Gulf Financial Services Community: Rewiring the Bank – Building the Workforce Architecture for AI at Scale

Raza is a Principal in Mercer’s Workforce Transformation practice, specifically within the Financial Services Industry. Raza works with leading banks and financial services entities across the region advising them on workforce optimization opportunities in view of digital and AI. Previously, Raza spent 17 years advising clients across Australia, UK, Germany and Middle East on how to harness the true potential of their talent in times of complex transformations.

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 specializes 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.

Robert is a Senior Principal in the Career business in the Middle East (based in the Dubai office). He combines 20 years of experience, working predominantly with clients within financial services across multiple domains within HR.

He is the leading part of the financial services team for Marsh Workforce and Rewards in the Middle East and Africa region, which supports firms across the entire HR value chain. His clients are the regions leading banks, asset owners and managers as well as Insurance companies and FinTechs.

Before he joined Mercer, he served about 15 years as a n HR consultant at leading consulting firms (Willis Towers Watson, Aon) across Europe and the Middle East on a variety of topics (Broad Based Rewards, Data, Talent Management). Between 2011 and 2013 he worked as a global compensation & benefits manager for DHL Express

Michael Whelan is a Director at Corporate Research Forum (CRF), leading the organisation in the GCC region, based in the UAE. He supports the organisation’s global network of more than 270 organisations build the capability of their HR functions through evidence-based research, technology-enabled learning and development, expert events, and peer exchange.

Michael is also a Director at leading HR search and advisory firm Strategic Dimensions – CRF’s sister organisation – having started his career in Executive Search. His experience extends across industry and geographical sectors including the largest firms in the Gulf region.