Vice President
Public Policy

Ramy Zaki joined Mastercard in February 2020. He is the Vice President Public Policy for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, based in Dubai. His responsibility spans more than 80 markets.

Prior to that, he served as the Global Government Relations and Public Policy leader for Procter & Gamble (P&G) operations in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa and the Global International Trade Policy leader for P&G.

Between 2008 and 2014, Ramy was part of P&G Government Relations and Public Policy team in Brussels, where he oversaw the Company’s portfolio of International Trade & Tax Policy for Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) and led the public policy portfolio in Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In addition, he led the public policy and market access strategy of P&G growth plans in 18 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the strategic planning for a number of partnerships with governments in EMEA. He also led external efforts for P&G’s Middle East & North Africa environmental sustainability voluntary initiatives.

Prior to this assignment, Ramy served as External Relations Senior Manager at P&G Near East, with a scope covering the company’s business in Egypt, the Eastern Mediterranean region and Northeast African markets.

Between 1994 and 1998, he served as a diplomat with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in various assignments including the Palestine Desk, Consular Affairs and the Ministry’s Databank. Prior to that, he worked for Bechtel as Business Development Assistant Manager. Ramy took his first career step in 1992 as an engineer with the General Dynamics Company.

Ramy received a B.Sc. Engineering from Cairo University in 1992 and an M.Sc. Environmental Science, Legislation and Management from Brunel University in the UK in 1996. In 1994, he attended the Cairo Diplomatic Institute and the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. He also took part to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Executive Program on “the Practice of Trade”.

Ramy is a co-founder and member of the board of an environmental NGO. He is a member of the LIONS Clubs of France, the Order of Engineers, AmCham EU, BusinessEurope, the Harvard KSG Alumni Association, the Association for Graduates and Trainees from Britain and the Alumni Association of Jesuit Schools. Since 2017, he chairs the Dubai-based Multinational Companies Business Group (MCBG). He also sits on the Policy Committee of the UAE Circular Economy Council and was nominated to join the Supreme Legislative Committee in Dubai.

Director – Government Relations and Public Policy, General Motors Africa & Middle East

Wael El Zanaty was appointed the Director of Government Relations and Public Policy for the Middle East and North Africa region in March 2017. He previously served as Manager of Government Relations and Public Policy for the Middle East, before incorporating North Africa into his scope in 2015.

In his role, El Zanaty is responsible for leading all aspects of government and policy strategy, including representation and compliance with CAFE, as well as other major policy issues within the extended region.

Prior to joining GM, he had a career in the pharmaceutical industry, including key roles at Sanofi and Eli Lilly, which spanned two decades and placements in multiple countries.

El Zanaty is a member of the Multinational Companies Business Group (MCBG) board, alongside other business associations in auto industry. He holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine from Cairo University.

Director of Corporate and Government Affairs
Mondelēz International
Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan (MENAP)

Omneya is the Director of Corporate and Government Affairs for Mondelēz Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan. Omneya has around 20 years of experience in strategic corporate, government and public affairs, policy, corporate communications, public relations, corporate social responsibility and social media in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa markets. She has experience in industries and fields as FMCG, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, automotive, financial services, and public administration.

Omneya is currently responsible for the company’s public policy agenda and regulatory engagement on a range of priorities. She is driving initiatives that focus on sustainability, wellbeing, diversity and inclusion in addition to mitigating business risks and ensuring license to operate.  She is focused on policy shaping, advocacy and engagement. She represents the company with various external stakeholders including authorities, media and trade association.

Prior to joining Mondelēz, she was the Head of Communications and Public Affairs for Boehringer Ingelheim in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region (META). She handled both external and internal communications including public affair and industry representation. She was leading employee engagement and company value proposition.

Previous experience includes working with Nissan & Infiniti MENA, League of the Arab States and Arab Women Organization.

Omneya is leading teams and agencies, to strategize, plan and execute creative strategic ROI driven initiatives for both profit and non-profit organizations along with building strong government and media relations as well as developing strong internal corporate culture.

Omneya holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and Public Policy and bachelor degree in Business Administration from the American University in Cairo.

Senior Director, Government Affairs; Middle East, Africa & Pakistan

James Cordahi is a highly skilled leader with almost 30 years of experience in Government and Corporate Affairs, Economics, Journalism and Management. Brought up in Beirut in the ‘70s and ‘80s, James was educated in the UK, graduating with a BA Honors and MA from Cambridge University, an MSc from City University, London, and a Diploma in Economics from the University of London. James founded and has been leading Abbott’s Government Affairs function in the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan since 2016, based out of Dubai. Working directly with government, and through trade associations and business groups, James and his team have mitigated the impact of risk to healthcare-technology company Abbott by more than $75 million and enhanced policy opportunities worth more than $65 million.

James started his career in the early ‘90s as a journalist in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In 1993 he moved to Cairo to cover the Middle East before joining The Economist Group in London in 1995 in the Middle East and North Africa department. In 2000, James moved to Dubai to start Bloomberg’s business and finance coverage of the Middle East, leaving journalism in 2008 to pursue a career in Corporate and Government Affairs. James founded BlackBerry’s Government Affairs function in MENA in 2011, before joining Mondelēz International former Kraft Foods) in 2013 to lead its Corporate & Government Affairs function in MEA.

Married and with three children, James is an enterprise leader, focused on providing value to business and executing with excellence, through the development too of a high-performance team.

Managing Director – Saudi Arabia
Government Relations & Public Policy Senior Director
P&G Middle East & Global Entrepreneurial Markets

With more than 20 years of experience in managing External Relations, working on Public Affairs, media relations, sustainability, trade, and government relations & public policy. Turki is now the Managing Director for P&G operations in Saudi Arabia, and regionally leads Government Relations and advocating public policy in the Middle East region and global entrepreneurial markets.

Turki was born in Abha, Saudi Arabia, in June 23, 1974. Raised in Riyadh, lived for short terms in UK and Switzerland, and graduated from King Fahd university of Petroleum & Minerals with bachelor’s degree in management information systems in 2001. During his studies, he served as President of the business college students club and member of university student affairs board.

He joined P&G in Jan. 2002 in Jeddah, where he began his career working on Public Affairs. He spent most of his first 6 years in developing local community programs, corporate communication systems with external stakeholders, and building external partnerships with multiple government agencies, NGOs and professional organizations. In 2008, he takeover on top leading Trade and Government relations in the Arabian Peninsula. In mid-2012 he joined the company’s Global Government Relations & Public Policy group with regional responsibility scope covering Middle East, and his scope was extended to cover Pakistan public policy in mid 2017. Since then, Turki has built broad expertise on tax policy, Customs & trade barriers, free trade agreements, product regulations & Sustainability, and manufacturing GR knowledge.

Throughout his career, Turki received multiple awards locally and globally, and external recognitions. Turki serves on internal regional and global networks and member of multiple external councils and has lead multiple industry projects. Currently He Chairs the National Exports Committee in the Council of Saudi Chambers, and is member of the Industry Council in Jeddah Chamber.

Turki resides in Riyadh with his wife Hala and their children Lara, Mohammad and Dana.