets.

Henry Balani Head of Innovation Accuity

Mr. Henry Balani is currently Head of Innovation for Accuity where he identifies new solutions to serve the financial services market. He has extensive experience working with banks and corporations, having pioneered sanction screening solutions related to Trade Finance compliance amongst other AML solutions. He was previously Managing Director with responsibility for managing Accuity’s Compliance group that includes the Product Management group related to all Compliance Risk solutions. Mr. Balani was also responsible for establishing Accuity’s Professional Services group. Prior to joining Accuity, Mr. Balani was managing financial services related consulting practices with some of the largest professional services organizations in the world, including Accenture and IBM. Mr. Balani holds an M.B.A. from Northern Illinois University and B.S. in Economics, International Trade and Development from the London School of Economics, University of London. He teaches graduate-level classes in International Economics and Global Business and is currently conducting Doctoral level research in AML issues at the University of Wisconsin. He is an active member of the Project Management Institute, ACAMS and BAFT and is CAMS certified. Mr. Balani is a noted expert in the financial services industry and is regularly quoted in major publications including the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

John Burbidge-King Chief Executive Officer Interchange Solutions

CEO and founder (2006) of Interchange (www.interchange-solutions.co.uk) - “turning risk into business value” - a specialist UK business risk consultancy. Interchange that helps organisations of all sizes and sectors worldwide to improve their governance, engendering responsible leadership through mitigating corruption and related risk. Interchange has worked in 62 countries and in 2013 completed a major corporate governance project for the Kazakh National Railways (KTZ). Former Royal Marines officer – operations in Middle, Far East and Africa including with the Sultan of Oman’s Armed Forces, followed by 21 year career in De La Rue, the world’s leading currency and security printer. He directed the international distribution and sales for currency, cash handling equipment and sold computerized finger print systems, to China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Oman, Jordan and, in Europe and South America. Secured major contracts for security printing plants in Ukraine and Kazakhstan; has lived in Bahrain working closely with governments and the GCC in Riyadh. He gave evidence on “adequate procedures” to Parliament on the UK Bribery Bill, compiles the UK aerospace and defence industry Business Ethics Toolkit (now in 3rd edition) and is a committee member of the UK committee for the ISO 37001 international anti-bribery standard, due to be published in 2016; Advisory Board member of CC Canterbury Business School and a civilian member of the UK government’ Stabilisation Unit. Speaks Arabic, a little Russian.

Neil Ross Regional Manager, EMEA Trade Credit AIG

Neil Ross is Trade Credit Insurance Regional Head EMEA for AIG and Chairman of AIG Trade Finance Limited and AIG Receivables Management Limited. AIG is the leading Excess of Loss credit insurer supporting structured trade finance, supply chain finance and invoice discounting and factoring working with a wide range of banks and funders. Neil started his career at Trade Indemnity and in 1994 Neil was appointed lead underwriter to help Lloyds of London successfully re-enter Credit Insurance market after 70 years absence. Neil has over 30 years of experience working in the Credit Insurance industry where he has held senior positions at Hiscox, Trade Indemnity and AIG.

Patrick Murphy Partner, International Trade Clyde & Co

Patrick Murphy is a Partner, based in the Dubai office, specialising in International Trade Disputes and Sanctions. With trade sanctions in the region developing at an ever increasing pace, Patrick regularly advises on the application of sanctions to domestic and international traders and businesses in the Middle East, including the application of UAE and EU sanctions against Iran and Syria. He had advised clients on the implications and compliance with, sanctions across a variety of industries including the shipping, commodity trading, insurance, construction and energy industries and works regularly with Clyde & Co's US offices on the implication of US sanctions against Iran for clients in the region. Patrick is also regularly quoted in the media in relation to sanctions issues and has been interviewed on CNN and BBC on the implications of sanctions for the business community in the Middle East.

Khalid Shaikh Head of Compliance & Bank MLRO, Audit, Fraud & Compliance Group Mashreq

Khalid Shaikh is Head of Compliance and Bank MLRO, Audit, Fraud and Compliance Group at Mashreq. Kunal Chowdry Senior Compliance Consultant Independent

A senior banker with over 25 years of experience in leadership roles including, interalia, group head of compliance and legal at RAK Bank in the UAE , strategic risk management, chief operating officer (Prudential and Rothschild) and business development manager. He was also a senior executive at Bankers Trust Australia. Middle East experience within the retail and corporate bank including asset management. Work experience includes 10 years in Dubai, 12 years in Australia and 5 years in London which has exposed him to international, Asia and Middle East markets working with cross-cultural teams. He has extensive dealing with banks at Board and EXCO levels on Risk/Compliance related matters as a subject matter expert in addition to ELT positions in various capacities. He holds a law degree from University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia and an MBA from University of San Diego.

Sriram Srinivasan Chief Executive Officer Skuchain

Sriram is a passionate entrepreneur looking to bring efficiencies into the Supply Chain. He has previously built Risk Management software at Salomon Bros., founded an ecommerce startup during the dot-com heyday and played EIR with a small fund. He is a qualified Captain of ocean going merchant ships, enjoys hackathons and has done the Executive Program at Stanford GSB.

Motasim Iqbal Regional Head of Transaction Banking, MENA Standard Chartered Bank

Motasim Iqbal is the Regional Head and Managing Director, Transaction Banking for Standard Chartered Bank MENA as of December 2015. In this role he is responsible for the Bank’s Cash Management, Trade Finance and Securities Services Business for the MENA region. Prior to this, Motasim was the Head of Transaction Banking for Standard Chartered Bank Singapore since January 2013. He was previously the Regional Head for Transaction Banking for the banks segment in the Middle East North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP) region. Motasim joined the Wholesale Banking business at Standard Chartered in 1997 and was appointed the Head of Transaction Banking for Pakistan in 2003. In 2006, he moved to Dubai to head the Financial Institutions segment within Transaction Banking across MENAP. Prior to joining Standard Chartered, Motasim began his career as an Assistant Manager in the Treasury Division of Shell Pakistan Limited. Motasim holds an MBA degree from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi. He has also attended various leadership programs including Leading Across Boundaries at Oxford Said Business School and the Business Leadership Planning course of the Nottingham Trent University. Motasim spent his childhood in Tanzania, East Africa and his early schooling in the International School of Tanganyika (IST) in Dar es Salaam. He is married, with three children aged eleven, eight and fourteen months.

Haytham El Maayergi Global Head of Transaction Banking Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

Before joining ADIB, Haytham’s last assignment was with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) where he was the Managing Director and UAE Country Head of Global Transaction Banking while also managing the GTS Regional Sales Heads for MENA region. Haytham possesses 23 years of professional banking experience and has held several key roles around the region, starting with Societe Generale, and moving to Citi where he was Country Head of Global Transaction Services for Egypt, UAE and Iraq, in addition to heading client coverage for Multinationals and Financial Institutions.

Peter Chin Executive Vice-President Premium Technology

Mr. Chin is the Executive Vice President of Premium Technology Inc., headquartered in New York City, N.Y. with offices in China (Beijing, Wuhan, and Hong Kong). Mr. Chin is responsible for market strategy and global sales of the supply chain finance (SCF) solutions product suite FinShare. He joined Premium in 2004 to provide thought leadership and develop the FinShare go-to-market product strategy. He works with clients to formulate financial supply chain solutions by leveraging their existing trade finance and technology capabilities. Mr. Chin has over 30 years financial services experience including commercial banking, investments, corporate finance, risk management, and exchange trading. He has expertise in deploying technology based SCF solutions to optimize working capital business objectives. Mr. Chin held senior positions at Merrill Lynch, Prudential Bache, JPMorgan, and consulting firm Capgemini in the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong. Mr. Chin has a B.S. in Management and Finance degree.

Bana Akkad Azhari Head of Relationship Management, MEA & CIS BNY Mellon Treasury Services

As BNY Mellon Treasury Services’ Head of Relationship Management for the Middle East & Africa and Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as a member of the Treasury Services’ EMEA management team, Bana Akkad Azhari is instrumental to BNY Mellon’s business development and growth ambitions in the EMEA developing markets. Bana is also Regional Executive for the Levant and North Africa, with overall responsibility for the Bank's business in Lebanon, Jordan, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. She manages the overall coverage and delivery of BNY Mellon’s products and services to existing and potential clients as well as market development and strategic growth opportunities. Bana has also led the effort to establish a chapter in the Middle East and Africa region for the company-wide Women Initiative Network. Prior to joining BNY Mellon in the beginning of 2006, Bana worked for over nine years with Citigroup in Beirut where she held the position of Resident Vice President and was a member of the credit committee. She moved across various roles in the organization, the last of which was the position of relationship manager for financial institutions, branches of multinational corporations, and NGOs. Prior to that, she held various positions in Credit Administration and Treasury. Bana has earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1996 and a Masters of Money and Banking degree in 2000, both from the American University of Beirut. Bana is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Lebanese Chamber of Commerce.

Neena Prakash Managing Director, Transaction Banking Products Emirates NBD

Neena has more than 24 years of experience in information technology, strategic planning, project management and banking. Her multi-dimensional experience has helped her spear head the Cash Management function in Emirates NBD. She has over 10 years of experience in Cash Management and has been instrumental in continually developing the e-banking platform for Corporates and Businesses. Arup Roy Head of Global Transaction Banking Saudi British Bank (SABB)

Arup Roy is responsible for the Transaction Banking business for The Saudi British Bank. SABB is an associate of HSBC Group and is one of the leading banks in Saudi Arabia having over 100 branches across the Kingdom. Based in Riyadh, Roy’s responsibilities cover strategy, product & business development and risk management for Trade, Supply Chain, Receivable Finance and Payments and Cash Management including Digital Banking. He took up this role during the end of 2008 and has since taken SABB to become one of the key players within the KSA Transaction Banking space. Prior to his current role, he was the Regional Head of HSBC Africa’s Transaction Banking business, responsible for 9 countries spread across Sub-Saharan Africa. Based out of Johannesburg, he also functioned as the Head of Corporate & Institutional Banking operations for HSBC Africa. Before his stint in Africa, he was the Head of Payments & Cash Management for HSBC, India. Operating out of Mumbai, he was responsible for pan India Cash Management Operations & Client Management of HSBC India. He has more than 25 years of experience in banking and has worked in a number of senior corporate banking roles for HSBC across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Mohamed Al-Afif Managing Director Cash Solutions Co.

Mohamed Al-Afif is Managing Director of Cash Solutions.

Zubair Shaikh Vice-President, Head of Trade Finance Sales Riyad Bank

Zubair is presently working as Vice President at Riyad Bank, heading the Sales and Products part of Trade Finance business. A Masters Degree holder in Financial Management and an Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers, he has been in banking for over 17 years. He began his career in India and worked with various Banks in India for around 9 years. He handled various responsibilities related to both, Traditional and Structured Trade Finance. He then moved to Riyad Bank in Jan 2007 to join the Trade Sales Team. At Riyad Bank, he is associated with the launch of various new Trade Products and the enhanced e-Trade portal for Corporate Clients. He also heads the Trade Sales team, which is responsible for enhancing the Bank’s market share and revenues, under Trade Finance business.

Rebecca Harding Chief Executive Officer Equant Analytics

Dr. Rebecca Harding is the co-founder and CEO of Equant-Analytics. She is a serial technology entrepreneur and has also held senior roles in business, academic institutions internationally. These include founder and CEO of Delta Economics, Senior Fellow at London Business School, CEO of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor worldwide, Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte and Chief Economist at the Work Foundation. In her early career she was a Senior Lecturer at the Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University and a Reader in Economics at the University of Brighton. She was a Specialist Adviser to the Treasury Select Committee and Chief Economic Advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship. She has published 8 books and over 200 articles and reports. Rebecca is a Director of the German British Forum, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts, an Academician for the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences and a member of the Society of Business Economists.

Eva Steinhaus Director, Structured Export & Trade Finance, Dubai Commerzbank

Based in Dubai, Ms. Steinhaus’ mandate as Deal Originator for Export Finance covers the Middle East and North Africa region with a view to build and enhance relationships with importers and help strengthen the efforts of the bank’s global Structured Export &Trade Finance business segment. Eva Steinhaus has been living in the Gulf region since 2008 and working for local financial institutions, most recently for Qatar First Bank in Doha. Prior to that, she worked for WestLB AG in New York, Hong Kong, and London for seven years in various corporate financing functions. Her fields of activity have comprised origination, structuring and risk management functions in oil and gas (up-, mid- and downstream) as well as in other key industry sectors like power, telecom and health care. Ms Steinhaus holds Master degrees from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Germany) and Columbia University in New York, and, through here longstanding interest and exposure, is well-versed in the Arabic culture and language.

Morten Sørensen Senior Director, Head of Large Corporates EKF

Morten is Senior Director and Head of Large Corporates in the Danish Export Agency, EKF. In this position he has been involved in a number of EKF related transactions in Africa and have insight to processes, up-coming transactions and credit appetite from an ECA perspective. Prior to his employment in EKF, Morten was working in the commercial banking sector for more than 15 years within Corporate Banking and Structured Leasing, until the financial crises offered a unique challenge unwinding a large portfolio of primarily LBO transactions by heading a Restructuring team and organizing portfolio asset sales in the secondary market. Morten is educated from the banking sector and carries a degree in “International Management and Economics” from Copenhagen Business School and courses from e.g. INSEAD.

Barry Lynch Managing Director, Onshore Procurement, Construction & Operations Mainstream Renewable Power

Barry Lynch is Managing Director of Onshore Procurement, Construction and Operations at Mainstream Renewable Power.

Milan Kalajdzic Financial Advisory & Structuring Southern Europe, Africa & Latin America Siemens Financial Services

As Senior Financial Advisor with Siemens Financial Services, Milan is responsible for Project & Export Finance in the Southern Europe and Africa region. Milan advises the energy divisions of Siemens, in particular Siemens Wind Power, and its customers on financing solutions enabling the successful execution of energy projects. Most recently his focus is on Wind Financing in Egypt. Prior to joining Siemens Financial Services, Milan was part of the project finance team of UniCredit covering power transactions. Milan holds a business degree from the Ohm University Nuremberg and is based in Germany.

Ali Sherwani Regional Head, MENA, Central Asia & Asia, International Business Development UK Export Finance

Ali Sherwani is the Regional Head, MENA, Central Asia & Asia in the International Business Development Division at UK Export Finance (the operating name of Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD)), the UK’s official export credit agency. Ali’s role is to engage with UK exporters, project sponsors, overseas borrowers, banks and others to understand their requirements and to work with them so that they make effective use of UK Export Finance support. Ali has held various positions within UK Export Finance including Treasury Management, New Products Development, Buyer Credit Policy and Documentation, Local Currency Financing, Short and Medium Term Underwriting, Claims and Marketing’.

Bora Bariman Head of Energy & Marine National Bank of Fujairah

Bora Bariman is Head of National Bank of Fujairah’s Energy & Marine coverage. Previously he was an oil and gas banker in London, having started his career in finance with natural gas production and distribution companies in the US. He has been active in arranging project finance, reserve based lending, and structured commodity finance. Mr. Bariman received a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government where his work focused on finance and regulation of large scale infrastructure.

Ashraf Mahate Head of Export Market Intelligence Dubai Exports

Dr Ashraf Mahate has actively been involved in researching and providing consultancy in the areas of entrepreneurship, trade, economics, banking, and finance for over 22 years in the UAE and previously in the UK. Currently, Dr Mahate is the Head of Export Market Intelligence at the Dubai Exports which is an agency of the Dubai Economic Department. Dr Mahate is also the Vice Chair of the Economic Policy Committee with the Dubai Economic Department. Dr Mahate is an advisor to the SME sector especially in the areas of trade and a judge for various industry awards. Dr Mahate is a regular contributor to various business magazines most notably Trade and Export Middle East; SME Advisor Middle East, Emirates Russia amongst others and newspapers including Gulf News; Khaleej Times and Al Bayan as well as having written a number of journal articles, chapters in books and edited books in the areas of entrepreneurship, trade, finance and innovation. He has also presented papers at major international conferences. Dr Mahate has provided extensive consultancy and training services to various organisations in the areas of banking, economics and finance. Dr. Mahate has been a past director of a number of companies including a venture capital firm and a private equity fund. Dr Mahate received his doctorate from Cass City University Business School in London (UK) which was ranked by the Financial Times newspaper as the 12th best university in the world for finance. He read Economics at University College London which is one of the principal colleges within the University of London followed by a Masters in International Economics and Banking at the University of Wales in Cardiff. Dr Mahate is a professional educator and received his training at the Institute of Education (University of London). Dr Mahate is a member of the Chartered Institute of Managers (UK) and a Member of the Institute of Commercial Management (UK). Dr Mahate is also a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).

Chirag Shah Executive Vice-President, Strategy & Business Excellence Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC)

In his role as Executive Vice President of Strategy & Business Excellence at DIFC Authority, Chirag Shah is responsible for facilitating the continuous growth of the Centre and has been an integral part of the DIFC’s journey towards becoming a leading global financial hub. Mr. Shah has worked in strategic and high impact influencing positions (Strategic Consulting, Industry and Government/Sovereign Wealth Funds) in the major emerging market blocks of Middle East, Africa and South Asia during a time when these regions saw dramatic shifts and development of the financial services industry. He has deep Financial Services domain knowledge across Commercial & Investment Banking, Wealth/Asset Management & Private Banking, Capital Markets/Securities Brokerage, Islamic Finance, Consumer & Personal Financial Services and Regulatory Policy. Mr. Shah holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA Finance), a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and is also a qualified Chartered Accountant.

Suresh Vaidhyanathan Group Chief Financial Officer Platinum Corporation

Suresh is the Group CFO at the Global Headquarters of Platinum Corporation FZE, a privately owned conglomerate with a group revenues exceeding USD 2 billion. Platinum is engaged in multiple businesses including commodities, industries, automobiles, food products, agri-business and services sectors, with a presence in 18 countries (with a primary focus on sub Saharan African countries). With international experience in Asia, Middle East and Africa exceeding 20 years at CFO level with large family owned organisations, Suresh has provided financial and strategic leadership to pre-eminent corporates across diversified business verticals. Suresh spearheads all the group’s fund raising, treasury, structured financing, project financing, M&A and other activities with several international banks and regional banks in Middle East and Africa. Suresh is a first class graduate in Commerce, a fully qualified Chartered Accountant and Cost & Management Accountant. He received the recognition as Board Leadership Fellow at the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), USA and trained at the Harvard Business School. Suresh is a fully accredited Board Director at the Institute of Directors, Dubai.

Svitlana Skrypnyk Sales Director Safin Gulf

Svitlana Skrypnyk works for SAFIN GULF FZCO since 2007. The company is part of the privately owned Safin GmbH, which is among the 10 largest independent steel trading and distribution companies in the world. In addition to steel trading, where the company is active in all the major markets, Safin GmbH is also involved in, amongst other things, mining, where it has won concessions to develop iron ore mines in Kazakhstan, as well as coal and oil trading. Safin GmbH was established in 1992 and today it has offices in 10 countries with representation by agents in another 42 countries. The Head office is in Vienna, Austria. Mrs. Skrypnyk represents company’s business interests in the region. She regularly participates in regional conferences and seminars, meets with producers, bankers, traders, stockholders, etc.

Anirudha Panse Executive Director & Head of Value-Added Trade Products National Bank of Abu Dhabi

Anirudha Panse (Ani) is a rank holder Chartered Accountant with 15+ years of Banking Experience. A Transaction Banking professional throughout, Ani has in-depth knowledge and hands on experience in Trade Finance across Front Office, Middle Office and Back office. Ani joined NBAD in Feb’ 2015 to structure and develop the Receivables Finance and Supply Chain Finance business from a Product perspective. Currently Ani heads GTB Trade Product Management at NBAD. Ani started his banking career in 2000 with the Export Import Bank of India where he worked in their Trade Finance Origination team. Subsequently, Ani moved to Citi India and managed Citi’s outsourced Trade operations across 30+ countries worldwide. Within Citi, Ani moved to London and was instrumental in institutionalizing the Supply Chain Finance business across EMEA. Prior to joining Exim Bank of India Ani worked at Parke Davis (India) Limited in their Corporate Finance team.

Ankit Goel Managing Director DS-Concept Factoring UAE

Ankit Goel is the Managing Director of DS-Concept UAE, where he oversees the firm’s portfolio in the Middle East and focuses on structuring supply chain finance and export factoring programs for small and middle market companies. Ankit is a seasoned professional with over 18 years of multi-dimensional experience in diversified business units in India, Africa and UAE. An energetic, global executive adept in leading high growth companies, Ankit excels at delivering corporate strategies, business and deals structuring, mergers and acquisitions, risk mitigation and credit analysis. Prior to joining DS-Concept, Ankit served as CFO for 5 years in diversified industries. Given his experience as CFO and vast knowledge of the MENA business climate, Ankit has been able to bring flexible and innovative working capital solutions to many fast growth and asset light companies in the UAE and beyond.

Charles Berry Chairman BPL Global

Charles Berry has worked as a London based specialist political risk insurance (PRI) broker since 1974 when the private PRI market was then in its infancy. He began his career with the Hogg Robinson Group, an early pioneer of the private PRI market, before co-founding Berry Palmer & Lyle Ltd (BPL Global) in 1983. BPL Global is an insurance broker specialising in Emerging Market Risk – political risk and credit risk in growth markets. BPL Global’s clients are major multinational corporations, banks and financial institutions. It has offices in London, Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong and affiliated offices in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Milan, Sao Paulo and Santiago. Charles Berry is a regular speaker at international conferences on political risk and trade credit insurance and has lectured and written extensively on the subject. He has a Masters degree from Oxford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute.

Robert Nijhout Executive Director International Credit Insurance & Surety Association (ICISA)

Robert Nijhout (1955) had 20 years of experience in the international trade credit insurance industry, before joining ICISA as its executive director in 2001. After obtaining his law degree he joined NCM (now Atradius) were he fulfilled several international management positions. His successive responsibilities varied from the implementation of the regional expansion of NCM, managing the strategic partnerships in Central Europe and Latin America, managing the London City office and finally heading the product development team. As executive director of ICISA Robert Nijhout is a frequent guest speaker at international conferences were he shares his views on current and future developments within the industry and regulatory and supervisory issues affecting the industry.

Sriram Ganeshan Chief Financial Officer Redington Gulf

Mr. Sriram Ganeshan is the Chief Financial Officer of Redington Gulf FZE, Dubai. As CFO, he is responsible for Finance & Accounts and IT for the Groups’ operations in Middle East, Turkey and Africa. He also serves on the Board of investee companies of Redington Gulf. Prior to joining Redington Gulf FZE in 2000, he worked with KPMG India, as part of their Assurance practice for over 3 years.

Leroy Almeida Senior Executive Officer, Senior Underwriter & Head of Trade Credit, Middle East Markel International (Dubai)

Leroy has worked in trade finance for around 15 years, with over 10 years of experience in underwriting trade credit insurance solutions in the Middle Eastern region. Leroy joined Markel International (Dubai) Ltd. in August 2014, which is based in the DIFC. He holds the job title as a senior executive officer, senior underwriter & head of trade credit - Middle East and is responsible for building Markel’s footprint and trade credit business in the MENA region. Prior to joining Markel, Leroy worked as a senior business development manager with Atradius' cooperation partners in the UAE since 2005 and also previously worked with ABN Amro Bank, in corporate banking in Mumbai. He holds MBA from Griggs University in the USA and a post graduate diploma in business management from XIM Mumbai. He is also certified in international trade and finance from IFS University College in London and in international credit risk management from FCIB, USA.

Casey Bell Head of Trade Credit, GCC AIG

Casey Bell is Head of Trade Credit, GCC at AIG.

Semih Ozkan Vice-President, Trade Finance & Cash Management, Corporates, MENA Deutsche Bank

Semih Ozkan is vice president for Global Transaction Banking Middle East and Africa at Deutsche Bank. He is responsible for managing the bank’s trade finance and cash management franchise in key markets in the region. Semih Joined Deutsche Bank after serving as a director for Transaction Banking Middle East at Standard Chartered Bank. He holds a diploma in Islamic finance from CIMA and a certificate in International Treasury Management from ACT. He is a graduate of Aberdeen Business School and Istanbul University. He is married with one child.

Anthony Palmer Deputy Chairman BPL Global

Anthony Palmer has worked in London, Paris and Singapore as a credit and political risk insurance broker since 1975. He co-founded Berry Palmer & Lyle Ltd (BPL Global) in 1983. BPL Global specialises in emerging market risk. Most of its clients are major multinational corporations and financial institutions. It has offices in London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, and affiliated offices in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Sao Paulo and Shanghai. Currently BPL Global holds the following awards: Best Trade Credit and Political Risk Insurance Broker (Global Trade Review), Best Insurance Broker in Trade (Trade Finance) and Best Trade Credit Broker (Trade & Forfaiting Review). Anthony is a regular speaker and writer on credit and political risk insurance. A graduate in Modern History from Oxford University, he has an MBA from INSEAD. He is a Chartered Insurance Broker and an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute. In July 2012 he set up BPL Global’s Asia Pacific head office in Singapore. He returned to London in April 2015, and is responsible for the group’s operations in Asia Pacific and Dubai.

Harriet Smith Head of Dubai Representative Office BPL Global

Harriet Smith joined BPL Global in February 2011 and moved to Dubai in May 2015 to set up a representative office within the DIFC. Whilst working for BPL Global in London she worked predominantly with German banks and corporates on medium to long-term business. Prior to BPL she worked in the security industry as an analyst based both in London and Iraq. The opening of the BPL Global Dubai office brings the total to five, joining Singapore, Paris, Hong Kong and London.

Crispin Hodges Senior Executive Officer, Underwriter Political & Contingency Group, Political Risks & Contingency Beazley Middle East

Crispin joined Beazley in January 2008. Having set up Beazley's Political and Contingency (PCG) unit in Singapore and spent four years developing it, he relocated to the Paris office in May 2012 to start Beazley's French PCG business. With effect from November 2014 he has started Beazley Middle East Limited in Dubai in the DIFC. Having graduated from University College London with a degree in French and Spanish, he has worked in the Lloyd's market since 1996 and in political risk and trade credit since 1998. He started with Chubb in 1996 on FI business, moving to Willis in 1997 to broke FI business. in 1998 moved to JLT to broke Political Risk and Trade Credit. Left JLT in 2002 to run political risk and trade credit division of Glencairn Limited. Left Glencairn in November 2007 post company sale and joined Beazley in January 2008.

Catherine Aubert Managing Director, Head of Trade Credit & Political Risk Insurance Société Générale

Catherine AUBERT has worked in the banking sector for most of her professional life. She spent 10 years with group Paribas in the International Division and then in the Strategy & Development Department. She then worked for 3 years as a Financial Institutions Development manager within Sedgwick France (now Marsh Mc Lennan). In 1999, she joined Société Générale as Head of Trade Credit & Political Risks Insurance. Catherine graduated from EDHEC Management School and has a Master in Communication from Paris Sorbonne University.

Nila Davda Senior Executive Officer Sovereign Risk Insurance (Dubai)

Nila Davda has been with Sovereign Risk Insurance Ltd.(Sovereign) since 2001 and currently heads up Sovereign’s Dubai operations.

Nila joined Sovereign from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), where she was in the loan distribution and International Securities Group. Prior to joining the IFC, Nila worked at the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) as a political risk underwriter covering investment-related transactions in emerging markets.

Nila has a BSC in political science and economics from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a MBA in International Business from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird) in Arizona.

Owais Diyan Head of Operations, Dubai Representative Office Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investments & Export Credit (ICIEC)

Owais Diyan is the Head of Operations of ICIEC’s Dubai Representative Office. In this capacity, Owais is responsible for the coverage of ICIEC’s Financial Institution clients, and Business Development efforts for ICIEC in the UAE and number of other key markets. He regularly represents ICIEC and speaks at key industry events and conferences in the region. Before relocating to Dubai, Owais was the Head of Medium-term Export Credit Insurance Services at ICIEC, where he was involved in business development and underwriting of ICIEC’s Medium-term transaction portfolio. His transactional experience spans deals in Algeria, UAE, Ethiopia, Sudan, Pakistan and Bahrain, in a number of sectors including energy, telecom, infrastructure, and commodities. Prior to ICIEC, he was a senior analyst with Citibank’s Investment Banking team, in the Financial Institutions Group.