Talal Abu-Ghazaleh
CEO, TAGI Group
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh is the founder and Chairman of the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization. His current international contributions include his positions at the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF) as Vice-Chair of the Task Force, Advisory Committee of the Internet Governance and the Arab Regional Network Strategy in addition to being a member of the Task Force’s Bureau. He is also Chair of the ICC’s Working Group on Internet Governance and ICC Commission on E-Business Information Technologies and Telecoms (EBITT) and of its Jordanian Intellectual Property Committee and member of the Chamber’s Working Committee on Intellectual Property. Moreover, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh is the founder and President of three not for profit organizations namely; the Arab Society of Certified Accountants (ASCA), the Arab Knowledge Management Society (AKMS), the Arab Society for Intellectual Property (ASIP) and Licensing Executives Society - Arab Countries (LES- AC).

Tarek Al-Wazir
Head of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Parliamentary Group in the Hesse State Parliament
Tarek Al-Wazir was born in Germany in 1971. He joined Die Grünen in 1989 and was Chairman of Die Grünen youth chapter in Hesse from 1992 to 1994. He currently holds the position of Head of the Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN Parliamentary Group in the Hesse State Parliament and is their speaker on domestic policy issues. He has a degree in Political Science from Frankfurt University.

Hady Amr
Amr Group & Director of World Links Arab Region, USA
World Links has a highly successful program working to strengthen education and global understanding in Jordan through the use of the internet, and is launching programs in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Previously, Mr. Amr has been the lead contributor to several key U.N. reports including UNICEF’s “State of the Arab Child”. Mr. Amr’s career also spans politics. He was formerly the highest ranking Arab-American in Al Gore’s Presidential Campaign Headquarters in Nashville serving as National Director of Ethnic American Outreach. He also served in President Clinton's Department of Defense at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. His report "The Need to Communicate: How to Improve US Public Diplomacy toward the Islamic World" is to be released by the Brookings Institution in January 2004.

Celia de Anca
Director of the Centre for Diversity in Global Management at Instituto de Empresa
Celia de Anca is currently the Director of the Centre for Diversity in Global Management at Instituto de Empresa. She was previously the Director of Corporate Programmes at the Euro-Arab Management School (EAMS), Granada. She has also worked for the NGO CIPIE and in the International Division of Banco de Santander. She has a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Boston), and from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. She holds a degree and PhD from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, with a comparative thesis on Islamic, ethical/ecological investment funds and on the London Market. She is a member of the ethics Committee of Morgan Stanley’s ethics fund, and has diverse publications in specialised journals in addition to regular participation in the press and in international conferences.

Akram Baker
Chairman, Brandicate Consultants
Akram Baker is Founder and Chairman of Brandicate Consultants, a leading Human Resouces and Political Advisory Services company based in Berlin, Germany. Akram is currently leading a project in Jerusalem geared towards demilitarizing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previously, he was Human Resources Manager in charge of Employer Branding and Recruiting at DaimlerChrysler Financial Services. Akram previously worked as a consultant to various Fortune 500 corporations in Europe. He was also Senior Communications Advisor to the late Faisal Hussieini, Palestinian Minister for Jerusalem Affairs. He is a frequent speaker and commentator on Middle Eastern policy issues and Human Resouces branding. He has been published in many publications including the International Herald Tribune, The Daily Star (Beirut), UPI, and the Palestine Report.

Laila Baker
UNFPA Assistant Representative and National Programme Officer, Jerusalem
Laila Baker comes from a public health background in the field of family health and gender and has been working in the field for the last 14 years throughout the Middle East and North Africa. She has
held various leadership posts with major international agencies including the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the United Nations Development Programme, and OXFAM/UK. She has been with the United Nations Population Fund in Jerusalem for the past five years.
Laila earned her BSc. in BioChemistry from Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, Palestine and received her Master's in Public Health from Cardiff in the UK.

William Joseph Burns
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs
William Joseph Burns became Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs on June 7, 2001. Assistant Secretary Burns, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, with the rank of Minister-Counselor. Since entering the Foreign Service in 1982, Assistant Secretary Burns has served in a number of posts in Washington and overseas. These include Political Officer at the Embassy in Amman, Jordan; staff positions in the Bureau of Near East Affairs and the Office of the Deputy Secretary of State; Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council Staff; Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff; Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the Embassy in Moscow; Executive Secretary of the State Department and Special Assistant to the Secretary of State; and Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Assistant Secretary Burns earned a B.A. in History from LaSalle University and M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees in International Relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by LaSalle University in 1997.

Reinhard Busse
Professor, Dpt. Health Care Management, Technische Universität Berlin
Professor Dr. Reinhard Busse MPH FFPH is professor and department head for health care management within the Institute of Public Health, Faculty of Economics and Management at Technische Universitat Berlin. He is also director of the Institute and a member of the faculty council. He is a member of several scientific advisory boards and a regular consultant for WHO, the EU Commission, OECD and other international organizations within Europe and beyond as well as national health and research institutions. His research focuses on both the methods and the contents of comparative health system analysis (with a particular emphasis on the reforms in Germany, other social health insurance countries and central and eastern Europe), health services research including cost-effectiveness analyses, health targets, and health technology assessment (HTA).

Eugene Cotran
Circuit Judge, UK; Chair of Center of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law, SOAS
Professor H.H. Judge Eugene Cotran was born in Jerusalem, and educated at Victoria College, Alexandria. He read law at the University of Leeds (LLB and LLM) and went on to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, for research in international law (Dip IL, Cantab). He was awarded an LLD by the University of London in 1971.
He was called to the English Bar in 1959. He joined SOAS in 1960 first as Research Officer in African law, then lecturer until 1977. In 1977 Eugene Cotran was appointed to be a High Court Judge in Kenya. He returned to his practice at the London Bar in 1982. He is on the editorial board of various commonwealth and Middle Eastern law publications and is the Secretary of the Pan African Council of the LCIA. He was appointed one of Her Majesty's Circuit Judges in the UK in 1992. He is vice-chairman of Medical Aid for Palestinians.

James Dau
Director of Constituent Communications, Office of the Governor, State of New Jersey
Jim Dau has worked extensively in the fields of international and domestic political communications and development.  He currently serves as the Director of Constituent Communications for New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, where he oversees written and electronic communications at the grassroots level.  Jim was previously a pollster for Hamilton Beattie and Staff, a Washington, DC-based political consulting firm. Prior to that, he served as a Program Officer for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, with a primary focus on political party programs in Latin America and Asia.  He is a Co-Founder and Director of Corporacion Cartagena Honesta, a municipal anti-corruption NGO in his birth city of Cartagena, Colombia. Jim graduated from the University of Georgia and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Nada Dugas
Arab International Women's Forum
Currently, Associate Director, External Affairs, Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, P&G based in Geneva. Responsible for government relations, media communication and public relations for the region. Diversity leader for CEEMEA and mainly leading Arab women development projects.
Dr. in Pharmacy. 1989, joined Procter & Gamble, Paris: Professional and Regulatory Services, Middle East and Africa.

Adnan Hammad
Director of Community Health and Research at the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS)
Adnan Hammad is currently the Director of Community Health and Research at the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS). He is also a visiting professor and consultant for the University of Michigan School of Public Health - Community-based Public Health Division and Wayne State University School of Medicine. Prior to his work at ACCESS, Dr. Hammad was Director of Makassed Hospital in Jerusalem from 1989-1992, and a Senior Health Planner for Planning and Research on Health Services in Jerusalem from 1992-1995. He was Assistant Professor in Health Services Administration at Al-Quds University College for Medical Professions, from 1992-1994. Additionally, he lectured for the Department of Education and Psychology at Birzeit University in the West Bank from 1984-1985. He has a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, a master’s degree in Science, a high diploma in Health Economics and Administration, and a doctorate in Health Services Policy and Management.

Amr Hamzawy
Institute for the Politics of the Middle East, Free University, Berlin
Born 28.10.1967 in Cairo, Egypt. Study of Political Sciences in Cairo, Amsterdam and Berlin. PH.D in the Philosophy of Political Science from the Free University of Berlin. Title of the Dissertation: The Tension between Continuity and Change in Contemporary Arab Political Thought – Intellectual Debates of the 1990s. Several writings on Contemporary Arab Intellectual Discourses, Political Religions, Islamism, Civil Society and Democratization, Cultural Impacts of Globalization on the Arab world, Arab-European Relations. Current Occupation: Lecturer of Political Science and Deputy-Director of the Center for European Studies, Cairo University, Egypt.

Nissreen Haram
Managing Director of International Business Legal Associates
Nissreen Haram is managing Director of International Business Legal Associates, a leading law firm in Jordan serving government and the business community. IBLAW has a distinct practice in the area of policy reform and legislative drafting, and has been involved in advising the government of Jordan on key trade and economic reform initiatives including WTO accession, the Jordan United States Free Trade Agreement, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone, and reforms related to Information Technology, capital markets, foreign investment and other areas. IBLAW also provides similar advisory to other countries in the region.
Ms. Haram holds a B.A. in economics from Mount Holyoke College, and an M.A. in Islamic Studies from McGill University, and has extensive experience in trade and investment policy initiatives. She is also recipient of King Abdullah Medal of third order for her contribution to the conclusion of the US Free Trade Agreement.

Arwa Hassan
Transparency International
Arwa Hassan is currently Programme Officer for the Middle East/North Africa at the Berlin Secretariat of Transparency International (TI), which she joined in 1998. During the course of her time at TI Arwa has launched, together with civil society groups in the Arab world, a wide range of anti-corruption and good governance initiatives bringing together government, civil society and the private sector in the MENA region. Prior to joining TI, Arwa had worked in the business and journalistic fields for a variety of companies and organisations including Deloitte & Touche; BP; Agence France Presse and Siemens. Arwa holds a BA degree from Cambridge, England, in Modern Languages and an MA degree in English Literature from the University of Warwick.

Hadil Hiljazi
Trade Policy Consultant, PalTrade
Hadil Hiljazi is a trade policy consultant at PalTrade (the Palestinian Trade Centre) where she advises on aspects of a Palestinian private sector trade policy strategy. Previously she advised the Ministry of Economy and Trade, Palestinian National Authority on foreign trade policy and was responsible for drafting the Palestinian position for Final Status Economic Negotiations with Israel.
Ms. Hiljazi holds a M. A. in Management from Boston University, and a M. A. in International and Comparative Legal Studies from London University.

Ahmad Humeid
Co-Founder, CEO/Design Director, SYNTAX
Ahmad Humeid started his first design studio in 1991 while still studying architecture at the University of Jordan. Over the last 13 years he was involved in various pioneering publishing, creative and technology ventures in the Middle East, where he assumed leading positions in design, branding, user experience, information technology and internet consulting. His Amman based company, SYNTAX, advises companies, governmental, non-governmental and international organizations on branding, communication and technology. Mr Humeid has spoken at a number of regional and international conferences on the subjects of design, architecture, media and the internet. He is a regular contributing writer in the regional press on issues of design and technology.

Rafiq Husseini
Palestinian Welfare Association
Rafiq Husseini is currently Deputy Director General of the Welfare Association, a Swiss Registered Palestinian Charity with development projects in Palestine and Lebanon Responsibilities. Previously he worked at a number of Palestinian health care institutions and organizations. He holds a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from Loughborough University of Technology, UK and a Master in Health Management (M.H.M.) from the City University London, UK.

Mohamed Rabie
Visiting Professor, University of Marocco
Dr. Rabie has participated in tens of conferences, seminars, and dialogue meetings in more than fifty countries. Between 1989 and 1992, he had been a member of both the Harvard University and the Brookings Institution working groups to advance peace in the Middle East, as well as a board member of the Search for Common Ground Middle East Initiative. In 1992, Dr. Rabie was a fellow of the von Humboldt Stiftung in Germany, and since 1993, he has been a member of the Arab Thought Forum. In 1997 he joined the Board of the Asileh Forum in Morocco.
Dr. Rabie studied in Egypt, Germany, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Houston and has taught at several Arab and American universities, including Kuwait University, Georgetown University, and The Johns Hopkins University.

Tariq Ramadan
Professor of philosophy and islamic studies
Tariq Ramadan teaches philosophy at the Genevan College and islamic sciences at the University of Fribourg. He takes part in debates on Islam in Europe and throughout the world. Since 1997, he gives monthly training lectures within "Présence Musulmane" in Belgium and France. He also takes part as an expert in various commisions linked to the the Brussels Parliament and is a member of several working parties concerned with Islam in the world and on the continent: Deutsches Orient Institut, British Council, Vienna Peace Summit, Barcelona 2004 or the "Laïcité et Islam" commision of the French educational league.

Elizabeth Range
Microsoft Corporation
Lizzie leads the Partners in Learning Program in the Middle East and Africa for Microsoft Corporation. She came to Microsoft from the U.S. Agency for International Development where she worked on programs worldwide to increase digital opportunity in the developing world, particularly in education. Lizzie holds a Master's Degree in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Salma Sakhnini
Vice President, Citibank Dubai
Salma Sakhnini is currently a Vice President at Citibank Dubai, has earned her MBA degree from Yale University and has long time experience in the field of organizational strategy and overall business improvement change management. Salma has played a vital role in Citibank’s drive in quality and drove the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard, and Six Sigma as tools for overall business improvement.
Salma’s passion for community work and her enthusiasm to strengthen the public private partnership manifests itself in the many roles she plays in the community from speaking engagements to serving on the boards of non-profits to pioneering a joint certificate between Citibank and a local university. She has also consulted for the public sector on implementing strategies for performance improvement.

Mohamed Shadid
PMO Director, Welfare Association
Mohammed K. Shadid, holds a PhD in political science from George Washington University in Washington, DC. He worked as a professor of political science at several universities in the United States as well as at An-Najah University in Nablus, Palestine. Since 1987, he has been working with the Welfare Association on social and economic development programs involving needs assessment studies, grant-making, and monitoring & evaluation of projects. Currently, he is in the position of Deputy Director-General for Operations at the Welfare Association, stationed in Palestine. He’s also Director-General of the Welfare Association Consortium managing the World-Bank-funded PNGO-Project. He has published extensively on social and economic developments in the West Bank and Gaza as well as on regional and international issues of the Middle East. He has also lectured widely at Universities and social and economic institutions in the U.S, Europe and the Middle East. Dr. Shadid is a founder and/or co-founder of a number of economic and social development institutions in Palestine, in addition of his membership in several Boards of civil society organizations.

Samer Shehata
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, USA
Samer Shehata was born in Alexandria, Egypt and educated in England and the United States. He presently teaches Arab and Middle East politics at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. After finishig a PhD in Politics from Princeton University (2000), he spent one year as a Fellow at the Society of Fellows at Columbia University and one year as the Director of Graduate Studies at New York University's Center for Near Eastern Studies. He has written on a wide range of subjects including authoritarianism in the Arab world, political succession in Egypt, and American foreign policy toward the Middle East. His articles have appeared in the "International Journal of Middle East Studies," "Middle East Policy," Slate, Salon and other publications.

Gordon Woo
Risk Management Solutions
Dr. Gordon Woo is a quantitative risk analyst, specializing in political as well as environmental risks. Trained as a mathematician, he has an evolving interest in developing innovative strategies for international conflict resolution.
Dr. Woo's cultural heritage spans three continents. He was born in London, the son of a Chinese diplomat; his Chinese name means 'Pillar of the State'. He graduated top of his class at Cambridge University, completed his PhD as a Kennedy Scholar at MIT, and was elected a member of the Society of Fellows of Harvard University. He is the author of the book, 'The Mathematics of Natural Catastrophes', published by Imperial College Press. Currently, he consults for Risk Management Solutions Inc., with a particular focus on risks associated with Islamist extremism.

Nadjma Yassari
Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign Private and Private International Law
Nadjma Yassari is a fellow researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign Private and Private International Law in Hamburg, where she heads the department for the Civil laws of Islamic countries. Her main fields of research are Family and Successions law. Born on March 6th, 1971 in Teheran, Iran she studied law in Vienna, Paris and London. She holds a LL.M. degree from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies and a PH.D from the University of Innsbruck. She has published several articles on the contemporary Civil laws of Islamic countries, especially on Iranian family and succession law. Currently she is participating in a program for the judicial reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Joseph Zogby
Attorney
Joseph Zogby is Counsel to Senator Richard J. Durbin on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where he advises Senator Durbin on immigration, homeland security, counter-terrorism, and civil liberties. Previously, he was Special Counsel on Post-9/11 National Origin Discrimination in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he headed the Initiative to Combat the Post-9/11 Discriminatory Backlash. For his work on the post-9/11 backlash, he was named International Peace Prayer Day’s 2003 Man of Peace. He was Senior Trial Attorney in the Justice Department's Special Litigation Section, specializing in police misconduct and the civil rights of institutionalized persons. During the Clinton Administration, Mr. Zogby was Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. Prior to that, he was Founder and Director of the Palestine Peace Project, a nonprofit organization that provided legal assistance to Palestinians. Mr. Zogby received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Public Service Award, and a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Political Science and Middle East Studies.