Rahul Bharti is the Executive Vice President & Head of HR for Zee Entertainment, International Business. As part of the Zee HR leadership team, he is responsible for developing and overseeing the people strategy and execution across the international business with his talented team of local HR Country leaders & HR partners, to accelerate business outcomes through talent.

The international business includes media broadcast and streaming services in UAE, USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Russia, South Africa, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. During his tenure at Zee, the company was voted among the Best Workplaces in UAE and Asia for two successive years by the Great Place to Work Institute.

Prior to joining Zee in 2016, Rahul spent five years at Dabur International (CPG/FMCG industry) in UAE where he was Head of HR for International Business. In this role, Rahul was responsible for developing and leading people strategy to meet the overall people agenda for sales, marketing and manufacturing operations in UAE, Egypt, Tunisia, Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey, Pakistan, UK, and USA.

In this role, Rahul was also responsible for pre & post-merger integration strategies for two company acquisitions, Namaste Laboratories, USA and Hobi Kozmetik, Turkey.

Between 2010 and 2011 Rahul was the Head of HR for international business at Britannia Industries (CPG/FMCG industry) with sales, marketing, & manufacturing operations in UAE and Oman.

Prior to moving to UAE in 2010, Rahul spend 8 years in the high-tech semiconductor industry at STMicroelectronics, joining the India Design Centre in talent acquisition and was the HR Business Partner for mobile, multimedia & communication division. Over time he also supported the rewards & performance strategy for the company.

His last role was the Manager-HR at ST-Ericsson, a wireless JV between ST, Ericsson and NXP semiconductors. He led the post-merger integration of STMicroelectronics & NXP.

Between 2001 and 2002 Rahul was a talent acquisition specialist at HCL Technologies.

Rahul has over 22 years of experience working within Human Resources across multiple industries, geographies and disciplines. His background spans all aspects of HR including, leadership and employee development, succession planning, organization design, employee relations, workplace culture, talent and performance management, reward management, mergers & acquisition, change management, and organizational development and capability. His passion is leading HR teams and coaching leadership teams to maximize their people assets. Rahul holds a master’s degree in business studies and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development in the UK.

After 25 years with PepsiCo in senior Human Resources roles globally, Pavan founded GenWE Inc. in March 2020 with the mission to bring the world closer. He aims to create a more inclusive world by pairing teenagers from different backgrounds.

Prior to his shift to entrepreneurship, Pavan was Senior Vice President & CHRO for Asia, Middle East and Africa based in Dubai from 2016 to 2020. He was responsible for developing long term HR strategy and talent pipeline for PepsiCo’s buinesses in 70 countries and also a key member of the global HR leadership team. Prior to Dubai, Pavan was the SVP Global Talent Acquisition & Deployment for PepsiCo, based in Purchase, New York and was part of the global HR leadership team.

He was responsible for developing senior leadership pipeline, diversity and building bench strength for Top 100 roles. Pavan is a globalist. He has worked in India, China, Thailand and USA in his 25 year PepsiCo career. Pavan has received several recognitions for his thought leadership and innovation in HR practices. He is passionate about Talent Management, Inclusion and Culture.

In his various roles he has always looked at HR as a function that can enable the business. He believes that HR is a profit center and can play a big role in creating shareholder value. Pavan is from India. He holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Delhi University and Master’s degrees in Human Resources from the Xavier’s Labor Relations Institute (XLRI) India.

Pavan Bhatia Founder GenWE Inc.

Rebeca Fernández lives and works between Spain and London (UK). Rebeca received her Master’s in Business Management (MBA) from Cantabria University and Data Science for HR from Cambridge University. Rebeca has more than 15 years of experience in Human Resources, with a focus on HR technology and People Analytics. She has worked in a variety of industries such as banking and consulting services and worked in companies like Barclays, Blackrock, and DXC Technology. In her last corporate role, she was heading the People Analytics team at Bureau Veritas. Currently, she is the CEO and Co-founder of AwAre (www.awareapp.tech), a revolutionary employee listening mobile application with integrated action plans, engagement insights, and ESG/SDG reports; and the CEO of Rebeca Fernandez Solutions, HRaaS helping organizations to connect the dots between the business, processes, data, and people. Rebeca is an associate professor with a master’s in human resources management at the University of Cantabria (Spain). Rebeca is also a HR Blockchain expert, with more than 5 years of experience researching and developing Human Capital Blockchain use cases for ecosystems for justice and efficiency, she is the Board Member of the Blockchain Language Knowledge Foundation and creator of gaptracer.com. Since early 2023, Rebeca is am ISO 30414 lead consultant and Lead Consultant a committee member of the Spanish CTN314 committee HR management, which is part of the ISO TC 260 working on global HR Standards.

Rebeca´s motto is “what you measure improves” and she has a strong belief that HR professionals should connect the dots between business, technology, processes, and people data, therefore inclusive, sustainable, and transparent Human Capital Reporting becomes critical.

Dr. Arunprasad B.E., M.Tech., PhD., SHRM-SCP (UAE-Golden Visa Holder)

is a Founder & CEO of Bullseye Experts “A niche management consulting and advisory service providers in the region with an integrated approach for a sustainable, innovative and technology driven future”.

With more than two decades of Professional experience in Banking, Manufacturing, Retail, Financial, IT/ITES sectors and Education Industry holds his PhD from IIT Madras. He has held positions spanning across Total Rewards, Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Talent Development and Talent Retention. Onsite and offshore experience includes Europe, US, Middle East, China, and India. Companies include Landmark Group (Middle East), EDS, MphasiS (an HP company) -EMEA Region based out of Netherlands, Deloitte Touche and Tohmatsu & Bank of America (US & India)

Recipient of “Glory of India Award” and “Dr.APJ. Abdul Kalam Excellence Award” awarded by IIFS towards exceptional NRI under the category of “General and Human Resource Management” and outstanding individual achievements & distinguished services. To his credit he has published research articles in peer-reviewed top tier international journals of repute.

Further, he is a leading Strategic HRM Expert in the region and has been nominated as “SME and Master Facilitator” for SHRM – MENA region. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Faculty/ PhD Supervisor @ Dubai Business School with University of Dubai, Dubai. He is also passionate about internationally acclaimed certification in Psychometric Assessment, performed numerous career and executive coach sessions for individuals and corporate executives through Innermetrix Assessment as “Certified Innermetrix Consultant”.

Yasmine Dessouky is a seasoned HR professional currently holding the position of Talent Management, DE&I and Leadership development Senior Manager at Vodafone Egypt and with over 13 years of diverse experience in the field. She brings a wealth of international experience, having worked in Egypt and Switzerland for renowned organizations such as Nestle and Henkel. Her expertise spans across executive human resources leadership, organization design, change management, talent management, leadership development, and DE&I initiatives. She has successfully developed and implemented the DEI strategic plan aimed at cultivating a culture of growth and inclusivity within the organization.

Yasmine holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Mass Communication and Psychology from The American University in Cairo, holding international assessor certifications from Hogan, Riverwaves, PI (Predictive Index). Yasmine’s expertise and qualifications make her a valuable asset in driving organizational success and fostering inclusive and effective leadership practices.

As the Country Leader, Vipul Mathur provides strategic direction and leadership in the Middle East and is responsible for overseeing and expanding PeopleStrong’s operations and market presence in the region.

He is an experienced entrepreneur and a business leader with a career spanning over 2 decades in building, managing, and leading business functions for global enterprises.

Before joining PeopleStrong, Vipul founded qilo technologies to advise companies on OKRs and how to best implement OKR strategies that stick. Given the difficulty of managing OKRs on excel sheets, he built an award-winning platform to manage OKRs and other types of performance management techniques. Vipul has been a pioneer in the OKR space in India and has helped over 250,000 employees across over 0 companies transition to OKRs.

Before starting his entrepreneurial journey, Vipul was Associate Vice President – Corporate Marketing at Cleartrip.com where he conceptualized and launched the B2B product. Prior to this, Vipul spent five long years at Monster.com where, as Head of Marketing- B2B

Vipul’s expertise lies in maintaining a fine balance of executing strategic and tactical initiatives, for organizations to scale, but his first love remains food! Vipul is a trained chef and an ardent golfer with a ‘polite smile’ handicap. 

Marc Abdo is the Managing Partner at Digital Revamp, a leading American creative marketing and advertising agency. Over the past 12 years, he has built extensive business development and digital marketing experience as he worked with some of the largest brands in the MENA region, including P&G, Hasbro and Transmed.

His role encompasses coaching team members, managing international operations and building effective digital strategies for government entities, nonprofits, startups, and Fortune 500 companies. He further provides guidance to C-level executives on digital storytelling, online strategy integration, executive personal branding, and paid media.

Marc is also an experienced Ads and Aviation strategist, managing Digital Revamp’s latest collaboration with ICAO, a United Nations agency dedicated to the development of aviation capacity through digital news, features and advertising platforms.

Marc is a great communicator and workshop facilitator, training over 5000 people on the best social media practices. He has also been invited to numerous podcasts and speaking engagements during which he delved deep into relevant and insightful industry subjects, such as current marketing strategies, the psychological aspects of marketing, social media algorithms and AI.

A glimpse into Marc’s previous speaking engagements:

• Korea Trade Center in Dubai
• ACTED – Communications and Advocacy Officer
• Tripoli Entrepreneurs Club
• Dubai TV: Social Media Algorithms and Their Impact on Our Daily Life
• The Brainpod podcast: The Psychology of Marketing
• The Absurde. Podcast: Revealing Marketing Secrets You Relate To

Mr. Sami is an HR Professional with more than 10 years of a demonstrated hands-on experience of working for FMCGs, Hospitality, Food Services, Construction, and Training. Skilled in Workforce Planning, Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Performance Management Frameworks, Incentive Schemes Development, Organizational Restructuring, and HR Analytics.

He is a holder of SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, PHRi, SPHRi, and Assoc. CIPA, and is currently working as the Managing Director of North Star Management Consultancy in Kuwait, which specializes in delivering Training Programs, Recruitment Services, and HR Consulting.

Mr. Sami taught many SHRM and HRCI Programs for a variety of organizations which include: Kuwait Institute of Banking Studies (KIBS), Gulf University for Science & Technology (GUST), American University of Kuwait (AUK), Zain Telecom, and Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

Chandrasekar aka Chandru is the chief Operation officer and business head for EMEA business.

Chandru has nearly two decades of experience and is a seasoned business leader, passionate and highly motivated Sales Professional & adviser with experience in international sales, Managing regional P&L, strategic project management, team management, partner management and new market expansion.

Has immense experience working in international markets and his skill lies in planning the entry and expansion in new markets. Chandruhad been in key leadership roles at Oracle Corporation, Kony Labs, Polaris software labs before joining ZingHR and has worked in India, Middle East and Southeast Asian countries.

Chandru has been executive sponsor and account director in many high value transformation projects globally and ensured overall project success and delivered tangible business outcomes for the customers. Chandru holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science and an MBA from Symbiosis