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.

Pavneet Bajwa is the Head, HR, UAE, Middle East & Pakistan. With over two decades of experience in international human resources, Pavneet has held various strategic roles within the organisation, including Strategic HR Management, Reward, Talent, HR Business Partnering, and HR Technology, across multiple regions such as India, Singapore, the UK, and the UAE.

Pavneet began their career with Standard Chartered Bank in India in 2001, where they were instrumental in establishing processes for the Bank’s HR shared service centre, leading change management, and HR Technology initiatives. Subsequently, Pavneet relocated to Singapore to take on the role of Compensation and Benefits Manager for Southeast Asia, embedding progressive reward practices in Singapore and South Asian markets. Later, as a Global Talent Manager based in London, Pavneet was responsible for implementing and embedding talent management initiatives globally, including global mentoring programs, future leader programmes and the integration of Diversity & Inclusion principles into the Bank’s talent processes and initiatives.

For the past decade, Pavneet has held various senior business partnering roles in the UAE covering the exciting and dynamic region of Middle East and Africa. She currently leads the HR team in 9 markets in driving the people and culture agenda across the Middle East region. Pavneet is an advocate for diversity and inclusion while fostering continuous skills enhancement and leadership growth to create meaningful organisational and business impact.

Dua is the author of Future Proof Your Workforce: Bridging the Divide Between Nationalisation Goals and the Digital Skills Gap in the GCC – A CEO’s Playbook, a practical guide for leaders navigating workforce evolution in the digital age. As a consultant and advisor, Dua empowers organisations to bridge skills gaps, drive sustainable innovation, and align with nationalisation goals.

With an Executive Master in Digital Transformation and a Doctorate in Business Administration underway, focusing on AI and human connection, Dua’s expertise blends cutting edge insights with people centric leadership. A regular contributor to AGBI, Fast Company, and MENA Trends, Dua is shaping the conversation on emerging technologies the future of work , and workforce innovation.

Andy Hill is the Senior Director of Talent Management at Alghanim Industries, a leading and diversified privately‑owned multinational in Kuwait, where he joined in April 2025.

With nearly three decades of global HR leadership experience, Andy has held prominent talent-focused roles across multiple sectors and geographies. Most recently, he served at Philip Morris International (PMI) as Head of Talent, Workforce Planning, and Career Management, overseeing talent strategies for approximately 35,000 employees from December 2020 to February 2025.

Before PMI, Andy was Executive Vice President of Talent at Sage, where he led global talent management, executive search, learning, and diversity programs, managing key leadership and succession initiatives . Prior roles include Head of Talent Integration at Schneider Electric, and VP of Talent Management, Resourcing & Organizational Effectiveness at Invensys, where he focused on succession and organisational redesign.

Earlier in his career, Andy held HR leadership positions at Vodafone, Caudwell Communications, Bookham Technology, and began in HR at Tech Mahindra in 1997.

At Alghanim Industries, a conglomerate with operations across over 40 countries and a workforce exceeding 15,000, Andy spearheads enterprise-wide talent strategy, workforce planning, leadership development, and succession initiatives that span the breadth of the group’s diversified businesses.

Lisa is a Partner in Mercer’s Career business, with a focus on Transformation. She is the Regional Transformation Centre of Excellence Lead for Middle East, India and Africa, and is based in Abu Dhabi.  She has worked in consulting for 17 years, and has worked for Mercer in the UK, Australia and across Europe. Lisa specialises in the areas of enterprise skills, strategic transformation programmes, talent management, HR strategy and change management.

Lisa advised on establishing the strategy for a new GCC Future Skills office by ensuring the mandate was closely aligned with national priorities to drive impactful outcomes. She also guided the development of the operating model, organization design and design of measurement approach across government.

Lisa led the development of a new skills framework for a 60,000-person organization in the GCC by defining a clear skills strategy and designing a comprehensive framework tailored to the organization’s needs. She also established a governance model and advised on how to successfully embed the skills framework into HR processes to ensure effective adoption and ongoing management.

Lisa pioneered a new skills-based approach for a GCC bank by designing precise skills profiles for all job roles and crafting a visionary framework for skills-enabled career pathways. She also spearheaded the design of pilot programs to test and refine this innovative approach for broader implementation.