Head of Platform Strategy, GBS METAP - TikTok / ByteDance
Annie spent most of her 16 year career honing her brand building skills at Procter and Gamble.
She spent over a decade specializing in Insights and Analytics before she moved to Brand
Management where she led the Pantene business in the MENA region.
Annie joined TikTok at the beginning of 2021. She established the Platform Strategy team,
responsible for building the TikTok for Business Brand across METAP.
When she isn't working, Annie spends time with her daughters, Ella and Carlie, who finally
think she is cool since she joined TikTok. She is an avid reader but often finds herself quoting
the books she reads, which her colleagues politely tolerate.
Director Media and Digital Hubs - MENA, Turkey & Russia - Unilever
Asad manages Unilever’s Media & Digital Marketing Transformation for Middle & East North Africa, Turkey and Russia. He also sits at the Unilever MENA/Turkey/Russia Board. Asad has been in Dubai since 2013, prior to which he spent 6 years at the Unilever HQ in London. Earlier in his career, Asad worked for WPP/Group M in various parts of the world. He managed local offices in Pakistan and Vietnam, did a global role in London, and managed regional projects in Asia and LATAM.
Asad is an award-winning marketer with accolades from D&AD, Cannes Lions, WARC, Global Effie’s, and Spikes, Lynx, Festival of Media, and MENA Effie’s. Asad is passionate about bringing together technology, data, and creativity to help craft meaningful brands and businesses.
Asad was the Founding Chair of The Marketing Society Middle East Chapter from 2016 to 2018 and sits on the board of the IAA UAE.
Asad was awarded The Marketing Society Fellowship in 2019. He also was the Effie’s Marketer of The Year in 2018.
Vice President Communications - Deep Knowledge Group
Baha Hamadi is also a Board Member of the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA MENA) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Community of ESG Practitioners. He also serves as a mentor for Dubai Chamber’s Centre for Responsible Business.
With 19 years of experience in marketing and CSR, he has supported the social innovation and ESG efforts of founders and CEOs, enabling startups to generate and communicate social and environmental impact in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Baha holds a master’s degree in marketing from Middlesex University, Dubai, and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Notre Dame University, Lebanon.
Head of Strategy - VMLY&R Commerce
Fabio Medeiros' Bio
Fabio has over 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing
He has worked across multiple geographies and categories. Including 11 years of experience in MENA spent developing brand and portfolio strategies for multinational and regional companies.
His experience stretches from traditional comms planning to multi-channel brand campaigns.
He has been a part of respected agencies in the MENA and APAC, as well as playing a significant role within the Uber regional marketing strategy team based in Dubai.
General Counsel - OSN
Fiona is a highly accomplished and internationally recognized media lawyer with close to 30 years of hands on experience as in private practice and as in-house counsel. She is recognized globally for her unparalleled knowledge of media laws in the Middle East, having spent half of her career in the region, as well as her understanding of the complexities of commercial practice in the extended media sector. As General Counsel, Fiona works across all parts of the business, in close collaboration with key stakeholders. Fiona acts as company secretary to the board, actively leads a team of lawyers that support OSN in all legal, regulatory and contractual matters, and oversees the anti-piracy and content protection teams.
Co-Founder & CEO - MEmob+
In a world where smartphones have revolutionized and transformed many businesses from advertising to entertainment, one man’s vision took the marketing and advertising industry by storm.
Ihab El Yaman is the co-founder and CEO of MEmob+, a data mining, activation, and monetization company that started its operations in 2018. Under his leadership, MEmob’s business grew by 15% in its first year and 25% in its second, beyond the MENA region with new entities and strategic business partnerships across Europe, the USA and Africa.
Ihab joined Akama Holding’s Mediaquest in 2014, as a senior rich media specialist, before taking the leadership of the creative and technical department. He successfully transitioned to business development, managing the company’s Dotmena Premium Network of digital properties.
During his association with the industry giants like Millennial Media and working closely with Qualcomm via Gimbal, Ihab penetrated deeper into the mobile marketing realm and gained a global perspective on location intelligence, data collection and consumer profiling.
Ihab has a degree in Graphic Design from Lebanese International University and is a certified expert in the Business Innovation and Applications of Blockchain Technologies from MIT.
Co-Founder- Geodata
Serial Entrepreneur with +10 years experience building tech & digital companies. Since 2018 focused on the Big Data & Blockchain space, connecting the industry needs with decentralized capabilities. His latest venture, Dataverse is building the first truly decentralized data ecosystem that connects market participants in a secure, efficient and fair way.
Group Senior Director – Data & Insights-Choueiri Group
With over 12 years of industry experience, Mathieu made the move to Choueiri Group's newly established Data Department in 2014. In his current role he heads up the Group's Data and Insights unit and spearheads a broad range of projects encompassing audience, research, measurement and BI while orchestrating consumer, market and media-oriented studies which enable brands to redefine their media and communication strategies. Outside of his professional life, Mathieu is passionate about music and is an accomplished bass player. He also paints and considers himself to be a squash devotee.
Chief Marketing Officer - Stellantis
Melhem Najm is the regional Chief Marketing Officer at Stellantis, overseeing the brand marketing and digital activities for an exciting portfolio of 14 brands in 84 countries.
This comprises world-leading brands including Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Dodge, DS, Fiat, Jeep, Mopar, Opel, Peugeot and Ram.
An award-winning marcomms specialist, Najm has over 15 years of global and regional strategic communications, marketing and media experience, and over a decade within the automotive industry working on multinational brands.
Prior to joining Stellantis, he held senior brand and agency side roles including general manager of Communications at Nissan Middle East and Regional Business Unit Director at Mindshare MENA. At Mindshare, he managed the biggest automotive portfolio in WPP’s Group M, which included brands like Nissan, Infiniti & British Petroleum.
Najm’s creative and results-driven approach to marketing has resulted in multiple gold and silver awards at the MENA Effies, Dubai Lynx and Cannes Lions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in International Business Management from Notre Dame University in Lebanon.
CEO - VMLY&R Commerce
Nick is the CEO of VMLY&R COMMERCE, MENA, heading the regional network of offices from the hub in Dubai. He was the founding leader for Geometry Middle East and North Africa, overseeing the migration of OgilvyAction and launch in 2013.
Geometry experienced unprecedented growth and recognition under Nick’s leadership. They were crowned the number one creative agency in the Geometry Global network for 4 years, winning awards at every international show including; Cannes Lions, Effies, Dubai Lynx, Loeries, Drum Awards as well as the first ever WPP Extraordinary Award for Commerce for Unilever Handle on Hygiene 3.0.
Nick is a pioneer in the brand experience and activation space and regular writer and speaker on all things commerce and experiential.
CEO & Founder, Brand Ripplr, BuzzBee, Insydo
Tanaz Dizadji is the Founder & CEO of Brand Ripplr, the Middle East’s leading influencer marketing platform that connects brands with over 60,000 content creators in the MENA region. Tanaz is also the founder of BuzzBee, the region’s leading barter/gifting influencer platform, and the brainchild behind Insydo, a popular digital lifestyle publisher and video content producer.As a leading female entrepreneur in the Middle East, Tanaz has been recognised as one of the ‘UAE’s 50 Most Influential Brits’ and ‘Business Leader of the Year’ by the region’s most prominent voices. Appearing on the cover of Forbes Middle-East in 2018, her enterprises have received numerous accolades including ‘Start Up of the Year’ and Web Summit’s ‘Favorited Startup’ in 2017.
Professor of Decision Sciences and Technology Management - INSEAD
Theodoros Evgeniou is a Professor of Decision Sciences and Technology Management at INSEAD. He has been working on machine learning and AI for almost 25 years. He is a World Economic Forum Academic Partner for Artificial Intelligence, member of the OECD Network of Experts on AI, advisor to BCG Henderson Institute, and a co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Tremau, a B2B SaaS company for safe and compliant digital technologies. He holds four degrees from MIT.
Head of Business Marketing - Google
Chehadé has over 15 years of experience in Consumer & Retail, Consulting and Digital Marketing.
He currently leads the Business Marketing in Google Middle East and North Africa, enabling and bringing digital solutions to governments and companies in the region.
He is also one of the early founders of The Healthy Home and member of the value creation committee of Dubai Angel Investors.
Ziad is an expert in geo expansion, digital marketing, go to market and growth strategies.
Before joining Google, Ziad held several managerial positions at Unilever, Booz Allen Hamilton, Booz & Company, Strategy& and also served as Executive member at Ball Corporation.
This year, on 22nd November, we will yet again bring together over 1000+ professionals from the industry of Marketing & Communications in MENA to recognize any and all forms of marketing that contribute to a brand's success.
What’s coming up?
A series of programs - from thought leadership program, judging opportunities, Bootcamps to the main Awards Gala!
Do not miss the chance to become a part of this prestigious program to - Learn, Grow & Connect.
What’s in it for you and your company?
• Create strong relationships with prospective customers who would be interested in the solutions and services you provide
• Stand apart from the competition and create brand awareness for your company in the right places (Physical/Digital)
Interested in positioning your company strongly to the best in the industry?
