Louise Thomasen is an independent consultant, eGovernment and technology expert with over 30 years’ experience working with IT in the cross field of technology and society. She works with analysing, designing, implementing and evaluating IT systems as well as tools. Furthermore, possess extensive experience in evaluating, benchmarking and guiding eGovernment websites as well as projects. She took part in HM Award jury in Oman; an international jury panellist in Dubai; evaluating services for the Hamdan Bin Mohamed Award for Smart Government; as well as four years contribution in the ICEGOV conferences as Co-Chairman, panellist, member of debate team and program committee member.

She is presently working on developing a knowledge management platform on smart cities solutions in a cooperation between India and South Korea for the World Bank. In 2014, she contributed to a UN-ESCWA study on integration of service delivery in the Arab Region, and a study on social media for eParticipation in the Danish public administration. In recent years, she has also supported ITA in Oman with auditing, benchmarking and consultancy on improvement of government websites, eServices and eGovernment strategy. Additionally, Thomasen was the international ICT expert responsible for co-authoring several studies such as the ‘ReSPA comparative eGovernment Study’ for seven countries in the Western Balkans, national roadmaps on open government and eParticipation, ‘Abuse of IT for Corruption’ along with ‘Checklist for Assessment of Risks for Abuse of IT for Corruption’.

Mr. Mohamed Tayeb Mahmood is an independent consultant in the areas of ICT, excellence and strategic planning. He is also a leading innovator in the regulatory as well as management of telecommunications and related IT fields. Academically and professionally; he achieved notable success during his experience with Ahlia University, over 10 year tenure at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) in addition to 8 years with the Pension Fund Commission and the University of Bahrain.

He has also received several technical certifications including Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Bahrain; Master’s Degree in Internet Technology from Aston University in Birmingham, UK and is currently a Ph.D. candidate from the Business School at the Brunel University London in UK.

Mr. Mahmood specializes in wide-scale management of projects, resources and personnel teams. As part of his consultancy services, Mohamed was responsible for the implementation along with compiling framework of Ahlia University’s first ever strategic plan and management structure to successfully meet wide-scale KPI’s. Additionally, he served in multiple managerial and executive positions at TRA by planning and managing several projects which enhanced the ICT infrastructure capacity and quality for the entire country.

Dr. Mazen Mohamed Ali, Information Systems Department Chairperson of the IT College in the University of Bahrain, completed MSc - followed by his PhD in Information Systems from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Ali serves on the board of Bahrain Information Technology Society (BITS) together with the ISACA Bahrain Chapter. He has many refereed publications in leading international conference proceedings as well as journals; furthermore, received numerous awards for his work. In 2010, Dr. Mazen was awarded with the Best Paper at the Australasian Conference in Information Systems, held in Australia, for his scientific research.

Dr. Mohamed Baqer is currently the Strategy & Performance Unit Director at the University of Bahrain (UOB) and faculty member at the IT College. Holder of Master’s degree in Computer Networks and a Ph.D. from Monash University; Dr. Baqer contributed to the establishment of the National Qualifications Framework in Bahrain while working as a Senior Director at the Education & Training Quality Authority. He was also the Administrative & Technical Programs Director at the College of Applied Studies in UOB.

An IEEE and ACM member since 2008, he is also a keynote and reviewer speaker in conferences and journals as well as an active researcher in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence and Internet of the Future. He possesses numerous publications in Cyber-Security, Internet Safety, Energy Efficient Algorithms together with linking social networks to the internet. During his studies, Mohamed was awarded numerous prominent scholarships.

Ms. Amani Shajera is a Studies & Research Department Head at the Supreme Council for Women and a Business Administration College lecturer at the University of Bahrain (UOB). Beside the attainment of numerous professional certificates; Amina holds a Master’s degree in Total Quality & Performance Management with distinction from the University of Bradford in UK where she also obtained her BA in Multimedia Computing with first class honours.

In addition to being the Quality Assurance Department Head at UOB, she also worked as the Excellence Consultant at Bahrain Centre for Excellence, Prime Minister’s Court and Lecturer/Consultant at the United Nation for Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Furthermore, she has participated as a speaker in local and global conferences together with various national, governmental and United Nations projects.

Shajera conducted a number of research, studies and surveys while preparing national and international reports. She has published several papers in different fields and edited the book ‘Building Competitive Public Sector with Knowledge Management Strategy’. She is the first Bahraini to be selected as a member of Rising Talent Network 2015 at the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. She also received a number of awards for her academic excellence, professional outstanding performance and her efforts in community services.

Ahmed Al-Mahri, Business Development Assistant Manager at Benefit Company since 2009, possesses experience of over 10 years in banking and financial services technology. He holds Master’s degree in Business Administration from Ahlia University along with a number of professional certificates in Banking and Finance.

Al-Mahri had taken part in the Project Management team of national technology projects such as the Cheque Truncation System, Electronic Fund Transfer System and most recently the National Electronic Wallet (BenefitPay).