Contributors

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  Ayman Abouseif

   is responsible for implementing the global marketing policy and the regional strategies of Oracle Corporation in the region. During the last 5 years with Oracle Ayman led the Marketing growth of Oracle ECEMEA to a team of more than 28 people from more than 72 different countries around the world. Prior to Oracle, Ayman worked for NCR where he was responsible for sales in the region. Abouseif holds a Master of Business Administration from University of Edinburgh in UK and BSc. in Electrical Engineering from Ein Shams University in Egypt. He also attended several advanced executive courses in project management. Ayman is bilingual as he speaks English in addition to his native Arabic. He was born on the 2nd of March 1960; married to Magda and has two daughters Karina and Nadin.
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  Boris Schlossberg

   serves as Senior Currency Strategist with Daily FX in New York, the largest retail forex market maker in the world. He is a monthly contributor to SFO Magazine with articles focused on understanding proper risk management, trader psychology and true market structure. He is also a featured expert at www.fxstreet.com and a frequent commentator for the CBS Marketwatch Currency and Bond Report sections. Mr. Schlossberg has been an independent trader since 1999 trading a variety of instruments including, stocks, options, futures and currencies.
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  Daniel Hanna

   is the international economist for Standard Chartered in the Middle East, based in Dubai. Previously he worked in London looking at the US and European markets. He is part of the award winning Standard Chartered Research team, whose latest citation was being rated best bank for FX forecasting over the last two years by Bloomberg. He has frequently appeared on CNBC and the BBC World Business Report.
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  Dimitri Metaxas

   is iMedia Director for Impact Proximity a member of the BBDO Worldwide Advertising Network. With a track record of 150 regional digital campaigns across 30 of the world's leading brands, He has been at the forefront of the online marketing industry in the Middle East. Previous to his experience in this region, Dimitri worked as Marketing Consultant for the Management Link in the UK helping companies undergo change management and improve communications strategies. Dimitri has worked as an eMarketer for 6 years and holds Bachelor degrees in Business and Marketing.
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  Dr Marc Faber

   whose life and predictions were the subject of a book Riding the Millennial Storm published last year. Asia's most celebrated investment commentator Dr Faber has made his reputation by making accurate forecasts about the most unfortunate events. He correctly predicted the NASDAQ crash in March 2000, and is very pessimistic about the outlook for Western stock markets in the next decade. Dr Faber recently moved from Hong Kong to Chang Mai in Northern Thailand, and his monthly Doom, Boom and Gloom report continues to attract widespread attention.
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  Dr. Abdullah Abonamah

   has a US patent in the area of 'fault tolerant computing systems' and has been the recipient of several research grants. He has also published many scientific articles in the areas of information technology, computer science and computer engineering. Dr. Abonamah was appointed to the position of Director of the ITI at Zayed University in January 2003. He came to this post from the position of Assistant Dean in the College of Information Systems.
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  Hajjaj Bukhadhour

   is an expert in oil trade, procurement & transport & logistics. Having long Working experience in investment, Oil and Shipping Industries. Currently serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kuwait Shipping Agencies and Vice President and Heading Technical and Operational functions of Shipping Industry and responsible for the Marine Operations, Repair & Maintenance, Technical Management, Manning Management etc. Also currently involved in the New Building Project and responsible for the New Purchases of high value assets.
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  Jerry de Leeuw

   is Managing Director of Mercurious, a derivative training and consulting company based in the Netherlands. In 1995 Jerry became a market-maker on the trading-floor of the European Option Exchange in Amsterdam, and established his own market-making company in 1999. He became a member of Euronext.Liffe, and had clearing-contracts with Fortis and Goldman Sachs. He has extensive experience in all kinds of asset classes and is specialized in derivatives, and is registered with the Dutch Security Institute.
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  Jihad Yazigi

   Editor of The Syria Report and graduated in International Business Administration from the American University of Paris. Jihad worked for several years as export manager and then export consultant. The Syria Report that went online on October 15th 2001, aims to fill the huge gap in Economic and Business Information from Syria. The country is currently opening up, although at a too slow pace, but it certainly is a potential important recipient of FDI.
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  Kathy Lien

   is the Chief Currency Strategist at Daily FX. She is responsible for providing research and analysis for DailyFX, including technical and fundamental research reports, market commentaries, and trading strategies. Prior to joining Daily FX, Kathy was an associate at JPMorgan Chase where she worked in cross-markets and foreign exchange trading. She has vast experience within the interbank market using both technical and fundamental analysis to trade FX spot and options. Kathy has written for CBS MarketWatch, Active Trader, Futures, and SFO magazines. She is the author of Day Trading the Currency Market (Wiley - 2005) and has taught currency trading seminars across the country, has appeared on CNBC, and is frequently quoted on Bloomberg and Reuters.
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  Kevin Coan

   provides your audio version of the top business stories featured on AME Info. The program is “BusinessCast” and can be heard at 18:00 UAE local time and on the streaming service throughout the evening. Based in the US, Kevin has been a radio news anchor in his home market of Cleveland, Ohio as well as Austin, Texas, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. He began his career as a DJ/presenter in high school, and now, a few years later he is up every morning at 5:30 scanning AME Info for the day’s top business news stories. BusinessCast is also available as ‘on demand’ audio. Kevin records audio, for broadcast and business, via his website at www.kevincoanmedia.com
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  Martin Diessner

   has worked in the marketing sector for more than 10 years and records an international employment history with global players like car manufacturer DaimlerChrysler, sports giant adidas-Salomon AG and one of the worlds' largest advertising networks, BBDO. Now working with Flip Media, Martin explores new worlds and challenges of entrepeneurship, focusing on innovative advertising products and media platforms rather than servicing clients in traditional project and account management. He is also the co-founder of Motion Group International which is one of the leading lifestyle and entertainment brands in Dubai.
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  Martin Lindstrom

   born 1970, founded his own advertising agency at the age of 12. Needless to say, Lindstrom has a highly unusual background. The rapid rise of his career has made him one of today's most respected branding gurus in the world according to the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He sits on several boards globally, and his clients include Disney, Mars, Pepsi, American Express, Mercedes-Benz, Reuters, McDonald's, Kellogg's, Yellow Pages and Microsoft.
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  Medhat Shaheedi

   is a veteran in Saudi economic issues for more than 15 years. Based in Riyadh, Shaheedi worked for the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat for more than a decade reporting and analyzing Saudi business trends. He now works for daily Al Hayat Saudi edition and writes for a half dozen of other Arabic publications commenting mainly on macro and micro issues that affect the Saudi economy and investments.
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  Pankaj Dev

   is the CEO and Managing Editor of Autoemirates.com, the region's leading car website which he started in 2002. He has more than 15 years' experience in the car trade, and since 2000 has also published 'The Auto Emirates Annual Buyer's Guide' which is regarded as an indispensable source of comprehensive and credible information on all new cars and 4x4s available in the Middle East.
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  Peter J. Cooper

   was the launch editor of Gulf Business magazine in 1996, and is an award-winning British financial journalist with 20 years' experience. He returned briefly to the UK in 1999 to complete his first book, Building Relationships, The History of Bovis 1885-2000, and started the AME Info FN news service in October 2000. An Oxford graduate, Cooper studied politics and economics. He was also a trainee in the European Commission in Brussels as a specialist in the economics of developing countries, and speaks French and some German.
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  Richard Lee

   is a Currency Analyst at Daily FX. Employing both fundamental models and technical analysis applications, Richard contributes regularly to DailyFX, Yahoo Finance and Comtex. Prior to joining the research team, Richard was one of the senior instructors for the FX Power Course, teaching thousands of traders the basics of currency trading, technical analysis and how to implement trading strategies. He has extensive experience in trading the spot currency markets, options and futures. Richard previously traded FX, equity and equity derivatives for four years as well as work for a private equity consortium before joining FXCM. He holds a BA in Economics as well as a BS in French with an emphasis in International Business from the Pennsylvania State University.
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  Sam Shenker

   is a Technical Currency Analyst for Forex Capital Markets (FXCM). Sam is the author of the Daily and Weekly Technical Research reports at FXCM. His reports include: Daily Technicals, Weekly Crosses and the Weekly Futures Commitment of Traders Report. Prior to joining FXCM, Sam spent a number of years on Wall St and has traded many different products, including: equities, equity derivatives and futures. He also specialized in research and analysis of high yield bonds, corporate bankruptcies, restructurings, reorganizations and venture capital. He holds a Bachelors degree in Finance and Business Management from Pace University and is an active currency trader. Sam is frequently quoted on FXStreet.
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  Steve Brice

   is Standard Chartered Bank’s Regional Head of Research Middle East and South Asia. Having worked in Singapore for 8 years, Steve was responsible for the research generated for the Consumer Bank globally, including responsibility for the Bank’s Tactical Asset Allocation model, and was also the Bank’s acting Chief Economist for East Asia. Previously, he held the role of Chief Economist for SE Asia for three years. Prior to joining Standard Chartered Bank, Steve was the Regional Head of Foreign Exchange for I.D.E.A. Ltd (now IDEAglobal.com) based in London. Steve has a Masters degree in Macroeconomics with Finance from the University of Liverpool, England.
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  Waleed Al-Asfar

   has become a well known Arabic commentator on technology thanks to his 10 years experience as an Information Technology writer, journalist, translator and consultant. He was the Managing Editor and Technical support manager of BYTE Middle East Magazine. After that he moved to London to be the IT Editor of Asharq Al-Awsat leading Arabic newspaper. During his career Waleed has written many exclusive articles and was one of few Arab journalists who interviewed Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, and was the first who interviewed John Chambers CEO and Chairman of Cisco Systems during his first visit to the Middle East.
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  Wolfram Bielenstein

   holds the prestigious German Diplom Journalist graduate qualification, and was deputy head of the foreign news service of the German state radio station until 1990, with a staff of 70. Since then he has been working for the US construction company Heery International in Berlin, and as a freelance contributor to many journals. Bielenstein is a famous name in linguistic circles, and Wolfram's grandfather was Augustus Bielenstein, the compiler of the Lithuanian dictionary.