BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Al Kuwaiti is currently holding the position of the Managing Director of the National Data Centre under the Supreme Council for National Security. He is also working as Assistant Professor (Adjunct) of Homeland Security Program at Rabdan Academy. In his current role Dr. Al Kuwaiti aims to create a fully governed approach to data privacy, sharing and processing as well as the unification and connectivity of government systems and digitization towards a smart government.

BIOGRAPHY

Gary Hayslip is an experienced Global CISO with repeated success delivering innovative security programs to safeguard billion-dollar enterprises at every touchpoint. Intensely focused on driving continuous improvement that maximizes security program efficiency and minimizes costs. An insightful thought leader with proven business acumen and commitment to organizational mission, values, and goals. Demonstrated ability to collaborate at all levels to champion new ideas, gain buy-in, and build consensus. Hayslip brings this wealth of information technology, security leadership, and risk management experience to his role as the CISO, for SoftBank Investment Advisers – The Vision Fund & Vision Fund II and SoftBank Group International – The LATAM Fund, The Opportunity Fund, and The Tech Fund. Hayslip’s previous executive roles include multiple CISO, CIO, Deputy Director of IT, and Chief Privacy Officer roles for the U.S. Navy (Active Duty), the U.S. Navy (Federal Government employee), the City of San Diego California, and Webroot Software.

Hayslip is a proven cybersecurity professional; he has demonstrated an exceptional record of communication and public speaking skills; adept at presenting multifaceted security & risk concepts to audiences of varying knowledge levels. Hayslip has established a reputation as a highly-skilled communicator, author, and keynote speaker. Hayslip co-authored the CISO Desk Reference Guide: A Practical Guide for CISOs – Volumes 1 & 2, The Executive Primer: An Executives Guide to Security Programs, and Developing your Cybersecurity Career Path. He also recently published The Essential Guide to Cybersecurity for SMBs, a guide specifically written for the security practitioners protecting startups and small businesses. These books are considered among the leading books on enabling CISOs to expand their leadership and business expertise. Hayslip is currently on four security & technology advisory boards and writes for Forbes Technology Council. Hayslip is an active member of the cyber community with memberships in the professional organizations ISC2, ISSA, ISACA, and Infragard. He currently holds several professional certifications, including CISSP, CISA, and CRISC and has earned a BS in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland University College and an MBA from San Diego State University.

BIOGRAPHY

Confidence Staveley is Africa’s most celebrated female Cybersecurity Leader, Talent Developer, Global Speaker and Inclusion advocate. She has achieved numerous professional certifications and industry recognitions.

Confidence is an official member of the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. She has won the Cybersecurity Woman of the Year Award in 2021 and 2022, IFSEC Global Top Influencer in Security & Fire 2021, Top 50 women in Cybersecurity Africa, etc. She is an alumnus of some of the most prestigious fellowships across the world such as the 2021 Obama Foundation African Leaders, International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) Promoting Cybersecurity, etc. Confidence has spoken at over 30 international conferences, a testament of her global thought leadership and influence.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of CyberSafe Foundation, a leading non-Governmental organization dedicated to improving inclusive and safe digital access in Africa.

BIOGRAPHY

Prasanna Kumar Burri is the Group Chief Information Officer of Dangote Group and the CEO of Dancom Technologies Limited, providing IT shared services to the Group across Pan Africa. Dancom also manages 1,000 KM of telecom aerial fiber. Dancom Technologies Limited provides IT shared services primarily to Dangote Group across Pan Africa.  His expertise includes Business Transformation through Digitalization, IT leadership, IT Strategy, Cloud/Hybrid IT, value management, information security, network operations, IT Program Management, SAP Implementations and IT product management. He also has  broad experience in sales, manufacturing operations and human resources prior to his career in IT. Prasanna has more than twenty six years of work experience in sales, manufacturing operations, human resources, IT implementations & delivery management, IT enabled business transformation and Product Management. Since May 2013, he has been active in the ongoing IT enabled transformation at Dangote Group and oversaw multiple SAP ERP implementations, Cloud  & hybrid application deployments, development of in-house solutions in area of hardware automation, logistics, sales and marketing, business continuity, mobile applications, and information security. Since he started leading, Dangote Group’s IT won several awards and recognitions, including two CIO100 USA awards, one CIO Africa award, three SAP Quality awards by SAP SE, and achieved SAP CCoE certification for the in-house SAP Center of Excellence. 

Prasanna started his Professional career in 1994 as a Management Trainee in Steel Authority of India Limited in manufacturing operations and then moved on to IBM Global Services, with a career shift to IT. After moving to the US in 2000, he worked with Rapidigm (merged with Fujitsu), followed by SAP America in areas of business transformation, project management and numerous SAP consulting engagements.  Prior to his current role, he was employed with SAP Labs, Palo Alto as the Director of Product Management for Cloud Integration.

Prasanna is a graduate of Mechanical Engineering from Acharya Nagarjuna University, India, and holds an Executive MBA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a resident of San Antonio, Texas, USA.

BIOGRAPHY

Ms. Sithembile Songo has been specialising in information security since 2003 and her experience is augmented by several leadership roles in both public and private sectors, including Financial, Telecom, Public Sector, Consulting firm, Utilities and other State-owned entities. She holds a Master of Science in Information Security and possess several cyber security professional certifications.

Sithembile is passionate about enabling organisations to achieve their business objectives in a secure manner to fulfil their mandates. Besides her extensive experience in other information security domains, she has also played a pivotal role in developing and implementing robust information security strategies to protect organisations against the increased attack surface, in support of the swift digital migration initiatives and hybrid mode of working. 

Sithembile is currently heading the Information Security pillar of a wholly state-owned entity, Eskom, the producer of 95% of South Africa’s electricity which performed 163 613 household electrification connections during the 2020 financial year 

BIOGRAPHY

Mr. Sarhan is a general manager of cybersecurity at GACA, He has 20 years experience in cybersecurity and information technology (IT), He held MSc degree in cybersecurity along with multiple industry certificates (CISM, GLSP, ISO 27K), He was a guest speaker in 2022 cybersecurity forums (The World Government Summit in UAE & Future Aviation forum in KSA). He is the winner of the Arab CIO of The Year Award 2022. He has strong skills in information security pillars such as governance, risk, compliance, and cybersecurity operation strategy. He has played a major role in developing cybersecurity framework and standards for Saudi Airports.

BIOGRAPHY

Yasser Al-Ghamdi is Cyber Defense Center Director at Saudi Telecom Company works to manage and lead the operation of threat monitoring, incident response, digital forensics and threat hunting to protect STC’s infrastructure and assets and limit the impact to the business continuity.

Yasser Al-Ghamdi hold master of science in computer security from DePaul university and has around 13 years of dedicated experience in cyber security domain, participating in building and operating many cyber security verticals such as Security Defense Center, Digital Forensics and Incident Response, Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing, Threat Intelligence, Managed Detection and Response Services, etc. Developed multiple forensics and threat hunting tools, and participate in local and international conferences as speaker.

BIOGRAPHY

Sultan has an extensive Digital Transformation and Cybersecurity management experience locally and internationally. He is now leading all regulatory affairs, besides internal, regarding Cybersecurity and Data Governance in the ICT and Telecom sector in Saudi Arabia. Sultan has worked for many pioneer organizations such as Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Boeing, Capital Market Authority (CMA), and Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB). Sultan has earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Information Systems from King Saud University, and his second M.Sc. in Engineering Management from Florida Tech. He holds distinguished leadership certifications from Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and London Business School.

BIOGRAPHY

Eng. Hamad Al-Katheri is the Chief Information Security Officer at Ministry of Tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Prior to this, he assumed the position of Vice President of Enterprise Risk and Information Security at Zain KSA in September 2019. Al-Katheri took part in the development of a risk management process that is subject to regular reviews and continuous improvements. He oversees the development of a robust enterprise risk management strategy, business continuity, and data security management. Owing to his experience of over 15 years, Al-Katheri is skillful in linking business objectives to technologically enabling factors to fulfill strategic enterprise goals.

Al-Katheri held several leadership positions in cyber-security at a number of leading private and public sector entities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Information Center.

Al-Katheri holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and earned an Executive Education degree from Carnegie Mellon University in the US, in addition to an Executive Education degree from INSEAD Business School.

BIOGRAPHY

A visionary and strategic technology leader, managing an information technology Security Team with 20 years of experience background in various management positions such as leading middleware support and operating system teams. Previous experiences preceded it in developing and programming. In addition to executing many successful critical projects and attended lots of advanced technical events and training and obtained two MSc degrees in Computer Science EMBAs and MCs.