Mr. Hany Mahmoud is the Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the Arab Republic of Egypt, having taken his oath on 2 August 2012.Prior to this, in 2011, Mr. Mahmoud was director of the Informationand Decision Support Center (IDSC), before which he served as chairman of Egypt Post.

Mr. Mahmoud has extensive experience in the field of information and communications technology on both the national and international levels,much of which he gained through working in multinational companies.

In 2000, Mr. Mahmoud joined Vodafone Egypt as general manager of human resources, administrative and legal affairs. During a decade with Vodafone, he served as president of Vodafone Turkey, from 2005 to 2007; vice president of Vodafone Egypt, from 2007 to 2008; chairman of Vodafone Turkey, from 2008 to 2009; and regional manager for Central Europe and Africa, from 2009 to 2010.

Prior to this, Mr. Mahmoud worked for Xerox. He began with Xerox in Egypt as a maintenance manager, before serving as manager of customer services for Alexandria and the Delta, manager of financial operations and customer accounts, administrative manager in Alexandria, and general manager of customer services and manufacturing. In 1994, he took the position of marketing manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and in 1996 became regional human resources manager, based in the United Kingdom. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Mahmoud served as general manager of human resources, work quality and customer satisfaction for XEROX .

Mr. Mahmoud is a member of the Egyptian Engineers Syndicate and the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, and senior vice president of the board of directors of Special Olympics for the Middle East and North Africa. From 2002 to 2008, he served as president of the Egyptian Human Resources Management Association (EHRMA).

Mr. Mahmoud holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from Alexandria University and has completed academic courses and training programs at London Business School, INSEAD, IMD Business School, the University of Sheffield, Xerox Leadership Academy and Vodafone Academy.

Egyptian Prime Minister appointed Eng. Yasser ElKady as the new CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) on the 27th of October 2010 replacing Dr. Hazem Abdelazim whose term has ended during October 2010. Eng. Yasser will be reporting directly to the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology.

In September 2009, Yasser ElKady was appointed to the position of First Deputy to the Minister of Investment in Egypt. To support his role for the Ministry, Yasser was also appointed as a board member for the General Authority for Investment (GAFI), the principal government body regulating and facilitating investment in Egypt.

As Managing Director, Elkady leads Cisco’s MEA Strategy and Business Development, coordinating all SP, PS, Enterprise Verticals and Strategic Initiatives in the Middle East and Africa Region. Elkady oversees Cisco’s business units in 60 countries and works directly with Cisco’s Vice President for the emerging markets to ensure the successful implementation and execution of all projects across his territories.

Since 2007, Yasser has also been a board member in the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), which builds the capacities of local IT companies and aims to grow a qualified, sustainable and deployable talent pool. A year later, Yasser joined the Advisory Board for the Minister of Communications and IT, Dr. Tarek Kamel, to use his expertise to develop the national innovation strategy and the IT industry development for Egypt. Today, Yasser is also a board member in Credit Agricole Egypt. Yasser was also an advisor to the former Minister of Transportation, Eng. Mohammed Mansour.

Prior to holding these positions, Yasser established and grew the business of Cisco Systems in Egypt and the Middle East region over a period of ten years. He took on the role of general manager for Egypt back in 1999, when the business in Egypt was worth US$ 55 million. At that time, Yasser built the organization from the ground up and designed a strategy to align Cisco Systems with the Egyptian government’s vision for CIT development.

He then took over the region becoming the General Manager for North Africa and the Levant, Yasser’s role at Cisco Systems not only achieved revenue growth and expansion, but he was instrumental in building relationships with the regional governments to enhance IT skills and develop talent.

After earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics and Data Communications Engineering from                         Cairo University, Yasser received a degree in computer design from California, USA.

Dr. Ahmed M. Darwish was born in Egypt in 1959. He received his B.Sc. in Electronics and Communication Engineering and M.Sc. in Computer Engineering from Cairo University, in 1981 and 1984 respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis in 1988.

His last public occupation was the Minister of State for Administration Development (2004-2011). This included three major portfolios; The first was the preparation of the National Policy and Strategy Document on e-government in addition to the planning, administration and coordination of the implementation efforts of the four subprograms, namely; Basic Infrastructure, Services Delivery Over New Channels, State Resource Planning and Integration of National Databases). The second portfolio was the design and execution of the Institutional and Human Resources Development Program. Last but not least, the third was Governance institutionalization including transparency and integrity in government and public sector.

The work done by Dr. Darwish and his team was internationally recognized. Egypt’s Government electronic and web services rank is 23 out of 192 countries on the last UN-PAN report and the program received the best service award both from the UN in New York (2009) and the African Union in Johannesburg (2008). Dr. Darwish was selected by Singapore to receive the Middle East Eminent Persons Award (MEEP)-2007 in recognition for his work and he was an invited speaker to numerous international events, the last was in December 2010 in Paris by OECD on “Making Reform Happen”.

His academic career started in 1988 as a lecturer and post-doctoral researcher with the Department of Electrical and Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Davis. In 1989, he joined Cairo University as an assistant professor, where later, he became an associate professor then a professor with the Computer Engineering Department in 1994 and 1999 respectively. During the year 96/97 he was on sabbatical leave with the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Virginia Tech; He cooperated on several research projects with the Mobile and Portable Radio Research Group.

He received the Egyptian National Engineering Award for the year 1999. He is a member of few scientific and professional societies and on the editorial board and a reviewer for a number of publications. He shared in the design and development (and hold 50% of the IP) of 2 wireless simulation tools. He supervised 10 PhD Dissertations and 26 MSc Thesis. He has over 64 publications in peer reviewed journals and scientific conferences, 11 invited papers, shared in 4 books, numerous invited talks and few sponsored research programs.

Dr. Darwish was a consultant to a number of international organizations (UNESCO, FAO, ESCWA, European Union and World Bank), government organizations and companies both in the United States and Egypt.

Hisham Sanad co-founded egabi Solutions in 2006; an Egyptian IT Services Organization with clients in more than 15 countries in the Middle East and Africa (www.egabi.com). As Chairman and CEO, Mr. Sanad managed to lead egabi to a lucid mission of becoming a leader in the IT services arena within the region.

With a successful 23 years of field experience in technical, sales, management and executive disciplines and the distinguished merit of extensive knowledge and insight into the CIT in banking and CIT technology & market trends at large; Hisham led egabi to a remarkable productivity and healthy KPI’s, becoming a first level partner for major multinational technology vendors and a recognized award winner year after year. Mr. Sanad’s clear-cut vision will continue to lead egabi in the right track to achieve further growth on all fronts of business management and organizational effectiveness.

Hisham Sanad is a Board member of the Industry Chamber for Communication and Information Technology (CIT) - a member of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (www.cit-fei.org), also a Board member of the Egypt Software Testing Board (ESTB) www.estb.org.eg –an affiliate of the ISTQB (International Software testing & Quality Board), a member of the Egyptian Junior Businessmen Association (EJB) and a member of the Core ICT committee at the American Chamber in Egypt. His acknowledged contribution led him to be an appointed member representing the CIT community to several ITIDA initiatives & programs.

For a period of 3 years starting 2003, Mr. Sanad held the title of Managing Director, Raya Software & Regional Director Raya International Services, (www.rayacorp.com) leading it to achieve CMMI level 3 certifications to become one of the first SW firms in Egypt. His contribution to major achievements did not stop here; furthermore he managed several successful projects in e-Government such as TE Billing. Under his management, Raya Saudi and Raya Gulf branches were established. Operational practice and management procedures formed through successful efforts orchestrated by Mr. Sanad enabled the management and resources pool, both administratively and technically, to meet the satisfaction of stakeholders.
Mr. Sanad was General Manager of Raya Integration; the System Integration arm of Raya Corporation starting 2000 till 2002 and a member of the executive team at Raya Corporation. He successfully led operations to grow 100% over the year 2000. Moreover, he established the Solutions and SW Services Division which grew to contribute 30% of Raya’s turnover in comparison to 4% in the years before.

In 1997, Mr. Sanad, co-founded & managed STS (Solutions and Technology Services), which was later acquired by Raya Holding, STS was a successful and very promising startup that introduced relatively new solutions to the Egyptian market at that time, such as Business Intelligence Solutions.

Mr. Sanad joined NCR in 1989. By the year 1994, he held the title of Sales Manager Banking Sector where he was selected “Sales Target Achiever” award for 8 consecutive years, and one of only two selected for the “Early Identified Leadership Team - Corporate Global Program” from the Egypt Team. He was a member of the regional task force for “Branch Automation” Banking Solutions.
Moreover, Mr. Sanad was an active member and contributor of a national committee (sponsored by Central bank of Egypt) for standardizing checks, remittances and automation of the check clearing process in 1995.
Back in 1988 and after one year as Senior Field Engineer at Xerox Corporation, his team was announced "Team of the Year". He was member of a Specialists Team for heavy duty electronic machines and a member of the Egyptian first task force for implementing the transformation into the “Document Company”.

His unsurpassed achievements are based not only on his managerial talents and leadership skills, but are supported by a clear training and education foundation; Mr. Sanad attended Harvard Business School Strategic Executives Program in 2004. He received extensive Training Programs at NCR Business School, Daytona, Ohio - USA, as well as numerous Banking Industry vocational training courses. Mr. Sanad holds a B.Sc. with High Honors from Ain Shams University, Faculty of Engineering; Communications and Electronics section, class of 1987.

Atef Helmy is currently an active member to the Board of Directors of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), a position he has held since 2008 and is the CEO of Prime Business Consulting.

Mr. Helmy has 30 years of solid experience in the high-tech industry including 24 years managing two of the top 100 Fortune multinationals in the EMEA region. He has participated in more than 100 international conferences and review meetings and workshops in the USA and Europe.

Mr. Helmy started the Oracle Egypt subsidiary in 1996, where he achieved outstanding success by growing the operation and the business significantly.

In 2005, Mr. Helmy played a pivotal role in launching one of the largest global support centers for Oracle Corporation to serve Oracle customers worldwide. This has led to Oracle Egypt being positioned as one of the most successful and largest multinational IT companies in the region.

Prior to his role at Oracle, Mr. Helmy worked for NCR/AT&T for 14 years (from 1982 to 1996) where he has held several sales, marketing and managerial positions. From 1992 until 1996, he held the position of managing director NCR/AT&T, Dubai where he managed to lead the organization to a tremendous growth in terms of revenue, profit margin and customer and employee satisfaction.

His background also includes software engineering at several international companies. Mr. Helmy holds a Master Degree in Computer Science from Ein Shams University, and Electrical Engineering with Honor.

Dr. Sherif Hashem is the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Communications and Information Technology for CyberSecurity, and the Executive Vice President of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), Egypt (http://www.itida.gov.eg/; http://www.mcit.gov.eg/) (2004-present). He is also an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt (2001-present).

Dr. Hashem received a B.Sc. in Communication & Electronic Engineering (Distinction with honor) and an M.Sc. in Engineering Mathematics from Cairo University (Egypt – 1985&1988), and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University (USA – 1993). He also completed the Senior Executive Program at Harvard Business School (USA – 2001).

Dr. Hashem authored and co-authored more than fifty articles and book chapters in the areas of information technology, e-commerce, computational intelligence, and operations research, with applications in engineering, energy, environment, and computer sciences (with over 800 international citations).

Dr. Hashem held research positions at Purdue University (USA, 1992-3), West Virginia University (USA, 1997), Honeywell Sensor and Systems Development Center (USA, 1991-2), and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the US-Department of Energy working at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - PNNL (USA, 1994-5).

Dr. Hashem is currently responsible for e-Signature, cyber security, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection for software and databases. Dr. Hashem’s responsibility includes setting the framework for establishing and operating the Egyptian Computer Emergency Response Team (EG-CERT) at the National Telecom Regulatory Authority, the Egyptian Root Digital Certificate Authority (Root-CA) and the Software IPR Office at ITIDA. Dr Hashem was the Chairman of the national committee to draft Egypt’s cyber security, data protection, and privacy law; the Chairman of the MCIT committee on CyberSecurity; the Chairman of the High Level Committee for the Egyptian e-Content Competition (2005, 2006); the Chairman of the steering committee of the ITAC initiative that foster the cooperation between ICT companies and R&D institutions; and a member of the technical committee for enhancing the National ID card.

Prior to joining ITIDA in December 2004, Dr. Hashem was the Director of Information Society Development Office (ISDO) and the manager of the E-Business Program at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). He headed the national committee that prepared Egypt’s electronic signature law, which is Egypt’s first cyberlaw. Dr. Hashem was also the Director of the Egyptian Focal Point for the EUropean MEDiterranean Information Society (EUMEDIS) Initiative (2000-3).

In 2001, Dr. Hashem initiated and managed the first multi-applications smart card project in Egypt. The 3-years project established a Visa-certified infrastructure for issuing and processing smart cards, over a network of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) and Points of Sale (POS) covering 56 post offices in Greater Cairo and Alexandria. From 1995 to 1999, Dr. Hashem was as a senior consultant and senior project manager at the Egyptian Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), and at the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC), where he managed several information technology projects in various sectors including electronic commerce, tourism, culture heritage preservation, healthcare, and community empowerment, including the award winning project: Egypt Information Highway (http://www.idsc.gov.eg/), and led the team that established the first government website in Egypt, drawing over 3 million hits per month by mid 1999. In 1997, Dr. Hashem initiated a project to establish the first community oriented IT centers in Egypt (http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/pdf/fg7/egy001.doc), funded by the UNDP and supported by IDSC and the Governorate of Sharkeya. This model was refined and included in Egypt’s National ICT plan adopted later in 1999.

Dr. Hashem carried out several consulation assignments for international organizations including: United Nations Development Program – UNDP, United Nations Ecomonic and Social Commission for Western Asia – ESCWA, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa – UNECA, United Nations Population Information Network – POPIN, International Telecommunication Union – ITU, World Health Organization – WHO, , International Development Research Centre – Canadian IDRC, and the Arab League Education, Culture, and Sciences Organization – ALECSO.

Dr. Hashem was an invited lecturer for the Regional Information Technology Institute / Maastricht School of Management (the Netherlands) joint MBA Program (1997-8). He was a Juror in the Global Junior Challenge. http://www.gjc.it/ (2000, 2002, 2004).

Dr. Hashem received several awards and recognition including: the Global Bangemann Challenge Award (from the King of Sweden: Stockholm – 1999), the International G7-GIP Information Society Award (G7/8: Warsaw – 1997), the Excellence in Teaming Award (PNNL – 1994), and the Spirit Award (Honeywell – 1992). Dr. Hashem is listed in MARQUIS Who`s Who in the World (16th edition – 1999 & Millennium edition – 2000 ) and in Who`s Who in America – Science and Engineering (5th Edition – 2000).

Dr. Hashem is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Egyptian Syndicate for Engineers.Dr. Hashem was a member of the Board of Directors of Egypt’s National Postal Organization (2001-6).

Contact Information: Tel: +20-2-5345151 (Direct), +20-2-5345152 (O), Fax: +20-2-5345150;
E-mail: shashem@ieee.org, shashem@mcit.gov.eg, shashem@itida.gov.eg

Mr. Ahmed Kabeel (34) is the founder and CEO of OMS, a leading IT consulting services firm based in Cairo, Egypt. Ahmed started his career at the age of 18 as a sales person in a small computer company. Upon graduating in 1997, he started an IT services unit in his father’s company. In 2001 he spun-off OMS as a separate company with a capital of $5,000 and a 12 man team. Over the course of the following years and driven purely by organic growth, OMS grew to be a recognized regional IT solutions and consulting company. OMS today boasts over 200 employees serving clients in over 24 countries across the MEA region. OMS is one of Egypt’s top IT-services exporters and enjoys an impressive list of references and awards.

Mr. Ahmed is the full-time CEO of the OMS group of companies (including 2 in Egypt and 1 in UAE). He is also the Vice chairman of the ICT export council in Egypt. He is highly recognized by his partners and technology providers for his entrepreneurial drive, vision and attention to quality.

One of few in the MEA region, Ahmed was recently awarded a unique scholarship at IMD International to attend a prestigious executive program, Orchestrating Winning Performance.

Mr. Ahmed holds a B.Sc. in Accounting from the University of Ain Shams, Egypt.

Magda El Sabee is the Chairperson and the CEO of Summit Holding, an Information and communication technology solutions provider serving over 400 corporations in the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia. Established in 2004, and operating out of Egypt with offices in Cairo, Dubai and Algeria, Summit is a joint venture between Orascom and Sumitomo Corporation in Japan making it the first Egyptian –Japanese Joint venture in ICT in the region.

Magda has 25 years of experience in the ICT field with focus on areas like strategic planning, general management, organizational development, sales and marketing, formulation and provision of technical services, corporate startups and turnarounds. She led the transformation and the restructure of the group from decentralized independent companies to one of the largest ICT groups in the region.

She also drove a double digit growth for Summit since its inception in 2004 till present time. Agrowth thatwas achieved organically as well as through the introduction of new services like IT outsourcing, Mobile Financial services, Mobile broadcasting and Telecommunication Infrastructure Solutions.

Magda has joined Orascom Group in 1993 where she established and managed Opensoft, a software and services company offering a wide portfolio of high end software solutions.

In 2001 she moved to manage Orascom Technology Systems, Orascom system integration arm where she focused on streamlining the business and spinning off non profitable business units. She led and represented the Orascom side in negotiating and finalizing the joint venture with Sumitomo Corporation.
From 1989 till 1993, she joinedOracle Middle East as the technical manager for their startup operations for Egypt. Her efforts helped in establishing Oracle position in Egypt and growing Oracle business to become the solution of choice in the oil and gas, government and defense sectors.
Prior to her work in Oracle, she was employed as a management consultant in Price WaterHouse Egypt.
Magda El Sabee is the chairperson of the ICT committee at the American chamber in Egypt since 2008.
In August 2009, she was appointed as a member of the Egyptian-US Business Leaders Forum whose main mission is to advance the bilateral commercial relationship between the United States and Egypt and to promote economic and political relationship at the highest levels of both government and business.

Ms. El Sabee holds a bachelor of Communication Engineering from Cairo University and a Masters of Business Administration from the American University.