Riad Al Khouri
Jordan
Jordan
Riad al Khouri, a Jordanian based in Amman, is a graduate of l’Ecole internationale de Genève who also holds a BA from the American
University of Beirut, and an MLitt from the University of Oxford, (both in Economics). Working in Arabic, English, and French, he has advised the World Bank Group (WBG), the UK Department for International Development, and many others, on economic issues, among numerous other topics. As a regional consultant for decades, Riad, among other activities, has covered most
countries in West Asia & North Africa, including as WBG consultant in Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey the UAE, and Yemen. Among his most recent WBG assignments as team leader were in 2021 on Doing Business & Country Reforms in Afghanistan, as well as in 2022 evaluating Financial Inclusion in Egypt.
Shirley Shahar
Israel
Israel
The Co-founder, DANA GLOBAL Shirley’s career has included significant experience in marketing and business development with corporate enterprise, food and agricultural innovation and startups in different sectors.
Alongside her career, Shirley has been a mentor in different programs that promote diversity, women empowerment and innovation.
Today, she is leading DANA, an Abu Dhabi based venture builder and investment platform, that supports women led startups from the MENA region in sectors of desertech, including sectors of agrifood, sustainability, water solutions, renewable energy, and circular economy. She leads the company strategic planning regarding dealflow, business development, and ecosystem partnerships.
Shirley strives to implement impact and the values of diversity, sustainability and gender equality throughout DANA’s operations.
Shirley’s vast experience in agritech and foodtech is invaluable in directing startups and regional ecosystem toward practical solutions that serve tangible marketplace needs.
Shirley is a mother of four, including twins.
Dr. Bachir Ismael Ouedraogo
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso
Dr Bachir Ismael Ouedraogo is currently Senior Advisor Sahel and Power Africa at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. Prior to this position he was the Minister of Energy and Mine of Burkina Faso for about 4 years.
He successfully implemented about 200MW solar projects in Burkina including solar pumping and irrigation for about 100 villages to support farmers in
agriculture. He doubled electricity access to the population when he was in office using extensive
solar energy for rural area. He is a PhD in Economics of Renewable Energy and Climate Change of
the University of Manchester where he also conducted several researches on the financial impact
of renewable energy for developing countries. He also has a Master in Public Finance from the
University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. Dr Bachir previous professional experience includes
the position of Coordinator of the ECOWAS Renewable Energy Entrepreneurship Support Facility.
That facility aimed at supporting entrepreneurs in the Ecowas region to develop their business in
the renewable energy sector and support them to have bankable project that will meet the
requirements of the investors. He is the founder and CEO of OPEN Education which developed
innovative eLearning solution for developing countries. He has also been elected twice as an MP
for the parliament of Burkina Faso where he took the position of Parliamentarian Secretary.
Riad Al Khouri
Jordan
Jordan
Riad al Khouri, a Jordanian based in Amman, is a graduate of l’Ecole internationale de Genève who also holds a BA from the American
University of Beirut, and an MLitt from the University of Oxford, (both in Economics). Working in Arabic, English, and French, he has advised the World Bank Group (WBG), the UK Department for International Development, and many others, on economic issues, among numerous other topics. As a regional consultant for decades, Riad, among other activities, has covered most
countries in West Asia & North Africa, including as WBG consultant in Afghanistan, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey the UAE, and Yemen. Among his most recent WBG assignments as team leader were in 2021 on Doing Business & Country Reforms in Afghanistan, as well as in 2022 evaluating Financial Inclusion in Egypt.
Ravit Dinmez Yehezkel
Israel
Israel
Ravit Dinmez Yehezkel, LL.M, EMBA possesses extensive legal knowledge in the public, private and NPO sectors in Israel.
In her previous position Dinmez-Yehezkel was employed by the ministry of Environmental Affairs where she dealt with government relations, regulations, strategy, and crisis management.
As Leket Israel’s Vice President of Legal and Government Relations, she formulates overall policies and strategies to lead the organization in the field of food rescue and food insecurity, in collaboration with government decision makers.
Dinmez Yehezkel represents Leket Israel at government ministries and meets regularly with officials, at Knesset committees, local governments, and other relevant organizations. Additionally, she forms and promotes collaborations related to food rescue and food insecurity and promotes parliamentary tools, such as legislation, queries, etc.
Dr. Susan E Saxton
USA
USA
Dr. Saxton has over 25 years of educational and business expertise, with a focus on transformational leadership and corporate strategy. In her role as Chief Executive at Learning Models LC, Dr. Saxton is focused on increasing scale and quality for public and private entities; designing, building, and operating new schools and universities; and consulting to ministries and governmental institutions in the MENA region with initial activity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Prior to her current role, Dr. Saxton was the Founding President of the American University of Bahrain (AUBH), where she built a first-of-its-kind campus and faculty corps to deliver a unique style of education in the emerging GCC market. She previously held senior roles for Laureate Education, serving as Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Academic Officer, and Senior Vice President for Global Products and Services; and as SVP Innovation & Emerging Strategies and CEO of the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences. In these positions Dr. Saxton was instrumental in the acquisition and expansion of campus locations, requiring extensive due diligence and regulatory negotiations, as well as the restructuring and transformation of institutions within Laureate Education’s larger corporate strategy.
Through her international entrepreneurial roles in both developed and emerging economies, she is seen as a unique combination of strategist, visionary, turnaround specialist, and innovator.
Dr. Saxton has two Ph.D.s, in Organization and Management, and Human Services/Psychology; a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Business from the University of Liverpool; a Master of Science in Business Administration (M.S.B.A.) in Finance from Boston University; and a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Wellesley College.
Dr. Saxton’s other notable positions include:
Chief Strategy & Development Officer, International Baccalaureate Organization
Dean of Students and Vice President Strategy & Product Development , Kaplan University
Founding Dean, School of Business & Technology, Capella University
Leehee Goldenberg
Israel
Israel
Leehee is a lawyer and policy professional specializing in energy, infrastructure, climate change, carbon markets and resource governance.
She began her legal career at the Israeli Ministry of Justice, working on UNCLOS, trade agreements and security issues, and currently works as the VP of Policy & Head of Legal at Oporto Carbon, helping companies navigate the voluntary carbon market.
With 20 years of experience in policy and cross-sectoral collaboration, she has led successful partnerships and coalitions with government ministers, senior regulators, municipalities as well as civil society and the private sector.
As a senior lawyer and litigator, in her previous position as Director of the Economic Department at the Israeli NGO Adam Teva V’Din, she led some of the most important environmental lawsuits of the last decade: successfully securing amendments to the government’s road map for the offshore natural gas industry; preventing the expansion of the oil refinery in Haifa; limiting the industrial use of Dead Sea water and led to the approval of the National Energy Efficiency Plan.
Israel
She is an active member of the Indices Committee of the TA-125 Fossil Fuel Free Climate Index and Ecopeace’s MENA Regional Forum.
Dr. Hosni Ghedira
Tunisia
Tunisia
Dr. Hosni Ghedira is presently the Director of Research Engagement at Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the world’s first graduate-level research-based AI university. He received his MSc degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada) and his PhD in Water Sciences from the University of Quebec (Canada) in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Before joining MBZUAI, Dr. Ghedira served as a Director of the Research Centre for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment at Masdar Institute from 2010 to 2020. Before moving to the UAE, he spent six years at the City University of New York as Assistant Professor and Research Associate Professor. He was the founding Director (in 2003) of the Environmental Remote Sensing and Image Processing Laboratory at the NOAA Cooperative Remote Sensing Science & Technology Center (NOAA-CREST) in New York.
Dr. Ghedira has 20 years of rich and progressively responsible experience in diverse sectors of Energy, Environment, Water, Innovation and Climate with a total of 10 years at managerial level in national and regional institutions. Dr. Ghedira is an active member in several regional and international working groups in the field of clean energy, space technologies, water security and environmental monitoring. Dr. Ghedira has participated in several studies with international organizations (UN-ESCWA, World Bank, IRENA, AfDB) on clean energy, water security and water-energy nexus. Dr. Ghedira was nominated in January 2019 by Solar Quarter Magazine in the list of Most Influential Solar Business Leaders in The MENA PV Market. He was nominated in January 2018 as a member of Mohammed bin Rashid Academy of Scientists (MBRAS).
Mustafa Oğuz
Turkey
Turkey
Mustafa Oğuz is an Istanbul-based business consultant specialized in political risk, corporate affairs and policy & strategy development He received his BA degree in International Relations from Istanbul Beylent University in 2003 and graduate degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from Sabancı University (İstanbul) in 2005. He was a visiting researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA Center) at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, Israel, in the 2005-2006 academic year.
He completed his military service at the Turkish General Staff in June 2007 and started worked at the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye (DEIK). During this duty, he has been in charge of speech writing, policy and strategy development. He served in technical committees of national organizations such as the Investment Environment Improvement Coordination Board (YOİKK) of Türkiye and international organizations such as the Organization of Turkic States. Within the Board, he served as the director of DEIK Business Councils on regulated issues such as health, education, logistics, energy, and consultancy services.
In addition to his duties at DEIK, he served as the special advisor to Minister of Commerce of Türkiye in 2018-2019. Additionally, he was the youngest member of the Istanbul Development Agency Development Board between 2014-2017 and is a member of the advisory board of Istanbul Aydın University Chinese Studies Center and African Studies Center.
Since October 2019, he is managing his consulting firm based in Istanbul.
Dr. Shamal Abdulkhaliq Mohammed
Kurdistan (Iraq), UAE
Kurdistan (Iraq), UAE
Dr Shamal Mohammed is an accomplished AgriTech executive with extensive experience in leading innovation research and development and digital transformation in the agricultural industry. Shamal holds a PhD in remote sensing and machine learning applications in agriculture and is presently the AgriTech Director at Silal in the UAE.
He is responsible for the AgriTech innovation program, leading R&D activities and building strategic partnerships nationally and internationally to develop an innovative ecosystem for AgriTech innovation. Before his current role, Shamal held leadership positions at the AGRI-EPI Centre, Agrii, and AHDB, in the UK, where he led various projects and teams focused on digital agriculture, soil health, crop nutrition, and precision farming. Shamal has a track record of developing and implementing digital solutions that improve food production systems, increase environmental sustainability, and enhance farmers’ livelihoods.
He is a member of the National Committee for Local Production and Technology in the UAE Government and an Advisory Board member of the Water Research Centre at New York University in Abu Dhabi.