LEADERSHIP

Dr. Juma Al Matrooshi is Director General at Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO). In his capacity as Director General, Dr. Al Matrooshi is responsible for the development, implementation and communication of DSO's strategy, including the organization's mandate, mission, vision and values. Dr. Al Matrooshi also oversees the leadership team, providing his expert guidance and support to ensure that DSO's business objectives are achieved efficiently and effectively, all the while upholding international best practices. Moreover, Dr. Al Matrooshi assumes leadership for the financial performance of DSO, guiding the development, monitoring and management of DSO's annual budgets. In sum, he is responsible for delivering on short, medium and long-term goals, ensuring the correct team, policies, procedures, technology and all other essential tools are in place to ensure the success of DSO.

Besides his role at DSO, Dr. Al Matrooshi is a representative for the Dubai government at general assemblies for publicly listed companies. He has also served as a member of several committees, including the Ministry of Economy and Commerce's trademark committee, Dubai Marketing and Tourism's development board, and the UAE Banking Institute's insurance brokerage committee. Dr. Al Matrooshi is the current Assistant to The Secretary General of Dubai Freezone Council; he is also serving as one of the Board Members of World Freezone Organization; Dr. Al Matrooshi is one of the incumbent members of the UAE Economic Acceleration Unit and he is presently a member of Dubai Government Economy Team.

With vast experience in finance, commercial operations and licensing, among other areas, Dr. Al Matrooshi joined DSO in December 2006. Before joining DSO, Dr. Al Matrooshi held several senior governmental positions, including running commercial licensing at the Dubai Economic Department (DED).

Dr. Juma holds a doctorate in General Management from the Golden Gate University of San Francisco, California and an MBA in Business Development from the Western University, Michigan, USA.

Eng. Muammar joined DSO in April 2006 as the Director of Planning and Construction Management Department, enriching DSO with his wide knowledge and experience in construction and project management.

In 2010, DSOA merged the Planning & Constructions Department with the Operations & Facilities department under one leadership. Following this, Eng. Muammar was appointed as Executive VP of Engineering Management. In 2014 Eng. Muammar was appointed as the chairman of the smart city project committee in DSO.

End of 2018, the Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ) commenced with establishing the DUBAI COMMERCITY Project, the first and leading e-commerce free zone in the MEASA region. Following to his track record in the fields of leadership, engineering and smart city, Eng. Muammar Al Katheeri was assigned as the Chief Project Officer of DAFZ’s COMMERCITY with the responsibility of managing the project.

Prior to joining DSO, Eng. Muammar served with major real estate companies in the UAE, he was appointed as the Projects and Maintenance Director at Emirates Real Estate Corporation, where he worked on major projects including the Ministries Complex project AUH; the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Labor in Dubai; UAE Embassies in Germany and Australia, and the UAE Consulate in Munich, among other prestigious projects. He also served as a Design Engineer at the Ministry of Public Works in Dubai, and as a Project Design Manager at Etisalat in addition to being a partner at a local design consultancy.

Eng. Muammar holds a Master’s degree of Science in Innovation & Change Management from Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University in Dubai, and a Bachelor degree in Architectural Engineering from Al Ain University, UAE. In 2021, he successfully completed the Dubai Leadership Program from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development (Dubai Leaders Batch 1).

Amna Lootah is Director General at Dubai Airport Free Zone (DAFZ). With over 20 years’ extensive experience, she is one of the leading experts within the special economic zones sector in the region.

As part of her critical role at the heart of the organization, Lootah is responsible for the design and implementation of DAFZ’s strategic plans, overseeing the executive leadership team to ensure the efficient achievement of the organization’s objectives, besides ensuring international regulations and standards of practice are upheld.

Lootah’s previous experience at DAFZ has seen her successfully support the organization’s growth objectives across a wide range of business functions from finance, sales and marketing, innovation and future, digital intelligence, customer experience, lease and licensing, property management and strategic partnerships.

In addition to her role as Director General, Lootah is the director on the JV Board and has led the development of Dubai Commercity, a free zone dedicated to the growing e-commerce market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Spread over an area of approximately 2.1 million square feet with an investment of over AED 3.2 billion, Dubai CommerCity provides a unique e-commerce ecosystem to global and regional brands operating in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia) region.

Lootah is also currently a board member for Tradeling, the world’s first B2B smart commerce base in the UAE for the MENA region. With a dedicated team of technology and business enthusiasts committed to making B2B trading simpler, faster and more secure, Tradeling aims to become the leading platform for all business buying. This objective is supported by Dubai government through DAFZ.

Adding to her long list of achievements, Lootah also spearheaded the niche Islamic Economy Strategy for DAFZ, leading to the formation of the Halal Trade and Marketing Centre (HTMC),, a global business development centre positioned to activate halal trade flows through the region. In her capacity as a director, Lootah is the leading caretaker of the centre.

Lootah holds a Higher Diploma in Banking and Finance and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the Higher Colleges of Technology – Dubai Women’s College. In addition, she is a graduate of the 1st batch of “Dubai Leaders Program”, Year 2021 under Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Leadership Development, run in coordination with IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Spain.

William Chappell is the Chief Financial Officer of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority previously acting as The Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Technology and Entrepreneurship at Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO). In his capacity, Chappell is responsible for DIEZ’s long-term financial health, providing his expert strategic inputs on the development and implementation of relevant policies and procedures to facilitate the achievement of the organization’s strategic business objectives. As part of his role, Chappell assumes responsibility for maximizing returns on stakeholder investments through the effective management of the company’s financial resources.

As the Chief Financial Officer of DSO since its inception in 2005, he was responsible for the financial management of the government free zone, ensuring that strategic business objectives were met, stakeholder investments are maximized, and the organization experiences long-term financial health. In addition to his role as CFO, he has overseen the development of DTEC, a thriving technology start up ecosystem supporting entrepreneurs.

Chappell’s financial experience spans more than 37 years, stretching back to when he first joined PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in 1984 as an auditor. His experience involved a variety of multinational and publicly listed companies in the UK followed by five years in Silicon Valley responsible for primarily technology clients. After leaving PWC in 1995 he spent ten years in the tech industry as CFO, including Trikon Technologies – a NASDAQ listed Semiconductor equipment company, a backup storage company and a start-up software company based in Germany.

Yousuf Ali Behzad is the Chief Officer of People and Organizational Development at Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZA).

Mr. Yousuf heads numerous key areas in DIEZA, including Human Resources, Organization Transformation, and Partnership & Protocols. He is in charge of creating, maintaining, and driving DIEZ’s people-focused human resources strategy, as well as attracting, motivating, developing, and retaining the best talents available enabling DIEZA to become an employer of choice. In addition to that, Mr. Yousuf is also in charge of the organization’s transformational initiatives, which include organizational performance improvement, ongoing research and development, and maximizing excellence and business development. Mr. Yousuf also oversees DIEZA’s partnerships and protocol operations.

Mr. Yousuf is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) by the International Coaching Federation (ICF, USA) and a founding member of the Association for Coaching (AC, UK) in the GCC. Marshall Goldsmith has recognized him as a Certified Team Coach, and Certified Executive Coach from Singapore.

Previously, Mr. Yousuf has held key positions as Assistant Director General, People Growth and Strategy at the Dubai Airport Freezone and Director of the Planning and Statistics Department at the Dubai Health Authority in the past.

Mr. Yousuf graduated from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom with a master’s degree in planning and policy and his dissertation was specialized in key human resources practices. He graduated from the H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Program for Leadership Development in addition to his undergraduate studies. He is also a member of the Dubai Plan 2021 and took part in the H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Student Coaching Program.

Badr Buhannad is currently Chief Corporate Support Officer at Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZA). In his capacity, Buhannad is responsible for overseeing information Technology, Digital and Supply Management at DIEZA to ensure the organization utilizes the most cutting-edge solutions for the effective and efficient management of operations. As part of his role, he oversees the development and implementation of relevant policies and procedures to ensure corporate support operations run smoothly and are effectively integrated into the organization.

Buhannad brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in strategic planning, including technology strategies, organizational performance, audit and risk, business development and cost management.

During his time with DSO, Buhannad has led multiple major business transformations and achieved outstanding successes. Among them, the development of Dubai Silicon Oasis 2021 Strategic Pillars (Smart City, Desired Society, Technology Hub, Happiest People); in alignment with the Dubai 2021 Plan reintroducing impactful corporate values to reflect the goals and ambitions of the organization; end-to-end re-engineering of the supply chain resulting in improved efficiency; leading the implementation of digital transformational strategies, and many more.

Buhannad’s previous experience includes Chief Audit and Risk Officer with Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFCA). In his capacity with DIFCA, Buhannad led the creation of an internal audit and risk department at DIFCA… Badr has earlier worked with Dubai World, as well as the Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation.

Buhannad holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Higher Diploma in accounting from the Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai – UAE.

Abdulrahman Basaeed is Chief Internal Audit and Enterprise Risk Management Officer.

His role is to lead in conducting operational, financial and compliance audit projects and special assignments in various business units in DIEZ; In addition to Directing and overseeing risk management activities.

Abdulrahman holds a Master of Science in Accounting and Finance from Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, where his Dissertation subject was: “Implementation of observations and recommendations of the Internal Audit Departments in selected government sectors in Dubai – obstacles and solutions”. He brings a wealth of experience, where he has (25) years’ experience in Internal Audit.

Other achievements include receiving Forbes Middle East Entrepreneur Award – Retail Sector in 2015; Awarded “Distinguished Team” for Dubai Government Excellence Program for the year of 2001; was selected candidate for Distinguished Financial Employee for Dubai Government Excellence Program for the year of 2000; and awarded as distinguished employee (Dubai Customs) for the year of 1999.

Abdulrahman is also a Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA).