Ahmed Bin Sulayem

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 2022 with over 23,000 member companies from 180 countries, employing over 65,000 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 2022, DMCC was named the ‘Global Free Zone of the Year’ by The Financial Times fDi Magazine, for a record eight consecutive years.

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 in 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.

H.E. Dr Hissa Abdulla Ahmed Al Otaiba

Her Excellency is the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Swiss confederation and presented her credentials to the president Mr. Ignazio Cassis on 28.06.2022.

From 2019 till end 2021 Her Excellency was appointed Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Dr. Alotaiba was also a Permanent Representative of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Prior to this, Her Excellency was Ambassador to the Principality of Andorra and to the Holy See from 2012 until 2019. As well, she was Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain from 2009 until 2019.

Her previous postings include Advisor to the Department of Planning and Economics in Abu Dhabi from 2007 to 2008. Prior to this, she was an Assistant, Resident Representative for Finance & Human Resources at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Abu Dhabi from 2006 until 2007. Dr. Alotaiba also held the position of Head of Information Technology at the International Women’s Forum in New York from 2002 until 2006.

Medals & Decorations
13 February 2019: Award “The Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit” awarded from H.M. Felipe VI / King of Spain in recognition as a UAE Ambassador to Spain and the first Arab Lady Ambassador for her role in strengthening the bilateral relations between UAE and Spain. This award is considered the highest honor for a foreign citizen and the last time awarded was 35 years ago
- Her Excellency holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from a Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Roberto Delorenzi

Roberto is the Managing Partner of Swiss Group Advisory DMCC, part of Swiss Group, providing a wide range of comprehensive corporate and management consulting and accounting services for corporate and private clients. 

He has extensive experience advising clients to set up a presence in the UAE, whether for a hub for their local, regional, and international business development or to maintain and optimise existing structures and entities. 

The Swiss Group, which comprises of two entities, Swiss Group Advisory DMCC and Swiss Group Legal Ltd, specialises in corporate and management consultancy, legal consultancy and compliance consultancy. 

Under Swiss management, the international team of qualified practitioners, lawyers, accountants, and business consultants offers an all-encompassing point for clients. It combines expertise and capability with an intimate and profound knowledge of the local requirements in the Middle East. 

Roberto has held several executive positions in Consulting, Finance, and Accounting, Cost Controlling, in sectors including oil and gas, agricultural chemicals and fashion.

Born in Switzerland, where he studied Business Administration and Accounting, Roberto is now based in Dubai where he has lived and worked for 15 years. He speaks three languages, including English, French and Italian.

Dr Karin Lorez

Dr. Karin Lorez is the founder of Lorez Legal (Zurich/Switzerland), a forward-thinking, boutique legal advisory firm specializing in financial market, cryptocurrency and blockchain regulation and founding partner of Scale Compliance (Zug/Switzerland and DMCC, Dubai/United Arab Emirates), a compliance service provider for crypto companies. Scale Compliance GmbH based in Zug is a regulated financial intermediary under Swiss laws that provides escrow services in crypto and fiat, exchange services and payment services in crypto.

Dr. Karin Lorez offers over 13 years expertise in the financial markets. She has advised on numerous high-profile and ground-breaking initiatives, including: acting as lead legal advisor for the first bank to offer crypto assets to clients; advising on various FinTech and Blockchain projects; advising banks and other financial institutions on Blockchain Projects and implementing regulatory requirements; acting as Head of Regulatory for Switzerland & EU for a private bank and asset management platform, responsible for over 60 asset managers; and she is Crypto AML/KYC specialist being a also a lecturer at University of Zurich CAS Blockchain and guest lecturer in financial market law and blockchain law at several universities.

Dr. Karin Lorez is the founder and creative director of WEER, a workwear brand founded in 2014 (women's wear) as well as the founder and president of the Swiss Fashion Association.

Michael Lahyani

Michael Lahyani is the Founder and CEO of Property Finder Group, the largest and most searched-for property portal in the MENA region and Turkey. A pioneer in innovation and technology, Michael was the first to introduce real estate classified in the Middle East, prior to launching Property Finder in 2007. The company has grown exponentially through the years into an impressive and culturally diverse team of 500 individuals and generates over 14 million monthly website hits across its six countries of operation.

Michael moved to Dubai from his hometown of Geneva in 2005, and quickly identified a gap in the market: real estate advertising. With internet penetration at 45 percent in the country back then, Lahyani knew he couldn’t start a tech-only company. His journey into the prop-tech industry took off with the launch of Al Bab World in 2005, the region’s first property print magazine that generated leads for agents that offered free online advertising as well. Always at the forefront of developing new practices and products to drive the regional property market to greater heights, Michael led the company to digital transformation within two years of its launch and rebranded to propertyfinder.ae, a platform that appealed to a more diverse audience.

Property Finder has now penetrated into six territories across the region with operations in the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Australia’s REA Group had acquired 51% of the company in 2007, which was bought back by Michael when the Global Financial Crisis reached the region in 2009. Michael has since led the company to become one of the Middle East’s largest tech portals but continues to firmly believe in the value of self-funding to allow complete authority in the company’s growth and direction. His advice to new business owners: “I always say to entrepreneurs when they mention that they are trying to raise VC funding, ‘do you think you can get through the next 18 months without raising?’ If the answer is yes, put your head down and keep pushing.” In 2018, Property Finder secured funding of $120 million by US private equity firm, General Atlantic.

Lahyani holds a Bachelors and MBA in Finance from HEC Lausanne and has been at the forefront of launching initiatives that benefit the wider property market by constantly developing innovative products to aid the real-estate market in the region. He was elected first Endeavor entrepreneur of the Middle East, leading him to mentor young entrepreneurs. Harvard Business School wrote a case study on Property Finder which is being taught in their MBA classes.

Finally, the UAE government honored Michael with a UAE passport in 2020, a very rare gesture.

Michael Lane

Mr. Michael Lane serves as the President of the Swiss Business Council UAE. Established in 1996, the Swiss Business Council UAE is a non-profit organisation, licensed by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the DMCC. Since its formation, the SBC has successfully promoted the interests of companies and individuals with connections between the UAE and Switzerland. The SBC works closely with the Swiss Embassy in Abu Dhabi, Swiss Consulate in Dubai, the Swiss Business Hub Middle East, Presence Switzerland and UAE Government departments to facilitate the interaction to promote Switzerland in the area.

Swiss lawyer Michael Lane is the Managing Partner of Swiss Group Legal Ltd, the legal advisory entity of Swiss Group in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), and the Director and Head of Legal at Swiss Group Advisory DMCC.

A DFSA and FSRA-approved Compliance Officer, Michael has extensive experience operating in the legal sectors of the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, utilising a comprehensive understanding of the laws of both countries.

Peter Michael Harradine

Born in 1945 next to the old golf course in Gürten (Berne, Switzerland), Peter continues the family’s golfing tradition.

Playing golf was compulsory and he received his first set of clubs at the age of six. A little practice and many rounds could not improve a handicap of 5.

In 1965-1966, Peter went to the U.S.A to study the theoretical and practical aspects of landscaping, golf course design and construction. Upon returning to Europe, he built and designed many courses with his father and other prominent European Golf Course Architects of the time.

In 1977, Peter established Orient Irrigation Servies in Dubai which now employs 1,800 specialized Gardeners, Landscape Architects, Engineers and Technicians.

In 1996, Peter co-founded the Swiss Business Council in Dubai and was the president for the last 22 years. One of his achievements was the construction of “The Swiss Tower” in DMCC, Dubai which is the second tallest Swiss tower in the world.

Peter is the Senior Architect of “Harradine golf”, Managing Director of “Orient Irrigation Services” and a former President of the “European Institute of Golf Course Architects” and the “European Society of Golf Course Architects”.

Patrick Sulzer

Patrick grew up in Geneva before studying Business & Management at Oxford Brookes University that led him joining PricewaterhouseCoopers. He moved to Dubai in 2006 to work for the commercial arm of a Family of Office owned by a member of the local royal family.

In 2009, he joined as COO M/HQ that became one of the leading one-stop-shop multi-services platform in the Middle East. Since 2018, Patrick has been acting as Group Managing Director of GMG, a multi-family office that had up to 12 offices in 10 countries.

Patrick is also a director and a member of the team that co-founded Global Partners Ltd, an institutional fund manager focusing on alternative investments, which is re-shaping the real estate investment landscape in the UAE.

Patrick has a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the Middle East regulatory, non-financial and financial services sectors, including investment. Over his seventeen years in Dubai, he has acquired extensive practice in local strategic implementation and business development, from start-ups to multinationals.

Bassel Bitar

Bassel Bitar is the Regional Representative – Asia and Eastern Europe at DMCC, the world’s leading Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise.

Joining DMCC as a Team Leader in 2015, Bassel is responsible for promoting the benefits of doing business in Dubai and setting up companies in DMCC.

Prior to joining DMCC, Bassel held senior sales positions at both Etisalat Telecom and Emirates NBD in Dubai.

Bassel earned a Bachelor of Business administration degree in Hotel Management and tourism from the National American University in 2002.