Nour Habib Kassassir is the Vice President and CIO for Parsons MEA Business Unit. Nour focuses primarily on the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, is responsible for all ICT planning, design, execution and operations for all of Parsons employees across the MEA Region. Mr. Kassassir is an ICT Executive Management Professional with 32+ years of extensive & solid experience in Information Technology Service Delivery & Management in diverse industries including: Automotive, Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Oil & Gas in the U.S., Middle East, Europe, and Asia regions, including the following countries: UAE, Qatar, Saudi, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Indonesia, Italy, & U.K. Nour’s experience includes the transformation of organizations & propelling them to new heights by applying big-picture vision, finding innovative solutions & astutely directing the creation and execution of short- & long-term strategies. He is familiar with building top-performing international operations from the ground up in difficult conditions through tenacity, intuition & multicultural relationship building. Nour successfully recruits, leads & inspires teams that harness the power of advanced technology to achieve critical business & financial objectives.

Dr. Marwan Abu Ebeid is a Sr. BIM Manager and Head of the BIM division for Turner International Middle East, a New York based Construction Project Management firm with regional office in Dubai, UAE. In this capacity, Marwan provides operational oversight, technical support and training of staff in BIM practices for all Turner projects in the GCC and the greater Middle East.

Regionally TiME offers program management, project management and construction management services. TiME is currently providing these services for a variety of Clients in UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey and Egypt.

Marwan has over 17 years of experience in Construction Project Management and Building Information Modeling where he has worked in a variety of notable and landmark projects of various kind and use.

He is an author of several international publications, a guest Lecturer at Heriot watt University, a guest Lecturer at RICS, an expert industrial advisor and specialist speaker in various international exhibitions and conferences.

Dr. Marwan obtained his PhD from Heriot Watt University – UK majoring in Construction Project Management and Building Information Modeling.

Edward has been guiding Construction & Engineering businesses along the digital transformation journey for the last 15 years. He recently joined Oracle’s Construction & Engineering Global Business Unit following Oracle’s acquisition of Aconex, where he joined in 2006. Prior to that Edward worked for Australia’s largest private real estate developer, Walker Corporation and is a graduate from the University of New South Wales in Construction Engineering Management.

Farah Kurdi is the Regional Operations Director and Project Management Technical Professional Lead at AECOM.

Farah leads a team of more than 290 employees across the Middle East; she is responsible for the operations of the Middle East Buildings team and the planning, design, execution and operations of the projects within the Buildings market practice.

Farah has more than 17 years of experience in program and project controls management within the design and construction industry, with expertise in program and portfolio management, engineering and design management, construction management, and earned value and change management.

Farah has played a significant role in AECOM’s performance over the last 5 years, and in doing so, has earned the admiration of colleagues and the trust of clients. Moreover, she is the recipient of the 2017 Executive of the year award by Middle East Consultants Awards.

Carolina Fong Guzzy, currently serves as Digital Engineering Manager at Accienta.

Carolina holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Monterrey Tech in Mexico and a Master’s of Project Management from Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. During her formative years, she engaged in multi-disciplinary international projects in Basel, Switzerland, Italy and USA.

Through her professional journey, Carolina has worked in several multinational companies including Autodesk, VAG Group and ICA. Her most noticeable roles regarding technology for construction have been the following: As a Systems Coordinator at ICA, she was in charge of supporting the SAP implementation in the largest construction company in Mexico, side by side with a +150 people team including internal resources, technology providers and implementation specialists. She also worked developing the strategy of the international business division of the company and a mining subsidiary company in Peru.

Later on, during her role as Technical Sales Specialist for Autodesk, Carolina worked with private and public entities in Mexico and other Latin American countries. While in this role she received 3 awards from fellow Autodesk Colleagues including 2 innovation and 1 adoption awards for her ideas to push for cloud based products in key accounts in the American continent.

Carolina currently leads Digital Engineering engagements with Consultants, Contractors, PMCs and Developers in the Middle East and beyond with Accienta. Accienta is a Dubai based company focused on innovating processes and software utilization within companies. Some of the main business streams are: Common Data Environment Platforms, Document Management Systems and BIM Implementations.

Prakash Senghani is the Digital Project Delivery Lead for Construction Services at AECOM Middle East. He is passionate about developing and implementing technical solutions that enhance the efficiency and safety of construction processes. With a background in both contracting and consulting gained on major projects in the UK and UAE, he has first-hand experience of the challenges the industry faces.

As Industry Manager, Suhail Arfath is responsible for developing and delivering “Future of Making” vision, roadmap, and solutions for Architectural, Engineering, and Construction – AEC firms and Owners, Developers and Agencies. Suhail has been involved in evangelizing the technology solutions such as Building Information Modeling – BIM since early days and shares the goal of enabling the full promise of BIM by simplifying its methods and developing new education mechanisms. Since joining Autodesk in 2004, Suhail has been instrumental in spreading and sharing the knowledge of BIM, IPD, and Industry 4.0 in several countries. As guest faculty, he has delivered several sessions on BIM and other technologies at many Architecture schools and Engineering colleges encouraging the young professionals to use technologies and be competent in their respective industries. Prior to joining Autodesk family, Suhail has also served as chief technology officer (CTO) of Eigen – a Liang O’ Rourke Company, responsible for the technology and BIM transformation.

Djordje is the General Manager of Architectural Corner engineering consultancy in Dubai. For more than a decade previously, Djordje was the Design Manager of City Diamond Contracting in Dubai. He began his Middle East life as the Technical Services Manager of AWATCO Graphisoft Middle East Centre, and worked as Chief Architect of Lootah Group.

He has Masters in Architectural Engineering from the Faculty of Architecture, Belgrade University, Serbia. He has worked in seven countries on three continents, for over a quarter of a century. For most of his professional career, the main tools were the computers, starting with CAD systems in 1989, and discovering the power of the Virtual Building - today better known as BIM - in 1995. You can safely say that he has BIM there, and done that.

After graduation in 2001 from the University of Jordan with a degree in Information Technology, Tareq AL-Masri started his professional career with a leading Jordanian Construction Management company MID-Contracting. Since the begging Tareq’s role was about getting involved in technology requirements analysis for the company’s Project and Cost control team in order to further develop and implement the company’s ERP solution accordingly in multiple global locations.

Then he has moved into GCC region to work with large multinational Contracting and Project Management firms such as AL Jaber Engineering and Turner International as Project Controls manager for the world’s tallest building “Burj Khalifa”.

In 2012, Tareq has made a career move to Trimble – Dubai, to look after solution engineering and pre-sales for construction management and control solutions, the strong and diversified construction domain knowledge besides the technology background were fundamental factors for the team success in establishing a strong and sustainable business model in the region.

Tareq has then moved into a leading sales role managing the Trimble Structures and GC/CM solutions sales in the region, helping to grow the Trimble regional business and contribute to Work Transformation for key clients in the region.

Based in Dubai, Craig has 30 plus years of cross industry experience and is recognized as a leading authority on digital delivery in the middle east.

As a regular speaker at construction conferences and events he regularly promotes industry best practice and project team collaboration practices.

Building on extensive knowledge of large complex projects, Craig’s skills are tuned to the creation, development and experience of data management throughout the supply chain. Having worked as part of the client’s representative team during construction has led to a practical understanding of on-site digital delivery to facilitate, digital construction, supply chain manufacturing, facilities management and operational requirements.

As the Digital Advancement Academy leader in Dubai, Craig regularly facilitates industry discussion and actively supports and promotes BIM adoption at every level. In addition, he develops and disseminates high quality BIM policy as mandated by government and advises key clients on digital strategy throughout the whole project lifecycle.

Raguram Jayaram is a registered architect with 4+ years of professional AEC project experience in architectural offices and 13+ years of experience with Bentley software solutions. Being a technologist, he has been enabling infrastructure organizations adopt changes to realize tangible business objectives. He has served as a trusted advisor to design and implement enterprise solutions and best practices on information management for collaboration workflows during project and asset lifecycle. He is a certified Bentley Professional with proven skills in workspace configuration, standards development, content customization, ProjectWise application integration and BIM/workflow implementation planning. Being an influential communicator and team player, he enjoys delivering presentations that addresses the current industry challenges and related solutions to organizations, public events, seminars and educational establishments

Cliff Kneale is a Building Information Modelling (BIM) strategist with a vast experience of writing and implementing BIM strategies and BIM Project Execution Plans.

With over 30 years’ experience, Cliff has pioneered change from ‘drawing board’ to ‘CAD’ to ‘connected BIM’ processes across projects and organisations.

In 2011, Cliff introduced collaborative working processes to a UK Government Authority by writing a BIM Execution Plan for a pilot project based upon leading industry standards. The success of this project led to a case study by ‘BIM Plus’ and was a finalist for Constructing Excellence’s ‘BIM Project of the Year Award’ as a finalist.

Cliff has worked for Pace, a multidisciplinary consultancy practice based across the Middle East since 2016 and is a passionate advocate and influencer for wider adoption of BIM management and processes throughout the Middle East construction industry.

A Mechanical Engineer by profession, Derek worked with BAM Ireland on a number of large national projects, including Microsoft’s HQ, before relocating to Dubai to work for BAM on The Museum of the Future.

Nicky works as a chartered quantity surveyor for C-Quest, a division of KEO International Consultants. He is a Member of the Society of American Value Engineers (SAVE International), a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI), a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building (FCIOB), and member of CIOB’s Business Development Board / Dubai Hub, supporting the Special Interest Group for Digital Technologies in Construction. Nicky is also one of the few RICS Certified BIM Managers and BRE BIM Informed Professionals and one of the many PMI Certified Project Management Professionals (PMP). To date, Nicky has assisted practices, universities and NGOs in the adoption of electronic estimating systems, training over 400 individuals in the review and quantification of 2D and 3D BIM designs. Currently based in Dubai, Nicky is working on a number of public and private projects spread across the MENA region with values of up to US$ 56 billion.

Dr Ioannis Spanos is a Chartered Engineer with 18 years’ professional experience in low energy buildings and in developing sustainable building solutions. His experience includes projects within commercial, education, mixed use, regeneration, stadiums, residential and sports sectors. He has project managed and led awards winning design teams that have developed successfully low energy buildings and urban planning solutions, by exploring the integration of low energy and sustainability concepts into the urban environment under academic research and professional implementation. His works on sustainability and in energy efficiency has been praised internationally and he has received awards

Phillipa manages the Energy and Sustainable Development Division for AESG, a multi-disciplinary specialist consultancy firm headquartered in Dubai. Phillipa works on both Energy and Sustainability projects, with responsibilities including project management as well as technical consultancy services, in addition to the management of the division. Some of the most rewarding projects Phillipa has been involved in include technical support during the development and implementation of Dubai’s Demand Side Management programs, as well as certification of many prominent green buildings in the region, including the UAE Pavilion at Dubai EXPO 2020. Through her extensive experience, Phillipa has gained a broad and thorough understanding of the sustainability sector both locally and internationally, and hopes to continue to apply her knowledge to further the global Sustainable Development Agenda.

With over 13 years of hands-on BIM execution experience, Arsen is the Head of BIM and Digital Construction at ALEC Group. He is currently championing the BIM execution on Expo2020 and other ALEC projects. Arsen has worked as a BIM Manager on the owner, contractor and consultant side of the building industry in the region, and has a complete understanding of the capabilities and constraints on all levels of the supply chain in the Middle East market.

Zimbabwean Andrew Milburn has been an integral part of the GAJ team having joined the company in 2004. He was educated in both the UK and South Africa having earned a BSc (Architecture) at the University College in London and a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Known as the godfather of BIM in the region Andrew has been championing the BIM cause for more than ten years and has delivered a number of informative talks on the subject at numerous BIM conferences worldwide.

Andrew is a valuable mentor to the technical team at GAJ and is responsible for coordinating overall BIM activities in the practice. He has been involved in a wide range of projects from commercial developments, including the Harare International Airport in Zimbabwe, to hotels and resorts across the Middle East and, more recently, Al Seef Dubai, the Gulf Hotel in Dubai and Mysk al Mouj in Muscat.

Passionate about Design and Usability, Karen, has delivered exceptional work for three, four and five-star Hotel and Resort projects across an international platform. With in-depth Hospitality knowledge and proficient design management she has produced efficient, high-quality design solutions to clients all over the world.

With extensive experience in the Hospitality sector spanning over 25 years, Karen, leads the Global Hospitality team for Interior Design at Global Real Estate consultancy, Drees & Sommer.

She has a unique brand portfolio which includes work with Emaar, Meraas, St Regis, Movenpick, Fairmont, Le Meridien, Rotana, Virgin and several Boutique clients. With a natural ability to conceptualize and then carry the project through to detail design and onto site, she keeps in mind the practicalities of budget and delivery whilst keeping the integrity of the original design.

Lama is an Architect with 20 years of professional experience in the field of Architecture in the Middle East, of which 10 years are in the Gulf area, covering various building types ranging from hospitality, residential, commercial, educational and mixed-use development projects.

She has been involved in architectural design and detailing and preparation of design reports with a proven track record of delivering signature projects. She has proven her professional design skills for different types of projects through undertaking design development, coordination, team leadership and client relationship. Her responsibilities include leading the team to deliver projects from design concept design to the production of tender documents, including full coordination of drawings and specifications with other disciplines and sub-consultants.

She has extensive knowledge in hotel design and inclusion of full operational solutions. She is involved in design workshop, leading multi-discipline and stakeholders’ coordination to achieve solid construction documentation with special attention to design excellence and construction procedure as well as compliance with local authorities, operator and international standards.

In addition to her responsibilities of handling and delivering projects, her duties encompass team management, staff development, resources and budget management.

Adeen is an Architect who has worked with some the Middle East’s leading practices and his portfolio includes some of the largest projects in the region. He received his B.Sc. in Architecture, with a focus on Technology & Design, from the German Jordanian University and HFT Stuttgart.

Throughout his career, he has acquired skills in advanced BIM strategies, using different methods to optimize workflows and increase efficiency of projects. He has also developed diverse techniques in associative modelling in Revit, Grasshopper/Rhino using emergent strategies, computational modelling, and parametric environments. Through his broad understanding of BIM and effective use of tools and techniques, he adds value to his projects with creative work methods.

Joylyn M. Dela Cruz is the BIM Lead and Digital Specialist of Aurecon.

Joylyn has been responsible for the implementation and management of BIM on Middle East exemplar landmark Projects such as The Dubai Creek Harbour Tower, Expo 202 CoEx Campus, Sharjah Digital Library and Riyadh Metro Project.

A strong supporter of the BIM revolution, she believes digitalizing BIM can make the projects as buildable, usable, operable, and sustainable as possible.

She holds a Civil Engineering degree from Mapua University in the Philippines.

Nithin is an RICS certified Project Manager. As an engineering professional he has with over him over 12 years of experience in Middle East construction Industry. He has completed his MSc in Construction Project Management from Heriot Watt University. He has over 8 peer reviewed publications and his field of interest for research includes BIM, Lean Construction and IPD Projects. He is currently responsible for delivery of BIM projects in U.A.E, Oman, KSA and Malta.

Head of Engineering department in CSCEC ME, leading the engineering team of world # 1 contractor according Global Top 500 by Fortune 2017 and #1 among Top 250 Global Contractors by ENR in 2017 with Over than 16 years of Construction experience and construction related academic research. Covering all the processes and knowledge areas of project management through the whole project life cycle.

Elena Salun is the Head of CAD & BIM at Cracknell Landscape Design.

A Senior Architect with over 11 years of BIM experience, Elena has overseen multiple BIM Implementation programs successfully assisting new companies to adopt processes encompassing the full BIM lifecycle.

She has extensive experience working on commercial, residential, hospitality, aviation, infrastructure, railway, healthcare and governmental (USACE) projects in the US, Europe and the Middle East, and strives to push the limits of BIM development ensuring success through effective BIM management, technology application, and by advocating the importance of working in a truly collaborative environment.

Focusing on the human and cultural aspects of the BIM Ecosystem made possible for her to strategize and deploying BIM with a holistic vision and both practical and empathetic approach.

With her drive for efficiency and an ability to identify future trends, she has led the development of many BIM/VDC tools which have then been deployed and used on numerous projects including the Doha and Riyadh Metro projects, and the Expo 2020 UAE Pavilion.

Arsanious Abtnago is a BIM passionate. During his 5 years tenure at ASGC, Arsanious is keen to maximize the benefits of BIM in the contracting field and to expand the BIM functionality not only in the BIM department but in all other divisions of ASGC as well. He also strives for achieving the integration of BIM from 3D to 7D.

Arsanious expertise and passion came well aligned with ASGC’s culture and direction of being the most disruptive and innovative player in the market. ASGC, one of the leading construction groups in the UAE, is at the forefront of digital transformation in its industry.

Before this role, Arsanious was working in Kuwait as a site engineer in Palms Agro, a company specialized in landscaping governmental projects across Kuwait. He started his career in MK Design Egypt as a designer of both residential and commercial construction projects.

Arsanious was born in Egypt and he got his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Modern Academy in Cairo.

Living in the UAE since 2007, Alistair is a chartered mechanical engineer with extensive experience in the building services industry. This includes both new and existing developments that cover a broad spectrum of building sectors such as commercial, retail, residential, media, mixed use, data centres, laboratories, public spaces, leisure facilities, sustainable consultancy and high-rise design.

Knowing the importance of accurate, economical, sustainable and practical designs, Alistair leads by example by providing a pragmatic approach to MEP engineering. With the continuing trend of BIM in the construction industry, this approach has been further enhanced through his accurate use of BIM.

With Black & White’s business model designed to commit all our available engineering expertise to client projects, our Directors can devote their time to the needs of clients, away from the shackles of general management. It also allows our senior engineers to do what they do best; produce distinctive and innovative designs that maintain Black & White as an industry leader.

This design and build approach has gained the respect from contractors, resulting in the design and build model being very active in Black & White’s current work load. This approach has meant that Alistair has managed BIM models on his projects, from concept stage all the way through to shop drawing stage. Coupled with this, the use of these models for offsite modular MEP and structural systems, Alistair has experienced first-hand the benefits and pitfalls that current BIM usage can provide to the construction industry.

Brian Lugg is one of three Technical Directors from CKR Consulting Engineer’s Dubai office. Brian has been responsible for developing CKR’s BIM design capability within the Dubai office, and has first-hand experience of the benefits of streamlining multi-disciplinary coordination during the design process, through BIM.

Brian believes BIM has a potential for providing a central platform for all building systems to report data through. Once assimilated, the building data can be utilized for improving performance to existing buildings, as well as providing a diagnostic tool for improving on future designs.

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