Speakers

Prof. Nesreen Ghaddar

Qatar Chair of Energy Studies

Women's Success in Engineering

Nesreen Ghaddar is Qatar Chair of Energy Studies professor of mechanical engineering and Director of the Munib and Angela Masri Institute of Energy and Natural Resources at the American University of Beirut. Dr. Ghaddar obtained her BE (1980) from Kuwait University; and her Master’s (1982) and PhD (1985) in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her primary research focus is in the area of efficient cooling, solar energy applications, energy conversion, and bioheat modeling and thermal comfort.

She is also a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Islamic World Academy of Sciences; and the Lebanese Academy of Science.

Mr. Faisal Hamady

Project Leader

at Boston Consulting Group

Strategy Consulting

Faisal Hamady is a Project Leader at The Boston Consulting Group, and is a core member of the firm's Strategy Practice focusing on Technology, Media, & Telecom (TMT). He has been working closely with state ministers, board members, and senior executives across the Middle East, North America, & South-east Asia on a wide variety of topics including Mobile tech development, growth/defense strategies, business transformations, go-to-market approaches, & portfolio optimizations. His clients span a diverse set of industries across automotive, energy and utilities, travel and tourism…but more recently focused on media and telecoms.

Prior to BCG, Faisal worked at Intel on developing power reduction algorithms and energy aware applications for next generation mobile platforms. He also worked at the MER-Center on developing secure network gateways and power-efficient communication schemes for WSN (IoT setups).

Faisal holds a M.Eng. (Honors) in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the American University of Beirut, and a B.Eng. (Honors) in Computer & Communication Engineering from Notre Dame University. He serves as a Technical Reviewer on two IEEE conferences and has authored several papers on energy efficiency and security in mobile and wireless networks.

Mr. Abdul Rahman Bleik

Head of Equipment Procurement Division

Port of Beirut Handling Equipment in the Third Millenium

Education : BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northrop University (1989) MEng in Mechanical Engineering from University of Toronto (1993)

Experience : Project and Contract Management of mutli projects for the procurement of container terminal equipment (Super Post-Panamax Container Gantry Cranes- STS, Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes- RTG, Spreaders, Reach Stackers, ECH, Tractors and Trailers, Forklifts,...)

Toastmasters International

Speech delivery: tips and secrets

Toastmasters is a club in Lebanon that belongs to Toastmasters International.
The mission of this club is to empower individuals to become more effective
communicators and leaders. Members meet every week to give speeches and get
feedback in order to become professional speakers. By regularly giving speeches,
gaining feedback, leading teams and guiding others to achieve their goals in a
supportive atmosphere, leaders emerge from the Toastmasters program.

Mr. Adnan Akhdar

Leader of the CFD Unit

At Dar Al-Handasah

Outdoor Cooling

of the World Cup Outdoor Stadiums

Adnan Akhdar (M.E.) is a Mechanical engineer and the leader of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Unit at Dar Al-Handasah where CFD simulations have become an instrumental tool in supporting the Company’s design process. Specialized in the design, assessment and optimization of mechanical systems using simulations, he has extensive expertise in conducting a multitude of CFD studies ranging from simple fluid flow simulations, to modeling of wind effects, assessment of HVAC systems, and investigation of fire scenarios for a variety of applications building designs ranging from stadia to airports, hospitals, malls, hotels, parking, pumping stations and tunnels.

Mr. Wissam Al Zahabi

President of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration

Lebanon's Oil and Gas

Prior to his appointment at the LPA Wissam was working as an Energy Advisor at the office of the

Prime Minister in Beirut since 2003 as part of the UNPD team.

Wissam was actively involved in the energy sector; he was part of team that drafted the petroleum policy, the offshore petroleum law and the petroleum activities regulations. Wissam has been involved with all aspects of energy chain (Hydrocarbon Strategy, gas infrastructure, LNG project, feasibility study of the refinery, gas sales agreements).

Wissam has a master degree in engineering from the AUB and an MBA in Finance from HEC Montreal and has publications on Energy resource allocation using multi-objective goal programming.

In December 2015, he became the President of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration.

Dr. Hassan Harajli

Energy Advisor at the UNDP

Engineers for sustainability: the rise of climate finance

Dr. Hassan Harajli is the current Energy Advisor to Energy and Environment Program at the UNDP and the project manager of the EU-financed UNDP-CEDRO project, a project that is focuses on implementing small-scale renewable energy systems and analyzing the resources for larger scale renewable sources since 2007. Dr. Harajli has a PhD in renewable energy economics from the University of Bath, an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, and double undergraduate degrees, one from the London School of Economics majoring in BSc In Environmental Policy with Economics and the other from AUB majoring in Political Science and Administration. He has over 10 years of professional experience and several publications within the energy sector in peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Wael El Khatib

Design Engineer

at Khatib & Alami

Overview on Air Conditioning Systems

Education : BE in Mechanical Engineering from the Lebanese University (2008) MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2010,2013)

Experience : HVAC, Plumbing, Firefighting Systems Participated in the design of many projects including : Clemenceau Medical Center-Riyadh, Qassim Centers & Villages Water Systems, Design and Construction supervision at New College of Law and New College of Education ....

Mr. Fouad Abou Ayyash

Senior Sales Manager

at General Electric International

Fouad Abou Ayyash graduated in 2003 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from AUB, and joined General Electric Company in Saudi Arabia in January 2004. He worked in the Oil & Gas sector as a field and instrumentation engineer, and then took on a sales role managing key customers such as SABIC and Saudi Aramco. He was later promoted to Account Director managing Saudi Aramco and developed a team of sales managers to better serve the customer kingdom-wide. In 2013, he moved to Lebanon and joined a sister business in General Electric, which is GE Power. He managed East Med region, including Lebanon, Jordan and Kurdistan, driving growth in the industrial power sector. His portfolio includes all GE Power Services solutions including Gas/Steam Turbine parts, repairs, services, upgrades, and multiyear agreements. Fouad continues to serve in GE in his role to this present day.

Ms. Joana Dabaj

Co-founder and Principal Director

at Catalytic Action

Joana holds a BSc degree in Architecture from the American University of Beirut and an MSc in Building and Urban Design in Development from the University College of London. She has developed her experience around architecture, sustainable development, cultural heritage, migration and human rights across several contexts in Lebanon, United Kingdom, Syria, Iraq, Greece, Cambodia, Brazil, Colombia and Thailand. Her recent practice revolves around working closely with communities following a bottom up design approach tackling more specifically the refugee crisis and migration in the Middle East and Europe.

Dr. Ali Ammouri

Visiting Assistant Professor

at the Lebanese American Universiy

Mechatronics: Innovative solutions to challenging problems

Dr. Ammouri is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Industrial and Mechanical Engineering Department at the Lebanese American University. His research background is in the control and simulation of unconventional manufacturing processes such as vibration induced machining and friction stir processes. He has extensive hands on experience in controls, instrumentation, programming, automation, simulation, modeling and product development. Dr. Ammouri is a National Instruments Alliance Partner and is currently the only listed Certified LabVIEW Developer in Lebanon. He is widely known for delivering innovative solutions to challenging engineering problems.