Forum Programme & Speakers

Rania Salfiti, has been working in the Communications industry for more than 14 years and has expertise in different areas of marketing and corporate communications. Rania Salfiti is currently the Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Umniah, the latest telecom operator to enter the Jordanian telecommunications market. Salfiti successfully led the launch of Umniah through an award winning campaign which led to the instant recognition of Umniah’s brand and established it as one of Jordan’s strongest and fastest growing brands in Jordan. She is also credited for the strategic planning development and implementation of a complete communications strategy which includes brand management, commercial campaigns, Corporate Social Responsibility strategies, corporate communications, direct marketing strategies, digital and social media.
Prior to joining Umniah, Salfiti spent 8 years within the advertising and communications field in Jordan, where she initially managed her own advertising business; providing creative and tailor-made communications solutions to various reputable local brands, in addition to acting as a Creative Director for several advertising agencies and design consultants in Jordan. Rania Salfiti completed her studies in the U.S. and holds a Bachelors degree in Graphic Arts Management. Salfiti is a member of Business and Professional Women – Amman

Alexander McNabb is group account director at Spot On Public Relations, based in Dubai with responsibility for client services, counsel, management and the profitability of the firm's client account teams across the region. He has worked with information technology, media and communications in the Middle East for over 20 years, a career that brought him to the Gulf for the first time in 1986.
As a co-founder, editor and then publishing director of the Middle East's leading technology media house (ITP Ltd), Alexander launched more than 20 publications over a ten-year period and was editor and publisher of leading regional titles such as Arabian Computer News and Comms MEA. He subsequently launched several market-leading publications in the Middle East children's and lifestyle media markets, including Living in the Gulf for Spinneys.
Alexander is a well-known commentator on marketing, communications and social media issues as well as emerging technology and online communications trends and is a regular contributor to radio, television, print and web-based media. He's an experienced presenter and public speaker as well as conference moderator, MC and workshop leader. A columnist for Campaign Middle East, Alexander also writes for online media such as Arabianbusiness.com as well as The Spot On Blog and his own blog.
 

Candide is a co-founder and CTO of Quirkat; a video games development company in the Middle East. Candide has a proven record of leading development teams in the production of regionally relevant game products. Being half-Jordanian, her in-depth knowledge of the region’s culture, language and demographics have enabled her to tap into game storylines catered for the region.
 

M Shaharyar Umar is the marketing director of Pan Arab Research Center (PARC) in the UAE, and looks after the marketing of syndicated and adhoc research services. Columnist of a leading English marketing journal in GCC, he has published more than 50 articles on consumer’s insights and media analysis in various media titles of the region.
With techno-management background of Chemical Engineering and MBA from world’s renowned University, AMU, he started his career as a software engineer. Then he joined a reputable research agency of the region, Parc and has been working since past 10 years in the same organization.
Shaharyar Umar is representative of GlobalTGI, UK for middle east (TGI is world’s largest single source survey and is conducted in more than 60 markets) and has contributed to the development of TGI and extended surveys like TGI Net, TGI Sports and TGI Banking in the region.   

Omar Koudsi, co-founder of Jeeran.com, has an economics degree from Brigham Young University (Utah, USA), but it hasn’t stop him from getting heavily involved with the online world when it became mainstream in the U.S in the late nineties. At the age of 20 and after experimenting with several models online and witnessing the rise and fall of several Internet giants, Omar and his friends launched Jeeran in 2000 during university.
He returned to Jordan a year after and worked at the family’s software development company and established the first Network Security Center in the region.  In 2003, Jeeran started showing a lot of promise; Omar decided to work on it full time believing in the potential even though it had yet to start making revenue at the time.
Omar currently spends most of his time leading the growth of Jeeran by filling in many shoes; typical of many entrepreneurs working on their startup.  
He also enjoys participating in programs such as Injaz Leadership which teaches university students about leadership and taking initiative. In weekends (most of them!), he is fully booked for his wife and two kids.
 

Nour Khrais, Founder and General Manager of Maysalward with over 12 years of international experience in the Online and Mobile Value Added Services. Prior to forming Maysalward, Nour worked in a multicultural environment between VAS companies in Jordan, Dubai, Egypt, Qatar and France. In Nov 2003 under a Glocalized vision, Nour Launched the first Mobile Game Development operation in the Middle East Region offering unique games targeting the Middle East, Europe and Latin American Markets. Maysalward first games were Middle East card games, multi-platform and online games and spread as far as international markets such as Mexico. His passion for Games and mobile entertainment enforced with strong a business vision and management in mobile value added services, guarantee the success and uniqueness of product and services production. He has lectured and sat on several conference panels on gaming throughout the years. Nour has a Master in International Business, Global Marketing and Internationalization, Diploma in Mobile Telecommunication and BSc of Agriculture Engineering. Nour is the Chairman of Jordan Gaming Task Force (www.gamingtaskforce.com)

Christos Solomi is the Head of Affiliate Sales. With 9 years of media experience, Christos has developed an extensive background in Digital Performance and Affiliate Marketing. The digital media experience has been acquired through his past working experiences, that included companies like AOL, EA Games and Valueclick.

Nina Mufleh is a communication specialist who is focused on moving companies and organizations onto the digital space to connect with and engage their consumers. Nina is the co-founder and Director of Client Strategy at The Online Project where she has developed social strategies for Fortune 500 companies and high profile organizations operating in the Middle East and North Africa.    
By the age of 26, Nina already had extensive experience in the social media space having developed and executed the social media strategy for Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan who was the first royal to actively engage a global audience in such a direct dialogue. Nina assumed primary responsibility of one of the most innovative uses of communication technology at the time.  
With a passion for teaching the nuances and benefits of social media, Nina is actively involved in the Mentorship Network of Oasis500, the Middle East’s premier seed investment program, where she assists startups and entrepreneurs in tapping into the potential of social media utilization for their businesses.  
Nina earned her bachelors degree from the University of California, Riverside where she studied Political Science and Italian Studies.
 

Wael is an architect by training, an avid blogger, a young entrepreneur, and a passionate storyteller. He started working with Arabia.com in 1997 when he was still a student at the Jordan University. He later continued his career in information design, user experience, branding and innovation, until he finally started Kharabeesh in 2008. Kharabeesh is now considered one of the fastest growing entertainment networks serving Arab internet users around the world. Kharabeesh started as a small storytelling house for the new Arab generation, aiming to place Arab entertainment on the web map. His hobby turned into a career that resulted in a large profile of productions recounting stories stemming out of his society to reflect its daily realties.
 

Lauris Lietavietis holds the position of Audience Research Product Manager in Gemius SA. Lauris is responsible for Audience Research product development in the Baltics, Russia, Ukraine and several other Eastern European markets. Prior to joining Audience Research department of Gemius, Lauris started and for 2 years was leading the branch of Gemius in Latvia as Operations Manager and for 3 years he worked as the Head of Sales for the biggest news portal in the Baltics and Latvia – Delfi.lv. Before starting work in online business, Lauris was working in marketing, both, on the client as well as agency side. Lauris holds BSc degree in Economics and Business from Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Latvia.

Hussam Khoury is the Director of Sales at Ikoo Media, the largest online advertising network in Middle East and North Africa. Prior to joining Ikoo, Hussam worked at Source Interlink Media (SIM) and in the automotive sector. While at SIM Hussam lead the automotive classifieds sales team. Hussam has a proven record of delivering substantial revenue growth at high-profile companies. A strong project manager with major strengths in guiding diverse teams of interactive business professionals, producing top revenue results and strategic business partnerships.

Firas Steitiyeh is the perfect example of someone who has turned his hobby into his career. Although he has graduated with a business degree, his experience on the internet has guided him through his life and career. Now the Social Media Outreach Manager of The Online Project, he first experienced the world of ‘online’ at 13 years old. After that, it was a whirlwind of mIRC, ICQ, Freetel, Hi5, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. This tech expert has just about done it all – he’s worked in marketing for telecom companies, he’s been a product manager as well as handled a lot of product design, marketing and PR at ShooFeeTV, before settling in at The Online Project. In his spare time, should the rare occasion occur, he also does freelance blog consulting and enjoys regularly writing on his own blog. As the Social Media Outreach Manager, Firas is very excited about the social media explosion and is eager to be a part of the revolution.
 

Afif Toukan is the CEO of Wizards Productions, a leading producer and distributor of social games in the region. Previously, he established and was the senior manager of Maktoob Mobile Services, the mobile arm of Maktoob Group.
With ten years of experience in the telecommunications, TV integration and gaming industries, Afif has specialized in creating and building services and content that caters for mobile, TV and internet users. Having the ability to fuse different entertainment elements together, Afif ventured into the field of social gaming by establishing Wizards Productions and taking towards being one of the leaders of this industry in the region.