Panel Discussion

From covering Egypt’s football derbies to regional conflicts and global economic events, Alaa’s career spans more than two decades in the Middle East and Europe. He joined SRMG from Bloomberg News, where he spent 13 years in Cairo, Dubai and London. Alaa’s passion for training started at Reuters in 2004, when he was one of the news agency’s graduate trainees in London under the legendary Keith Stafford (now an SRMG Academy Fellow.) He covered major stories in his native Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq and Egypt, before joining Bloomberg, where he worked in key positions in the Middle East and North Africa. His last role was managing editor for economics in Europe, overseeing the coverage during the height of the Covid pandemic.

CEO of Bassmat Agency , a business driven international brand, marketing, and communications expert with an entrepreneurial and commercially creative record.

Claudinia joined TBWARAAD in January 2022 in a mission to align the agency’s people and culture strategies with business goals, while keeping the employee experience at the forefront. Her values-driven, data-informed approach contributes to scaling the TBWA culture, cultivating an environment where talents can innovate, collaborate, and thrive.

Claudinia is a Chartered Human Resources and Organization Development Executive with an extensive track record of driving employee engagement, cultural transformation, and leadership of people-centric HR strategies that enable organizations to unlock the potential of its people. She combines a passion for people and deep HR expertise, with a wealth of business savvy gained in a diverse range of industry sectors across Africa, the Middle East, and the United Kingdom.

Simon is the Global Chief Creative Strategy & Innovation Officer at creative communications firm Hill & Knowlton, leading a global creative transformation merging strategy, creativity, content, media, and data. Under his leadership, the agency embraced a new positioning and creative processes and has established 8 Innovation + Creative Hubs worldwide. Simon advises international clients, including mega-project King Salman Park. He previously worked across the US, China, and Europe. His industry renown is underscored by his contributions as a speaker and judge at Cannes Lions and the D&AD. Simon continues to drive innovation, shaping the future of global communications at H&K.

Kristine is a go-getter and passionate creative and marketing executive with over 18+ years’ experience in EMEA delivering powerful strategies in the brand creative space through compelling stories and campaigns that convert. Her motto is “create beautiful things and remember to be kind.” From looking after start-ups and caring for Fortune 500 brands, Kristine has delivered emotionally resonant creative—stories and numbers that demonstrate traction and growth. She has helped transform business operations by advocating the importance of a living brand and its narrative–using research and data to distill robust strategies, powerful storytelling and moonshot thinking in her craft.

Amit Nayak is Bloomberg Media’s Managing Director for the Middle East & Africa, overseeing all advertising, sponsorship and strategic media & custom content partnerships across Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg Live Experiences, Businessweek and the Bloomberg Terminal. Since joining Bloomberg in 2014, Amit has focused on growing the commercial business through a series of multi-media & event partnerships with government and corporate entities as well as helping develop strategic partners for unique initiatives such as the Bloomberg New Economy Forum and Qatar Economic Forum Powered by Bloomberg. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he worked for The Wall Street Journal in London before being transferred to Dubai to set up and run their commercial business in the Middle East & Africa. During Amit’s time in London he also worked for Mindshare and BBC World News. Amit was born in the UK, grew up in Saudi Arabia before returning to the UK where he completed his schooling and graduated from Kingston University with a B.A. Honors in Business Economics followed by the M.A. Honors in International Business & Management from the University of Westminster. Amit lives in Dubai with his wife and two children.