Sandeep has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry with rich experience in strategic business consulting, hospital projects, operations & management, and HCIT solutions.
He has managed over 750+ research and consulting projects across MEA and South Asia region in the areas of ; healthcare delivery, medical technology, healthcare IT, biotech & pharma, diagnostics, wellness, extended care, business & financial Sector (Private Equity & IBs) and healthcare development advisory
Sandeep ‘s core strength lies in growth strategies, market entry strategies, geographical expansion, new product launch, detailed business plan & feasibility studies, business facilitation and partner search, competitive benchmarking, technical , commercial & operational due diligence & M&A support, healthcare IPOs. Sandeep has worked with most of the leading healthcare clients in the region:
Sandeep is responsible for growing the JLL’s healthcare and life science practice , clients relationship management, business development and overseeing the delivery of client assignments across healthcare and life science space.
In his previous assignments Sandeep has worked with Frost & Sullivan, Dubai as Head and Associate Partner of Healthcare practice for MEA and SA region, Televital India, Narayanan Health Bangalore, NU Hospitals Bangalore
Dr. Fadi Aloul is the Dean of the College of Engineering and a Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), UAE. He leads a college consisting of an outstanding 85 faculty, 25 lab instructors, 15 administrators, and 2400+ students. The college has seven undergraduate programs, nine master’s programs, and one doctoral program. He previously served as the Computer Science & Engineering Department Head from 2016-2021.
Dr. Aloul holds a PhD and MS degrees in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, respectively, and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering summa cum laude from Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, USA. His research and industrial interests are in Cyber Security, Mobile Applications, Teaching Innovation, and Design Optimization. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and a Certified Reviewer for the UAE Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA).
Dr. Aloul received a number of prestigious awards including the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) Airbus Engineering Diversity Award, the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa, UAE’s President, Award for Higher Education, the Sheikh Rashid’s Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement, the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Young Arab Researchers, and the AUS Excellence in Teaching Award. He has 145+ publications and 1 US patent. He is a regular invited speaker and panelist across a number of international conferences related to Cyber Security, AI, Technology, Innovation and Education.
Infrastructure and Project Finance. Leading development on infrastructure projects, Developing Public Private Partnership Strategy. Leading multicultural and multi-disciplinary teams.
PPP, PSP Transaction Advisory. Structuring complex infrastructure and PPP Deals.
Working with Itochu Corporation, leading Infrastructure finance. Previously with PwC in the Middle East, JPMorgan and HSBC in India and KPMG in Ireland.
Advised on project finance deals and projects worth more than USD 10bn across power, transport, industrials and advised clients on Project Finance, PPPs, Mergers and Acquisitions, Acquisition financing.
Simon is an International Partner and leads our focus in Asia from our Hong Kong office. Simon is also the Head of Real Estate and Hotels & Hospitality across Asia and the Middle East.
Simon’s main areas of expertise are large scale mixed-use development and redevelopment projects, real estate investment (both commercial and residential property) as well as real estate management and finance (conventional and Islamic). Simon also has a significant hotels & hospitality practice.
Having spent nearly 15 years in the Middle East, Simon has lived and worked in all three jurisdictions where we have offices; Bahrain, Qatar and Dubai. Simon is now based in Hong Kong but continues to be involved in our Middle East practice.
Simon specialises in real estate. His main areas of expertise are master planned development projects as well as city centre redevelopment, real estate investment, management and finance. Simon is also recognised as an expert in relation to Hotel & Hospitality work – particularly in relation to development, investment and management of hotels – having advised on nearly 50 transactions in the last decade.
In addition, Simon regularly advises our Asia and Middle East clients with their outbound investments into the UK in relation to both commercial as well as residential property.
Simon acts for a variety of developers, financial institutions, government and quasi-government entities, sovereign wealth funds and private clients (including Royal Family members) across Asia and the Middle East.
Simon is admitted to practise in England and Wales. Simon is also a Registered Foreign Lawyer with the Hong Kong Law Society and is licensed to practice in Dubai with the Legal Affairs Directorate.
Experience
- Advising Bahrain Marina Development Company, the master developer of a 300,000 sqm mixed-use master planned development known as the Bahrain Marina Development (Project) with a GDV of circa USD 1 billion and comprising retail, residential and hospitality components. We have advised on all real estate and construction related aspects in relation to the Project including the appointment of the Shangri-La as the hotel operator for the iconic anchor hotel component. Our work on the Project was recognized by the Middle East Legal Awards where we were awarded Real Estate Team Of The Year 2019.
- Advising Gulf Hotels Group (a hotel owner and operator listed on the Bahrain stock exchange) with all legal aspects their acquisition of a 270 key hotel in Business Bay, Dubai. This was a key acquisition for Gulf Hotels Group given the size of the property and the fact that this was their first hotel in the UAE.
- Advising a multitude of internationally based private clients in relation to UK property investment. Work has included acting on the sale of two commercial properties in London (2 Lucan Place and 154 Bayswater) as well as UK residential transactions with an estimated cumulative value of over GBP 75m.
Background & education
University of Keele degree in Economics and Politics 1997, College of Law Guildford, England 1998.
Mr. Simon Townsend is a Chartered Surveyor with over 30 years of experience of which 22 years within the GCC and is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (“RICS”). Mr. Townsend brings experience in the implementation of regulation and transparency in real estate activities across the region and has been active in leading and advising multi-sector real estate acquisition and disposals Internationally with transactions of more than US$2bn and advisory assignments across the region on many of the most prominent developments and masterplans.
Through his experience in both advisory and client side, Mr. Townsend has been involved in establishing businesses in new geographies, growing and diversifying existing businesses while managing and leading cross border multi-sector and multi-region teams.
Mr. Townsend notably held directorship and senior leadership positions including as Chief Executive Officer of Ellington Capital (DIFC) Ltd and as a Senior Director at CBRE Middle East within the region. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Avison Young MENA, part of the global Avison Young business.
Mr. Townsend holds a bachelors degree in Urban Land Economics from Sheffied Hallam University, UK.
Professor Ammar Kaka graduated with an Honours degree in Civil Engineering and a PhD in Construction Management. On completion of his PhD, he joined the University of Liverpool as a faculty member and in 2000, joined Heriot-Watt University as a Professor of Construction Economics and Management. During the years he spent at the Edinburgh campus, he assumed a number of roles including leader of the Construction Management research group and Director of Learning & Teaching.
In 2010 he joined the Heriot-Watt University Dubai campus as the Provost and Vice Principal. Professor Kaka’s contribution to transnational education in general and to Dubai’s education landscape in particular has been immense. With a student population of 4000 and a growing research culture, the Dubai campus is recognised as one of the UK’s leading providers of transnational education.
Professor Kaka has an international reputation for research on the assessment, planning and control of construction projects. Author of more than a hundred research papers, he has held numerous funded research grants with impact demonstrated by the extent of citation and direct industrial application. He is a fellow of RICS, the Conseil International du Bâtimen Lead for the Middle East and North Africa and a member of the editorial boards of a number of international academic journals. He has supervised more than 30 PhD students to completion, many of whom have developed into senior roles in governments, industry, and academia.
MENA Energy Partners – that she founded in 2011 – specialises in strategic advisory and M&A focused on the energy sector. She is based in the Middle East since 17 years.
Prior to establishing MENA Energy Partners, Ms. Tajer worked in Europe and in the GCC for selected international financial institutions (including Société Générale, ABN AMRO Bank and HSBC), advising and supporting leading companies – notably National Oil Companies (NOCs) and Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) – in their acquisitions, equity and financing transactions in the energy sector.
As Head of Energy and Resources at ABN AMRO Dubai, she was part of the ABN team involved in the innovative US$2bn asset securitization for DEWA (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority), which received the Emerging Market Deal of the Year 2007 Award from International Securitization Review (ISR).
Previously, as Vice President covering the GCC Energy Sector at Société Générale, she worked on various landmark corporate and project financing transactions including the Qatari petrochemicals projects Qatofin and Q-Chem II; Qatari LNG Trains RasGas II/III; the Dolphin project in Abu Dhabi, UAE and the Ijarah facility for the ENOC refinery upgrade in the UAE.
Ms. Tajer holds a double Masters of Science (MS) in Petroleum Economics and Management from the Colorado School of Mines and the French Institute of Petroleum. She also has MS degrees in both International Projects Management from the leading Paris business school ESCP and in Economics and Finance from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Paris. Ms Tajer also benefited from Harvard Business School Leadership Program as part of ABN AMRO Middle East senior management.
MENA Energy Partners was awarded the “Best Energy Sector Consultancy Firm” by MEA Markets UAE Business Awards 2021 and “Best Sustainable Energy Advisory 2020 – MENA” by Acquisition International. Ms. Tajer was recognised as the “Most Inspiring Female Leader in Oil & Gas – MENA” in 2017 and the “Most Influential Businesswoman: Oil & Gas – Middle East” in 2016 by Acquisition International.
She is a member of selected organisations such as the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN), the Dubai Energies Club and the Dubai Business Women Group (DBWG) of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce. She was a Board Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) for UAE, Northern Emirates, from 2015 to 2017. Ms. Tajer participates as a Speaker or Chairperson in several international conferences such as the Gulf Intelligence 2019 ADIPEC, 2016 UAE Energy Forum, the Tunisian Oil & Gas Summits (2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016) and the LNG Global Congress Asia Pacific in Singapore (2013). She also contributes to publications such as the Arabian Oil & Gas Magazine and MEED (Middle East Economic Digest). Ms. Tajer has been acting as Judge for the MEED Project Awards since 2020.
Responsible for the EMENA-wide Project business of Grohe/Lixil product solutions to all large-scale construction projects Stefan drives with his team the specification and execution of new-build and renovation projects. The Business Unit Projects is organized in 5 segments – Hospitality, Residential, Healthcare, Commercial and Marine – to deliver a customer focused support and service to the segment specific decision makers and influencers. With Grohe as the leading global brand in the sanitary industry he and his team support hospitality groups like Accor, Hilton or Marriott, Residential developers such as Bonovia, Heimstaden or EMAAR, Marine clients such as MSC and Disney Cruises as well as governmental and educational institutions and healthcare establishment.
Designers and architects are a core clientele that are supported by his team providing across EMENA and globally a support network for the A&D community in design hubs in London, Dubai, Moscow, Milan, NYC, Shanghai and Singapore just to name a view. When designing the bathroom his team, consisting of experienced professionals, help A&D`s to create the desired shower and bathroom experience for each project and every budget, be it for governmental housing or the luxury boutique hotel.
Prior joining Grohe, Stefan was CEO of the KWC Group a faucet manufacturer based in Switzerland with plants in Europe and Asia and previously he was President of the Tiles and Sanitary Ware Division at RAK Ceramics, a global manufacturer of premium ceramic products based in the United Arab Emirates, with $1 billion in annual revenue. Stefan spent nine years at Geberit an international manufacturer of sanitary technology with more than $3 billion in annual revenue. For Geberit he was the Managing Director for South and North East Asia in Singapore, where he led the firm’s expansion in the region. Prior to that he was Managing Director of the Gulf Region based on Dubai, before that spent a year as the Head of Geberit OEM Business, and two years as the Head of Strategic Planning. Before joining Geberit in 2006, Stefan was a Senior Manager at Helbing Management Consulting, and previously held a similar role at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.
Stefan is a Swiss national with a degree in Business Administration from the University of Bern, Switzerland.
Prof. Carlos Montaña PhD is the first foundation faculty in the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation DIDI (in collaboration with MIT and Parsons), and a full professor (adjunct) at Queensland University of Technology QUT. He is an academic, design and innovation strategist, advisor for government and industry, jury of international design awards, speaker, and an entrepreneur currently based in the Middle East. An award-winning design and academic leader, he has 30+ years’ experience in Colombia, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. His transdisciplinary research in design, innovation and entrepreneurship focuses on sustainable development, with expertise in biomimicry and design for health. He was program director of Industrial Design in the University of Canberra, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design in the National University of Singapore, and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Product Design Engineering in EAFIT University in Colombia. Many of his projects, as well as projects by his students, received international design awards, including Braun Prize, Dupont Imagineering and Red Dot, among others.
Stephan Degenhart is an experienced Managing Director at Drees & Sommer, an international real estate consulting firm that specializes in sustainability and digitalization within the built environment globally, Stephan leads the initiatives in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions.
He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field and has been involved in some of the most innovative projects in the industry, such as the first-ever smart building in Berlin, Germany, and the sustainable Cradle project. Stephan is a highly sought-after professional speaker who has delivered captivating and impactful talks at prestigious events, educating and inspiring industry professionals and the general public alike. He applies the principles of sustainability, innovation, and digitalization with unwavering enthusiasm and expert skill in his practice.