AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF SHARJAH - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• CEO of Bedu

Dr. Vian Ahmed, Professor in Industrial Engineering and event coordinator, said: "These event aimed to inspire students by role models who are making a difference in society, including our alumni. We are honored to be part of AUS as it carries forward the vision of its President, and we are proud of our students who enrich our academic community through their hard work, creativity and diversity. I am also extremely proud to see how our talented alumni have conquered the world with great confidence."

Job Titles:

• Member of the British Psychological Society

As a member of the British Psychological Society, Danielle provides a client-centered approach using a variety of psycho-educational interventions, psychotherapy and mindfulness activities in order to support her clients. Her focus is to provide individualized therapy that is collaborative, effective and supports the individual's wellbeing journey. Danielle joined AUS in Fall 2019. Prior to joining AUS, Danielle worked in various educational settings supporting individuals with mental health and wellbeing for the last seven years. Throughout her career she has worked on removing the stigma surrounding mental health in educational settings and supporting the establishments in being internationally accredited for their work on the wellbeing of their pupils and staff. Her expertise is in counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy. Further to this, she has a Master of Science in Social Development from Keele University, UK. Danielle has extensive knowledge of offering advice, support and guidance that is conscientious and approachable to all. She has a proven ability to empathize with individuals while retaining an objective and realistic approach to their treatment and therapy. Danielle has experience of building relationships and communicating with people from all backgrounds.

Job Titles:

• Interim Chief Operating Officer
• Professor of Accounting and Interim Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Abed Al-Nasser Abdallah is Professor of Accounting and Interim Chief Operating Officer at AUS. He gained his PhD in Accounting and Finance from the Lancaster University Management School. In this position, Dr. Abdallah has responsibility for Finance, IT and IT Security, Sustainability, Human Resources and Employee Services, Facilities, Campus Development and Auxiliary Operations. Before joining AUS, Dr. Abdallah held the position of assistant professor of accounting at University of Bath, UK. His research interests include international listing of shares, information disclosure, corporate governance, earnings management, mergers and acquisitions, corporate risk disclosure, analyst following and management accounting. His teaching interest comprises both financial and managerial accounting for the undergraduate and graduate (MSA, MBA, EMBA) levels. He has taught EMBA courses in the UK, Athens and Oman. He has also been involved in the executive education programs at University of Bath and AUS. He has eight years of industry experience (1991-1998) as an accountant, chief accountant and manager. Dr. Abdallah served as the Head of the Department of Accounting in the AUS School of Business Administration from September 1, 2020 to May 31, 2023, after which he was appointed as the Interim Chief Operating Officer at AUS.

Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi is former President of the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirate (UAE Parliament). In 2006, she became the first woman from the Gulf region and the first Emirati woman elected to parliament when the first parliamentary elections were held in the United Arab Emirates. She went on to become the first Emirati and Gulf woman to be elected Vice-President of Parliament in 2011, and the first Arab woman to preside over a parliament in the Arab World following her election to the presidency of the Federal National Council of the UAE in November 2015. Dr. Al Qubaisi has held many governmental and academic positions as a member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, Chairperson of the Social Development Committee of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Director General of the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (formerly, Abu Dhabi Education Council). The first Emirati woman to hold membership in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Dr. Al Qubaisi was also member of the Faculty of Engineering, and the Department of Architectural Engineering at United Arab Emirates University, and became a member of the Board of Trustees of the Family Development Foundation, Zayed University, and the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency. With over 23 years of academic and professional experience, Dr. Al Qubaisi holds a PhD First-Class Honors Degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Sheffield, UK, and holds the world's only doctoral degree on the conservation of the UAE's architectural heritage. In addition, she has been awarded many honorary doctorates from prestigious international educational institutions including the British University of Sheffield, the Irish University of Dublin, and the Eurasian National Gumilyov University in the Republic of Kazakhstan in recognition of her distinct contributions and pioneering international efforts. She has been a high-level representative of the United Arab Emirates in many international forums and conferences and has been assigned to many official missions of the country abroad, perhaps most notably with the UNESCO World Organization, the World Heritage Centre, the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. She has chaired many important committees and official delegations of state, making distinguished achievements and outstanding contributions in political participation and parliamentary work, and in promoting national identity and community service within the UAE and internationally. Her Excellency Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi has received many awards in appreciation for her work, including the Abu Dhabi Award, 2008, and the Abu Dhabi Medal of Honor, which was presented to her by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE. For being the first woman elected to the Federal National Council, she was honored with the Emirati Pioneers Medal in 2014 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. She also received the Federal Personality Award from the President of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in 2018 from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, in recognition of her outstanding achievements and contributions at national and international levels. In June 2007, Dr. Al Qubaisi was also honored by Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation, President of the General Women's Union, and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood, on her accession to the Federal National Council. On May 21, 2007, she was honored at the Arab Women's Celebration in the State of Kuwait as the first Emirati woman to be elected to the Federal National Council. On March 8, 2007, she was honored by the Arab League and the Arab Transitional Parliament at the headquarters of the Arab League for her outstanding political achievement. On March 8, 2008, she received the Middle East Excellence Award of Women Leadership, for being the most prominent female for her outstanding political achievement. Moreover, in 2015, she was awarded the GCC Excellence Award for Excellence in the Field of Politics and Public Service. In December 2017, she won the Parliamentary Excellence Award from the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union, as the Best Speaker of an Arab parliament. Recently, in 2023 she received the Arab Women Authority Award for Excellence for her distinguished achievements as a woman in many different fields.

Job Titles:

• Executive Vice President
• Executive Vice President for Research, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Chaouki T. Abdallah is the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Abdallah serves as chief research officer for the institute, providing overall leadership for the research, economic development and related support units within Georgia Tech. As a direct report to President Ángel Cabrera and a member of the president's cabinet, he serves as chief research officer for the institute. This position provides overall leadership for the more than $1 billion annual research enterprise that includes the Georgia Tech Research Enterprise (GTRI), as well as economic development, and related support units within Georgia Tech. He also serves on the executive committee of the Council on Research for the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities (APLU), the executive committee for the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR), and the advisory committee for the Center on Measuring University Performance (MUP). Dr. Abdallah came to Georgia Tech from the University of New Mexico, where he served as the university's 22nd president, as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, as well as department chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department. During his tenure, Dr. Abdallah oversaw long-range academic planning and efforts to improve student success, as well as retention-achievement and graduation achievement rates. He conducts research and teaches courses in the area of systems theory with a focus on control, communications and computing systems. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the US Naval Research Laboratory, national laboratories, and various companies. Dr. Abdallah, who is fluent in English, French, and Arabic, is a senior member of IEEE and a recipient of that organization's Millennium Medal. Dr. Abdallah began his college career at the Faculté d'ingénierie of the Université Saint-Joseph in Lebanon, then obtained a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree from Youngstown State University in 1981, and a MS and PhD in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 1982 and 1988, respectively. He has published eight books (three as co-editor and five as co-author) and more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and provided expert testimony to the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Job Titles:

• President of Chapman University in Orange, California

Dr. Daniele C. Struppa, PhD, is the 13th President of Chapman University in Orange, California. Before assuming this title in 2016, he had served as Chapman University's Chancellor (Chief Academic Officer) for 10 years, and as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at George Mason University for nine years. Dr. Struppa is a mathematician, whose expertise is in the field of Fourier Analysis. He is the author of ten volumes, more than 200 peer reviewed publications, and holds several patents in the field of signal processing. Dr. Struppa has received numerous awards, including the 2016 Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and is a member of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Struppa was born in Milano, Italy, in 1955, and came to the United States in 1978 to pursue his PhD at the University of Maryland; after a few years in Italy, he came back to the United States as a professor of mathematics at George Mason University in 1988. Dr. Struppa is married to Mary Elizabeth (Lisa) Sparks, who is the Founding Dean of the School of Communication at Chapman University, and is the father of four children, Alessandro, Elena, Arianna and Athena.

Job Titles:

• Chief Academic Officer
• Interim Provost and Chief Academic Officer

As the Interim Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Dr. Mohamed El-Tarhuni oversees AUS' overall academic priorities and has management responsibilities for academic affairs at the university, colleges and school. He works with the deans and the faculty to sustain and advance the highest...

Job Titles:

• Representative of the UAE to the International Renewable Energy Agency

Dr. Al Hosany's numerous professional achievements have been widely acknowledged with prestigious awards. In July 2018, Dr. Al-Hosany was presented the Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa from Keele University in the UK in recognition for her achievements in the field of sustainability. Dr Al-Hosany also received the Arab Woman Award and the Emirates Business Women Award. She graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at the UAE University in 1992 and obtained her PhD from Newcastle University in the UK in 2002. Dr. Al-Hosany is also credited as one of the first two Emirati women to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world at 5,895 meters above sea-level. Dr. Al-Hosany formerly served as the Executive Director of Sustainability at Masdar, Abu Dhabi's leading international renewable energy entity. Between 2011 and 2018, she directed the Zayed Future Energy Prize, now recognized as the Zayed Sustainability Prize, and she remains an active jury member. Additionally, she held the role of Deputy Director General at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy (EDA) from 2017 to 2018.

Job Titles:

• First Chancellor

Dr. Roderick French appointed first chancellor of AUS

Job Titles:

• Chancellor

Dr. Tod A. Laursen is Chancellor of American University of Sharjah (AUS), coming to AUS after almost 11 years as leader of Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, SUNY Polytechnic Institute in New York, and Wigwe University in Nigeria, with an additional two years of service as the chief academic officer (provost) of the State University of New York system (consisting of 64 campuses and approximately 400,000 registered students). Prior to becoming President of Khalifa University, Professor Laursen was a member of the faculty of Duke University (USA), between the years of 1992 and 2010, during which time he had appointments in civil engineering, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering. He served as Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from 2008 to 2010 and served as Senior Associate Dean for Education in the Pratt School of Engineering from 2003 to 2008. In the latter capacity, he had oversight responsibility for all undergraduate and graduate engineering programs at Duke. Earning a PhD and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, he specializes in computational mechanics, a subfield of engineering mechanics concerned with development of new computational algorithms and tools used by engineers to analyze mechanical and structural systems. He has published over 100 refereed articles, book chapters and abstracts, and has authored or co-edited two books. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the International Association of Computational Mechanics, and the United States Association for Computational Mechanics and holds memberships in the American Society for Engineering Education and Tau Beta Pi. He served as an at-large member of the Executive Committee for the United States Association for Computational Mechanics between 2007 and 2010 and served as a member of the Executive Council of the International Association for Computational Mechanics until 2020. Additionally, he has served on the scientific advisory committees of several of the most important national and international congresses in computational mechanics.

Job Titles:

• Professor in Industrial Engineering

Job Titles:

• Area Manager

Job Titles:

• Senior Manager at Dubai Electricity and Water Authority

Husam joined University Counseling Services in Fall 2016. Prior to becoming AUS staff, he worked at many university counseling centers, outpatient clinics, hospitals and NGOs in United States. He has over 24 years of clinical experience working with individuals, helping them navigate trauma, grief, loss, anxiety, depression, relational conflict, adjustment and stress management, as well as training and supervising developing professionals. Further to this, he is a postgraduate Mental Health Counselor from the University of Tennessee and an accredited Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapist. Husam believes that every individual is the expert of their own story and his role is to partner with individuals on their healing and wellness journey, providing safety, support and affirmation during the therapeutic process. He utilizes integrative and eclectic therapy techniques with an emphasis on relational, multicultural, strengths-based and client-centered approaches. His areas of interest are empowering students to attain a better quality of life through individual session, and assisting students with depression, anxiety, adjustment difficulties, interpersonal relationships, building healthy coping skills, self-esteem, stress reduction and self-care.

Job Titles:

• Assistant Professor

Job Titles:

• Lead Consultant at Software One

Job Titles:

• Director of Knowledge and Innovation at the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board of Trustees
• Board Member of HSBC Private Bank
• Chairman of the Board of HSBC Bank Middle East
• Chairman, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, Dubai, UAE

Mr. Sharaf is currently a board member of HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA (PBRS), the Higher Board of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the Noor Dubai Foundation, the Mastercard MEA Advisory Board, and the Advisory Council of Dubai Chamber of Commerce. He was also a board member of HSBC Saudi Arabia Limited (IBSA), HSBC Bank Oman (HBON) and Emirates Telecommunication Company (Etisalat). Mr. Abdulfattah Sharaf is the Chairman of the Board of HSBC Bank Middle East (HBME). He was appointed Chairman in May 2023 after serving as HSBC UAE CEO for 13 years, a role that he had combined with oversight of the bank's operations in Algeria, Bahrain and Kuwait as Head of International since 2017. Mr. Sharaf joined HSBC in 2008 to lead the bank's retail business in the MENA region as CEO Personal Financial Services, Middle East and North Africa.

Job Titles:

• Board Member of Bank ABC Islamic
• Founder and CEO, Athena Advisory Limited, UAE

Mr. Abhijit Choudhury has a background of 45 years in the banking sector. This period covered careers with ANZ Grindlays Bank in India, Arab Banking Corporation in Bahrain, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, and First Abu Dhabi Bank in the UAE, and finally with the Central Bank of the UAE. During this period, he has held various management and board level positions. Specifically, some of his responsibilities were as Group Chief Risk Officer and interim CEO at National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Group Chief Risk Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank, Advisor to the Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE (on matters relating to banking supervision, financial stability, monetary/reserve management, etc.), and Board Risk Committee member at the Central Bank of the UAE. During his past career, Mr. Choudhury has held board positions in subsidiaries of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Abu Dhabi Bank. He has been an active member of the International Institute of Finance (IIF) representing the region as a Member of the IIF's Steering Committee on Regulatory Capital on dialogue with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. More recently, Mr. Choudhury has served as a member of the Banking Sector Task Force appointed by His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, and as Chairman of the Business Advisory Group of the Al Etihad Credit Bureau, UAE. Mr. Choudhury is currently a board member of Bank ABC Islamic, Bahrain, and JSC Terabank, Georgia, and the CEO of Athena Advisory Limited, (a platform to provide niche advisory services on banking risk management and regulation). Mr. Choudhury holds a master's degree in economics from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.

Job Titles:

• Chief Executive Officer, Invest Bank

Before taking the helm at Invest Bank, Mr. Ahmad Abu Eideh had accumulated some 31 years of experience spanning virtually every aspect of banking. This wide experience was built through local, regional and international banking, especially in corporate and investment banking. Additionally, he built a reputation as a banking entrepreneur who manages to innovate and integrate optimum technologies into banking, automating operations and establishing a sound digital transformation in line with cutting-edge technological developments in the banking industry. His track record includes a posting with Standard Chartered Bank Middle East, which he began as CEO in his native Jordan, but eventually expanded to bring under his leadership the bank's operations in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon as well. He has also held senior positions at several banking institutions including HSBC and ABN AMRO.

Job Titles:

• Founder and Managing Director of Emaar Properties, Founder and Director of Noon.Com, Chairman of Eagle Hills, Chairman of Americana, Dubai, UAE

Mr. Mohamed Ali Rashed Alabbar is a global entrepreneur with active interests in real estate, retail, hospitality, e-commerce, technology, logistics, food and beverage, and venture capital. Since 1997, he has been at the forefront of global real estate, leading marquee real-estate development companies such as Emaar Properties (developer of world's tallest building) and Eagle Hills (leading emerging markets real estate developer). He has spearheaded the growth of Emaar Properties, attaining an unmatched track record of successfully developing iconic futuristic residential, retail, entertainment, hospitality and leisure assets transforming the lifestyles of people globally. Over the years he has developed world-class mixed used projects, including his retail businesses, across 20+ markets of Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and the US. In addition, he has driven the growth of several regional players into world-renown sector champions including Americana Group (a multibillion-dollar food business, the largest integrated food company in the Middle East) and noon.com (the leading e-commerce platform in the region). He was also the Chairman and Co-founder of RSH Limited, a leading pan-Asian and Middle Eastern marketer, distributor and retailer of internationally renowned sports, golf, active lifestyle and fashion brands with a portfolio of over 70 brands and a distribution network spanning more than 40 countries in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East region, as well as more than 1,000 freestanding stores and shops-in-shops. Mr. Alabbar is also shareholder in Artstreet Limited, which owns interests in real estate business. He is the Chairman of Zand, one of the world's first combined digital corporate and retail banks to launch from the UAE.

Job Titles:

• Head of UK Investment Programme, Mubadala Investment Company

Mr. Mohammed Al Huraimel Al Shamsi is the Head of the United Kingdom Investment Programme, where he manages the deployment of £10 billion into four priority sectors within the United Kingdom: Life Sciences, Technology, Energy Transition, and Infrastructure. Mr. Al Shamsi has been at Mubadala since 2011, where he was previously the Director of Utilities Investments in Mubadala Investments Company, where he was responsible for the Utilities investments portfolio valued above $2 billion, which includes power generation, water and district cooling assets across four continents. During his tenure at Mubadala, he has spearheaded the development of green field joint venture in Mainland China, supported in the turn around a GCC provider of distributed cooling services, and was placed as interim Chief Executive of a gold mine in Colombia. Mr. Al Shamsi has held board seats in Energias do Portugal (Portugal), Tabreed District Cooling (UAE), the London Array Wind Farm (UK), Jiangsu Suyadi (China), Shariket Kahraba Hadjret-En-Nous (Algeria) and SMN Power Company (Oman). Before Mubadala, he was the Director of Strategy & Policy at the UAE Prime Minister's Office, where he was responsible for developing the UAE Vision 2021 and the Federal Government Strategy 2011-2013 working across 48 government agencies. He has also held roles at McKinsey & Company, Dubai International Capital and General Motors. Mr. Al Shamsi holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from the HEC School of Management - Paris and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from American University of Sharjah.

Job Titles:

• Head of UK Investment Programme, Mubadala Investment Company

Mr. Mohammed Al Huraimel Al Shamsi is the Head of the United Kingdom Investment Programme, where he manages the deployment of £10 billion into four priority sectors within the United Kingdom: Life Sciences, Technology, Energy Transition, and Infrastructure. Mr. Al Shamsi has been at Mubadala since 2011, where he was previously the Director of Utilities Investments in Mubadala Investments Company, where he was responsible for the Utilities investments portfolio valued above $2 billion, which includes power generation, water and district cooling assets across four continents. During his tenure at Mubadala, he has spearheaded the development of green field joint venture in Mainland China, supported in the turn around a GCC provider of distributed cooling services, and was placed as interim Chief Executive of a gold mine in Colombia. Mr. Al Shamsi has held board seats in Energias do Portugal (Portugal), Tabreed District Cooling (UAE), the London Array Wind Farm (UK), Jiangsu Suyadi (China), Shariket Kahraba Hadjret-En-Nous (Algeria) and SMN Power Company (Oman). Before Mubadala, he was the Director of Strategy & Policy at the UAE Prime Minister's Office, where he was responsible for developing the UAE Vision 2021 and the Federal Government Strategy 2011-2013 working across 48 government agencies. He has also held roles at McKinsey & Company, Dubai International Capital and General Motors. Mr. Al Shamsi holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MBA from the HEC School of Management - Paris and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from American University of Sharjah.

Ms. Bedour Saeed Al Raqbani Social Entrepreneur, Dubai, UAE Ms. Bedour Saeed Al Raqbani is an Emirati social entrepreneur and a social activist. A recipient of the UAE Pioneers Award for founding Kalimati Communication and Rehabilitation Center, she is a recognizable voice for social inclusion and systemic integration in the country. An alumna of... Read more

Job Titles:

• Research Associate at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi

Job Titles:

• Designer

Job Titles:

• Founder, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah

Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is a columnist and researcher on social, political, and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf states. He is also founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, UAE. He was an MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow from 2014 to 2016, a practitioner-in-residence at...

Job Titles:

• Columnist and Researcher
• Founder, Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah

Sheikh Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi is a columnist and researcher on social, political, and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf states. He is also founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, UAE. He was an MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow from 2014 to 2016, a practitioner-in-residence at the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University in Spring 2017 and a Yale Greenberg World Fellow in 2018. Mr. Al-Qassemi was a visiting instructor at the Council of Middle East Studies at Yale University, the Center of Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, the American University of Paris, the Islamic Civilization and Societies program at Boston College, the School of Public Affairs at SciencesPo Paris, the Middle East Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School, the School of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis University and International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, New York, and most recently at Bard College Berlin. Sheikh Sultan, along with Todd Reisz is co-editor of Building Sharjah (Birkhäuser, 2021). Mr. Al-Qassemi just recently completed a Fellowship at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.

Job Titles:

• President
• Bodour Bint Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and President
• President of the International Publishers Association

H.E. Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and President of American University of Sharjah In January 2023, Sheikha Bodour was appointed Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and President of American University of Sharjah to align the institution with Sharjah's socio-economic, workforce and innovation priorities. She is working to achieve excellence in teaching, research and public... Read more Sheikha Bodour established the Emirates Publishers Association, UAE Board on Books for Young People and Knowledge Without Borders to boost the growth of the UAE's $300+ million publishing sector. She founded Kalimat Publishing Group, a global, multi-imprint publishing and edtech company with licensing and distribution in more than 15 countries. She also chaired the Sharjah World Book Capital 2019 Committee and led efforts to establish the Emirates Reprographic Rights Management Association. Sheikha Bodour leads several Sharjah, UAE, regional, and global institutions and initiatives to foster socio-economic development, support cultural industries and heritage, and catalyze multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development. With a career that spans public service, business and community organizations, she bridges the interests of public, private and nonprofit stakeholders to address the most pressing challenges of today and build for the future. In January 2023, Sheikha Bodour was appointed Chairperson of the Board of Trustees and President of American University of Sharjah to align the institution with Sharjah's socio-economic, workforce and innovation priorities. She is working to achieve excellence in teaching, research and public service to develop global citizen graduates who become future leaders in their communities, the United Arab Emirates and the world. Sheikha Bodour is forging deeper university-industry R&D and commercialization collaboration as Chairperson of the Board and President of the Sharjah Research, Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP). She oversees SRTIP's $150 million push to position Sharjah as a global leader in emerging technology fields. SRTIP has attracted more than 2,000 companies to Sharjah which have invested in excess of $100 million in developing technologies in priority sectors like transportation, smart manufacturing, agriculture, renewable energy, water management, 3D printing, AR and VR. As Chairperson of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority, Sheikha Bodour is solidifying Sharjah's strengths in manufacturing, transport, logistics, education and the cultural economy. She is also setting the foundations for the future by leading flagship initiatives to attract investment in strategic growth sectors like tourism, healthcare, environmental technology, agritech and the digital economy. Sheikha Bodour's work to promote Sharjah as a world-class investment destination has mobilized more than $4 billion in foreign direct investment, created more than 20,000 jobs and contributed to a 78 percent growth in Sharjah's gross domestic product. Her work as Chairperson of Sharjah Entrepreneurship Center (Sheraa) is accelerating the development of Sharjah's entrepreneurship ecosystem and has supported 150 startups that have raised $128 million in investment and created 1,400 jobs. Sheikha Bodour is an advocate for developing publishing markets and global publishing industry issues such as literacy, freedom to publish, copyright, digital transformation, and diversity and inclusion. She served as the International Publishers Association's second-ever female and first-ever Arab President since the influential global association's founding in 1896. Sheikha Bodour is taking action on the world's most pressing challenges through her involvement in international organizations. She is a key contributor to UNESCO's World Book Capital Cities Network, a collective of member cities committed to literacy, reading, international exchange and lifelong learning as cornerstones to inclusive, sustainable societies. Sheikha Bodour was the first Emirati woman to co-chair the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa, and she has leveraged the World Economic Forum's global platform to catalyze action on youth education and employment, female entrepreneurship, small and medium-size enterprise development, expanding funding for the cultural industries, and climate change.

Job Titles:

• Media Center
• Media Center / President
• Media Center / Provost and Chief Academic Officer 's Message

Job Titles:

• Nobel Prize - Winning Economist

Suhaila is a skilled social psychotherapist who received clinical training at Rashid Hospital in Dubai and worked with Zayed University students as a counselor for more than four years. She helps her clients using a person-centered treatment approach and has an eclectic background from training in multiple psychotherapy approaches, including Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Somatic Experiencing (SE), Eyes Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Schema Therapy, and CBT. She is dedicated and empathetic, cares about the well-being of others, and is eager to provide meaningful ways of touching lives and helping individuals to resilience and growth. She has been granted the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) by the British Psychological Society (MBPsS). She is recognized as a Mental Health Trainer and Facilitator™ (MHF™) by the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. (NBCC), United States, a member of the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) for trauma recovery and treatment of other psychological disorders, and member of Somatic Experiencing International (SE), a body-oriented therapeutic model that helps heal trauma and other stress disorders. Suhaila Mohammad holds a conversion Master of Science in Applied Psychological Studies from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, with division in cognitive abilities and exam anxiety; a Diploma in Crisis Counseling from the Institute of Counselling in Glasgow, Scotland; and a Master of Educational Leadership (MEd) with distinction from Zayed University, where she received the Best Outstanding Student and Research Project award. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (PsyD) at California Southern University in the United States.

Job Titles:

• Co - Editor of Building Sharjah