Patrick Jephson

Former Chief Of Staff To Princess Diana

International Reputation Expert, New York Times Bestselling Author & Consultant, Netflix's "The Crown"

Patrick is a consultant, journalist, broadcaster and New York Times and London Sunday Times bestselling author, based in Washington DC.  His byline has appeared in every major UK newspaper and international titles as varied as TIME magazine, People, The Spectator, Paris Match, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the National Catholic Reporter.  He is a published authority on corporate and personal branding, addressing conferences worldwide as well as events at the US State Department, the American University and the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. 

He also writes, presents and advises on factual and drama programs, appearing on every major US network as well as British and international platforms.  His two decades of news and current affairs assignments have included on-screen conversations with figures such as David Frost, David Dimbleby, Barbara Walters and Larry King. 

He is founding partner in JephsonBeaman, a boutique communications consultancy specializing in international high-profile, sensitive and UHNW services.  With more than twenty-five years’ experience in the government, luxury and family office sectors, Patrick’s portfolio has included Ferrari, Harrods, Beretta and Hawker Beechcraft as well as national agencies and NGOs.  He has also worked on reputation and legacy briefs with European, Middle Eastern and Asian families, including royalty. 

Patrick owes much of his practical communications experience to Princess Diana, who chose him to be her equerry and only private secretary/chief of staff.  He served the Princess for eight years (1988-96), responsible for every aspect of her public life, worldwide humanitarian initiatives, and private organization.  Under relentless media scrutiny, his tenure covered the period of Princess Diana’s greatest popularity as well as the constitutional controversy of her separation from Prince Charles.  In recognition of his service, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II appointed him a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order.

Patrick was born and raised in Ireland and holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Cambridge University.  As an officer in the British Royal Navy he served all over the world before being selected for royal duty.  In March 2015 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Mary Jo Jacobi

Former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, Former Assistant US Commerce Secretary for President George H.W. Bush, British Civil Service Commissioner

Former Senior Executive, HSBC, Lehman Brothers, Royal Dutch Shell And BP America

Mary Jo Jacobi Jephson is a renowned expert in reputation, brand and crisis management drawn from her extensive experience at senior levels of the corporate, public and voluntary sectors on both sides of the Atlantic. Most recently, Mary Jo was Executive Vice President of BP America during its response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Previously she led reputation management for Royal Dutch Shell, Lehman Brothers, HSBC Holdings and Drexel Burnham Lambert. She also devised and executed the award-winning global brand strategies for Lehman and HSBC, including the first-ever use of airport jetties for brand projection and thought leadership. She is a non-executive director of the Weir Group PLC, Mulvaney Capital Management and Panafsat and a member of the advisory board of Fink Africa. She is also a Visiting Fellow of Oxford University'ss Centre for Corporate Reputation. Mary Jo was the first woman to chair the board of the Ladies Professional Golf Association and subsequently served on the board of the Ladies European (Golf) Tour. She is a frequent broadcast commentator, lecturer and public speaker around the world.

Sheikha Dana Al Khalifa

Social Media Influencer

Kirsten Colombier

GE

Innovation Communications Manager, Middle East, North Africa & Turkey

Joyce Baz

Google

Head of Communications - MENA

Ali Sabkar

Social Media Club, Inc. USA

Global Co-Chair

Ali SABKAR is the Founder & President of Social Media Club Bahrain who was the first to lead the social media activities & events in Bahrain. SABKAR has over 20 years of experience in Marketing, Media, PR, Branding, Production, eCommerce, eMarketing, Social Media & Digital Marketing. He was appointed as the eMarketing Project Manager of Zain Bahrain in 2007 to lead the e-initiatives and to establish the eMarketing functions. Ali SABKAR is an eMarketing Expert & Speaker of Making The Most Out of eMarketing for Organizations. He spoken at many conferences in the Middle East and more than 15,000s participants attended his training workshops in the Middle East. Sabkar is a co-author of a published book “ WHY MARKETING Middle East” with 2 well known international internet marketing experts; it is The Revolutionary Strategy to Attract Ideal Customers. Sabkar was appointed as Board of Director at Social Media Club USA in the capacity of Global New Chapter Management Director as first non USA citizen at the Global Board. Ali Sabkar won outstanding two awards in 2015, locally been awarded as the 2015 Best Social Media Professional by Alkhaldiya Youth Society in Bahrain & internationally awarded as Best 50 Asia most influential digital media professional at the mobile & digital marketing summit in India.

Alex Malouf

Schneider Electric

Corporate Communications Director MEA

Donald Steel

Former Chief Communications Advisor, BBC

Vice President, Crisis Communications, Kenyon International Emergency Services

Donald Steel has built a global reputation as a crisis communicator.  For more than 25 years he has given strategic counsel to organisations and high profile individuals in a range of serious situations, including aircraft incidents, terrorism, kidnapping, serious accidents, executive and personal misconduct, fraud, litigation and inquests and serious regulatory and diplomatic issues.

He was for 11 years, the chief media spokesman of the BBC.

In his own practice, based in London, he worlds with a range of corporate, government, NGO and individual clients across the UK, Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, North America and Asia Pacific and Australasia.   His clients includes airlines, hospitals, universities, hotel groups, UN agencies, orchestras, the Eurovision Song Contest, arts venues and high profile artistes.

He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in London and of the Royal Society of Arts.  He is a regular guest lecturer at the London School of Economics and the China Media Centre of the University of Westminster.

Alongside his own practice, last year he was appointed Vice President, Crisis Communications at Kenyon International Emergency Services, the worlds longest serving and most admired responder to incidents involving fatality and injury.  Based in Houston, Berkshire (UK), Beirut and Santo Domingo, Kenyon’s clients range from leading airlines, cruise companies, hotel groups, governments, police forces, local authorise and companies across the world who work in high risk situations.  In this role, Donald leads a team of senior crisis communicators based around the world, ready to respond to clients.

He was a member of Aviation Futures, a recent think tank of the UK Civil Aviation Authority supporting the CAA on planning the regulation of future developments in aviation.

Sarah Walker Kerr

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company LLC

Regional Director of Public Relations MEA

Sarah currently oversees the PR & Social Media for The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company at a brand and regional level across Middle East, India & Africa. Sarah landed on the shores of Dubai in the mid 90’s to open one of the first luxury resorts in Dubai. A regional expert with a global lens and pioneer of the luxury PR industry, having worked across a number of international and home grown brands engaging the affluent traveler from across the MENA region. Hailing originally from Scotland and is a member of the CIPR UK.

Jumanah Anter

MasterCard

Senior Vice President, Global Communications, MEA

Scott Hicks

Facebook

Former Client Partner

Scott is trilingual (English / Arabic / French) General Management, Marketing and business development executive who builds long term brand value and identifies key business drivers for growth. He executes with a focus on brand strategy, financial objectives and organizational culture. International experience in both mature and developing markets, with an emphasis on blue chip and entrepreneurial startup brands. His pecialties include: Brand and Marketing strategy, Strategic Business Unit General management, P&L,Start-up operations, online Branded Entertainment, Social Media, Broadcast Media Management, and Business Development.

Talal Alrashed

Social Media Influencer

Simon Jenkins

Socialyse (HAVAS Group)

Global Head Of Social Media

Simon Jenkins is the Global Social Media Director for Socialyse - the Social Media pure-play agency, part of HAVAS Group. Simon heads up the global Social Media activity for Emirates Airlines and is based in Dubai. He has written and presented for The Guardian, eConsultancy, Yahoo!, Social Media World Forum and Marketing Week Live. Having headed up Social Media departments for agencies in the UK & Middle East for past 6 years, Simon will be discussing the need to tailor content specific to Social platforms providing case studies from his time working across global household brands. "I am honoured and thrilled to be part of such an exciting event. The line-up of speakers is very strong and Im very much looking forward to exploring Bahrain during my first visit to the country".

Hussein Dajani

Nissan

General Manager - Digital and Customer Experience (CX) Transformation - Africa, ME, Turkey, & India

Hussein has over 18 years of solid holistic Omnichannel Marketing Communication experience in the space leading and building seamless Phygital Customer Experience Journeys within multinational agencies (JWT, Leo Burnett, and TBWA) and Fortune 500 companies (Virgin Mobile, Red Bull, Nissan Motor Co.), across the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and India region.
After a 2 years stint with hug digital, as its Chief Digital and Operating Officer, which he grew exponentially till he lead to its sale to WPP, Hussein joins Nissan Motor Co. as General Manager Digital and Customer Experience for Africa, Middle East, India, and Turkey, for Nissan and Datsun brands, to be responsible for its Digital Transformation. Furthermore, Hussein plays an active role in the advisory council of the World Marketing Congress, as a Director with the Customer Institute, and as an expert advisor in ISMA (International Social Media Association).