The Data Innovation Summit MEA 2026 Speakers
Data Innovation
Summit MEA Chairman
The Data Innovation Summit MEA 2026
Keynote Speaker
Giovanni Leoni
AI Governance Evangelist
Waqas Hashmi
Area Vice President – GCC & Pakistan
Teradata
The Data Innovation Summit MEA 2026
Stage Moderators
Gautam Verma
Head of Data Enablement
Department of Government Enablement
Faris Al Masri
Data Governance / Data Management and Data Platform Manager
Federal Tax Authority
Gopi Maren
Global Alliance for Artificial Intelligence
Global AI Delegate – UAE
Michael Malek
Director – Data Management
The Data Innovation Summit MEA 2026
Speakers
Bhargav Pandillapalli
Manager, Data Scientist
Mastercard
Altaf Patel
VP AI Reinvent & Engineering
Novo Nordisk
Shehla Tanveer
Head of Data and Analytics
Al Futtaim Real Estate
Sreeram Ramesh
Senior Manager – Data Science
Adidas
Jawad Saleemi
Head of AI & Data
Sparebank1;
Assistant Professor
Oslo Metropolitan University
Brent Pienaar
Head of Digital Transformation & Automation | Finance Technology
Qiddiya Investment Company
Steyn van Zyl
Business Intelligence Director
Aujan Coca-Cola Beverages Company (ACCBC)
Khulood Alawadhi
Director – Advanced Technology Services
Moro Hub
Kevin Neogy
Group Head of Digital Transformation, AI & Robotics
The Kanoo Group – UAE
Louis Karam
Head of Analytics and Business Intelligence
C1 Network
Harikrishna Jiju
AI Engineer
Standard Chartered Bank
Sutharsan Chiranjeevi Partha Saarathy
Head of Product Management & AI
GEMS Education
Majd Khabour
Strategic Advisor to Chief AI Officer Office
Dubai Health Authority
Lakshmi Krishnamurthy
Head of Data Governance
AW Rostamani
Saima Ali
Director of Data & Analytics
OSN
DMITRY Menshenin
Head of Insights and Analytics
Sanofi
Alaa Moussawi
Chief Data Scientist
NYC Council
Andre Lopes
Senior Software Engineer
Tesla
Dr. Fayid Kadambodan
Assistant Director – Enterprise Solutions – Digital
Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ)
Dr. Hamza Agli
Vice President – Innovation & AI
DP WORLD
Hichem Troudi
Vice President – Projects Transformation
DAMAC
Himanshu Manglunia
Senior Manager, Data Analytics
Tamara
Shaikh Mohd Sohel
Cluster Director Data Science
Accor Shared Services
Ilias Krikelis
Procurement Director
GWC
Prem Kumar Ramamoorhty
Data Science & Analytics Leader | Enterprise AI & Digital Transformation
KOUT FOOD GROUP
Dr. Hazem Ahmed
Data Scientist Team Lead
Emirates Group
Dr. Mubarak AbdulSalam
AI Strategist
Ducab
Vanessa Eriksson
AI & Cybersecurity Strategy Advisor
Vanessa Eriksson Ab.
Hajar El Hanafi
AI & Data Transformation Lead
Electrolux Group
Mustafa Merchant
AI Leader, Business Analyst & Special Projects PMO
instashop
Dr Alexey Sidorov
Chief Data Evangelist
Denodo
Shashank Sridharan
Head of Enterprise Analytics & Intelligence
Allianz Partners
Amr Metwally
Assistant Executive Director
Itqan – Clinical Simulation and Innovation Center
Chris Unwin
Field CTO – Data Governance
Collibra
Waseem Akram Syed
Director of Data & AI
The Entertainer
Will Martin
Data & AI Evangelist
Dremio
Usman Arshad
Senior AI Engineer
Imdaad
Ramin Hoodeh
AI Product Manager | Creator of the AI-Native Product OS
Bayut
Anis Sayed
DevOps Lead
BBI INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY L.L.C
Dipti Dash
Senior Partner Solutions Engineer
Cloudera
Wassim Ibrahim
Head of Data Advisory
WSP
Arockiaraj Arockiam
Head of Data & AI
Multibank Group
Jad Kachmar
Head of Operations
PRYPCO
Juan Ignacio Colombo
Senior Operations Manager
PRYPCO
Hussein Takch
Senior Program Manager – Head of Business Transformation
MBC Group
Ahmed T. AlAwami
Head of Digital Transformation & AI
Saudi Energy
Olga Ilunga
Head of Data Analytics
MetLife Gulf
Siddharth Dwivedi
Senior Solutions Architect
ClickHouse
