Sarra Al Breiki is the Vice President of Group Scholarship & Education Affairs at ADNOC, leading a function that represents a distinctive strategic advantage for the organization through early engagement with high‑potential talent. In this role, she leads engaging high‑potential talent early and translating long‑term workforce priorities into practical development pathways that support ADNOC’s future capability needs. Her work advances the UAE’s long‑term international talent agenda, building a future‑ready talent pipeline aligned with the evolving global energy landscape.

With over 18 years of leadership experience across human capital value chain, Sarra has built a distinguished career spanning engineering, workforce planning, and HR leadership & transformation within the evolving energy sector. She began her career at ADNOC Distribution as a Software Engineer before progressing into strategic roles at Borouge, where she led enterprise‑wide HR transformation, people strategy, and high‑impact talent acquisition initiatives supporting organizational growth.

In her current role at ADNOC, Sarra leads a development and education ecosystem that gives ADNOC a competitive advantage through early engagement, nurturing and developing top tier talent. The ecosystem emphasizes future capability in areas such as digital innovation and artificial intelligence, ensuring learning translates into long‑term workforce impact that prepares future-ready talents.

Beyond her core responsibilities, Sarra contributes to education advisory structures and serves as a Board representative and is actively involved with ADNOC Schools, supporting national education strategy and institutional oversight. Sarra holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology from the Higher Colleges of Technology, graduating with Distinction and Highest Honors (GPA 4.0. She is a CIPD‑certified professional and has completed executive and leadership programs with leading global institutions, including IMD Business School (Switzerland), Yale University, and HCI (USA).

Her contributions have been recognized through multiple honors, including the Best Transformational Leader Award and the Abu Dhabi Industry Award. Sarra is also a frequent speaker at regional and international forums, including SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) University Program, and actively participates in national and international HR and education committees.

Driven by a strong belief that development & education ecosystem is a driving force for national priority , Sarra Al Breiki continues to shape initiatives that develop future‑ready Emirati talent, reinforcing ADNOC’s role in workforce sustainability, nation‑building, and long‑term economic growth.

Dr. Lana El Chaar is currently the VP of Talent Management & Talent Acquisition at ACWA Power. Her main role is to grow talents, design and implement programs to develop and retain highly skilled employees, empower women in leadership roles and develop ACWA Power future leaders.  Prior to this role, Dr. Lana was the Vice President (VP) of the Center of Excellence at NOMAC. She led the implementation of a strategic transformation portfolio to drive operational efficiencies, whilst supporting NOMAC’s and ACWA Power’s growth aspirations. In that current role, Dr. Lana and her team provided support in terms of engineering subject matter expertise, digitalization, benchmarking, innovation, lessons learned and integrated management systems that enabled NOMAC Operations Excellence.

Prior to NOMAC, Dr. Lana held several key roles at General Electric Power Services, both globally and locally. She led the global digital services team for GE power customers and served as VP in the GE digital customer success organization, focusing on power, oil and gas, and manufacturing. She successfully implemented GE’s first Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution in the MEA region, enhancing energy efficiency. Before entering the industrial sector, Dr. Lana was deeply involved in academia, serving as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Education and conducting research on renewable energy, particularly solar and wind integration into education.

Chehab is Sales Director for the Middle East at Thrive, where he leads commercial growth across the GCC and the broader regions With more than a decade of experience working at the intersection of workforce transformation and technology, Selim has spent his career helping some of the region’s most ambitious organisations move beyond traditional approaches to learning and build the capability infrastructure their business strategies actually demand.

Samar Elmnhrawy is a transformational C-suite executive with 25+ years of enterprise leadership across Retail, Automotive, Oil & Gas, Energy, and Government sectors. As SVP People, Organization & Sustainability at Majid Al Futtaim and Founder of Bridge Gemini, a boutique HR advisory, she channels her CHRO experience with Majid Al Futtaim, Nissan Motor Corporation, and Baker Hughes into practitioner-grade solutions for organisations navigating transformation and growth. Her expertise spans Organisation Architecture, M&A Integration, Culture Transformation, Digital HC, ESG Governance, Total Rewards, and Leadership Development, with a track record of $20B+ P&L oversight, billion-dollar integrations, and enterprise-wide change across the USA, Europe, Middle East, KSA, Africa, and Asia. Named among the Top 50 Women in the Middle East and recognised as a Middle East Inspirational Woman in Leadership, Samar brings Board-level credibility and hands-on delivery to every engagement.

Mike is a senior human capital leader with over 25 years of global experience driving organisational transformation and talent excellence across Banking, Investment and Financial Services. As Head of the People and Performance Practice at AcuityX, he partners with organisations across the GCC to design and deliver world-class people strategies. Previously, he led Human Capital at Lunate, playing a pivotal role in the successful integration of ADQ, ADG and Chimera. His career spans HR roles at institutions including ADIA, ADQ, Russell Investments and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He brings deep expertise in succession planning, performance, reward and leadership development, combining global insight with local execution to unlock human potential and drive sustainable growth.

Jill has over 20 years of HR experience working with government entities and multinationals including Abu Dhabi Department of Government Enablement (DGE) and PwC, of which 13 has been in the Middle East.  She has built and led HR functions (including Strategic Workforce Planning, L&D, and Rewards), has delivered complex HR transformation programs, and has lead HR teams as a Business Partner and Strategic Advisor.  

Jo is a Hult Professor, Harvard Business Impact Senior Faculty, and a leading voice on intercultural strength, leadership development and AI-enabled learning across public and private sectors. With 20 years of c-suite experience spanning five continents – from Silicon Valley to Saudi Arabia – she advises governments, F500 companies, and boards on talent strategy, transformation, and leadership at scale.

As former Chief Learning Officer at Majid Al Futtaim and Head of Learning at Meta, Jo has designed and delivered learning strategies for 50,000+ employees globally.  

Jo is a trained actor and now sought-after keynote speaker on culture, leadership, AI disruption, and organizational transformation. Her work bridges academic rigor with practical impact – whether coaching executives, advising governments on policy, or teaching at Harvard. She holds an MBA-F from Oxford, and is a CLO100 board director, Global Policy Network Advisor, ICF and Gallup Strengths Coach, and accredited mediator.

An award-winning leadership development practitioner with a proven track record of driving organizational excellence, Darius serves as the Senior Executive Programs Manager at Saudi Aramco. Bringing a sophisticated blend of businese acumen and field-tested management experience to the HR landscape, Darius specializes in transformational leadership and the design of high-impact development initiatives for global leaders. Armed with a Transformational Leadership MBA,  Project Management Professional, as well as, certifications in Internal Consulting, Instructional Design and Change Management he excels at translating complex corporate strategies into scalable leadership frameworks that foster a mature learning culture with value creation, psychological safety, intentionality, and operational resilience. At this conference, he shares his unique insights to using AI to impact leadership development events.

Kristofor is a Talent and Learning Executive with 25 years of Digital HR product experience including professional services consulting, corporate learning and development, servicing and employee experience (UX) across a range of industries, countries and cultures. Successfully delivers the vision, architecture and implementation of award-winning solutions that drive business results and behavioural outcomes in large, global workforces. Experience with Fortune 500 companies including Accenture, HP, Avaya, Microsoft, Verizon, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase.

Reed has been working in HR roles, including L&D, HRBP and Talent Management for over 30 years, across a number of global Blue Chip organisations. He left the UK in 2014 to move to a role based in Abu Dhabi. Across 3 senior roles in leading UAE organisations he has had responsibility for Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Internal Mobility, Performance Management, Learning and Development, Assessment, Succession Planning and Executive team Development. He’s currently focused on supporting the development and execution of the L&D strategy at the UAE’s leading Bank.

Tom is a Senior Director Client Success at Mercer. Prior to joining Mercer, Tom was a Managing Director for PwC advising international organizations on driving value through effective people and culture strategies. He has years of experience in project management, team facilitation, (team) coaching, (cultural) transformation, diversity & inclusion and leadership development. He has designed, implemented and rolled out leadership assessments and development centers up to C-suite level for top Fortune 100 clients and public sector clients in more than 30 countries. Tom also holds extensive international experience having lived and worked in Belgium, UAE, Lebanon, France, UK, and US and is passionate about fostering sustainable business practices.

John Whelan is a Director at Corporate Research Forum. Formerly UK HR Director of BAE Systems, the FTSE 100 defence, security, and aerospace company, John’s experience and strengths lie in business and HR Transformation, Organisation Development and Employee Relations. Prior to joining BAE, he held a variety of HR roles in engineering, technology and manufacturing businesses across the telecommunications and semi-conductor industries including Matra-Marconi Space where he was HR Director for the UK and, latterly, Group HRD.