Supreme Advisory Board

Qais Al Suwaidi is Director of the Climate Change Department at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE). In this role, he manages the National Climate Change Adaptation Program, a nationwide multisectoral risk assessment and adaptation planning effort aimed at improving the resilience of economic, social, and natural systems in the UAE. Qais also leads the implementation of the UAE’s Nationally Determined Contribution, with the aim of reducing the UAE’s GHG emissions in line with the country’s economic diversification efforts. Qais also leads the UAE’s Climate Change Research Network, which brings together a group of committed climate scientists and researchers to facilitate dissemination of knowledge and advance development of research collaborations. Internationally, Qais is a lead UAE negotiator in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He also represented the UAE in the 2020 G20 climate meetings and is a member of a number of national and international committees.

Al Suwaidi holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree from the Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG), a Master in International Law, International Relations and Diplomacy degree with a specialization in Sustainable Development from Sorbonne University, and a BSc in sciences from the University of Melbourne.

Engineer Tahani Yousuf received Urban planning Master Degree from American University of Sharjah 2007, and is currently working as a Director of urban Planning Department in Ministry of Energy and infrastructure 2021. Strong believes in values such as team work, transparency and Environment. Her professional interests focus on communicative approaches to planning and research and her current projects include the first phase of the National spatial development plan for UAE, which was an outcome of the governmental annual meetings 2018. In addition, she serves as a project manager for the National master plan 2030 to develop Northern Emirates (2008-2010), plus she served as a site engineer a lot of projects in the Eastern Area office (2001-2007). She was recently honored with the excellence award in the technical category, in the teamwork of developing services (with the department staff) and EGI (excellence award in GIS implementation) also with the department staff.

Colonel Yaser Alnuaimi have graduated from University of Wollongong (UOWD), in 2011 with Master of Information Technology Management. He is working in ICT field for more than 26 years and held a variety of positions in Ministry of Interior (MOI), which have helped him to achieve successful results. His current position as a Director of Technical Supports and he is looking for an even more challenging and rewarding role. He believes that ICT will play a highly important role in convergence of fast computing together with high-speed communications, and all other smart computational sciences and application and ICT also will influence the future world's various areas, including science, engineering, industry, business, law, politics, ...

As the head of the TDRA’s Center of Digital Innovation “CoDI” a digital transformation hub with an innovative environment that enables digital transformation and spreads the culture of innovation. Majid brings engineering experience and a broad strategic and business insights to this position. His role includes developing disruptive initiatives aiming to build digital capabilities across the UAE and the region, establish partnerships with leading technology and academic industries. The center also works on research and development in advanced and emerging technology, and develops prototypes to identify the potential use in the development of services and their delivery channels.

Majid is the Arab states representative in the Group on Capacity Building Initiative GCBI, an advisory group in the International Telecommunication Union and sits on the advisory board of the United Arab Emirates University – College of IT. Majid holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and a master’s degree in Business Administration.

Dr. Ammar Jarrar is a Smart Cities and Water Resources Expert. His recent work focuses on managing programs with the aim of addressing challenges facing smart cities, sustainable water resources management, and treated wastewater reuse. He has published several articles and reports in WRR Journal, IAHS, ASCE, and IAHR. He is the author and contributor to several reports and studies in the field of sustainability and water resources management and planning.

As a performance-driven professional with more than 25 years of experience in the smart cities and water industry in Australia and worldwide, Dr. Jarrar has worked across all facets of natural resources management and smart city initiatives, from operations and project management through to executive board meetings. He has solid experience working with water resources management, smart city management, greening and landscaping program management, water resources assessment and modelling, water quality, recycled water use, the nuances of cross-jurisdictional engagement, project management, value engineering, water & irrigation infrastructure projects, drainage projects, climate change impact and adaptation, socio-economic impacts and structural adjustments, strategic planning, environmental impact assessment, and rigorous evaluation of water sector reform implementation.

Dr. Jarrar has a proven track record in developing and maintaining strategic policy advice on smart cities and water reform programs. His achievements range from developing a smart city strategic plan and implementation framework, to designing and implementing successful irrigation, parks, landscape, and water management initiatives, as well as delivering efficient and effective programs on sustainable water and smart city strategies. Together with a strong technical background in research and project management, he has driven successful initiatives leading to improved and sustainable smart cities and water management programs across the world.

Mr. Saif started his career as a network engineer at ADNOC HQ in Abu Dhabi in 1995 and since then he has lead a career in Information & communication Technology to become Head of IT Dept. in ADNOC HQ. He later joined Higher Colleagues of Technology as the Chief Technology Officer, 4 years later he was appointed as Chairman Advisor to the Department of Municipalities and Transport. Currently he is the Digital lead in Abu Dhabi Government.

Dr. Hamed Al Hashemi is currently an Advisor to DOH Chairman and a Digital Health Program Director at Department of Health (Abu Dhabi).  He is leading digital healthcare transformation programs including data lake for healthcare, accelerated adoption of artificial intelligence, building big data analytics capacity, heath information exchange, AI & Innovation Lab and foresights in healthcare. Previously, he served as a Director for Strategic Affairs in Department of Health, Director for Government Strategy and Performance for General Secretariat of Executive Council of Abu Dhabi Government and a Director for Economic Policy Planning for Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development.  He holds a master’s in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School and a doctorate in Business Administration from Cranfield University.

Dr. Alzaabi received his bachelor from University of Sharjah in dental surgery, graduated the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland with a master’s degree in healthcare management and studied a master’s in public health in the University of Essex. He is the Vice Chairman of the Department of Health Abu Dhabi Youth Council and a Certified Foresight Practitioner (CFP). He also leads the AI and innovation lab in the Department of health with the aim to transform healthcare delivery and excellence for the population in Abu Dhabi. His passion advanced his career in healthcare landing him in the Public Health division of the Department of Health Following his belief in giving back to the community. He established the foresight and futures studies function in the Department of Health to study local and global healthcare futures. His most recent role Acting Digital Health Department Manager where he engages with the wider ecosystem in accelerating Abu Dhabi’s digital health agenda. Dr. Alzaabi believes in good design (for everyday life) and he is a passionate practitioner of design thinking. He also believes in transforming how value is created in ecosystems, from products and services to platforms creation and digital network orchestration.

Mark Cutis was appointed to the role of Chief Executive Officer of the ADGM Authority effective June the 1st 2021. In this newly created position, Mark will be responsible for key functions including Corporate Services, the Office of Strategy and Business Development and the Office of Information Security and Enterprise Risk Management. Mark brings over four decades of experience to this new role working in senior positions across multiple financial capitals, including New York, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Moscow, and Abu Dhabi. His core expertise is asset allocation, proprietary trading and ALM.

Prior to joining ADGM, Mark was part of the leadership team of key organisations in Abu Dhabi including: Group Chief Financial Officer at Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Chief Investment Officer at Abu Dhabi Investment Council where he set up the de novo Special Situations Unit focused on investing in one-off idiosyncratic opportunities globally. Before ADIC, he was in Japan for six years first with Unicredito (HVB) as CEO and then with Shinsei Bank as the Chief Investment Officer.

Mark holds an MBA from Wharton Business School and a BA in Economics from Emory University in Atlanta where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Speaks French and Greek and has a working knowledge of German.

Traffic Systems Maintenance Section Head with more than 17 yrs of experience in Design, Implementation, Operation and Maintenance of traffic Signals & controlling systems, system integration, intelligent transportation system, project Management. Graduated as Electronics Engineer, Working in Integrated Transport Centre.

Mohamed has a Master Degree in Business Administration from UAEU and bachelor degree in Management Information Systems. Has an experience in transportation (ITS) field for more than 11 years. Leader of different ITS initiatives in ITC such as, Development & Enhancement of GIS Applications (Darbi, GeoTrans), Public Transport Passenger Information Implementations (RTPI, Google Transit).

He is a director of the Artificial Intelligence applications at Abu Dhabi Police, also he served a number of entities in the Strategic management and performance development as Information Technology Expert. Dr.Alshamsi has a wide range research interests and publishes such as digital signal processing, machine learning, human computer interaction, computer vision, embedded systems and communications, and he gives more than 40 speeches in AI and IoT local and international events since 2017. 

Salama is holding MSc. in Technology management from Engineering and information college at BUiD and in collaboration with Manchester university. Her experience is in Digital transformation and service modernization with multiple integration platforms. she is certified as software product manager, SSCP and Google GCP specialist.

She was responsible for infrastructure and DC upgrade projects for Al Ain region and lead the digital services projects for Al Ain municipality. She was appointed as a lead in major service digitalization project across Abu Dhabi Emirates and other federal projects.

Salama a co-founder of Al AIN municipality AI-lab and board member, also she is a member of Program Advisory Committee for HCT and engaged in many other committees related to service development projects across the municipalities. She has been recognized as the best technical employee and her project won the 1st place in the best shared service category.

Her contributions are very well recognized as an active member in Al Ain municipality innovation lab, as she has many solution prototypes and do research in fields of 3D printing, Gamification, XR, IBM data science and studied smart device and mobile emerging technologies.

Eng. Bader Al Thehli holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of St. Louis, USA, a Master in Business Administration from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), in addition to a Post Graduate Diploma in Electricity Distribution from Cambridge University.

Eng. Bader Al Thehli had been working at Al Ain Distribution Company since November 1998. His experience in AADC ranges from being Head of the Regional Operation and Maintenance Unit in the late Nineties, to being a Director of Project between 2001 – 2003. After which he held many positions he became the Director of Electricity in 2009 up until he was appointed in his current position as Executive Operation Director in 2013.

Mohamed Al Breiki is the Director of Sustainable Real Estate at Masdar (wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi Government’s Mubadala Investment Company) with responsibility for leading the advancement of real estate business of Masdar City from investment planning through to delivery of sustainable community. Mohamed contributes by providing strategic planning, project management and financial oversights in the development of real estate assets while maintaining highest standard of excellence. Mohamed has over 20 years of development management experience ranging from planning and design to new construction and commercial tenant fit-out. Focused on optimizing various operations in the company and executing the company’s business plans.

Prior to joining Masdar, Mohamed worked at several companies, including Mubadala, ADEK and Urban Planning Council. During his 10-years at Mubadala Investment Company, he has been managing major prestigious projects in various sectors such as real estate, healthcare, education, aerospace, and ICT. Some of his notable projects include the design and delivery of the New York University, Four Seasons Hotel and Cleveland Clinic Hospital and Khazna Data Center in Abu Dhabi. While at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, Mohamed contributed to the master planning of various mixed-use developments across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and worked collaboratively with real estate developers to ensure their plans were professionally designed, sustainable and well-managed in urban environment context. Mohamed has also worked at ADEK previously where he managed the development and implementation of schools master plan in Abu Dhabi in his capacity as a Director of Infrastructure and Facilities Division.

Mohamed acquired his BTEC National Diploma in Business Studies from Southampton City College in England.  His education also includes a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi, where he also completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and earned his Master degree of Science in Engineering Management in June 2012.

Derek Woodgate is a consulting futurist, educator, author, speaker and curator. He is the President and Chief Futurist of The Futures Lab, Inc., a foresight consultancy, he founded in 1996, which specializes in creating future potential for major corporations and institutions (http://futures-lab.com).

In addition, Derek is an Associate Professor in the ICT Department of the Engineering and Science Faculty at the University of Adger in Norway and a Visiting Professor at the University of Houston College of Technology Foresight Program. In all cases, he teaches Grad and PhD students in Applied Foresight. Recently, he was appointed to the Executive Board of the Center for Futures Studies at the University of Dubai. Derek is also a member of the World Futures Studies Federation UNESCO Committee. Derek is a resident of USA and UAE and has extensive experience of UAE government operations. Derek has BA in Eastern European Studies and a MA in Political Economics and studied for his PhD in the ICT Department at the Faculty of Engineering and Science University of Adger.

Derek has worked on numerous integrated city development projects at the government, regional and local level, as well as with the world’s leading architects, construction, and materials manufactures. He was previously advisor to the US Government on the future of transportation and infastructure 2050, the UAE Ministry of the Interior on Security, policing traffic and civil defense, UN/UNESCO on the advancement of futures literacy for societal improvement, Ministries of Education Norway and Germany introducing transdisciplinarity for societal transformation, for the Texas State Government on the 30-year development of the future of Austin, TX, the Central Texas Technology Corridor and the cultural development of Austin, TX as well as the future of energy tech for city development, Malaysian Government on the integration of creative into the 30 year Kuala Lumpur development plan, The City of London for the repurposing of Covent Garden and the future vision for Silicon Roundabout, etc.