|
Meet our speakers
Mr. Abdullah Rashid Al Moalla , Acting Assistant Deputy Minister for Water and Soil Affairs,
Ministry of Environment and Water, UAE
|
|
Senior VP International Development,
Suez Environment
Jean-Claude is a civil engineer who has been working for 36 years in the water sector.
For the last 30 years with Suez (and previously with Lyonnaise des Eaux), he has been involved in structuring and managing international PPP projects in this sector, in his own country, France, but also in various other parts of the world, in particular in the Middle East, Western Europe, North and South Africa, Australia and South East Asia.
During his career with Suez, one of the world’s largest multi utilities groups, he has acquired a good understanding of the specificities of this approach where the private sector has to assist public authorities and local governments in delivering socially sensitive services in a cost effective way.
His long experience in arid countries with extremely limited water resources is of real relevance to the Middle East region, where he now resides as Senior Vice President in charge of regional Business Development for Suez Environment.
|
|
Professor, Energy Engineering Department,
Power and Water University of Technology
Prof. Mohammad Ameri has a B.Sc. in Mechanical Eng. from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, M.Sc. in Thermal & Fluid Eng. from Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Eng., Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, USA, 1993.
Dr. Ameri has been the associate professor & the chair of the Department of Energy Eng. Department at the Power & Water University of Technology (affiliated to the Ministry of Energy), Iran, since 1980.
He was the UNDP &GEF National Technical Advisor for the Iran Industries Energy Efficiency & Conservation Project from 2001-2002.
He is currently the advisor & project manager of the "Preparation of Power Enhancement Test Code & Supervision of the Test for the Power Enhancement Projects” for TAVANIR (Iran Power, Transmission & Distribution Co.) Iran.
He has been the manager of several energy conservation & renewable energy projects.
He has been selected as the distinguished researcher of the country in 2004 & 2002.
He has been the lecturer & Thesis advisor for the M.Sc. Energy Management courses.
He has presented & published more than sixty papers in the international journals & conferences.
|
|
Mr Eugene P. Corrigan, jr., Chairman,
FLOW Inc.
Holding a Bachelor of Philosophy degree (1951) and a Masters in Journalism & Mass Communications (1987), Eugene P. Corrigan, jr. has been Accredited by the Public Relations Society of America (1974). In that same year, he began his investigations into the transport of fresh water from surplus to critical need areas.
Listed in the Marquis Who’s Who in the South & Southeast, in Advertising, and in Media & Communications, he has followed a career in news reporting, publishing, broadcast and advertising agency management with the formation in 1993 of FLOW Inc. for the export of bulk fresh water. Now Chairman of that stock-held company, Corrigan has directed the premiere source of water export in the world commodity trade, with innovative transport methods able to compete with desalination in delivered cost, flavor and low capital expenditure. FLOW Inc. (), founder www.W2O.info World Water Organization of fresh water shipping sites.
|
|
General Manager,
Ajman Sewerage Company Ltd
After graduating in law and holding a degree in politics, Olivier Crasson obtained a master’s degree in management from the Solvay Business School in Brussels. He started his career in the public sector as a project manager and then established a specialised consulting company, following which he joined BESIX Group as Business Development Director. During this time, he developed a strong interest in the Ajman Sewerage Project which was at that time being restructured with BESIX as the major shareholder. Since March 2006, Olivier has been General Manager of Ajman Sewerage (Pvt) Company Limited.
|
|
Middle East Programme Director, Private Capital,
Ernst & Young
Diana is a Senior Advisor with Ernst & Young in the Middle East. She also leads the Ernst & Young Middle East Privatization and Restructuring Group. She has over 30 years experience providing strategic, policy, financial, industry and corporate restructuring, privatization, valuations and regulatory consulting services to both Governments and private companies. She is currently the Global Program Director for an Ernst & Young Private Capital initiative focused on accounts within the Middle East. This team is designed to assist the private capital funds in supporting and meeting the market demand for acquisitions and investment strategies across the world and also internally within the Middle East. She has extensive industry skills in infrastructure investment, energy and utilities industries – primarily in strategy, regulation, mergers & acquisition, and privatization and restructuring.
She led the first project which has set the benchmark for the privatization program for power and water utilities in Saudi Arabia. In this assignment, she worked directly with the Company’s Board of Directors, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Finance and the Privatization Committee which reports to the Saudi Supreme Economic Council. She has advised the Egyptian Minister of Electricity on developing and attracting private investment in electricity in the country. Diana went on to work with this Ministry to establish the first privately owned power plant in Egypt based on the strategy set. Recently, Diana was a strategic advisor to the Government of South Africa in developing an implementation program for restructuring the electricity distribution sector for the country which resulted in the first commercial electricity distribution utility in South Africa
She has been based in the Middle East for the last eight years and has worked extensively with clients in the energy sector which includes Aramco, Petro Rabigh, New Water Company (Saudi Arabia), Saline Water Conversion Corporation, and Dhofar Power Company. One of the primary focuses of these engagements is to spin off non-core assets through private pubic sector participation or IPOs.
Diana received her B.S from the University of Colorado and is a Certified Public Accountant in both Georgia and Colorado. She is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants. She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and has authored several articles. She is also an honorary member of the Woman’s Presidents Organization (WPO) based in the United States.
|
|
|
Ibrahim Elwan is the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure Capital Group (ICG), a company created in 1995 to develop, own and operate infrastructure and real estate projects. To date, ICG has developed projects in power, wastewater, and real estate in the United States, Europe, and the UAE amounting to about AED 2 billion, including Tanqia FZC, the privately-owned wastewater utility in the Emirate of Fujairah. ICG currently has several real estate projects and a number of privately-owned wastewater utilities and municipal solid waste treatment plants in advanced states of development.
Prior to establishing ICG, Mr. Elwan held a number of senior positions at the World Bank during his nineteen years with the institution. His professional career was primarily focused on the development of infrastructure, energy, and private sector in the emerging economies of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. His last position at the Bank was Manager Private Sector development and privatization where he was the architect of the Energy Development Fund in Pakistan. Established under the leadership of the Bank to provide financing for private sector projects in power and energy, the Fund raised US$ 600 million which generated an additional US$ 2.6 billion in equity and commercial debt to finance about 3,000 MW of privately-owned power generation capacity. Mr. Elwan was also responsible for the design of Enhanced Co-Financing of the World Bank (ECO), the first instrument to be provided by the Bank to support projects financed under limited recourse by guaranteeing the performance of host governments. The ECO instrument was successful in attracting financing for major power projects in countries such as Pakistan and China.
Prior to joining the Bank in 1976, Mr. Elwan was a Senior Economist with Ontario Hydro and Shell Canada and before that he taught at a number of universities in the US and Canada. Mr. Elwan has degrees in engineering and economics.
Mr. Elwan has written two books on restructuring the energy sector in the former Yugoslavia and Jordan and his articles on project finance have appeared in numerous publications, including the Financial Times, Project Finance International, Infrastructure Finance, the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED), Project and Trade Finance, Power in Asia, and the Far Eastern Economic Review.
|
|
Global Director,
Hatch Water
Dr. Hubert L. Fleming is Global Director, Hatch Water, a leading global provider of desalination, water reuse, and water management projects. He received his master and doctorate in chemical engineering from Cornell University, and graduate degree in international finance from Harvard Business School. Hu is a recognized authority in water treatment with more than hundred publications and sixteen patents. He is also the author or co-author of four books, including the Membrane Handbook, winner of the prestigious PSP Award for the Most Outstanding Work of Reference for 1992.
Hu is past chairman of the International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes, and is a member of several international professional panels on water and separation technology, including the Task Group on Water for WHO and EPA's Clean Water Act Advisory Group. as well as Chairman, NATA Industrial Advisory Council on Environmental Affairs, ASTM D-19 Committee on Water Standards, and the Purified Water Working Group of the Parenteral Drug Association (PDA).
|
|
Project Director,
Stockholm International Water Institute
Dr. Anders Jägerskog, Ph.D., is from Sweden. He is Project Director at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), where his work focuses on international water issues, in particular transboundary waters. Previously he worked at the secretariat for the Expert Group on Development Issues (EGDI) at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, at the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida) with water resources in southern Africa and at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) with Middle Eastern security issues. In 2003 he finished his PhD on the water negotiations in the Jordan River Basin at the Department of Water and Environmental Studies at the Linköping University, Sweden. He was a member of the Scientific Programme Committee at the Stockholm International Water Institute from 2002-2006 and is currently a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Lakes Commission (ILEC). He has published over 60 scientific articles, book chapters, debate articles and reports. Some of his publications include “Managing Transboudary Waters”, a background paper prepared for the Human Development Report 2006 (Jägerskog A. and D. Phillips – 2006), “Water Scarcity Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)”, a background paper prepared for the Human Development Report 2006 (Tropp, H. and Jägerskog, A - 2006), and his PhD dissertation “Why states cooperate over shared water: The water negotiations in the Jordan River Basin”, Linköping University, Linköping Studies in Arts and Science (see http://www.ep.liu.se/diss/arts_science/2003/281/digest.pdf ).
|
|
Professor Membrane technology, Centre for Water Sciences,
Cranfield University
Simon Judd is Professor in Membrane Technology at the Centre for Water Science, Cranfield University, and has been on the staff at the School of Water Sciences since August 1992. He has 19 years post-doctorate experience in academic and industrial research and development incorporating all aspects of water and wastewater treatment technology. Simon has an extensive network of contacts within the UK and European water industry which has arisen from managing 10 large collaborative R&D programmes, and many more smaller ones, over the past 15 years. He has procured and/or managed almost all biomass separation MBR programmes conducted within the School. He has been principal or co-investigator on three major UK research council-sponsored programmes dedicated to MBRs with respect to in-building water recycling, sewage treatment and contaminated groundwaters/landfill leachate, and was co-initiator of the multi-centred EU-sponsored EUROMBRA project. As well as publishing extensively in the research literature, Simon has co-authored three textbooks in membrane and MBR technology. Invited presentations at international membrane conferences have included six keynote papers. Simon has also provided consultancy, principally on MBR technology, to clients based in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East and North America.
|
|
Division Director,
ADCB Macquarie Corporate Finance
Brad Kim has been with Macquarie in the Infrastructure and Utilities advisory business since 2000. During this time, he has advised on a variety of infrastructure and utilities transactions in Australia, Korea and the Middle East, particularly in transport, wastewater and core infrastructure. He currently leads the Infrastructure and Utilities advisory team in the region.
Since moving to Abu Dhabi in 2006 as one of the founding members, Brad has advised various clients in both public and private sectors to successfully develop public private partnership and project financing transactions in the GCC region. He is currently advising regional and international clients on a range of infrastructure and utilities projects in transport, healthcare, utilities, logistics and social infrastructure.
In the Middle East, Brad has led the advisory teams on several successfully completed transactions, including advising on large projects such as ZonesCorp (Higher Corporation for Specialized Industrial Zones) on the development and financing of the greenfield infrastructure for industrial cities in Abu Dhabi. Prior to moving to the region, Brad spent 5 years in Korea and worked on numerous successfully completed transactions including advising on project financing and subsequent restructuring by Egis, Singapore Piling and Doosan of Daejeon Riverside Expressway in Daejeon, Korea. While at Macquarie in Sydney, Brad worked high profile projects, including as an advisor on project financing of Australia Inland Rail Expressway by ATEC.
|
|
Mr Christoph Lueneburger, Leader - Global Sustainability Practice,
Egon Zehnder International
Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Christoph was a principal of 3Stone Advisors, where he spent four years leading the water investment practice of the partnership. His previous professional career includes roles as managing partner of Rigger+Stern Capital Management; director at Bertelsmann Ventures with geographic responsibility for the US and Israel; and R&D manager at Owens Corning.
Christoph has published in water industry periodicals such as Global Water Intelligence and Environmental Finance among others and is a frequent speaker and moderator at forums devoted to Cleantech in general and the water industry in particular.
He serves on the board of Microvi Biotech, a company delivering proprietary distributed zero-waste water purification solutions.
A licensed P.E., Christoph holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, a Minor of Arts in Philosophy, and an M.S. in Fluid Dynamics from Purdue University as well as an M.B.A. from INSEAD. He has lived and worked in the United States, Germany, and France.
Christoph is based in the New York office, where he focuses on private equity and leads the Sustainability Practice of Egon Zehnder.
|
|
Senior Asset Manager,
First State Investments
Niall Mills is a Board Director of Anglian Water Group and Electricity North West, representing First State Investments, based in London.
Niall’s responsibility is primarily for the management of assets in Europe. In addition, he supports the funds in deal origination and transactions. The funds have a primary focus on direct investment in major infrastructure projects including electricity transmission and distribution, toll roads, water distribution, pipelines and airports.
Niall has more than 20 years of infrastructure and engineering / project management experience. His most recent role was as Asset Director for Southern Water in the UK. Prior to this, he held senior roles with Novar Projects (airport sector), Bechtel (rail and water sectors) and North West Water Engineering (water sector).
Niall has a Masters of Business Administration from the London Business School, an Institute of Directors Diploma in Company Directorship, a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) and is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
|
|
Head of Geology Department,
United Arab Emirates University
Ahmed Murad graduated from Western Michigan University-USA, after which he joined United Arab Emirates as an assistant professor of hydrogeology and water resources. He is currently Head of Geology Department at the University, a member of the Technical and Scientific Committee of Gulf Council Countries, on Board of Directors of the Emirates Society of Geosciences (ESG) and a member of the UAE International Hydrological Programme (IHP) National Committee. In November of 2006, he was appointed as National Correspondent of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) in the United Arab Emirates, a tenure lasting until 2008. Since Mach 2007, he has been an official correspondent of the UAE IHP National Committee with the IHP intergovernmental Council. Dr. Ahmed is also a member of the International Geosciences Program (IGCP) - National Commission for Education, Culture & Science, United Nations (UAE Representative). He has received many awards and recognitions from international and local levels. His research interests lie in isotope hydrogeology, hydrogeochemsity and water resources management. He has had 15 published papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and has also participated actively in international and local conferences. He serves as a reviewer for more than two international journals. In November of 2007, Dr. Murad was made an honorary member of the advisory council of Geosciences Department of Western Michigan University, USA.
|
|
Mr Mohammed Abdulaziz Najem, Head of Treatment Department,
Dubai Municipality
Mr. Najem holds a B.Sc. in Electronic Engineering Technology. He is experienced in all aspects the operation, maintenance and process of large sewage treatment plants of capacity 260,000 M3/day for the last 21 years. He pioneered major extension projects in regards to planning and execution, process optimization, and operation techniques. During his career, he has been involved in the commissioning of data collecting systems, instrumentation analyzer equipment and a sludge thermal drying plant. He was also involved in setting up process parameters with various specialists in the field of sewage and sludge digestion, dewatering with the aid of polyelectrolyte via centrifuges, thermal drying the sludge and biologically composting the dewatered.
|
|
Senior VP Investment Management,
Abraaj Capital
Prior to joining Abraaj, Mr. Nadir Qureshi was the Manager - Marketing & Strategy for Carrier's Asia-Pacific business where he led strategic initiatives launched by the regional President that included acquisitions, turnaround strategy and business improvement of a US$ 1.5 billion business portfolio. Prior to Carrier, he worked with Bain & Company in Singapore focusing on private equity, technology and industrial clients across East Asia. Mr. Qureshi started his career with Engro Chemical (previously Exxon) in Pakistan and subsequently joined the Hub Power Company, the nation's first independent electric power generator that developed, built and operates a 1200MW thermal power plant.
Mr. Qureshi is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Bachelors & Masters degrees in Nuclear Engineering and also holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
|
|
Senior Environment Researcher ,
Gulf Research Center
Dr. Mohamed Abdel Raouf Abdel Hamid main areas of interest are environmental policy and economics in the Arab World. He is Program Manager, Environment Research at the Gulf Research Center (GRC), Dubai. He has a doctorate in environmental sciences from Ain Shams University in Egypt and has undergone an advanced course in environmental management at the Augsburg University, Germany. Dr. Raouf, who has been a lecturer of environmental Accounting and Economics, has worked on several sustainable development plans and been a consultant for the Ministry of Industry in Egypt, The National Environmental Action Plan of Egypt, Egypt's CDM Strategy and The Socio-Economic Study of Al-Luhaia Fishing port project in Yemen. He was also on the The Badr Petroleum Co. budgeting team and a member of the (Bapetco-Shell) Egypt Sustainable development team in 2000. Dr. Raouf is also a published author. He contributed a chapter titled "State of the Environment in GCC Countries" to the Gulf Yearbook 2006-2007, was a part of the project team which prepared the Green Gulf Report in 2006, and published a book in 2007 titled " Economic Instruments as an Environmental Policy Tool: The Case of GCC Countries". All the above were published by the GRC. In April 2008, he pubilshed a policy brief titled “Climate Change Threats, Opportunities and GCC Countries” by the Middle East Institute in Washington DC.
|
|
Director Water Treatment and Distribution Services,
Public Works Department, City Of Minneapolis
Shahin has been the Director of Water Treatment and Distribution Services since June 2005. Prior to that, as a Principal Professional Engineer, Shahin managed the Capital Improvement Projects for the Minneapolis Water Works and a portion of the Property Services Division of the Minneapolis Public Works Department for more than five years. He oversaw a staff of six professional engineers and five technicians on projects that had expenditures in excess of $44,000,000 in 2004. Shahin’s group was in charge of building the largest Ultrafiltration Membrane plant in the western hemisphere with a budget of about $150,000,000. Shahin was instrumental in establishing a consulting pool for the Minneapolis Public Works.
For more than nine years, as a Professional Engineer with the Minneapolis Water Works, Shahin was project manager for a variety of projects with a total budget in excess of $11,000,000. He conducted numerous preliminary investigations, prepared budget estimates, prepared plans and specifications, reviewed bids, approved shop drawings, and supervised progress of the projects. Shahin also prepared applications for various permits on behalf of the City of Minneapolis and/or represented the City in numerous contacts with government including the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and OSHA.
Dr. Rezania was Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of North Dakota for six years, responsible for teaching graduate and undergraduate courses and conducting research in environmental engineering. He has published 18 papers and has made 22 presentations at local, regional, national, and international conferences.
|
|
Mr. Mohammed Hossam Sallam, Director of Finance,
Ministry of Water and Irrigation
Mr. Sallam holds a number of qualifications including a BSc in Civil Engineering from New England College N.H, USA. Over his many years of experience, he has garnered much expertise in various areas including planning, actioning and evaluation both long-term and short-term programmes, collating, analysing and interpreting data, as well as forward planning and stategy formulation to handle a wide variety of civil emergencies. In addition, his role includes substantive tasking, devising, organising and delivering training over a wide variety of roles and functions, planning structure and content of training courses, assessing and evaluating course efficacy, and identifying and resolving weaknesses on an ongoing basis.
He has extensive experience in working with water projects throughout the Middle East region, including the Saraya Aqaba project in Jordan, project management Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and as an advisor to the Ministry of Electricity and Water in Oman. He is also a member of both the Membership of Jordan Engineering Association and The American Society of Civil Engineers.
|
|
General Manager,
Yousef for Science and Engineering
Dr. Eng. Darwish Yousef has a PhD in Environmental Engineering. He is a consultant with EIB, JTZ, and JICA and a member on the Editorial Advisory Board of Arab World Water Magazine. As General Manager of Yousef for Science and Engineering, he deals with water and wastewater treatment, EIB and training.
|
|
|
|
|
 H.E. Rashid Ahmad Muhammed
Bin Fahad
Minister, Ministry of Environment
and Water, UAE |
Government authorities attending include:
Gold Sponsor
Business community partner
|
|
|
