The nine key figures leading the development of executive education in the Gulf region are: Hussein al-Alawi, Mohammed Alkhozai, Ilker Baybars, Randa Bessiso, Zeger Degraeve, Javier Gimeno, Robert Rice, Stefan Szymanski and Nick van der Walt.
Hussein al-Alawi
Position: Dean, College of Business Administration, Jeddah
Biography: Hussein al-Alawi has been dean of the College of Business Administration (CBA), part of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, for nine years. The institution was founded in 2000 as The Institute for Business & Commerce Studies. Al-Alawi is responsible for 1,300 students at the college, which offers a two-year, full-time MBA course with specialist modules covering entrepreneurship. Al-Alawi has overseen the creation of several scholarships for CBA students.
Contact Tel: (+966) 2656 319
Mohammed Alkhozai
Position: Head of the Academic & Executive Learning Centre, Bahrain Institute of Banking & Finance (BIBF)
Biography: Mohammed Alkhozai has worked at the BIBF since 1994, having joined from Bahrain’s Information Ministry. Alkhozai has been a leader in Bahrain’s efforts to train nationals to work in the finance industry. In 2007, he signed an agreement with Bangor Business School in the UK to teach undergraduate banking and finance students. Alkhozai holds a BA in English literature from Cairo University in Egypt.
Contact Tel: (+973) 1781552
Ilker Baybars
Position: Deputy dean, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University
Biography: Ilker Baybars graduated from the Middle East Technical Institute in Ankara, Turkey, in 1969. He gained his master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 1972 and received his doctorate from the same institution in 1979. Baybars has created two of Tepper’s MBA programmes – flex-time and flex-mode – and specialises in manufacturing and operations management. He has acted as an education consultant to the State of New Jersey and the UN.
Contact Tel: (+1) 412 2682266
Randa Bessiso
Position: Director, Middle East, Manchester Business School Worldwide (MBSW)
Biography: Randa Bessiso was the driving force behind setting up MBSW’s regional centre in Dubai in 2006. She joined the school, the distance-learning arm of Manchester Business School, in 2004, from distance-learning company UK eUniversities Worldwide, where she was the Dubai-based international business manager. Bessiso helped launch three distance-learning MBAs in Dubai in January 2006, for construction executives, engineering business managers and financial professionals.
Contact Tel: (+971) 4365 8313
Zeger Degraeve
Position: Faculty director, Dubai campus, London Business School
Biography: Zeger Degraeve is the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum professor of innovation and faculty director at London Business School, which launched its Dubai-London executive MBA programme at the Dubai International Financial Centre in 2007. Degraeve holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Leuven Catholic University, also in Belgium. Before joining London Business School, he was professor of management science at Leuven Catholic University.
Contact Tel: (+44) 207 000 8833
Javier Gimeno
Position: Dean of the executive MBA programme, Insead
Biography: Javier Gimeno is both dean of Insead’s executive MBA programme and professor of strategy at the French business school. Insead launched its global executive MBA in Abu Dhabi in October this year. Gimeno, one of Insead’s 137 resident professors, holds a PhD in strategic management from the US’ Purdue University. Since 2001, he has taught MBA, executive MBA and PhD students, and executive programmes for companies including Coca-Cola and Starwood, both of the US.
Contact Tel: (+33) 1607 24000
Robert Rice
Position: Managing director, Management Development Centre International
Biography: Robert Rice was awarded an executive MBA from UK-based University of Bradford’s Management Centre in 1983, before joining the world’s second-largest hospital group, American Medical International, as a hospital director. Rice has been managing director at Management Development Centre International since 1993. The centre works with the UK’s Hull University Business School to deliver face-to-face part-time MBA programmes in Manama and Muscat.
Contact Tel: (+973) 1721 6002
Stefan Szymanski
Position: Associate dean and director of the MBA programme, Cass Business School
Biography: Stefan Szymanski holds a degree from the UK’s Oxford University. He began his teaching career at London Business School, also in the UK, before moving to Tanaka Business School at Imperial College, London, in 1993, where he was programme director of the full-time MBA programme. Szymanski joined Cass Business School in 2008 after five years as visiting professor of economics at Warsaw University of Technology Business School.
Contact Tel: (+44) 207 040 5106
Nick van der Walt
Position: Academic dean, Hult International Business School
Biography: Nick van der Walt has been academic dean at the US’ Hult International Business School in Dubai since the institution opened to students in September 2008. Van der Walt joined the University of Wollongong in Dubai, the UAE branch of the Australian institution, as chief executive officer in March 2005 from New Zealand’s Massey University. He specialises in international strategic management, marketing, market research and new business development.
Contact Tel: (+971) 4375 3088
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