The MIT AAA has successfully organized eight regional conferences, in Cairo, Amman, Beirut, Dubai, Tunis, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait. Our prior conferences have drawn together heads of state and government ministers, MIT faculty, students and alumni as well as regional business leaders and professionals. In recognition for its efforts in organizing the conferences, the MIT AAA was awarded the Presidential Citation by the MIT Alumni Association. 

  

 Notable Conference Speakers 

MIT Staff & Faculty

L.R. Reif		President
Martin Schmidt		Provost
Phillip Clay		Chancellor
Lester C. Thurow		Ex Professor of Economics and Dean Emeritus of the Sloan School of Management
Subra Suresh		Professor Emeritus of Engineering, Formerly Dean of School of Engineering
Richard Schmalensee		Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Formerly Dean, Sloan School of Management
William Hecht		Formerly Executive Vice President and CEO, MIT Alumni Association
James. A. Lash		President, Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT, Member of MIT Corporation
Kenneth P. Morse		Founder, Aspen Technology.  Formerly Managing Director, MIT Entrepreneurship Center
Fred Moavenzadeh		President of Masdar Institute Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering Systems, Director of Technology and Development Program, MIT

Business and Finance

Abdullatif A. Al-Othman	Governor, SAGIA
Waleed Al Muhairi	COO, Mubadala
Mohammed A. Al-Gergawi	Chairman of the Board, Dubai Development and Investment Authority
Mohammed Abdul Aziz  Alshaya	Executive Chairman, Alshaya Group
Fadi Ghandour	Founder and Vice Chairman, Aramex
Gassan Al-Kibsi	Managing Director, McKinsey & Company, Saudi Arabia
Joe Saddi	Partner, Strategy&
Michael Barth	CEO Netherlands Development Finance Company and President of the European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI)

 

Industry

Mohammed Al-Mady	Vice Chairman and CEO, SABIC
Homoon Kang	Vice Chairman, Samsung Electronics
Jim McIlvenny	Senior VP, The Dow Chemical Company
Zuhair Allawi	President, Dow Saudi Arabia
John Rice	Vice Chairman, GE and President and CEO, GE Global Growth and Operations
Azzam Shalabi	CEO of Industrialization & Energy Services Company (Saudi Arabia). Formerly President, Saudi Arabian National Industrial Cluster Development Program
Badr Al-Olama	CEO, Strata
Scott Gegenheimer	CEO, Zain Group
Ahmed Mahjoub	CEO, Tunisie Telecom

 

Government

Fouad Siniora	Former Prime Minister & Minister of Finance, Lebanon
Bassem Awadallah	Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Jordan
Sultan Al Jaber	Minister of State. Chairman, Masdar
Sheikh Nahayan	UAE Minister of Higher Education and Research
Mubarak Al-Nahayan
Tawfiq Al Rabiah	Minister of Health, Saudi Arabia
Youssef Boutros-Ghali	Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Egypt
Mohamed Nouri Jouini	Former Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Tunisia
Montasser Ouaili	Secretary of State in Charge of Information Technology and Internet, Tunisia
Sadok Chaabane	Minister of Higher Education, Research, and Technology, Tunisia
Shokri Ghanem	Prime Minister, Libya
Marcelle Wahba	US Ambassador to UAE

 

Oil & Energy

Ernest J. Moniz	United States Secretary of Energy, formerly Director of MIT Energy Initiative
Motassim Al-	VP, New Business Development, Saudi Aramco
Ma'ashouq
Nader Sultan	Senior Partner at F+N Consultancy and Former CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
Nizar Al-Adsani	Deputy Chairman and CEO, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
Ziad Al-Labban	CEO, Sadara
Fadhil Chalabi	Executive Director, Center for Global Energy Studies, London
Ferdinand Panik	Vice President, Daimler Chrysler and Head of the Fuel Cell Project
John Parsons	Executive Director, MIT Center for Energy & Environmental Policy Research
Mujid Kazimi	Ex-Professor, Ex-Director MIT Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems

Previous MIT AAA Pan Arab Conferences

Year	Location	Theme
2000	Cairo, Egypt	Creating Knowledge Based Industries in the Region for the Next Millennium
2001	Amman, Jordan	Focused on Development – held under the patronage of HM King Abdullah II
2002	Beirut, Lebanon	Emerging Technologies for Emerging Countries
2003	Dubai, UAE	Human and Economic Development - Through Technology, Policy, Business, Health and Education
2004	Tunis, Tunisia	The Arab World in 2030: Technology and Economic Development
2009	Abu Dhabi, UAE	Global Energy Challenges & Opportunities
2013	Dubai, UAE	Shaping the Future of Manufacturing: A Pan-Arab Perspective
2015	Kuwait City, Kuwait	Driving Growth and Sustainability in an Evolving Landscape

 

Speakers and attendees typically include MIT leaders and faculty, senior government officials, topical experts, leaders of global corporations and other business leaders, distinguished MIT alumni from around the world, and other interested stakeholders.