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Disruptive Change: Impact and Challenges

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Join us at the 13th World Islamic Economic Forum and discuss the impact and challenges of life-altering disruptive ideas as well as technologies, with some of the finest minds in the world today.

Explore solutions and possibilities on how you can best benefit from this dynamic development.
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Speakers

H.E. Professor Dr Ernesto M. Pernia

H.E. Professor Dr Ernesto M. Pernia is the secretary of socioeconomic planning at the National Economic and Development Authority, Philippines. He is also professor emeritus of economics, having served as professor and chairman at the University of the Philippines.

He has nearly two decades’ worth of work experience at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). His experience there covered investment climate and productivity, economic growth and poverty reduction, education and health, human resource development, and regional economic cooperation in Asia.

He served as a regional adviser on population and employment policy for Asia and the Pacific with the International Labour Organization. He is also on the board of a number of NGOs involved in education and health concerns, population and development, and care of street children.

He received the first award as Outstanding Young Scientist (economics and social sciences) from the National Academy of Science and Technology. He was also selected by the Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering for the 2015 Science Lectureship Award.

He is a prolific writer, having authored a number of books and journal articles. He obtained his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, on a Ford Foundation scholarship and a Smithsonian Institution dissertation grant.

Roshan Thiran

Roshan Thiran is the Chief Executive Officer of Leaderonomics, a social enterprise dedicated to providing access to leadership development to people of all ages in developing nations across Asia Pacific. He was the director of Global Talent Management with Johnson & Johnson driving global talent initiatives. He also worked at General Electric Company (GE) for more than 12 years, in a number of roles involving acquisition integrations, driving business growth and business turnarounds, in the United States of America, Europe and Asia. He hosts various television shows, radio segments and is a columnist for various piblications.

Todd Ashton

Since 2013, Todd Ashton became the President of Ericsson Malaysia and Sri Lanka and effective 1 July, 2017, Todd Ashton has been announced as the President of Ericsson Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh within the Market Area South East Asia, Oceania and India. In this role, Todd has been leading innovation and developing new capabilities in these markets by building long term partnerships with Ericsson customers and other industry stakeholders. These innovative partnerships are fuelled by Team Ericsson, the most inspiring people in the Information and Communications Technology industry.

Todd started his career in financial consulting and then moved to the former Bell Atlantic in Arlington, Virginia USA, working on a large billing and customer care transformation. In 1998 he joined the Ericsson Group working with OSS service and software sales and delivery within the Ericsson Hewlett-Packard joint venture in Sweden. During his 19 years at Ericsson, Mr Ashton has held leadership roles across several portfolios within Ericsson, including IP backbone networks, OSS, BSS, and IP Multimedia software and services.

Todd was born in Washington, D.C. and has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from The College of William and Mary Williamsburg, VA.

Sharbini Suhaili

Sharbini Suhaili is currently the group chief executive officer of Sarawak Energy that provides electricity to over 640,000 domestic, industrial and commercial customers, as well as bulk power to energy intensive industries in Sarawak and export customers. He worked for Petronas and Royal Dutch Shell in upstream production, asset development, planning, strategy and commercial as well as business development. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from University of Leeds, United Kingdom and a master’s degree in business administration from Henley Management College, United Kingdom.

Dr Soraya R. Ismail

Dr Soraya Rahim Ismail is the franchiser of Boost Juice Bars in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. She has a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College, London. She worked for 10 years in international management consultancy, Accenture, as a global expert in CRM for Oil and Gas clients. She quit the corporate world in 2009 and brought in Boost Juice Bars to Malaysia. Today, she has opened more than 100 stores across Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. She employs over 800 people and sells over 125,000 drinks per week.

H.E. Dr Saad Eddine El Otmani

In 2017, Dr Saad Eddine El Otmani was appointed as Head of the Government of Morocco. He practiced medicine as a general practitioner until 1990 and as a psychiatrist at Berrechid Psychiatric Hospital until 1997 before moving to the private sector.

He served as deputy secretary general of the Party of Justice and Development and as secretary general of the party until 2008 before being assigned as president of the National Council of the party.

He was also elected member of the House of Representatives for four successive terms between 1997 and 2016 and was assigned as vice president of the House of Representatives. He was also vice president of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and National Defence within the same council. He was minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

He was a founding member of the Movement for Reform and Renewal and member of the executive office of the Movement for Unification and Reform. He was a member of the executive office of the Association of Graduate Scholars of Dar El Hadith Al Hassania and founding member of the Moroccan Association for the History of Medicine. He is also a member of the Ethics Committee for Biomedical Research at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Rabat and Hassan II Foundation for Scientific and Medical Research on Ramadan.

He has published several books and dozens of articles that appeared in many national and international magazines. He studied medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Casablanca and obtained a PhD in general medicine. He received a specialised diploma in psychiatry from the University Psychiatric Center, Casablanca.

He has a bachelor’s degree in Islamic sharia from the University of Sharia in Agadir Ait Melloul and obtained his higher education degree in al-fiqh and its origins from Dar El Hadith Al Hassania in Rabat. He has a postgraduate certificate in higher education in Islamic studies from the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Rabat.

Marc Prensky

Marc Prensky’s is an internationally acclaimed speaker, author, consultant and ‘practical visionary’ promoting civilisation-level change in global education. He has spoken in over 40 countries, authored seven books and published over 100 essays that were translated into 11 languages. He’s currently the founder and executive director of the Global Future Education Foundation and Institute. His latest book, Education to Better Their World: Unleashing the Power of 21st Century Kids was published by Columbia TC Press in 2016. It’s a finalist for the 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards in Education. Interestingly, he coined the term ‘digital native’.

The Hon. Tun Musa Hitam

Tun Musa Hitam, who is currently Chairman of the World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) Foundation was Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister until 1986. In the course of his service in the Malaysian government, he held various positions including Minister of Home Affairs, Education, Primary Industries and Trade and Industries and Chairman of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA). Among his major official activities were as Leader of Malaysian Investment Missions to Europe, USA and Japan and representing Malaysia at UN UNESCO and ECOSOC related negotiating and regular conferences.

Since Tun Musa’s retirement from politics in 1987, he held Chairmanships of 3 Public Listed Companies and various business related institutions both at domestic and international levels. He was Chairman of the Malaysia – China Business Council, Co-Chair of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) of the Asean – China, 15 year economic cooperation program and Chairman of the EPG to draft the Asean Charter. Currently, Tun Musa is Chairman of the Sime Darby Foundation, Chairman of the International Advisory Panel of CIMB Bank, Chairman of the International Selection Panel of the Royal Award on Islamic Finance and member of the Advisory Panel of the Iskandar Development Authority.

Tun Musa holds a BA from the University of Malaya and MA from the University of Sussex, and held a resident Fellowship at Harvard University. For his services to the nation, The Yang Di Pertuan Agong, King, of Malaysia conferred him the Malaysia’s highest award which carries the title “Tun”.

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