Executive Chairman and CEO
Ahmed Bin Sulayem is the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DMCC and has driven its growth from a start-up of 28 member companies in 2003 to the world’s leading free zone in 2020 with over 18,000 member companies from 180 countries, employing over 60,000 people.
Tasked with enhancing commodity trade flows through Dubai, DMCC has introduced to the market a number of value-added products and services under Mr Bin Sulayem’s leadership. In 2020, DMCC has been named the ‘Global Free Zone of the Year’ by The Financial Times fDi Magazine, for a record sixth consecutive year.
Mr Bin Sulayem oversaw the exponential growth of the DMCC Free Zone master development in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), a 200-hectare business and residential community in Dubai of over 100,000 people living and working across 87 towers. Mr Bin Sulayem also oversees the development of DMCC’s latest real estate project; the much-anticipated Uptown Dubai district.
Mr Bin Sulayem currently serves as the Chairman of the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) and the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX).
The Kimberley Process officially appointed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the first and only Arab country to Chair the Kimberley Process in November 2015. Shortly after, the UAE Ministry of Economy officially appointed Mr Bin Sulayem as the UAE’s Chair of the Kimberley Process for 2016.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
ASIA HOUSE
Michael Lawrence was appointed Chief Executive of Asia House in September 2012 following a career in journalism that took him to the highest levels of international media. Michael was Global Editor of Reuters from 2006 to 2012, leading a team of 3,000 journalists covering news in text, video and pictures from almost 200 bureaux around the world. Michael was part of the editorial team that delivered Reuters’ much-praised coverage of the Iraq war, and he ran the region through the turbulent years that followed. He has an in-depth knowledge of the Asian geopolitical landscape and economic affairs in the region.
‘Godfather of Ethereum’ and
Founder of æternity
Yanislav Malahov (Godfather of Ethereum and Founder of æternity) is an innovator working for almost 10 years in the field of crypto and blockchain technology and is commonly known as the ‘Godfather of Ethereum’.
He is considered as one of the foremost experts in this field and has co-built and launched seven wallets, including the first Dogecoin browser wallet and very early decentralized applications in 2014.
Yanislav arguably registered the first company in the world with cryptocurrency as base capital and without a bank account.
For the past five years, he has been working on æternity blockchain, a more scalable smart contract platform with build-in state channels for smart contracts, a naming system and a 10x more space-efficient virtual machine in comparison to the EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). With the new hyperchains consensus he envisioned a better way of scaling for æternity and other blockchains.
Chief Operating Officer
DMCC
Feryal Ahmadi is the Chief Operating Officer of DMCC, and has been instrumental in securing DMCC’s reputation as the leading authority on international commodities trade and enterprise.
Overseeing its long-term strategic growth plan, Feryal has shaped the corporate governance structure in DMCC, and created marketplaces that increase global trade flows through Dubai.
Feryal manages the wider operations team tasked with developing the Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) business district, and implementing the innovative DMCC Smart and Sustainable District Strategy.
As an official spokesperson, Feryal frequently engages with local and international media on a variety of topics to raise awareness of DMCC, and promote the commercial appeal of Dubai around the world.
As a committee member of Women Empowerment Principles (WEPs) – established by UN Global Compact and UN Women – Feryal leads DMCC’s comprehensive sustainability programme. She also sits of the board of a number of semi-governmental entities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Feryal earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the American University in Sharjah, and an Executive MBA from Harvard University.
Chief of Trade Costs Analysis
World Trade Organization
Roberta Piermartini is Chief of Trade Costs Analysis at the WTO. She has 20 years of experience in research on trade, trade policy and inclusive development.
She has published extensively in academic journals and various books. She is the lead author of the World Trade Report as well as coordinator for WTO-WB joint publications. She is the author of "A Practical Guide to Trade Policy Modelling" and "An Advanced Guide to trade Policy Modelling."
She has served the WTO Dispute Settlement in several Panel and Arbitration cases. Her work has been covered by The Economist and Le Monde.
Prior to joining the WTO in 2000, she was a lecturer in economics and statistics at the University of Southampton and a research fellow in the research division of Confindustria. She also has been teaching at the University of Geneva and LUISS. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Southampton.
Board Member
Clear Bank and RTGS Global
Marcus Treacher is a member of the board of Clear Bank and the board of RTGS Global. He has over 35 years experience driving innovation and business growth in the transaction banking and payments industries. He has held several leadership positions at HSBC, Citigroup and Ripple, where he specialised in creating and scaling new business propositions, leveraging technology innovation.
Marcus works with start-ups, FinTech disruptors and industry groups to pioneer the payments landscape that will power our future digitised world. Most recently, he led the global expansion of blockchain payment network RippleNet from launch to worldwide coverage.
Marcus has also served as a member of the Global Board of SWIFT, and as an independent non-executive director of CHAPS Co, the UK’s RTGS clearing company.
Chief Economist and Head of Research
Emirates NBD
Khatija Haque joined Emirates NBD in 2011 as one of the founding members of the Emirates NBD research team, helping to build the bank’s macroeconomic coverage on the GCC and wider MENA region over the last decade.
She was appointed Chief Economist and Head of Research in 2020. Khatija has more than 20 years of experience as an Emerging Markets economist spanning three continents.
Before moving to Dubai in 2008, Khatija was Vice President at Deutsche Bank in London, covering several countries in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
She is a frequent guest on local radio and television and is often quoted in both local and international press.
