The World CIO 200 Summit 2019 concludes in UAE with 2-day mega event

The Global CIO Forum concluded its 15 country – The World CIO 200 Summit road show on 09-10 December in Ras Al Khaimah, at the Double Tree Hilton venue. The road show travelled through 14 other countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Ghana, Egypt, India, Atlanta, Pakistan, Canada, Singapore and South Africa. The roadshow which kicked off in September culminated in a 2-day gala event in UAE with the unveiling of the second edition of The BOTS.

The workings of The World CIO 200 Summit 2019 was advised by the INSPIRE committee including Dr Esam Al Falasi MOE UAE, Venkatesh Mahadevan Dubai Investment, Ajay Rathi DHA UAE, Yahya Al Mawali, Dr Jassim Haji AI Society Bahrain, Mohammed Mahnashi MOF Saudi Arabia, and Ashith P from Almasa Capital.

The official ribbon cutting and inauguration of The World CIO 200 Summit 2019 event was done by senior government leaders from the GCC including Dr Esam AlFalasi, Director of IT, Ministry of Economy; Mohammed Mahnashi, ICT Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia; Dr Ali Jassim Al Aradi, Director of IT, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bahrain; Eng Suleiman Al Kharashi, Deputy Minister of Finance, Saudi Arabia; and Dr Thalaya AlFozan, Director IT, Ministry of Finance, Kuwait.

Sponsors of The World CIO 200 Summit 2019 event included Dell Technologies, Intel, Guardian One Technologies, Mindware, StorIT, Spectrum Networks, Netapp, Purestorage, Tahaluf Al Emarat, Nutanix, Rittal Middle East, Sai Global, Spire Solutions, BITS, Veritas, Rubrik, EMT Technologies, Techneplus, Datacare, Exclusive Network, Cloudhost, Finesse, Logicom, Zebra.

Supporting partners of The World CIO 200 Summit 2019 event included MCIT Saudi Arabia, Shura Council Bahrain, CIO Klub India, Ghana Chamber of Technology, Tech Pakistan, NIC, AI Society Bahrain, LOCO Service Pakistan, Awwal.

Thought leadership

The two-day event witnessed engaging thought leadership from all speakers. Exemplary engagement with the delegates was seen from Dave Crane, Award Winning International Speaker; Venkatesh Mahadevan, CIO, Dubai Investments; Sobha Singh, Director, Oracle Corporation; Dr Erdal Ozkaya, Cybersecurity Advisor and Head of Information Security at Standard Chartered Bank; John Mattone, Executive Coach of Steve Jobs; and Dr K Hari Prasad, President Apollo Hospitals Group, India.

Dr Hari Prasad, pointed out that artificial intelligence tools coupled with the long baseline of medical data available to the Group is now being used in a proactive way to assist medical specialists. John Mattone, stated that leaders relate to their customers as people and engage with them through their hearts in an emotive fashion. Dave Crane, emphasised that today, leaders have to been seen as powerful speakers and their ability to deliver thought leadership at public forums is critical. CIOs need to urgently develop their ability to speak to the board.

Sobha Singh summarised her experiences of working with large enterprises and how they can successfully embark on the digital transformation journey. Venkatesh Mahadevan also touched on how CIOs need to move up the maturity ladder of engaging with the rest of the enterprise and leverage their powerful position at the centre of the enterprise. Erdal Ozkaya engaged in a role play to demonstrate how familiarity between individuals can lower the guard and allow a password to be shared.

The event also witnessed two round table discussions on the future of technology and the progress being made in the role of women in technology.

Ektaa Sibal successfully conducted an early morning introduction to Yoga and Meditation for interested and participating delegates.

The World CIO 200 Summit 2019 saw keynotes, round table forums, and off-site training sessions delivered by the following:

Dr Esam Al Falasi, Ministry of Economy and Global CIO Forum INSPIRE Committee member
Ashraf Al-Dabbas, Senior Partner Systems Engineer, UAE, Dell EMC
John Zerihoun, CEO of Yamba Luxembourg
Mike ‘O Hara, Regional Sales Manager, Nutanix
Dave Crane, Award Winning International Speaker
Kashif Rana, CDO Etihad Airways and Pakistan International Airlines
Samer Semaan, Channel Manager Middle East, Pure Storage
Venkatesh Mahadevan, CIO, Dubai Investments
Sobha Singh, Director, Oracle Corporation
Dr Erdal Ozkaya, Cybersecurity Advisor and Head of Information Security at Standard Chartered Bank
John Mattone, Executive Coach of Steve Jobs
Dr K Hari Prasad, President Apollo Hospitals Group, India
Sanjeev Singh, MD, Spectrum Group
Arunachalam Muruganantham: India’s very own PADMAN
Paul John Executive Vice President, SAI Global
Mohammed Al Tamimi, Regional Director ME, Rubrik
Shawn Stewart, Cox Automotive
Abdulaziz AlOraij, FOSS Director, MCIT
Aaditya Tangri, Co-Founder & CEO of Kalebr Americas and Founder of STEAMathalon
Ektaa Sibal, International meditation expert, gifted energy healer

About the event

The CIO 200 is a multi-country CIO felicitation ceremony that recognises the achievements of the digital leaders of today. The CIO 200 Awards is not a competition but a celebration of the amazing lives of the CIOs and their career span. The CIO 200 Awards is flavoured with a one-of-its-kind segment TechTALK, where the ICT industry’s leading solution providers share the dais with four key end-users discussing problems, opportunities, challenges and solutions in real life.

The World CIO 200 Summit is much more than just a gathering of 200 CIOs. It is a year-round hive of activity across the globe, dedicated to keeping its finger on the pulse of the sector and communication within the industry alive. The conversation never stops with exclusive invitation only country specific briefings, celebrating success of local CIOs for their contribution & designed to inform the content of the main event. This is supplemented by post event networking session, and advisory boards.

As experts in the market, the event shares insight and intelligence throughout the year with its community & celebrate the success of entire industry. In 2018 there were 1,280 honourees; 2,600 C-level executives; 42 partners; 40 keynotes; 30 exhibitors, which were part of the World CIO 200 Summit 2018.

The World CIO 200 Summit 2019, Registration