Past event summary

JAMES BERNARD

REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE - EUROPE

DMCC

James started his career working in the London financial markets for several international institutions and trading houses where he developed his passion for commodities, logistics, and global trade. He later incorporated his own group of companies producing, distributing and trading in physical commodities and derivatives.

After joining DMCC in 2006 as Associate Director of Commodities he took over as Director of Business Development in 2009, leading the next stage of growth for DMCC Free Zone which to date has attracted over 18,000 companies to its central Dubai location.

In his next role as DMCC Head of Corp Sales he has helped to successfully take DMCC on to achieve unprecedented growth and to develop into a multi award winning Free Zone.

James was recently appointed as DMCC’s European representative and operates from offices in the Netherlands.

As one of the founding members of the DMCC ‘Blockchain Innovation Group’ and ‘Global Blockchain Council’ he continues to assist in the development of Dubai as a global sector hub and DMCC as a global crypto ecosystem.

PAUL KAYROUZ

HEAD OF FINTECH, BLOCKCHAIN AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

PWC LEGAL MIDDLE EAST

Paul is leading the Fintech, Blockchain & Emerging Technology team at PwC Legal Middle East. Paul has extensive experience in advising a large number of public companies, multinational banks & financial institutions and investment funds & advisors. Paul’s specialization and practice includes advising key financial regulators including central banks and capital markets authorities on a range of complex financial and technology regulations such as the development of a regulatory framework for the implementation of Basel III, standards for netting derivatives, digital currencies, crypto assets and digital ID.

Paul’s expertise extends to cutting-edge technology matters including advising on setting up digital banks, crypto-currency exchanges and security token offerings in addition to smart city solutions. Paul often speaks on the impact of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

KESHAV JAYANT

MANAGER - TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY

PWC MIDDLE EAST

Keshav is a Manager with PwC Technology Advisory practice. He has over 10 years of work experience across areas of smart cities services, digital commerce, last mile delivery, digital marketing, operations optimization, finance and digital strategy.

Keshav’s expertise is in eCommerce with specific emphasis on strategy implementation, technology solutions, and operations optimization. He has worked in the eCommerce industry with repute in building and scaling the food delivery business for a leading global food tech company, across India and the GCC. In addition, Keshav has also worked across various eCommerce projects advising and supporting Ministry initiatives.

SAMER MERHI
SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER - EVENTS

DMCC

Samer Merhi is the Senior Marketing Manager of Events at DMCC, the world’s leading Free Zone and Government of Dubai Authority on commodities trade and enterprise.

Joining DMCC in 2012, Samer is responsible for delivering the organisation’s event programme in line with corporate marketing strategy and business objectives.

Technically knowledgeable and professionally qualified, Samer forges strategic relationships with partners around the world to deliver an ever-growing DMCC calendar of events both physical and virtual.

In a career spanning 15 years, Samer has managed some of the region’s largest and high-profile live events and conferences, as well as diplomatic meetings and industry gatherings.