DUBAI PRECIOUS METALS CONFERENCE
21-22 NOVEMBER 2022

Ahmed Bin Sulayem

Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer | DMCC

Ahmed Bin Sulayem is the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DMCC and has driven its growth from a start-up of 28 member companies in 2003 to the world’s leading free zone in 2022 with over 21,000 member companies from 180 countries, employing over 66,000 people.

Tasked with enhancing commodity trade flows through Dubai, DMCC has introduced to the market a number of value-added products and services under Mr Bin Sulayem’s leadership. In 2021, DMCC has been named the ‘Global Free Zone of the Year’ by The Financial Times fDi Magazine, for a record seventh consecutive year.

Mr Bin Sulayem oversaw the exponential growth of the DMCC Free Zone master development in Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT), a 200-hectare business and residential community in Dubai of over 100,000 people living and working across 87 towers. Mr Bin Sulayem also oversees the development of DMCC’s latest real estate project; the much-anticipated Uptown Dubai district.

Mr Bin Sulayem currently serves as the Chairman of the Dubai Diamond Exchange (DDE) and the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX).

The Kimberley Process officially appointed the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the first and only Arab country to Chair the Kimberley Process in November 2015. Shortly after, the UAE Ministry of Economy officially appointed Mr Bin Sulayem as the UAE’s Chair of the Kimberley Process for 2016.

H E Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade

HE Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi was appointed the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, following the new UAE Government structure in July 2020, and has been assigned a file to attract the best talents and competencies to serve the strategic direction of the UAE. HE also oversees the development of non-oil foreign trade sectors and the expansion of global partnerships, in addition to enhancing the investment climate in the country, in order to cement its position as a major business destination at the regional and global levels.

He had held the position of Minister of Climate Change and Environment previously, during which he supervised the implementation of the UAE's strategies locally, advancing environment and climate actions. He also led the country’s efforts in limiting and adapting to the repercussions of climate change at the global level, while also focussing on the preservation of the UAE’s biodiversity through the development and implementation of a set of effective policies and measures.

Prior to assuming his ministerial position, HE Al Zeyoudi served as the permanent representative of the UAE to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and Director of the Department of Energy Affairs and Climate Change at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

He began his career as a petroleum engineer at the Abu Dhabi Marine Area Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) before moving to the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), where he worked on the development of renewable energy technologies and solutions. He has played a major role in the UAE’s successful diplomatic campaign in 2009 to host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in the capital, Abu Dhabi.

HE Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi holds a Bachelor's degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Tulsa; a Master's degree in Business Administration from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT); a Master's degree in Project Management from the British University in Dubai; and a PhD in Strategy, Program and Project Management from SKEMA Business School in France.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Set the Ministry’s general policy and strategic direction concerning international trade.
• Develop, approve and follow up on the completion of the Ministry’s strategic plan and executive programs.
• Supervise the general workflow in the international trade affairs sector, approving regulatory decisions in accordance with the powers delegated to the Minister, and following up on the completion of reports.
• Prepare and implement the budget according to the set provisions and allocations.
• Propose the necessary laws, decrees, bylaws and regulations related to the international trade affairs sector and presenting them to the Minister of Economy for necessary actions.
• Represent the Ministry before the relevant authorities inside and outside the state, in coordination with the concerned authorities and in accordance with the powers vested in him.
• Sign agreements between the Ministry and other bodies, in accordance with the powers vested in him.
• Develop the strategic direction and general national policy to attract high-quality talents and the best minds to the state, fast-track the country’s shift to a knowledge-based economy, enhance science and technology capabilities, and follow-up on their implementation in coordination with concerned federal and local authorities.
• Identify priority target groups of people with the right talents and competencies, proposing and following-up on the impact of relevant policies and initiatives, and exchanging knowledge with national and global talents in coordination with concerned authorities.
• Coordinate with concerned authorities to promote the UAE as a regional and global destination for the brightest talents and the best minds.
• Establish a database of talents in coordination with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and other concerned parties.
• Perform any other tasks that are assigned to the Minister by virtue of laws, regulations, and decisions issued by the Cabinet, or assigned to him by the Minister of Economy.

David Tait

CEO | World Gold Council

David Tait was appointed CEO of the World Gold Council in November 2018.

During his 35 years in the financial services industry, David has worked for a variety of highly regarded firms, most recently as Global Head of Fixed Income Macro Products at Credit Suisse. Prior to that he held senior trading roles at both Credit Suisse and UBS Investment Bank.

David began his career trading at Goldman Sachs, and then moved to Credit Suisse before building considerable asset management experience as a Partner at Bluecrest Capital.

He is currently an Independent Member of the Bank of England’s FICC Market Standards Board and Chairs the Precious Metals working group.

David is also a major supporter of the NSPCC and has raised over £1.5 million by summiting Mount Everest on five occasions. He was the first person the traverse Everest from the North to South in 2007. He is an ex-trustee, Chair of the Rebuilding Childhoods Board and was awarded an MBE by the Queen for his services to the charity.

His life story has been made into the Julian Jarrold directed motion picture, “Sulphur and White” starring Anna Friel, Dougray Scott, Mark Stanley and Emily Beecham. The Royal Premier was February 2020 and the proceeds will benefit the NSPCC.

Safeya AlSafi

Director of Anti-Money Laundering Department | Ministry of Economy

Safeya AlSafi is the Director of Anti-Money Laundering Department at Ministry of Economy (MoE) since 2020. Safeya is also UAE’s FATF Expert member on supervision and preventive measures, presenting UAE in FATF plenary sessions and other international AML/CFT engagement activities.

She has more than 10 years of experience in banking sector, and she handled several managerial positions in banking industry. During her professional career, she established many departments such as the AML department in Ministry of Economy and Private Banking Division in Emirates Islamic Bank.

During her career she was a member of The National Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism and Financing of Illegal Organizations Committee and some of its sub-committees; such as Sub-Committee of Supervisory Authorities in UAE, Sub-Committee for Money Laundering Crimes Investigative Authorities in UAE, Sub-Committee for National Risk Assessment of Money-Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Illegal Organizations Financing Risks in UAE, and The Sub-Committee for Combatting the Financing of Terrorism and the Financing of Illegal Organizations and the Financing of Proliferation in UAE. She is also an Assistant Chairman of the Sub-Committee of Companies Registrars in UAE.

Safeya is a Master degree holder in Islamic Economics and Wealth Management from Zayed University and she have a professional diploma in innovation & Government accelerators in future design industry from Hamdan bin Mohamed Smart University.

She has two professional certificates from Chartered Institute For Securities & Investment which are certified in international certificate in wealth & investment and the other one is certified in international intro. to securities &investment.

Safeya has an active voluntary life since 2006. She is a board member of Emirates Down Syndrome Associate since 2018 and selected as a Treasurer.

Navin D'Souza

Co-Founder and CEO | ComTech Gold

Navin is an industry expert with over 20+ years of experience in financial and commodity markets, especially in the Exchange and Banking arena where he has been responsible for enhancing and implementing new processes.

He began his career with Deutsche Bank in Global Cash Operations, followed by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). During his stint as Director of Operations for Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), he was instrumental in operationalizing the launch of Shariah Gold Product and the implementation of DMCC Tradeflow warrants for DGCX physical Gold Deliveries. Before joining Comtech he spent 4 years as Head of Risk Management and Senior Vice President Post Trade Strategy for Dubai Financial Markets and was the key member in setting up the independent Clearing House and Depository.

Navin is now leveraging his experience at ComTech Gold as a CEO and Co-founder to bring strategic partnerships and operational efficiencies of tokenized gold. Navin has a Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) degree from the CFA Institute, a Chartered Accountant degree from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and a Master's degree in Finance.

Sabyasachi Ray

Executive Director | The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, India

Mr. Sabyasachi Ray had joined The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) on 2nd of August 1999, as Director, Eastern Region at the Kolkata office of the Council. Being professionally qualified in Business Management with Marketing Specialisation and having prior experience in marketing in various firms, ranging from office automation, exports of tea to business services for 6 years, Mr Ray’s advent to GJEPC at the above mentioned position was quite justifiable. With the passage of time, it was an important milestone in his career, as it marked the beginning of 12 years of professional excellence that eventually led him to crown the highest executive post as the Executive Director of GJEPC. Of course, his elevation had not come in a day and certainly not easily. He earned it by way of his dedication and devotion to his work and the organization and given his supreme attitude and analytical mind, the Committee of Administration of the Council have bestowed the post of the Executive Director to a person of immense ability.

In the course of his professional journey in GJEPC, Mr Ray was not only managing and promoting the cause of the entire Eastern Region of India, but later was made the Director, Exhibitions & Trade Promotions and the Senior Director. Subsequently, he was elevated to the post of the Acting Executive Director. Mr Ray had been instrumental in the coming up of Manikanchan, the first sector specific Special Economic Zone in the country for advancing the exports of jewellery from Eastern Region. He is instrumental in the transformation of India International Jewellery Show (IIJS) as the mega show, what it is today, and working out the systems and logistics to make the show world class in-spite of facing the odds of organising the show in hostile rainy season and without proper exhibition infrastructure at Mumbai. After seeing the success of IIJS, under his supervision not only a second IIJS, the IIJS Signature was born in 2008, but he also strategically changed the focus of Council from organising major India Pavillions internationally to standalone buyer seller meets for China, Europe, CIS & USA. India International Jewellery Week, Mines to Market, India Show at Basel World etc are some of the other events which he had successfully overseen. In his tenure in the Council he actively participated for introduction of iconic events like India International Jewellery Week (IIJW), IIJS Signature etc. He has not only helped the Indian Diamond Industry to gain a strong voice in Kimberley Process Scheme, but had given leadership to the African Countries during the Zimbabwe crisis of KP to emerge as one of the finest statesman of the world diamond industry today.

Mr Ray, during his tenure, has successfully rallied and argued with the different government departments of India and the states to create policies for the betterment of the trade and exports in India, including the introduction of duty drawback scheme for jewellery and decrease of Octroi in the city of Mumbai for diamonds. He has earned a lot of appreciation for the proactive role that the Council took to guide the industry out of the great economic downturn in 2008-09. He almost singlehandedly guided the Council to become tech savvy including the implementation of ERP in day to day operations and making most of the services online.

He is the force behind the creation of Gem & Jewellery Skill Council of India (GJSCI).

In spite of all odds, Mr Ray was successful in looking after the employee welfare and keep abreast with the changing times and adopting modernisation of the Council in every sense. This had been possible because of his drive and ability to draw the best out of his colleagues and subordinates as a motivational leader.

He has widely travelled to countries like USA, Japan, Russia, Israel, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, various CIS countries like Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan & Kazakhstan, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Congo, Namibia, UAE & etc. Today Gems & Jewellery is one of the highest foreign exchange earners of the country and India polishes 14 out of 15 diamonds in the world which makes him one of the busiest executives of any non-profit organisations in the country.

Mohammad Ayyob

General Manager | Sam Precious Metals

Mohammad has over 15 years of experience in Secure Logistics Solutions, Operations Management, Marketing & Business Development. He Worked as the General Manager of Brink’s Global Services for Dubai & Middle East Region, He was a member of the Gold advisory Group at DMCC. He has a degree in Marketing & Administration from the Applied Science University of Jordan.

Mohammad is a Board Member at Sam Precious Metals.

Arvind Sahay

Professor of Marketing and International Business | IIM Ahmedabad

Professor Sahay joined IIMA in June 2004 from London Business School where he had been teaching since his Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of Texas at Austin. He is an alumnus of IIMA (where he did his PGP) and IIT Kanpur (from where he did his B.Tech.).

His primary areas of interest include marketing strategy, pricing, neuroscience and consumer behavior, brand management, high tech marketing, international trade and investment. Sectorally, he has consulted and done work in pharmaceuticals, cement, building materials, telecom, broadcast, automotive, IT, FMCG, education and financial services sectors among others. At the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he has taught the basic marketing courses on the PGP, PGPX and PGP-PMP programs. In addition, he offers elective courses on pricing, brand management, neuroscience and consumer behavior, tracking organizational performance, brand management and valuation, innovation and fintech. His executive education and consulting clients come primarily from the financial services, pharmaceutical, building materials conglomerates, automotive, FMCG, retail and media sectors. His teaching ratings are consistently in the 9/10 range. He leads the IIMA executive education programs on pricing, neuroscience in marketing, enhancing salesforce performance and fintech.

His corporate experience includes stints as a management trainee in the manufacturing sector and as a customer service and then account manager in the financial services industry. He has consulted and done corporate training for more than 50 clients in India and abroad. He has written 32 international peer reviewed articles, 65 cases and more than 50 articles for business magazines and newspapers. His most recent project was for FSSAI where a nationwide RCT of front of package label (FOPL) study was done which will form the basis of the FSSAI decision on FOPL for packaged food. His second book - on “Brands and the Brain” – was published in April 2022. His latest publications in 2022 are on the “Neural Correlates of Weak Brand Choice” and the “Decision between Gifts and Promotions in Consumer Choice.”

Professor Sahay is the recipient of the University Wide Outstanding Dissertation Award from the University of Texas at Austin (for his Ph.D thesis), the Innovation in Teaching Award at London Business School and of the Dewang Mehta Best Teacher Award in Marketing Management and the UTV Bloomberg Best Marketing Professor in India. He was also nominated to the Thinkers50 India list by the Institute of Competitiveness, Harvard Business School. He is also the winner of the Philip Morris Best Case Award at IIMA (this is a case on fintech).

Professor Sahay is currently an independent director on the board of Brandscapes Consultancy Pvt. Ltd, HIL Ltd. (a CK Birla Group firm), Matter Motor Works Ltd., a Public Interest Director on the Board of India International Bullion Exchange IFSC Ltd. and Director on the board of IFCI Limited (an NBFC) and HIL International Gmbh. He was a member of the working group on Gold established by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India and of the NITI Aayog Committee to Transform Gold Markets. As Dean (AER), he has led the fund-raising effort at IIMA and has helped raise more than INR 130 crores over 36 months. His strong international orientation had also resulted in an increase in student exchange numbers from 120 to 180 over three years. As Chairperson (SBU Head) of Executive Education at IIMA he stewarded an increase in revenues from 67 crore to 92 crores over two years. He has also been Chairperson, PGPX and Chairperson, Marketing Area at IIMA.

He has been an invited speaker at the Pricex Conference in Chicago, at the BusinessWeek Conference on E-marketing in London, at the annual meetings of All India Management Association in Indore, at the Western Conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry in Ahmedabad, at the CIO Forum, at the India International Gold Convention, at various corporates in India and abroad to their leadership teams and at the Indian Professional Business Network in Qatar. He is the coordinator and lead faculty for IIMA’s management development programs on Pricing, Neuroscience in Marketing, Fintech, and Enhancing Salesforce Performance, and Applications of Behavioral Science in Management: A CXO Playbook, the first programs of their kind in India. He has been a member of the FICCI Sub-Committee on Pharmaceuticals. He was a member of the team that developed the Innovation Index for the Pharma industry that is intended for use by the Government of India and the industry to monitor progress in R&D in pharma in India.

His recent research has been in the areas of brand relationships, tensile pricing, life cycles in marketing, customer dimensions of gold in India, customer responses to dynamic pricing and how and when to implement dynamic pricing, customer reactions to overlapping price ranges; impact of bundling on customer reference prices; customer loss aversion at different price levels; impact of price changes in pharmaceuticals in India on demand, brand advocacy, and brand preference reversal due to cognitive load and discount framing. His latest papers appear in Journal of Business Research in 2022 (neural correlatesof weak brand choice), Journal of Global Marketing” in 2018 (there are limits to quantity changes in FMCG products before customers react ), Resources Policy in 2020 (that gold purchase has strong cultural influences – some of which have led to failure of policy measures like the GMS) and the European Journal of Marketing (2021; on dual brand personalities, Implicit Theories and Word of Mouth). He has earlier been a regular columnist for Outlook Business magazine on marketing strategy and also writes occasionally for the leading Indian business newspapers, Financial Express, and Dainik Bhaskar on gold, economics and business. He is also the author of a case book on marketing strategy called Cases in Pricing, Marketing Communications and Distribution apart from his recent book on Brands and the Brain.

Professor Sahay can be contacted at asahay@iima.ac.in; Arvin.sahay@yahoo.com

Güzhan Gülay

Executive Vice President | Borsa Istanbul

After graduating fromthe Faculty of Business Administration of Istanbul University in 1993, GüzhanGülay completed Ziraat Bank Banking School and worked as a specialist in theCapital Markets Directorate of the same bank. He joined Borsa İstanbul familyas an assistant specialist in the Equity Markets Directorate in 1995, became aspecialist in 1998 and a manager in 2014 in the same department.

He wasappointed as the Business Development Director in 2018 and as the PreciousMetals and Precious Stones Director in 2019. He has acted in many projects bytaking fundamental positions in designing, configuration, testing, legislationand development for the improvement of the markets and infrastructure of BorsaIstanbul.

After his master's and doctorate education, he acted as a visitinglecturer for a year at the City University of London Cass Business School andtaught part-time at various universities.

Mark J. Valek

Fund Management & Research Incrementum AG | CAIA

Mark is partner of Incrementum AG an investment boutique in Liechtenstein. He is responsible for Portfolio Management and Research and is co-author of the widely read In Gold We Trust Report. His passion is to apply interdisciplinary thinking to investment. He is particularly fascinated with the Austrian School of Economics, monetary history, and the foreseeable paradigm shift in the monetary system.

While working part time, Mark studied Business Administration at the Vienna University of Business Administration and has continuously worked in financial markets and asset management since 1999. Prior to the establishment of Incrementum AG, he was with Raiffeisen Capital Management for ten years, most recently as fund manager responsible for inflation protection strategies and alternative investments.

He gained entrepreneurial experience as co-founder of Philoro Edelmetalle GmbH which has established itself as one of the leading European bullion dealers. Since 2013 he has held the position as reader at scholarium in Vienna, and he also speaks at Wiener Börse Akademie (academy of the Viennese Stock Exchange). In 2014, he co-authored the book “Austrian School for Investors”. Mark is married and proud father of one son. He likes to balance his work life by working out and playing basketball.

Nikita Knyazev

Director, Precious Metals Market|Moscow Exchange

In 2010, he graduated Master's degree in Applied Physics and Mathematics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, as well as the HSE Master's degree in Strategic Financial Management of the Firm.

Nikita is an industry expert with over 10+ years of experience in financial and commodity markets, especially in derivatives and spot business, where he has been responsible for creating new financial products, opening new markets and establishing cooperation projects.

Now he is working at Moscow Exchange as a Precious Metals Market Director to contribute to the growth of liquidity, transparent pricing and increase the efficiency of operations with gold and silver for Russian participants in the precious metals market.

Yang Lu

Director Metals Products, CME Group

Yang Lu is Director Metals Products at CME Group. Yang is responsible for managing the Exchange's Precious Metals futures and options products on CME Group exchange’s COMEX & NYMEX, in addition to developing and executing precious metals business strategy in EMEA. Yang joined CME Group in 2014 and is based in London. Prior to joining CME Group, Yang worked as a Metals Analyst at Thomson Reuters GFMS, with a focus on demand analysis across the base metals markets. Yang holds an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Economics from Zhejiang University. Yang is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).