Speakers

With eight years of employer branding experience at Universum, Abdou Ziat has recently been working for the Swedish Trade and Invest Council 'Business Sweden's North-Western African hub in Casablanca before rejoining Universum and Stockholm. This time focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, a recently identified focal point of Universums strategic operations.

Based between Dubai and the Universum HQ in Stockholm, Ziat has a financial mathematical engineering academic background with a business-minded approach.

For more details, feel free to come forward, socialize and speak directly to him about EB in English, Swedish, French, or Arabic.

Starting in 1998, Andreas Eimer (born 1962) established the careers service at the University of Münster. He studied "Career Management and Counselling"/Organizational Psychology at the University of London/Birkbeck College, where he graduated with an MSc in 2009. In his function as Head of the Careers Service, Eimer is engaged in teaching, counseling, and working on strategic development. In 2018, he finished training in psychotherapy.

He advocates for an understanding of employability within higher education that would see adaptability, knowledge creation, and innovation as the core elements. Above that, he promotes career education to be knowledge and research-based and is active in developing quality assurance procedures, and teaching methods, and impact research in the field. Since 2015, he has conducted various expert missions to Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, and South-East Asia. He has consulted academic and administrative staff in higher educational institutions and ministries for higher education on how to strengthen graduates’ employability.

Before his current position, Eimer worked as a journalist and in the PR field for several years beyond others for the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Science in Düsseldorf (Germany).

Ayman Ismail is an international expert in the area of entrepreneurship and economic development. He is currently the Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship and associate professor at the American University in Cairo School of Business; director for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; and founding director of the AUC Venture Lab and AUC Angels. He is also a co-founder, angel investor, or board member of six fast-growing startups in fintech, microfinance, logistics, and biotechnology.

Ismail is a former research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. He received his PhD in International Economic Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He also holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering, an MBA from the American University in Cairo, and a master’s degree in city planning and information systems from MIT. 

He had an extensive consulting career in management, technology, and economic development. Previously, he was a consultant in McKinsey and Company’s business technology office in New York and a co-founder and managing partner at Enovio Consulting. He was also a consultant for international organizations, such as the World Bank/IFC, African Development Bank, UNCTAD, and USAID. 

In 2012, Ismail was selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum (WEF). He is a co-founder and board member of Nahdet El-Mahrousa, a leading Egyptian NGO incubating social entrepreneurs and community initiatives, and a trustee of the Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center (TIEC).

 Caroline Nassar is a senior career advisor at the American University in Cairo (AUC) Career Center. Her work scope involves providing individual career advice to students and alumni and holding career development workshops and outreach sessions to help clarify career interests and support their career planning and job search. Nassar is also qualified to administer and interpret several self-assessment tools, such as the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) and the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). She is an advocate for equal opportunity for all; she aids in raising awareness of inclusion in the workplace and works with students with disabilities to prepare them for the job market better.

Nassar has experience in supporting students and alumni in their graduate studies search and scholarship and application process. Her work scope spans from reaching out and coordinating with different international universities to hold on-campus graduate study information sessions to planning and organizing an annual International Graduate Study Fair with participation from international universities, institutes, and organizations offering graduate study opportunities and scholarships.

Nassar graduated from the German University in Cairo with a bachelor’s degree in business informatics, then later obtained her master's degree from AUC in international and comparative education. She currently coaches public universities’ staff members in career planning and job search as part of a USAID-funded project (UCCD), teaches the Professional Educator Diploma at AUC, and volunteers with CISV to promote peace education among teenagers internationally.

Dalia Awad has more than 30 years of experience in the educational and advising fields in management, training, career education, evaluation, and counseling. She joined the Career Center at the American University in Cairo (AUC) in the summer of 2001 as a career advisor. In the span of 18 years, she was promoted to senior career advisor, assistant director of career advising, and associate director of career advising and is currently holding the position of director, career advising, and campus engagement, a role she has assumed since September 2018.

Awad is a Career Development Facilitator (CDF) Instructor and a certified job and career transition coach; her work scope involves managing the career advising operation, ensuring that students and alumni career planning and reporting needs are met and that relevant career information and resources are available. Awad is qualified to administer and interpret several self-assessment tools. In the last four years. 

Awad was involved in establishing two Employability and Career Development Centers in two public universities as part of the USAID-funded project. She is currently involved as a technical advisor in another USAID-funded project (UCCD), which undertakes opening 20 Career Centers in 12 public universities. 

Before her work at AUC, Awad worked for fourteen years in the educational field in management, training, and evaluation. The positions that she held in several private schools include academic consultant to the director, assistant principal, and department head. 

Awad received a BSc in mechanical engineering from AUC.

Dana Downey, MA, is the associate director of the Career Development Center at New York University Abu Dhabi, where she oversees relationships with employers and career advising. She helps her team use data to decide what matters most, drive change, anticipate challenges, and shift the career development paradigm. She has presented at local, regional, and international conferences about contextualized career advising, data-driven decision-making, regionally relevant recruitment, and the advantage of global mobility. Downey has an MA in counseling from the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on non-Western models of counseling. She has worked in career development for more than 10 years, previously at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Florida in the United States.

Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman has a long history with AUC, from serving as assistant professor of physics when he first joined in 2006 and chair of the Department of Physics four years later to simultaneously serving as associate dean of graduate studies and research and director of the Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center, both in the School of Sciences and Engineering, starting 2011. His senior administrative duties began in 2013 when he became associate provost for research while continuing to head the Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center. Three years later, he became vice provost before serving as interim provost in early 2017. Abdel-Rahman was appointed AUC provost in June 2017.  

A prolific researcher and physicist, Abdel-Rahman has extensive expertise in thermoacoustic and photonics. Among his distinctive achievements is the development of a high-efficiency, innovative and simple power block for concentrated solar power and a self-tuned and photonics-based energy-saving glass window. Throughout his 17-year-long career in thermoacoustic, solar energy, materials and photonics research, he has published more than 80 technical papers and reports and has acquired five U.S. patents. He previously served as Egypt’s energy expert, actively contributing to the country’s research collaboration with the European Union from 2007 to 2009. Additionally, Abdel-Rahman has founded four technology transfer offices at four Egyptian universities and has authored and managed several European Union and international projects.

Honoring Abdel-Rahman for his achievements, AUC granted him numerous awards, including the Research Innovation Award (2007, 2009), Excellence in Teaching Award (2009), Innovative Teaching Award (2010) and President’s Distinguished Service Award (2010). He has also received the Outstanding Service Award for his contributions to establishing the University’s Technology Transfer Office (2011) and the Provost’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his “prolific writing and dedication to education” (2012).

Abdel-Rahman holds a PhD in physics from the University of Utah, where he previously served as a research assistant professor and postdoctoral fellow. Prior to joining AUC, he was an assistant professor of physics at Helwan University for two years.  

In his inaugural role as Vice Provost for Integrative Learning and Life Design at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Farouk Dey leads programs and services that bridge curricular and experiential learning with life aspirations for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and alumni across the university’s schools and divisions. In his former role as Dean of Career and Experiential Education at Stanford University, he successfully built and scaled career and experiential learning by creating a vision of meaningful work and a networked approach of personalized connections and inclusive communities. He is now working with education and industry leaders at Johns Hopkins University to launch a new vision of equitable access to life purpose for all students regardless of background or social capital using principles of integrative learning and life design.

Dr. Dey has held senior leadership and board roles at Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Florida, the National Association for Colleges and Employers (NACE), the American College Personnel Association (ACPA), and various startups and non-profit organizations. His credentials include a PhD in Higher Education Administration, EdS in Higher Education Administration, MBA, MEd in Counseling Psychology, and BBA in Finance. 

A native of Algeria, Dr. Dey has been involved in education since a young age and has developed a passion for helping people and organizations achieve their ultimate potential. He was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Ten Voices in Education and is recognized in higher education circles for his thought-provoking writings, engaging speaking, and transformational leadership. Dr. Dey has served as a consultant for many organizations and universities, faculty at several institutes, and keynote speaker at many conferences in the US and around the world. Most notably, he led a four-year Department of State initiative to build career education and talent development programs at universities throughout the Philippines, taught transformative leadership courses for the Ministry of Education in Singapore, hosted dozens of international delegations from around the world, and delivered keynotes at conferences in Austria, Algeria, Egypt, France, Germany, Korea, Russia, and across the United States. The central theme of his work has been inclusion and equity of access to education and opportunity for all people, regardless of background or social capital.

Past Keynote Engagements

International

• EdCrunch; Moscow, Russia
• European Convention of Career Centres (CareerCon); Vienna, Austria
• EuroTech Universities Alliance; Munich, Germany
• Global HR Forum; Seoul, South Korea
• Institute of Adult Learning; Ministry of Education; Singapore
• Science, Technology, Research, & Innovation for Development in the Philippines (STRIDE) Career
• Symposium; Manila, Philippines
• Technology Institute of the Philippines Career Symposium; Manila, Philippines

United States

• Association of Private College & University Alumni Directors (PCUAD); South Orange, NJ
• ASU + Global Silicon Valley Summit; San Diego, CA
• California Community College Association for Occupational Education; Palm Springs, CA
• California State University Career Services Forum; Monterey, CA
• Career Services Institute (CSI-West); Stanford, CA & Seattle, WA
• Collegiate Career Services Association (CCSA); Boulder, CO
• EDGE Conference on Integrated Career & Academic Planning - IUPUI; Indianapolis, IN
• Florida Association of Colleges and Employers (FL ACE); St Augustine, FL
• Fullbridge Career Services Online Conference; Online
• Gateway Career Services Association (GCSA), St Louis, MO
• PeopleGrove Innovators Summit; San Francisco, CA
  Intern Bridge Career Services Online Conference; Online
• Midwest Association of Colleges and Employers (Midwest ACE); Chicago, IL
• Mountain Pacific Association of Colleges and Employers (MPACE); San Francisco, CA
• New England Association for Cooperative Education & Field Experience (NEACEFE); Beverly, MA
• Oregon Career Development Association (OCDA); Portland, OR
• Recruiting Solutions Conference (RECSOLU); Chicago, IL
• Small College Career Alliance (SCCA); Lake Placid, NY
• Southern Association of Colleges & Employers (SoACE); Austin, TX
• Strada + InsideTrack Student Success Symposium; Portland, OR
• TEDx JHU DC; Washington, DC
• University of Columbia Career Week; New York, NY
• University of Florida Leadership Conference; Gainesville, FL

Francis J. Ricciardone was appointed the 12th President of the American University in Cairo and began his term on July 1, 2016. He served as a Foreign Service Officer from 1978-2014, including appointments as U.S. Ambassador to Egypt, Turkey, and the Philippines and Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan. After graduating from Dartmouth College Summa Cum Laude in 1973, he received a Fulbright Scholarship and taught in American international schools in Trieste, Italy, and Tehran, Iran. From 2014-2016 he was Vice President of the Atlantic Council and Director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. He was a distinguished scholar at the US Institute of Peace in 2008-2009. He speaks Arabic, Turkish, Italian, and French. He is married to Dr. Marie Ricciardone, a molecular biologist.

Heba Bassel joined Vodafone in 2006 through Vodafone Academy, a Vodafone Graduate Program, and participated in shaping and developing Internal Communications and Engagement practices for over 10 years. In 2017, she was appointed as a Senior Manager leading and directing all Resourcing and Employer Branding activities across Vodafone Egypt and VSSE, ensuring the identification, attraction and selection of the best talent for Vodafone using E2E digital resourcing and achieving excellence in candidate experience. She most recently won the 2019 Talent Acquisition Team of the Year Award by HRO Today in the EMEA Region for demonstrating excellence in the Talent Acquisition function and implementing innovative strategies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in both Economics and Business Administration from the American University in Cairo.

Regional Associates Services Manager, at Mars Wrigley Developing Middle East and Africa, Heba ElBazz is an accomplished HR Professional with over 15 years of experience in people & organization management with solid experience in different industries of Telecommunications and FMCG.

In her current role is leading the regional team responsible for building, developing and managing the People & Organization infrastructure while setting the needed policies, processes and practices to support the business and people agenda in recruiting, developing and retaining an engaged performing workforce. In addition to leading talent acquisition/ employer branding strategy ; and deploying the global health and wellbeing strategy in relevant Developing Middle East & Africa countries.

Previous to her current work, ElBazz worked as Talent Acquisition Lead at Vodafone, where she was pivotal in building the business model of Vodafone International Services that was led by talent acquisition. She also played different roles in staffing, building the employer brand and driving the diversity and inclusion agenda.

Besides her professional experience, She is the curator of TEDxCairo and a board member of Alashanek Ya Balady for sustainable development NGO.

With more than 19 years of professional career in Human Resources and management started in Atlanta, USA, and joined Georgia State University; during this career, Hossam Soliman served in many countries in GCC and Europe in multinational organizations through different industries like Oil and Gas, FMCG and cosmetics. He is currently the Human Resources Director of L'Oréal Egypt, the worldwide leading cosmetics organization.

Soliman is a certified coach. He holds a master’s degree in science from Georgia State University in the USA in 1999. a highly reputed American prestigious university. A human resources high diploma in 2003 from AUC.

Living in many countries around the world, in addition to his professional experience in human resources in multinational corporate companies as well as his experience as a coach, allowed him to build a sharp understanding of human nature needs. His passion is to play an effective role in individuals’ lives and teams’ transformation and to create milestones where people get to unfold their inner potential.

On a personal side, Hossam is a father of two boys and likes sports and adventures, diving, professional fishing and travel.

Director of PwC’s People and Organization team James Wilson is a seasoned professional with 16 years of cross-industry and operational experience helping companies deliver complex business transformations. He co-authored the Middle East Future of Workpiece, which looks at how the region can prepare itself for the workers, workplace and employers of the future.

He has been based in Abu Dhabi for the past five years and currently leads PwC’s Middle East’s Change Management and Communications group, which specializes in leading and supporting large transformational projects.

Wilson works closely with senior executives to support transformations that enable the delivery of the organization's strategy and vision, including enhancements in organization design, operating model, human capital execution, talent management, organization development, corporate culture and technology.

Supported by his extensive program and change management capability and with a focus on the ‘people’ impacts of change, he has a proven track record of delivering measurable and sustained benefits, improved operational performance, increased employee engagement and capability, and regulatory compliance.

His work has spanned Power and Utilities, Government and Financial Services, and his clients have been from across Europe and the Middle East, including recent work in Oman.

Wilson is extensively involved in PwC Middle East’s work looking at the ‘Future of Work’, notably how organizations and people can adopt an integrated approach to prepare for this, and the changes it will require.

He grew up in South East Asia and has an MBA from Warwick Business School and a BSc from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.  

Since 2012, Jan Knauer has been manager of the project Employability at the University of Münster (Germany), run by its Career Services and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The project is set up to define the concept of employability for universities. An instrument called a Goal Matrix helps University leadership and departments in developing a strategic position on employability which clarifies the relationship between academic qualification and its application in working life.

In this framework, Knauer consults deans and other academic staff responsible for curriculum development in their faculties. Above that, he holds workshops for students, mainly to support their professional orientation. Since 2015, he has conducted various expert missions to Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Vietnam and Malaysia, where he has consulted academic and administrative staff in Higher Education institutions as well as ministries for Higher Education on how to strengthen graduates’ employability. 

Prior to that, Knauer was manager of an international youth foundation in Munich (Germany). Before he started his professional career, he studied History, Public Law and Political Sciences in Tübingen (Germany), Aix-en-Provence (France), and Paris and obtained a PhD in Contemporary History.

An action-oriented coach, facilitator and trainer, specialized in a diverse range of topics related to leadership development. A sought-after speaker on topics related to leadership, self-trust, resilience, self-awareness, life balance, women's development and empowerment. 

Lara Atallah is an executive and leadership Coach. She is a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) by the International Coach Academy in Australia, a Professional Certified Coach (PCC), and a Group Certified Coach (GCC) accredited by the International Coach Federation (ICF). Lara serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of ICF Egypt Chapter and is the Chair of the Marketing and Branding Committee. 

She has coaching experience for half a decade. She is the pioneer of coaching retreats in Egypt and has carried more than 15 coaching retreats around Egypt. Lara has coached more than 700 impactful coaching hours within corporates and to the public, capitalizing on self-leadership, leadership and Self- Awareness

Certifications:

• Professional Certified Coach (PCC), ICF – USA
• Certified Professional Coach (CPC), International Coach Academy - Australia 
• Group Certified Coach (GCC), Karen Kapello Institute - USA
• Deep Coaching Intensive Certification, Center for Transformational Coaching - Taiwan
• Train the Train Certification - Colombia University
• Neuro-Linguistic Programing Certification from the International Academy for Training and Consulting – USA
• Hypnosis and Time Line Therapy Certification from the International Academy for Training and Consulting – USA
• Thought Coach Certification from Ora Nadrich Institute – California
• Unleash the Power Within Certification from Tony Robbins – USA
• Awareness to Action Leadership and Coaching Certification - Awareness to Action International

Leidya Boutros is currently guiding students and alumni in various stages of career development. Prior to her current role, she was managing experiential learning programs, which – coupled with her current role - has provided her with experience across the spectrum of career services.

As a certified instructor of the Career Development Provider curriculum, Boutros has contributed to the first-of-its-kind training of Career Services Providers in Egypt in various public universities established by the AUC Career Center through a USAID-funded grant. She is also a Certified Career Services Provider and is licensed to run and interpret the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Strong Interest Inventory (SII), and a member of the National Career Development Association.

A disruptive career services generalist - driven by a desire to make an authentic and positive impact on employee wellbeing, engagement and productivity - Boutros invests in identifying and tackling clients' career gaps utilizing her malleable and diverse toolkit. Adopting a futuristic approach with lifelong learning at its foundation and building resilience and self-efficacy as its pillars, Leidya empowers people capital and equips them for the rapidly changing global realities.

Boutros' passion for helping people was the motivation behind the transition from political science to career coaching. After acquiring a bachelor’s degree in political science from Cairo University, she continued on to obtain a master’s degree in international relations from (AUC) and has completed a master's in counseling psychology through a distance program with Hope International University in California.

Maged Tadros has over 29 years of experience in human resources and joined Edita as vice president—of HR and administration in 2010. Before joining us, he was an HR development manager at Al Ahram Beverages (a member of the Heineken group) from 2006 to 2010 and as an Independent Organizational Development Consultant from 2004 to 2006. Prior to that, Tadros worked as a training and development senior supervisor at Vodafone Egypt from 1998 to 2004. Tadros is certified as a Human Resources Assessor and Franklin Covey Trainer. He graduated from Helwan University (Cairo, Egypt) in 1986 with a BA in Hotel Management.

Helping Millennials and GenZs become the best version of their professional selves is Maha El Moslemany’s purposeful passion. Her current scope of work involves both employer branding on the employers’ side and personal branding on the students/alumni side. She specializes in building strategic employer relations and corporate partnerships, planning and executing university-wide employer branding campaigns and developing tailored recruitment solutions for employers. For students and alumni, El Moslemany guides them in their job search process, along with consulting them on how to develop a unique personal brand.

Graduated in 2003 from The American University in Cairo (AUC) with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass Communication and a double minor in psychology and Business Administration, El Moslemany consciously decided to shift her career path from advertising to career education in 2006 and is highly passionate about coaching, training and enhancing Millennial and GenZ's career preparation tool-kit.

Maha Fakhry is a competent professional with over 25 years of experience in career management, industry relations, and capacity building. She is the co-founder and a catalyst for new initiatives and programs throughout the initiation (1991) and maturity stages of the career center at the American University in Cairo. Her vision and drive are instrumental in the conceptualization and start-up phases of new programs.

With a passion for youth development and a strong belief in the importance of introducing career education and employability skills in Egyptian higher education, since 2012, Fakhry has been establishing USAID-funded career centers at Egyptian universities and empowering them to integrate labor-market needs and enhance private-sector engagement. Currently, the chief of the party, the University Centers for Career Development (UCCD), she leads a $20M USAID-funded project overseeing the establishment and sustainability of 21 career centers in 14 Egyptian public universities within 12 governorates serving 1M Egyptian youth.

A certified Career Development Facilitator Instructor (CDFI) by the National Career Development Association (NCDA), Fakhry builds the capacity of hundreds of career development facilitators across Egypt and provides career guidance to youth and adults. Earlier, as director of employer relations and recruitment at AUC, she oversaw employer branding initiatives and experiential learning programs. One of her main signatures is the current position and brand of AUC’s employment fair.

Fakhry earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from AUC. She also holds a Master of international business from Paris and a certificate of competence in psychometric and occupational testing from the UK. She is licensed to administer and interpret a professional range of self-assessment and leadership development tools.

In her capacity as the Founding Director of AUC’s Career Center, Maha Guindi led the development and implementation of full-fledged career programs that include career advising, experiential learning, and recruitment and employer relations, supported by a strong operations and assessment unit. With the contributions of a dedicated team of career guidance professionals, she positioned the center as a model for comprehensive university career services in the region. Previously, she held various positions at AUC Alumni Affairs.

Over the years, Guindi developed a passion for promoting career guidance in Egypt. On the national level, she served from 2007-2010 as a member of the National Task Force on Career Guidance in Egypt, headed by the European Training Foundation. In 2012, she spearheaded the establishment of three Employability and Career Development Centers at two national universities with USAID funding. Effective September 2017, she serves as the Principal Investigator for the $20 million USAID funded, University Centers for Career Development (UCCD) project implemented by AUC’s career center to establish 20 UCCDs at 12 Egyptian universities. Guindi contributes to the capacity building of Career Service Providers, and in the fall of 2019, she chaired AUC’s inaugural Regional Career Conference for Universities and Employers committee.

Guindi is an AUC alumna holder of bachelor’s and master’s degrees; she is an accomplished career professional with extensive experience in strategic planning, career services management, career guidance, recruitment and corporate relations. She is a qualified psychometric facilitator and assessor of personal assessment instruments, and is a certified Facilitating Career Development Instructor of the National Career Development Association-NCDA (USA) curriculum. She is a member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers-NACE (USA), NCDA, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. Guindi is a recipient of the AUC President’s Award for Distinguished Service and the Catalyst for Change Award.

Maisa Galal has over twenty-five years of experience in HR. She is an experienced professional with extensive practice in Compensation and Benefits, Industrial Relations, and Organizational Development, including Talent Acquisition and Talent Management, Performance Management, Medical, Security and Administration.

Prior to Arab Bank, she worked as Chief Human Resources Officer with Coca-Cola, Human Resources Director for General Motors Egypt and North Africa Operations, the MENA Region Director for Program Development with the Institute of International Education, and Director of the Professional Resources Center of AMIDEAST. She launched the GM North Africa Women Council, the GM NEXT Club for Hi-potential leaders, led the making of GM North Africa a Workplace of Choice, as well as implemented the Business Partnership Concept with all functions.

Galal passion is developing people to lead their organizations to produce results. She has developed and managed performance evaluations, succession planning, and career tracking. She has designed and led training programs on leadership, management and organizational learning for managers in Egypt and many of the MENA countries. She has delivered presentations at annual meetings of organizations such as the National Organization of International Educators (NAFSA) and the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). She holds an MBA in International Business from Maastricht School of Business. Maisa is the Co-Chair of the HR Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and is an active contributor to a number of Social Responsibility organizations and boards in Egypt.

Mark Franklin, MEd, PEng, leads CareerCycles.com, a career management social enterprise based in Toronto, Canada, co-founded narrative tools start-up, OneLifeTools.com, through which he co-authored the Who You Are Matters! Game and Online Storyteller and teaches career management at the University of Toronto. In 2015, he received the Stu Conger Award for Leadership in Career Development. He consulted with hundreds of organizations in his earlier engineering career. Changing careers, Mark earned a Masters in counseling psychology and Career Management Fellow, and led student services initiatives in two of Canada’s largest universities. Franklin has authored or co-authored 15 book chapters, and journal articles and hosts the Career Buzz radio show and podcast illuminating career stories.

Nagla A. Kinawi, the Human Resources Director at Vodafone Egypt, possesses over 20 years of Human Resources and Organizational Development experience. Her expertise includes Talent Management, Organization Development, Training and development, Rewards Management, Change Management, Mergers and acquisitions, and Leadership and Management Coaching.

Prior to Kinawi's current role, she was the vice president of Human Resources and Internal Communication at Schneider Electric, Egypt and North East Africa. She was responsible for Human Resources strategies and operations for Egypt and North East Africa.

Prior to this role and for three years, Kinawi was the General Manager of Human Resources for the National Bank of Egypt. In that role, she led NBE’s Human Resources reform/transformation program, which had an impact on NBE’s successful transformation into a highly competitive financial institution.

Previously, Nagla spent around 15 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry, where she held several Human Resource Management roles as well as Business Leadership roles in the areas of Operations Management, Business Development, Project Management, and Supply Chain.

Nagla holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, a minor in Computer Science (1991), and a Master of Business Administration from the American University in Cairo (1995).

Nermine Fawzy is an accomplished leader with over 20 years of experience across different industries. With a strong focus on human capital and business strategy, and a passion for technology, she has worked across and managed large projects globally, regionally and locally - always focused on results as a success driver. Whether in establishing strategy, human capital functions, or organizational development, her experience in M&As, re-structuring, and building for the future has consistently been focused on business value and sustainability.

Fawzy's career started in online recruitment, after which she led the People and Culture function at TNS in Egypt and North Africa. She later embarked on a successful 9-year journey at Cargill, where she held a variety of roles, including Regional HR Director – Middle East and Africa, and led and participated in a variety of M&As, global transformation projects and corporate measurement initiatives. Most recently, she spent over 3 years as Chief Talent Officer at ITWORX, where she led Talent, Communications and Operations across the global business. Today, she is a Co-Founder and Senior Partner at FosterEdge, a consultant firm focused on business and digital transformations.

In addition to her corporate experience, Nermine has worked with a variety of entrepreneurs for over seven years at Pre-Seed, Seed and Scale stages through mentorship engagements and as a member on advisory boards at Endeavor, Founders Institute and similar organizations. She was recognized as a Top 10 Mentor by Endeavor Egypt in 2015 and 2017. She is also a member of the Core HR Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt for over five years and a founding member of the Human Power Association.

Fawzy holds a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication from AUC and post-graduate certifications from the University of Northampton. She is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach from CTI, a Certified Organizational Designer, and a prominent conference and panel speaker. Having lived on four continents, Nermine is able to work across various boundaries, and challenges, valuing what everyone can bring to the table.

Nesma Farahat is the manager of the Al Ghurair Young Thinkers Program at the Dubai-based Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, one of the world’s largest privately funded, education-focused philanthropic institutions dedicated to providing high-quality education opportunities to youth across the Middle East. The Young Thinkers Program is an online digital platform focused on preparing Emirati and Arab youth for successful transitions from high school to university and university to the workplace.

Formerly the Director of the CIB Foundation in Egypt, she has extensive experience in the fields of public health and sustainable development. Farahat has worked in both private sector development companies as well as non-profit organizations, and throughout her career, has worked with children with critical health issues across Egypt, internally displaced communities in northern Sudan, unemployed youth in Jordan, and Iraqi refugees in Syria.

Farahat obtained her Bachelor’s degree from the American University in Cairo (AUC) and holds a Master’s of Science in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) – University of London.

Sandy Maher has eight years of experience in the Human Resources field; she joined Edita in 2012, starting her career at Edita as a recruitment specialist and later on holding positions of senior recruitment specialist, talent acquisition specialist, talent acquisition manager and is currently HR business partner manager. Maher is a certified assessor from SHL and holds her master’s degree in management from the University of Poitiers, France. 

Shahira Rifaat is a credentialed Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coach Federation (ICF). She has been in the Coaching business since 2007 and is one of Egypt’s pioneers in the Coaching field. She has been a founding Board Member of the International Coach Federation Egypt Chapter since it was established in October 2015 and is currently the President of the Chapter since 2017. She is a certified Intelligent Leadership Executive Coach from John Mattone, one of the World’s Top Executive coaches, and the former Executive Coach to Steve Jobs. She is a certified Mattone Leadership Enneagram Inventory (MLEI) Assessor. Rifaat is also the third Enneagram Accredited Professional (AP) and Trainer from the International Enneagram Association (IEA) in Egypt and the Middle East. She is a certified Hogan Assessor for the Hogan Assessment Tool to interpret and apply Hogan’s three core personality-based assessments (HPI, HDS & MVPI). She specializes in the following niches; Executive and Leadership coaching, where she utilizes her experience and her wide range of tools to empower leaders to do exceptional work that maximizes their potential. She establishes an advantageous relationship that uncovers hidden strengths and weaknesses within the leader, where goals are created to enable the leaders to pinpoint their weaknesses and track their progress to become successful ones.

Graduating in 2008 from AUC with a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering with high honors, Soha Hassan worked in the finance department of Procter and Gamble Near East for six years before deciding to shift her career to the field of education. During her work in corporate, she managed, trained and developed a team of technical experts, analysts and distributors across Egypt and the LEVANT region. She completed her master’s degree in international and comparative education from the American University in Cairo in 2017 with a concentration in Higher Education. Soha joined AUC’s career center to be in charge of the center’s experiential learning programs in 2016 and is an occasional instructor in the Professional Educator Diploma in the STEAM education track. Her personal interests are traveling, reading and listening to classical music.

Yasmine Dessouky is the Talent and Leadership Development Manager for Vodafone Egypt. With a passion for human development and making things different, Dessouky earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Integrated Marketing Communication with a minor in Psychology at AUC. She also possesses 10 years of experience in diversified fields of HR; talent acquisition, training and development, performance management, employer branding, diversity and inclusion, and organization development.

Dessouky is responsible for the development of a world-class, comprehensive talent strategy that is fully aligned with Vodafone’s Global strategy. Prior to her current role, she gained experience in different Global FMCGs, and lastly, she was handling the role of HR Project Manager at Nestle Switzerland. During this time, she was responsible for the design of all global HR processes, including implementation, process solutions, and end-to-end talent employee life cycle. She has contributed to driving HR transformation, and designing effective delivery models.

Yasmine El Hagry earned her BA in journalism and mass communication from AUC in 2004. She is currently the Deputy Executive Director of Wataneya Society for the Development of Orphanages. Her passion for serving children started when she was in college. She was an active member of Volunteers in Action, a leading student club for supporting orphans. She was elected club president in 2003.

In 2009, she decided to join a newly started NGO, Wataneya Society, to fulfill her dream of supporting orphans and leave her position as an associate creative director in a well-established advertising agency. Through her work as External Relations Manager, El Hagry was able to initiate and manage various campaigns such as "Know me! I'm not just an Orphan,” which aimed at building positive perceptions towards the orphans and their caregivers.

In 2017, she was responsible for managing Wataneya’s strategy implementation being the Strategic Projects Unit Senior Manager. She dreams that all children are raised happily and safely within their biological, extended or foster families.

Zeinab Hegazy is the director of Strategic Communication, Public affairs, as well as community and stakeholder relations. She joined CEMEX in 2001, and since then, she has been appointed to several diverse positions, mainly in the Accounting, Internal Audit, and Business Processes.

Prior to her current position, Hegazy built a progressive experience in Human Resources, where she shaped the compensation scheme at CEMEX and contributed to developing human capital, including talent management and succession planning. She worked for KPMG for two years before joining CEMEX. She is currently an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the United Kingdom (ACIPD), a founding member of the Human Power Association (HPA) and Co-Chairperson of the PR/International Relations Committee, an Executive Board Member at Assiut Cement Company and the official spokesperson for the company. Mrs. Hegazy holds a BSc in Commerce – English Section from Ain Shams University. Hegazy has been recognized as one of the most influential women in Africa in the construction business by CEO Global for 2 consecutive years (2018 / 2019).