Session: Welcome Address & Introduction

Profile: Reem Asaad is the first female and local leader in the role of Vice President at Cisco Middle East and Africa. She is responsible for overseeing the work of 2,500 employees and contractors, while driving the company’s position as a leading technology provider and consultant across 74 markets in the region.

With over two decades of experience across industries including technology, financial services and customer experience, Asaad’s role focuses on strengthening collaborations with governments, customers and partners, underpinned by Cisco’s portfolio of advanced solutions to accelerate their digitization agendas. Cisco is currently working alongside national leadership, industry and academia in markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and South Africa, as part of the Cisco Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program.

Under Asaad’s leadership, at the height of the pandemic, Cisco supported 3,600 customers across MEA in ensuring continuity via the use of Webex, including transitioning over 500 educational institutions to distance or hybrid learning models. Her teams also transitioned Expo 2020 Dubai’s 2,000-strong workforce to remote working and Cisco was earlier this year appointed as network operator for the mega-event.

With a focus on training, upskilling and developing human capital, Cisco’s Networking Academy is helping to futureproof job roles and aid the transition towards more digitally-focused economies. During Asaad’s time with Cisco, in FY20 alone, over 370,000 students across MEA gained Cisco Networking Academy certifications, representing a 27% increase year-on-year. Cisco currently has 1,627 academies running in 60 countries regionally, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Turkey, South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya.

Session: Welcome Address & Introduction

Profile: Abdelilah Nejjari is the Chief Operating Officer and Partner Lead for Cisco Middle East and Africa
He is in charge of planning and executing on Cisco’s operational policies, Go-To-Market strategies and priorities as well as leading the partner organization across MEA. By virtue of his 25 years career, he has brought to his position a well-established background in the IT industry and in professional services. By developing and designing an ongoing management of MEA Partner Strategy, Abdelilah is ensuring a strong blueprint and execution of our evolving selling motions, shifting Cisco’s and its Partners focus in the region, to Software & Subscriptions based offerings. Abdelilah is driven by his ultimate desire: Enable our Partners, by developing mutual performance objectives, to deliver value to Cisco customers in their digital journey, and to implement an innovative, robust and secure IT environment in the region.

He first joined Cisco, 12 years ago, as a Commercial/Enterprise Segment lead covering Morocco and achieved great results in his first year. He was then promoted as a Regional Sales Manager for Commercial Segment for North, West and Central Africa, establishing and driving with dynamism Sales and GTM strategies. In his most recent role before taking his current responsibilities, Abdelilah was Cisco’s General Manager for North & West Central Africa for more than 4 years, during which time he demonstrated ability to build and manage profitable business, while engaging and retaining high profile relationships with the local and global organizations, in both public and private sectors.

Prior to joining Cisco, Abdelilah spent more than a 15 years in IT Senior Management roles within notable IT system integrators in Morocco. With an entrepreneurship aspirations since the beginning of his career, he created and launched in 2003 his own IT Services Company, focusing on Infrastructure Services, Technical Support and Training. The company developed to become Number 1 in its field in Morocco, and was, subsequently, acquired by one of the major IT companies in the region.

Abdelilah graduated from Ecole Mohammedia des Ingenieurs, with an Engineer in Computer Science degree. He is based in Dubai, married with 4 children.

Session: Keynote: Developing a Hybrid Work Model

Profile: Ahmad Zureiki is the collaboration business head of Cisco Middle East and Africa, he leads a team of collaboration experts responsible for driving customers workplace digital transformation and improving end-user collaboration experience.

With more than 26 years’ experience in the IT industry, Ahmad is known of his extensive experience in the MEA market and brings a wealth of knowledge in collaboration business.

Prior to joining Cisco, Ahmad held several regional sales, technical and managerial positions with Avaya, Nortel and regional System integrators. He holds Telecommunication engineering degree, lives in Dubai with his wife and two boys.

Session: Keynote: The Future of Work is Hybrid

Profile: Elizabeta leads Cisco’s Enterprise Networking business for Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia (EMEAR). In this role, she is driving EMEAR’s Enterprise Networking strategy for Cisco’s growth and portfolio success while introducing new consumption models and revenue streams. Elizabeta is highly regarded for her disruptive thinking, dedication to customer success and her endless drive to succeed.

Prior to this role, Elizabeta led MEA Architectures for 4 years from Dubai and before that Cisco’s Service Provider Business in Eastern Europe, based out of Vienna, Austria. She joined Cisco in 2006 and held different positions throughout a dynamic tenure in the Public Sector and Service Provider Business.

Elizabeta is a Harvard Business School alumnus in Organizational Leadership. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences with a major in Programming Languages.

Elizabeta lives in Dubai with her daughter and her husband. Together, they travel, enjoy sailing, great food and movies.

Session: Keynote: The Future of Work is Hybrid

Profile: Colin McMillan is the Technical Director of Cisco’s Security Sales, leading the EMEAR Technical Solutions Architect team across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia. In this role, he is responsible for creating and delivering the technical security strategy to support sales growth. Together with his team, he is focused on securing customers in an increasing threat landscape.

Prior to his current role, Colin led the Data Centre Architecture team for EMEAR. He joined Cisco 23 years ago in the UK and has held numerous leadership positions in Cisco from Internal IT to Technical Marketing and Architectural Sales.

Prior to Cisco, his career was initially focussed on software development in the Oil & Gas sector, following 10 years at ExxonMobil, in various systems and application designn roles, he moved into several start-up companies in the networking space.

Colin went to University in Aberdeen and has a Diploma in Maths and Computing, He lives in the Scottish borders where he enjoys Foraging and Vintage Motorcycles.

Session: Keynote: The Future of Work is Hybrid

Profile: With over 20 years, Vaughan has held senior leadership roles in the Information Technology industry, partnering with both hardware and software vendors across the globe. Throughout his tenure, his endeavors have focused on assisting organizations improve their businesses through the adoption and utilization of collaboration technologies.

Vaughan believes that the power of collaboration unlocks tremendous capability by enabling businesses to compete on a global scale with increased agility, innovation, and productivity. He is equally passionate about ensuring an inclusive future for all using technology as an enabler.

Session: Keynote: Developing a Hybrid Work Model

Profile:Ljupcho Joshevski is the Head for Cybersecurity Architectures at Cisco Systems with over 20 years’ experience in the IT industry. He manages an expert group of Cybersecurity Technical Solutions Architects covering the Middle East & Africa theatre. In his role, Mr. Joshevski and his team are responsible for addressing the most complex security challenges companies face in today’s dynamic Cybersecurity world using Cisco’s latest innovations and leadership in Security

Session: Keynote: Developing a Hybrid Work Model

Profile: Garsen Naidu is the Specialist Sales Lead for Cisco Middle East and Africa. He is responsible for designing and executing the technology go to market strategies for Cisco’s Middle East and Africa sales teams that delivers transformational value to our customers and partners.

While his tenure as Specialist Sales Lead began in 2022, Garsen has been with Cisco more than a decade, having joined the company in 2010. His previous role was GM of Cisco’s Sub-Saharan Africa operations which included leading South Africa as the Country Manager where he was responsible for executing a country-wide vision and strategy that helped drive a digital agenda for South Africa. In the Sub-Saharan Africa region, he has also previously led Cisco’s Partner organization as well as the Engineering organization across 31 countries. Prior to this he held the position of Regional Sales Manager for Cisco Southern Africa, a role which he occupied from October 2015.

He began his career as a Software Development Engineer in the Aerospace industry designing software and hardware systems for defense systems.

Garsen’s academic achievements include a MBA (distinction) from GIBS, a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering as well as a Diploma in Electrical Engineering.

Session: Keynote: Developing a Hybrid Work Model

Profile: Ivan Zaklanovic is the EN Access head of Cisco Middle East and Africa, leading a team of experts driving the enterprise network transformation as one of the key pillars in customer digitalization journeys.

Connecting technology and cross-architectural knowledge with customer business priorities and overall community development is the main passion that drives Ivan every day.

For the last 19 years in Cisco, Ivan collected extensive experience with different roles and geographies. Previously, he led the Cisco Software business in the Middle East and Africa and had several other technology managerial roles in Central and Eastern Europe.