From the Advisory Board: Marketing Priorities Shaping 2026

Parul Khanna
Marketing Director
Grandiose

Parul Khanna is Marketing Director at Grandiose Retail and Foods, a proud Home grown UAE brand.

She is a customer centric marketing professional with diverse experience in P&L management, Brand strategy, Marketing & Customer strategy across FMCG and Retail.

Her experience in B2B, B2C and e-commerce makes her well-rounded Onmichannel professional with diverse assignments in Global organizations across UAE and India.

She has successfully launched and scaled up multiple retail businesses and led transformation projects with end to end strategic leadership and project execution.

Keen observer of shopper behavior, she continues to shape business strategies in sync with evolving consumer needs.

Gaurav Sinha
International Marketing Director
Domino’s

Gaurav is a marketing strategy and brand communications leader with 19 years of experience across digital and traditional marketing. He has worked with some of the world’s most recognised consumer brands, including Domino’s, Pizza Hut, Dulux Paints, Marico, and Whirlpool, leading marketing, brand building, new product development, and media strategy across the Middle East, North Africa, and India.

With global experience spanning Food, QSR, Retail, Durables, and FMCG, Gaurav has built differentiated, high-impact brands that have driven strong top-line and bottom-line growth. He is known for championing digital- and social-led marketing while balancing modern performance strategies with traditional brand-building principles.

Gaurav currently serves as the International Marketing Director for Domino’s Pizza in the AMEA region.

Mohamed Al Awadhi
VP, Personal Banking Marketing
First Abu Dhabi Bank

Mohamed Al Awadhi is a marketing leader with over 16 years of experience aiming to deliver culturally resonant campaigns. His work includes the relaunch of Modesh, the development of the Dubai Home Festival branding, du’s first Emirati-focused Family Plan campaign and FAB’s first Elite segment campaign. As VP of Personal Banking Marketing at First Abu Dhabi Bank, he drives customer-centric strategies that blend data-driven insights with compelling storytelling. As a previous mentor at Sheraa and DIFC Innovation Hub, Mohamed brings deep expertise in brand strategy-combining rigorous research with imaginative thinking to build brands that shape culture and connect meaningfully with audiences.

Jean-Paul Smalls
Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer
Emirates Hospitals Group

Jean-Paul Smalls is a senior marketing and commercial leader with over two decades of experience driving growth, digital transformation, and brand strategy across healthcare, technology, and consumer sectors. He currently serves as the Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer at Emirates Hospitals Group, where he oversees group marketing, business development and call center operations.

Previously within the healthcare industry Jean-Paul has served as the Chief Communications & Digital Officer at Clemenceau Medical Center Hospital – Dubai, and Head of Marketing & Call Center Operations ar King’s College Hospital London UAE.

Prior to his healthcare career Jean-Paul spent over a decade working in startups both in the UAE and his native England spanning both agency and client side in media buying, recruitment tech, social ecommerce and consultancy. His expertise covers full-funnel marketing, growth strategy, talent acquisition, AI for marketing, advanced digital marketing, SEO/SEM, and brand building.

Hira Omar Aamer
Brand Strategy Director
The Coca-Cola Company

Hira Aamer serves as regional Brand Strategy Director for Sprite at The Coca‑Cola Company. With over 12 years in marketing & leadership roles at Unilever, and consulting, she has built expertise in brand strategy, innovation, and culturally resonant communication. An Oxford graduate in Economics and Management, her superpower is integrating strategic vision with precise execution. Hira champions consumer‑centric marketing that seamlessly blends creativity and analytical rigor, delivering impactful brand and business growth in complex, fast‑changing markets.

Nina Mohamed
Director of Marketing & Communications
Accor

Nina Mohamed is an award-winning hospitality marketing and communications leader with over 15 years of experience across the Middle East and Asia. Renowned for her creative storytelling, data-driven strategy, and guest-centric approach, she has shaped the brand identity of some of the region’s most recognisable island-resort destinations.

As Cluster Director of Marketing & Communications at Mövenpick Resort Al Marjan Island and Pullman Resort Al Marjan Island, Nina has elevated both properties into top-performing family-island destinations. Under her leadership, the resorts have won more than 40 international, regional, and local awards since 2023, including multiple World Luxury Awards, FACT and What’s On accolades, and sustainability recognitions. Several of her brand campaigns and toolkits have been adopted as best practice across the Accor MEA APAC portfolio.

Roxana Nicolescu
VP Brand Marketing & Social Media
Wego.com

Roxana currently serves as VP Brand Marketing & Social Media for Wego. With more than a decade of marketing experience in the region, most of it in the aviation and travel industries, she passionately drives the brand marketing activities and brand awareness growth in the Middle East Roxana began in this role in October 2017 in Wego’s Dubai office where she focused on developing Wego’s Brand Marketing department as well as played a significant role in expanding the brand footprint across the region. Over the years, Roxana has worked for several well-known brands in various industries, including aviation, media, and travel tech. Her expertise includes brand strategy development, product positioning, market research, and marketing communications. Roxana has also developed an impressive track record in building brand equity through effective brand management.

Zia Rahamat
Director of Growth and Analytics
Anghami

Growth and Analytics Leader who has scaled unicorns, driven IPOs, and ran cross-country P&Ls across MENA, SEA, EU, and India. In the past, he has built, led and shaped Growth teams at GoJek, Airtel and P&G. Known for building high-performance org. cultures grounded in data discipline, experimentation, strategic clarity, and bold but measured risk-taking.

Arjun Sarkar
Vice President, Digital Ecosystem and Partnerships
Dubai CommerCity – Member of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority

With 18 years of experience in digital transformation, eCommerce, and supply chain innovation, Arjun Sarkar is a key driver of technological advancements in the digital commerce sector. As Vice President of Digital Ecosystem and Partnerships at Dubai CommerCity, he leads the development of a robust digital ecosystem that empowers businesses to scale and succeed in the Middle East’s thriving eCommerce market.

Arjun has a strong background in software engineering and business strategy, having spearheaded the digital transformation of global brands such as Marks & Spencer, Toys R Us, Ace Hardware, and Lancôme. His expertise in omnichannel retail and technology-driven solutions has enabled brands to optimize operations and enhance customer experience.

Mohamad Al Rayes
Director of Growth – yallamotor
bayt.com

Mohamad Al Rayes is a product and growth leader with deep experience across digital marketplaces, AI-driven platforms, marketing technology, and large-scale product optimisation. He specialises in transforming user journeys, scaling acquisition funnels, and building data-powered experiences that drive measurable growth.

His expertise spans product strategy, UX/UI leadership, performance marketing, growth hacking, and designing intelligent systems such as AI sales agents, smart search experiences, and dynamic customer platforms. With a strong background in AI, automation, and user-centric design, Mohamad is known for bridging strategy, technology, and experience to create high-performing digital products.

Georges Yaryura
Senior Vice President, Head of CIBG Marketing
Mashreq

George Yaryura is a global Chief Marketing Officer and Brand & Growth Strategist with over 25 years of leadership across financial services, fintech, PropTech and telecom. He transforms strategy into measurable growth—building brands that lead, marketing engines that deliver revenue, and communications that inspire confidence. George has driven transformation for global organisations, including Mashreq, Visa, Allfunds (Santander), Skype, and Orange, supporting 8–9 figure revenue goals, M&A, and IPOs. A published author and patent holder in tokenisation, he brings entrepreneurial energy, multilingual fluency, and board-level expertise to scaling high-growth businesses across MENA, Europe, the U.S., and Asia.

Álvaro Martínez
Senior Director MENA, Growth Marketing & Pricing
Talabat

Álvaro Martínez is a dynamic growth leader with a proven track record driving expansion and pricing innovation in fast-moving consumer digital businesses across LATAM, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. With a strategic mindset grounded in data-driven insights, he has led market-entry and scale-up initiatives that have redefined customer acquisition, monetisation and competitive advantage. At Talabat and InstaShop, Alvaro oversees multi-channel growth strategies, pricing models and partner ecosystems to deliver sustained profitability and regional leadership.

Joy Dabeet
Chief Marketing Officer
amana

Joy Dabeet is the Chief Marketing Officer at amana. Leveraging her 15 years of industry experience, she steers every facet of amana’s marketing strategy and implementation. A key aspect of Joy’s responsibilities is to strengthen amana’s position as the leading neobroker; scaling the brand and driving its growth across the region. As a data-driven marketer, she runs a fully in-house marketing team which includes performance marketing (acquisition, CRM, SEO, data analytics), brand communications, content creation and design. Her team’s data and performance analysis also support other departments from sales and customer service to operations and finance.

Ahmed Nour
CX & Digital Solution Consultant – KSA
SAP Emarsys

For the past years, Ahmed has been helping brands across the Middle East, Africa, and Near East truly connect with their customers. As an Emarsys Advisor, he works side-by-side with marketing and CX teams to turn data into meaningful conversations delivering the right message, on the right channel, at the right time. His passion lies in creating personalised, omnichannel experiences that don’t just drive sales, but build trust and loyalty. Ahmed believes that great customer engagement is less about technology and more about understanding people and using the tools to bring that understanding to life.

Vollin Braganza
Associate Director of Sales
MoEngage

Vollin Braganza is an experienced sales and growth leader with a strong track record across top global brands, a results-driven and growth-oriented professional with a passion for driving digital transformation through modern technology. With over 8 years of experience in the B2B SaaS space, he specializes in helping businesses scale across industries—E-commerce, Fintech, Banking, Real Estate, Edtech, and Healthtech.

At MoEngage, Vollin leads strategic growth initiatives across the MENA region, helping B2C brands unlock customer value through insights-led engagement.

Yolande DMello
Senior Editor
Martechvibe

Yolande is a journalist with over 15 years of experience reporting on technology across both enterprise and the start-up landscape. Since 2015, she has been hot on the trail of covering artificial intelligence, exploring its evolution from emerging innovation to global disruptor. Her conversations with C-suite data and tech decision-makers globally gives her insights into leading marketing strategies, trends, and policy decisions shaping the future of work, business, and life as we live it.

Haris Naeem
Account Executive, Emerging Enterprise
Braze

Haris Naeem is a Senior Account Executive at Braze. Haris has been with Braze for 3.5 years and was the first dedicated hire in the region, managing key client relationships and helping drive customer success and growth. Outside of work, Haris has a passion for history, film photography and playing padel.

Alannah Higgins
Account Executive, Emerging Enterprise
Braze

Alannah Higgins looks after the leading Brands in the GCC region who use Braze to power their omnichannel customer experience. Alannah helps MarTech & Product leaders evaluate how they can take their CX strategy to the next level, and what technologies are best placed to deliver their business objectives. She is passionate about great customer experience and is located between Dubai & Riyadh, working for Braze’s go to market team.

Victor Busnel
Associate Trading Director,
The Trade Desk

Victor Busnel is the Trading Director for MENA at the Trade Desk, responsible for helping clients take advantage of the various tools and features the Trade Desk’s platform has to offer, helping brands and agencies get the most out of their programmatic media spend. After spending 3 years at The Trade Desk in the UK, Victor started working on developing the company’s business in MENA , and is now based in Dubai with a full focus on growing programmatic for the region. Prior to Joining The Trade Desk, Victor worked in consulting at The Boston Consulting Group helping clients optimize their marketing strategies, and in marketing roles at L’Oréal and NBCUniversal.

Simon Shaw
Chief Communications & Marketing Officer
King Salman Park Foundation

Wasif Hasan
Chief Product & Technology Officer
PIF Portfolio Company

Julian Morbidelli
Director of Loyalty
Cenomi Centers

Mohamed Hegazy
Group Chief Experience Officer (CXO)
almatar

Hany Mokhtar
Global Customer & Employees Experience Expert & Advisor

John Speers
Joint Managing Director Middle East
MSQ

Ameerzeb Amjad
Strategy – Tourism Commercial Development
The Royal Commission for AlUla

May Bahjat Kanounji
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
AANI&DANI

Bady Ammar Dokhan
Product Lead

Ahad Hamza Nihal
Group Marketing and Commercial Director
Abdullah Al Othaim Investment Co.

Ibrahim Abuaqel
Product Director
Tamara

Adeel Ahmed
Senior Director Brand
Team Saudi

Bandar Adnan Abdulmajeed
Chief Brand and Marketing Officer
Amsa Hospitality

Mohammad Zain Alabidien
Director of Marketing & Communications
Al Rajhi Takaful

Dr Adham Bakr
Group Marketing Director
Al-Inma Medical Services Co

Talha Iqbal
Director of Sales & Marketing
Radisson Hotel Group

The Trade Desk is a global technology company that empowers buyers of advertising. Through its self-service, cloud-based platform, ad buyers can create, manage, and optimize digital advertising campaigns across ad formats and devices. Headquartered in Ventura, CA, The Trade Desk has offices across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. To learn more, visit thetradedesk.com

Braze is a leading customer engagement platform that helps brands build meaningful relationships with their audiences in real time. By leveraging AI-powered personalization, cross-channel messaging, and actionable insights, Braze enables businesses to create seamless and dynamic customer experiences across mobile, web, email, and more. Trusted by global brands, Braze empowers marketers to craft data-driven campaigns that drive loyalty, retention, and growth. With a focus on innovation and scalability, Braze is redefining how companies connect with customers in today’s digital-first world. Learn more at braze.com.

ObservePoint’s Web Governance platform brings insights, automation, and compliance to the complexity of your digital experience. Our solution automatically scans your websites from the highest traffic pages and user paths to the darkest corners. See what’s performing below acceptable standards, trace it back to the source, and get on a path to improvement. Audit privacy compliance efforts, validate landing pages, confirm data tracking, monitor your entire marketing tech stack, and much more. ObservePoint presents the reality of what’s happening on your website and gives you a clear map to make it even better.

Epsilon is a global technology, data and services company that the world’s leading brands use to harmonize consumer engagement across their paid, owned and earned channels. The Epsilon PeopleCloud platform includes capabilities such as data, identity resolution, customer data platforms, clean rooms, digital media, retail media, site personalization, direct mail, loyalty, email marketing and measurement. By applying artificial intelligence against privacy-centric identity resolution–embedded in data-enriched analytic, marketing and media solutions and services—Epsilon allows marketers to bridge the divide between marketing and advertising technology, engaging consumers with 1 View, 1 Vision and 1 Voice. 1 View of their universe of potential buyers. 1 Vision for engaging each individual. 1 Voice to harmonize engagement across paid, owned and earned channels. For more information, visit www.epsilon.com.

MoEngage is an insights-led platform trusted by 1,350+ global & native brands like McAfee, Domino’s, Nestle, Deutsche Telekom, Landmark, GMG, Apparel, Azadea, Entertainer and more. MoEngage’s powerful analytics, personalization, and AI capabilities give a 360-degree view of your customers and help you create journeys across digital channels.

Brandwatch is the world’s premier social suite, empowering the world’s most admired companies to understand and engage with customers at the speed of social. Combining pioneering, AI-enriched digital consumer intelligence with industry-leading social media management tools, Brandwatch offers a complementary suite of specialized, best-in-class products and services that support intelligently connected workflows. With Brandwatch, brands and agencies can adapt and thrive in today’s fast moving digital world by making smarter decisions and executing data-driven social strategies at every customer touchpoint.

Sitecore is a global leader in digital experience software, trusted by visionary brands like L’Oréal, Microsoft, and United Airlines to power their content lifecycle from content strategy to digital experience delivery. Our composable platform gives marketers and technologists the power to build together at global scale – harnessing content, data, personalization, and AI – to manage digital assets, create engaging content, understand customer intent, and deliver standout experiences across all touchpoints. Discover more at sitecore.com.