Elizabeth Maclean started her career working for one of the UK’s political parties before taking a path that has seen her spend 30 years in the communications industry, both in consultancy and in-house roles, with a third of her career spent in the aviation sector. Elizabeth has worked in the UK as well as internationally in the Far East and Middle East.

Elizabeth has been fortunate to have had mentors, both female and male colleagues, who have given counsel throughout her career. Being part of the team that sponsored the IAWA Conference and the Young Women in Aviation Forum, in conjunction with the GCAA, held in Dubai in 2015, she recognises the benefits of these forums and the important platform they provide to women starting or developing their careers in aviation.

Elizabeth Maclean is now Co-Managing Director of Herdick Communications with a veteran of the aviation sector, Mike Evans. Herdick launched just over a month ago and is a new strategic communications consultancy based in the UK.

John Sage is the founder and CEO of the two leading accessible travel companies, Sage Traveling and Accessible Travel Solutions. His companies provide accessible travel services targeting a market of 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide. He was the primary author of the WTTC’s “Inclusive and Accessible Travel Guidelines” and his :Top 10 Accessible Trvel Tips for Europe” article has been published in Rick Steves’ guidebooks.

John Sage was injured in a snow-skiing accident in 2001 when he was 22 years old and sustained a T-4 incomplete spinal cord injury. He has some sensation but uses a wheelchair to get around. John quickly adapted to his new lifestyle and retained his passion for life. Since 2001, he has visited Europe 16 times to over 140+ cities in his wheelchair.

In the spring of 2008, after his sixth trip to Europe, he realized there had to be a better way to plan a wheelchair accessible trip to Europe. He had spent dozens of hours researching accessibility trip to Southern France and Italy and was still met by accessibility surprises during the trip. The existing internet accessibility information was sporadic, vague, non-existent, or completely incorrect! Some information would describe a place as “totally inaccessible for wheelchairs” (Venice) yet with the right information they can absolutely be visited by wheelchair users!

Upon realizing that there was really no one out there who was providing all of the comprehensive information that someone in a wheelchair or with other mobility issues would need to make a trip to Europe he began creating and setting up his accessible travel company, Sage Traveling. No one had pulled all the necessary accessibility information together and presented it like a guide book with maps and pictures but John was determined to change this.

John Sage has spent the past several years learning accessibility phrases in various languages to be able to call hotels and museums to inquire about accessibility. He has taken numerous trips to top European travel destinations to make Sage Traveling a leading expert in disabled European travel. After lots of work John launched www.SageTraveling.com in December 2009!

“I encourage any individual that has an interest in European travel, no matter their mobility limitations, to go for it! I have had the best experiences of my life traveling the world and living out my dreams. Traveling is my passion and I look forward to making your dream accessible vacation a reality!”

Dr. Pillay is a board certified plastic surgeon and seasoned entrepreneur. He is the founder & CEO of several successful health and technology start up.

His passion is in taking businesses from concepts and these into successful enterprises.

He has several degrees and has been educated on 3 Continents, America, Europe & Africa.

An experienced architect, urban planning expert and an inspiring young Emirati leader focused on promoting a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation and facilitating strategic foreign investments, Arch. Abdulla Al Abdouli is the Chief Executive Officer of Marjan, the master-developer of freehold properties in Ras Al Khaimah.

Al Abdouli has more than 10 years’ experience in the Construction Industry in both Public & private Sectors driving strategic growth initiatives of the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, with a focus on developing world-class master-planned communities & infrastructure projects in Ras Al Khaimah that will attract foreign investment and position the emirate as a regional investment and tourism hub. His key Highlights were identifying new opportunities for real estate growth, expanding partnerships with an access to global markets. Arch. Abdulla is credited with several innovative initiatives that have enhanced the reputation of Ras Al Khaimah globally helping create a strong framework that enhances investor confidence foreign direct investment.

Arch. Adbulla leads number of successful projects, he is the CEO for Marjan, Managing Director for RAK Dragging, also the Chairman of RAK AMI Hotels. And he is a board member and managing director of Saraya.

Drawing on his competencies in real estate development and urban master-planning, he was Director of Town Planning and Survey Administration and Director of Project Management Office at RAK Municipality. Previously, he was also a Board Member of the RAK International Airport Authority and RAK Sewerage Authority.

Abdulla holds a Masters in Regional & Urban Planning from the Paris Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi and graduated from the American University of Sharjah. He also recently earned a certificate in Real Estate Investment Strategies from Harvard University.

Bader Alherbish has 17 years of experience in Project Management, Planning, Development, and Strategy. Ambitious and driven to contribute to the country’s ambitions in achieving vision 2030, the Tourism sector is one of the main pillars of vision 2030, and the Tourism Development Fund aims to unlock the sector and fulfill Saudi vision 2030.

After 15 years working for Saudi Aramco as a Work Director for several Departments, from 2005 until 2020, Mr. Alherbish moved to the Tourism Development Fund as Head of Partnerships and then transitioned to leading the strategy function as Executive Director of Strategy.

In 2015, Bader Alherbish obtained a master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and a Master’s degree (MSc) in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in the City of New York in 2011. Mr. Alherbish obtained a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics (dual degree) from Vanderbilt University in 2004.

Ahmed Obaid Al Qaseer graduated from Dubai Men’s College with a Bachelor degree in Business Information Technology. In 2002 he started his career at The Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat) in the Government & Corporate Segment and worked as Senior Sales Support and Senior Sales Executive for 4 years.

In 2006, Ahmed joined the Al Qasba Development Authority as a Business Development Manager and was promoted to Director of Business Development in 2008, forming an integral part of the team that transformed Al Qasba into the reputed and popular leisure and tourism destination it is today.

Following his highly successful track record with Al Qasba, Al Qaseer played a key role in the establishment of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq), where he held to the position of Director of Property Management in 2010, where he was in charge of property, as well as the operations, sales and leasing. Since then he has been promoted to become Shurooq’s Chief Operating Officer in 2011, and in this capacity is responsible for the operational execution of all of Shurooq’s projects and destinations.

Shurooq was established in 2009 with the aim of achieving social, cultural, environmental and economic development on the basis of Sharjah’s distinct Arab and Islamic identity, and to encourage investment by adopting the best international standards in providing quality services that help attract investors from the region and the world. Shurooq’s key mission is to provide facilities and incentives to help overcome obstacles facing investment activities in the Emirate, evaluate tourism and investment related infrastructure projects, and lay down the necessary plans to complete such projects.

H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi has been named the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs under the new UAE Government structure approved in July 2020. Under this role, H.E. Dr. Al Falasi is at the fore of designing national initiatives to strengthen the UAE’s small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, one of the engines of the national economy, and promote entrepreneurship in various industries. He is also tasked to set a strategic direction and develop a general national policy for the country’s tourism sector.

Before his present position, he was the Minister of State for Higher Education during which he supervised the development of higher education and scientific research in the UAE. He also formulated new policies for the sector as well as streamlined the work of higher education institutions to ensure quality outputs that match the requirements of the labour market. In October 2017, pursuant to the ministerial amendment to the UAE Government, he took on the responsibility of equipping UAE nationals with skills of the future.

He is also the former Chairman of the Federal Authority for Human Resources and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the UAE Space Agency. He represented the space sector at the National Committee for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Other positions he previously held included CEO of Masdar Company; Executive Director of Strategy and Tourism Sector Development at Dubai Tourism; Vice President of the Mubadala Industry Unit; and Consultant for the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

H.E Dr. Al Falasi holds a PhD from Monash University, a Master’s degree from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Engineering from Khalifa University in the UAE.

Alison has over 25 years of experience working with the hospitality industry; Extensively travelled, she has worked in over 30 countries covering Europe, United States and Middle East/Africa. Alison comes from a strong financial background, with a BSc in Economics and an ACA Chartered Accountancy Qualification. She started her career with Andersen in the UK and US, moving to PwC in 2001.

Alison moved to the Middle East in 2012 from PwC London to help establish and develop PwC’s Middle East Hospitality and Leisure practice into a leader in its field.

Alison joined RAK Hospitality Holding in 2016 as CFO overseeing the Group’s Finance and Treasury functions.

In 2019 Alison was promoted to CEO responsible for the Group’s established businesses covering Hotel ownership, Hospitality Logistics, and Asset Management and Advisory Services, as well as the newly formed RAK Leisure subsidiary with a focus on developing F&B and Leisure activities across Ras Al Khaimah, and in particular on Jebel Jais Mountain.