Shukri Eid is a 25-year veteran in the technology and consulting industry with a proven track record of transforming businesses across the Middle East and Africa region.

As General Manager of IBM Gulf, Levant and Pakistan, Shukri is responsible for IBM’s overall business operations, driving business growth and client satisfaction. Prior to returning to IBM, Shukri served as Regional Managing Director for the Gulf region at Cisco, where he drove the company’s digital agenda, competitive positioning, and business strategy.

During his tenure, Shukri held the position of Senior Director within the Country Digitization Acceleration (CDA) team, working with government and industry stakeholders to accelerate the national digitization strategies. He also led a diverse team of senior consulting professionals as the Director of Cisco Consulting Services in Emerging Markets and the Director of Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG).

Earlier in his career, Shukri held senior roles at IBM Global Business Services and PwC, where he led the implementation of high-profile strategies and IT transformational engagements.

Shukri is valued for building results-oriented and enthusiastic teams and has established himself as a thought leader and agent of change in fast-evolving, dynamic markets. He is known for his deliberate, strategic approach to complex challenges, authenticity, and people management skills.

Shukri has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Strathclyde in the UK and a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Jordan University of Science & Technology.

In his role as associate research director for IT services and software across the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META), Melih drives IDC’s regional research and consulting engagements in the areas of IT services, Cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), and intelligent automation.

He first joined IDC in 2012 as a senior research analyst located out of IDC’s Istanbul office, with various responsibilities for the firm’s IT services, cloud computing, software, and telecom domains — both in Turkey and across the wider META region. Between 2016 and 2021, Melih headed the international marketing and investor relations practice at P.I. Works, a global automation and AI software vendor that serves telecom operators.

Now back at IDC, Melih is leveraging his vast experience in the IT services, cloud, software, and telecommunications domains to advise clients on go-to-market strategies, technology marketing and promotion activities, and market trends analysis. He is also driving a wide variety of research and consulting projects across the META region.

Melih has also previously served as enterprise channel and marketing manager at Nortel Turkey and as business development and strategy manager at Netaş, one of the leading systems integrators in Turkey and a former Nortel subsidiary. He possesses a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and received his MBA from Esslingen University of Applied Sciences in Germany. He has worked as a business development specialist at HP and wrote his MBA thesis for the company, covering European retail channel trends and winning strategies for channel businesses.

Ken Habson, Regional Data and AI Business Unit Leader at IBM is a seasoned technology executive with more than 28 years of experience helping global organizations unlock value from their technology investments. In his current role, he leads IBM’s Data and AI business across the Gulf, Levant, and Pakistan, working with clients and partners to accelerate transformation through artificial intelligence, data, analytics, and business automation.

Ken has held senior leadership roles with leading software organizations across four continents, bringing a truly international perspective to business strategy, digital transformation, and client engagement.

Originally from the State of Maine, Ken has called the Middle East home for the past 15 years and is passionate about both learning from and contributing to the region’s rapidly evolving business and technology landscape.  Ken holds an engineering degree, an MBA in Entrepreneurship, and advanced management training from global tier-1 universities. He is also a Doctor of Business Administration candidate, with research focused on Artificial Intelligence in the C-Suite.

Ahmad Jishi, is a Principal Architect and the Data & AI Squad Leader at Gulf Business Machines (GBM), with nearly 20 years of experience helping organizations across the Middle East unlock value from data, analytics, and artificial intelligence. He specializes in bridging business strategy with emerging technologies, enabling enterprises to transform complex data into actionable insights and measurable business outcomes.

Throughout his career, Ahmad has advised leading organizations across financial services, aviation, retail, and logistics on data platforms, analytics modernization, AI adoption, and governance. His current focus is on accelerating enterprise transformation through Artificial Intelligence and Generative AI, helping organizations identify high-impact use cases and scale innovation responsibly.

A recognized thought leader and industry speaker, Ahmad has presented at major regional conferences, sharing insights on AI-driven innovation, intelligent automation, fraud analytics, AI agents, and the future of data-powered enterprises.

Leads the Automation portfolio for IBM across the Gulf, Levant & Pakistan. Over a decade driving digital transformation across Government & Public Sector in the Middle East, Ali now focuses on how integration and automation form the operational backbone for enterprise AI. His work centers on connecting data, applications, and AI models (webMethods, watsonx) into unified, intelligent workflows because AI is only as good as the systems feeding it. A builder of C-level partnerships and go-to-market strategies that turn automation investment into measurable growth.

Anand Bhuptani is an IBM Automation Platform Seller, working with clients to improve how they manage, govern and optimise technology across hybrid cloud, infrastructure, applications and AI initiatives.

His focus spans the end-to-end automation lifecycle: connecting applications, data and services; automating infrastructure and operational workflows; strengthening security, access and policy governance; improving application and service reliability; and continuously optimising infrastructure, operations and technology spend.

Ahmed serves as Chief Technology Officer at IBM Middle East, where he advises enterprise clients on leveraging hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence solutions to enable large-scale digital transformation projects. With over that 20 years at IBM, he has held diverse leadership roles spanning complex solution architecture, managing technical sales, and project delivery. He has led cloud-first and AI-driven initiatives, designed complex architectures, and supported high-performing technical teams. In his current role, Ahmed drives sovereign cloud and AI architecture through a co-creation approach with clients, delivering outcome-focused solutions. He also represents IBM at regional forums on digital sovereignty, hybrid cloud, and responsible AI.

A technology leader with over 16 years of experience helping organizations harness AI, hybrid cloud, and infrastructure modernization to accelerate digital transformation. With experience spanning the UAE, the Middle East, and global markets, Hadeel has worked closely with leading organizations across financial services, government, and other key industries. Combining deep technical expertise with strategic business insight, Hadeel helps enterprises leverage emerging technologies to drive innovation, operational excellence, and measurable business outcomes.

As Country Sales Leader for IBM Technology in the UAE, Mohammad Abubaker leads the national technology business, driving AI, hybrid cloud, security and data transformation across public and private sectors.

His focus is on enabling sovereign technology capabilities, secure digital infrastructure, and enterprise modernization aligned with the UAE’s national vision.

He works closely with government leadership, strategic enterprises, and global IBM teams to shape partnerships that deliver long-term economic and innovation impact. With a strong focus on execution, he drives large-scale opportunities through ecosystem collaboration, bringing together hyperscalers, partners, and industry leaders to accelerate value realization.

Passionate about building high-performing teams and developing future leaders, Mohammad believes in combining strategy with disciplined execution to deliver sustained growth.

Dr Feras Al Jabi, General Manager of Technology, strengthens GBM’s technology strategy, oversees the solution portfolio and delivery capabilities and ensure they continue to meet evolving market demands. His focus is on advancing GBM’s cloud, data, AI, and automation capabilities, expanding strategic partnerships with global technology providers and aligning GBM’s innovation roadmap with the Gulf region’s national digital priorities. Prior to GBM, Dr Feras worked at ITQAN, where he spent 28 years building and scaling technology businesses across the UAE and the wider GCC. During this time, he led major national and enterprise transformation program across government, healthcare, energy, and infrastructure sectors. He brings extensive experience in systems integration, multi-cloud environments, and enterprise digital transformation, alongside a strategic focus on growth, capability-building and long-term digital roadmap development.