WSA National Expert 2005 ALGERIA Mr. Mohamed Saad-Laib General Manager DIDACTICA, Ecole Superieure de Management et des Technologies de l'Information wsa-algeria [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Saad-Laib is the General Manager for DIDACTICA, Ecole Superieure de Management et des Technologies de l'Information. He has represented Algeria in the "Euro Mediterranean Movement for management and quality in the SME and handcraft companies", an EU project in the framework of the Eumedia Initiative. Mr. Saad-Laib is also a Consultant in data Computing Systems, Networking and ICT Consultant for different organisations throughout his country. He is a member of Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) and recently was the guest Editor for PARTNERS- the GKP Newsletter. BAHRAIN Mr. Waheed AlBalushi Chairman Bahrain e-Content Award wsa-bahrain [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. AlBalushi is the Assistant Manager of Arabbanking in Bahrain and is currently the Chairman of Bahrain e-Content Award. Mr. AlBalushi is the Founder and General Secretary of Bahrain Internet Society. He is a member of numerous Organisations and Associations including; The Bahrain Journalists Association and the Internet Society (ISOC). He is Editor of .COM, a weekly IT supplement in ALAYAM in Arabic and also Editor of an Internet page in Honal Bahrain a weekly magazine produced by the Ministry of Information in Bahrain. In 2003 Mr. AlBalushi was selected to represent his country as a Grand Jury Member for the WSA. DJIBOUTI Mr. Abdourahman Mohamed Hassan Technical adviser of the Minister for ICT Ministry of Communication, Culture, Posts and Telecommunications wsa-djibouti [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Abdourahman Mohamed Hassan has been Technical adviser of the Minister for ICT since 2002. He graduated in 1992 in civil engineering from Institut National des Télécommunications in Evry, France. After hid graduation Mr. Abdourahman Mohamed Hassan worked as Technical Manager of STID (Limited Company in charge of internationals Telecoms of Djibouti) until 1999. In 1999 he became the Managing Director of STID. From 2000 to 2001 he functioned as General Manager of Djibouti Telecom. EGYPT Ms. Effat El-Shooky VP and the Director of Knowledge Program Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre "RITSEC" wsa-egypt [at] icnm [dot] net Ms. El-Shooky is the V.P. of RITSEC. She is the director of the Global Distance Learning Centre, GDLC-Egypt jointly established in October 1999 by the World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of International Cooperation and RITSEC, the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre. Ms. El-Shooky has more than 20 years of experience in international and regional cooperation activities and Regional ICT Projects design and implementation in Arab and African Countries. She has been greatly involved in developing technical assistance programs in ICT and e-Learning for the Country Groups of G15, G77 and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). She has represented the Government of Egypt in a wide number of official delegations. In 2003, Ms. El-Shooky was selected as a Grand Jury Member for the WSA. JORDAN Mr. Bilal Abuzeid CEO Information Technology Association - Jordan (int@j) wsa-jordan [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Abuzeid was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Information Technology Association of Jordan (int@j) in 2004. In 2000, he participated in the implementation of the REACH Initiative. Mr. Abuzeid is a member of the Tijara coalition formed by Jordanian NGO’s, business associations and the public sector for the implementation of the Jordan United States Free Trade agreement. He has helped in drafting the update for the Tijara strategy for the years 2004-2007. He is a member of several committees, both related and not related to int@j (REACH committees, marketing and member services committee, capital and finance committee, Jordan ICT Forum organizing committee, Jordan United States Free trade agreement Tijara coalition coordinating committee and sub-committees). KUWAIT Ms. Manar Al-Hashash Project Manager & Marketing Dot Design wsa-kuwait [at] icnm [dot] net Ms. Al-Hashash is the Founder and Project and Marketing Manager for Dot Design, a software development company. She has also launched the IT magazine ‘Dot’of which she is owner and Chief Editor. In 2004 Ms. Al-Hashash launched and Managed a Local e-Content Contest under the name of “Ghiras electro Contest 2004” which was aim at youths in Kuwait (14-22yrs) competing for Best website design, Best Presentation and Best Graphic design. She was awarded an IEEE for her outstanding Internet and e-Commerce projects in 2000. Ms. Al-Hashas prepares and presents the weekly IT programme “Compunet World” on Kuwait Satellite Channel in Arabic as well as preparing and presenting another weekly IT programme on KTV2 in English called “Zero Ones”. Ms. Al-Hashash also writes a weekly IT page for the Al-Watan Newspaper an official daily newspaper of Kuwait. LEBANON Mr. Gabriel Deek Secretary General Professional Computer Association wsa-lebanon [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Deek graduated in 1982 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. His early experience was in software development in a major SW House “Isticharat” working in Lebanon and the Gulf. In 1987 I joined the HolCom Group, where I started in SW Consulting and Project Management. I joined Quantech (part of the Holcom Group) in January 2000, where he still manages the digital media and the e-business divisions. In 1996 I joined the Professional Computer Association (PCA) and Mr. Deek became its Secretary General in March 2003. The PCA groups 125 Companies representing 80% of the ICT business in Lebanon. He is also the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the “Golden Chip Awards” a competition intended to discover and support young Lebanese talents in the field of ICT and promotes their work throughout the business community. In June 2003, I was invited to join the Arab Regional Network (ARN). The ARN is working as part of the UN ICT Task Force to help e-enable the various communities in the Arab World. LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA Mr. Otman Gajiji Project Manager Centre of Multimedia Technologies, MTC-Libya wsa-libya [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Gajiji is currently the Project Manager of the Centre of Multimedia Technologies, MTC-Libya. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of ISHARA Electronics. In, 2001 he founded and became Managing Director of I.C.C.M. where the aim was to propose total solutions for Computer Networking requirements. Mr. Gajiji still Lectures in Computer Architecture at the Al-Fateh University in the Department of Nuclear & Electronic Engineering. MAURITANIA Mr. Soumaré Assane University Professor University of Nouakchott wsa-mauritania [at] icnm [dot] net More information to come. MOROCCO Mr. Okba Kamal CEO Casanet Branch of Maroc Telecom wsa-morocco [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Kamal is presently the CEO of CASANET, a branch of MAROC Telecom (Telecom Operator) whose core business is content development. Since the first internet connection in Morocco, Mr. Kamal has actively followed the Internet development in Morocco. Mr. Kamal is a member of two associations in Morocco: APEBI and MISOC (Moroccan ISOC). He is also a member of the Board for AFRINIC. OMAN Mr. Mohammed Al-Wohaibi Executive President Omantel wsa-oman [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Al-Wohaibi is the Executive President of OMAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY (S.A.O.C). He is a member of the Omani government IT Executive Committee and the Chairman of Oman Fiber Optic Company. He is also the Chairman of Oman Mobile Telecommunications Company and Deputy Chairman of the Arab Regional Group Mr. Al-Wohaibi serves as the Chairman of the Affiliated Infrastructure Investment and Services Group and a member of the IEEE. He Holds a B.Sc Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Toledo, USA and MS in Telecommunications from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. He is currently working on a PhD in Information Technology at the University of Sunderland, UK. QATAR Mr. Issam Alameh Development Manager wsa-qatar [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Alameh has more than 15 years experience in IT and Application development. He has worked extensively in developing and designing e-commerce applications, e-government standards, polices, methodologies of development, deployment and designing e-services, integration of legacy systems, and managing projects, groups of developers, designers and support engineers. For 4 years, Mr. Alameh has worked with Qatar e-Government where he is managing the Development and Maintenance department in Qatar e-Government and is responsible for the building of new e-Services and adding functionality to developed e-Services and maintaining them. He also worked on solving issues related to integration with Arabic Characters on mainframes (working with a developer) developing a parser that takes care of the translation between COBOL fixed length structures and XML. SAUDI ARABIA Mr. Mohammad AlQasem Minister's Advisor for IT Ministry of Communication and Information Technology wsa-saudi-arabia [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. AlQasem holds a PhD in Computer Science and a MSc. in Information Science. He is presently serving as the Minister’s Advisor for Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and IT, in Riyadh. He was formally the Chairman of the Computer Science Dept. at King Fahad Security College, Riyadh, where he also worked as an assistant Professor. Mr. ALQasem is also the Chairman of the IT Laws and Regulation team for the Saudi National IT Plan Project and a member of the organizing team of the National Female Competition (of web site development), Saudi National IT Plan Project. Mr. AlQasem also works as a part-time Consultant for several governmental and private organisations. SUDAN Mr. Izzeldin Osman President Emeritus Sudan University of Science and Technology wsa-sudan [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Osman is the President Emeritus of the Sudan University of Science and Technology. During his illustrious career as an Academic he held positions in Universities both in his own country and in the USA. He has pioneered distant learning programmes, serving students in five countries including remote locations in Africa, using traditional instructional media as well as the internet for over 4,000 students. He has published extensively in the field of Technology and Management and Information Security. Mr. Osman represents Sudan through RINAF (Regional Information Network for Africa), the UN Working Group Informaticsm and is on the panel of Advisors for the UN ICT Task Force. Mr. Osmanis represented Sudan as Expert for the WSA 2003 panel. SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC Mr. Anas Tarah SCS Board Member - Vice-President Syrian Virtual University Syrian Computer Society (SCS) wsa-syria [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Anas Tarah is a Syrian Computer Society (SCS) Board Member and the Vice-President of Life Long Learning at the Syrian Virtual University. Mr. Tarah also undertakes the position of Vice-Dean for Scientific Affaires at Damascus University and is the Executive Manager of the IT Faculty Syrian Business Machine. He hopes by working with the WSA that he can help to discover new talent in Syria and to create a national momentum toward the innovation and quality of E-Content and Creativity. TUNISIA Mr. Faouzi ZAGHBIB Tunisian IT Chamber (UTICA-CNS-SSII) Chairman wsa-tunisia [at] icnm [dot] net Titles: Expert in information systems engineering and IT, General Manager of R2i (an IT co), Chairman of the Tunisian IT Chamber (UTICA-CNS-SSII), Administrator of ESPRIT (a Tunisian IT university). Professional experience (since 1981): Associated to several national information system’s modelling, conducted IT projects for the public sector (industry, trade, health, planning, statistics, education, trade, tax) and the private sector (telecoms, banking, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, e-business, business-intelligence). Education: Certified from Beyster Institute (The Ready School of Management, University of California, 2004), Engineer in computer science (Tunis University, 1981), Research trainee (IACE, Aix en Provence, 1981), DEU in economic sciences (Tunis University, 1977). Active member of: WITSA (World IT & Services Alliance), IJMA3 (Arab IT association), AFICTA (African IT association), national and regional committees in charge of e-commerce development, ICT capacity building, education. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Ms. Hind Almualla IT Instructor Higher Colleges of Technology wsa-uae [at] icnm [dot] net Since 1998, Ms. Almualla has worked as an IT Instructor for the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. She has studied in England and in the UAE. From 1992-1998 she was an IT Instructor for the Ministry of Education in the UAE. She holds a Msc. in Multimedia Computing for eCommerce from the Brunel University. YEMEN Mr. Hassan Sharafuddin Dean, Computer Centre Sana'a University wsa-yemen [at] icnm [dot] net Mr. Sharafuddin is the Dean of the Computer Centre at Sana’s University, where he also teaches Computer and Information Systems for Postgraduate students. He has acted as a Consultant for the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, where he was assigned as a committee member for preparing and implementing Workshop Training on Accreditation for Higher Education Institutes in Yemen. In 2002, he participated in the joint OECD/UN/World Bank Global Forum on Knowledge Economy.