Michelle Boyd joined the Society of Petroleum Engineers in 2011 and was recently promoted to the position of Chief Global Events Officer. Previously she was Director, Middle East, Africa and South Asia Events and led key events such as the International Petroleum Technology Conference and Exhibition (IPTC), the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), and SPE’s contribution to Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).

Before SPE, Michelle was head of conferences for Reed Exhibitions in Abu Dhabi and executive director of conferences and training for IIR, now Informa Group. She holds a BA degree from the University of New England and a MA degree in communication management from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Nadia Al-Hajji is Deputy CEO for Kuwait’s Petrochemical Industries Company, leading PIC’s business development and mega projects sector. She was also a WINNER in the Energy Woman of the Year Award at this year’s Middle East Energy Awards.After spending about 24 years working in Kuwait National Petroleum Company leading technical services departments two of its 3 refineries, as well as leading the process design for Clean Fuels Project and Al-Zour refinery project. Nadia spent over 2 years playing a lead role in the new oil sector company (KIPIC) startup phase, setting the company’s strategic plans and medium term performance and optimisation. As Deputy CEO for KIPIC, she was responsible for the worlds largest LNG import terminal and also lead the world scale petrochemicals plant to build Aromatics and Olefins project in addition to an FCC block, along with integration project with the Al-Zour refinery.

Nancy is the co-founder and Executive Director of iSAW, professional organisation for international Smart Advancing Women (iSAW) focused on Learning, Leading and Lifting others.

Prior to iSAW, Nancy spent 27 years in information technology, at Intel and BP. Nancy had an interesting career journey, she stared out as an Illustrator drawing pictures to be used in software, she quickly advanced through multiple levels in the organisation into Senior Level positions running major IT programs and activities. She is an expert in IT Competitive Intelligence Benchmarking.

Nancy has been involved in women empowerment for the last 10 years. Along with the women’s organisations she co-founded, she co-launched the BP IT Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) program and continued as a D&I Champion for many years. She has been a keynote speaker on “Women in the Workplace” in Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Spain, United Kingdom and United States.

Pinar Yilmaz is Advisor Upstream External Projects, Business Development, at ExxonMobil Exploration Company. She is responsible for coordinating upstream geoscience external activities with universities and research centers globally for ExxonMobil business regions, manage interfaces with professional societies and ExxonMobil, and enhance network & relationships with partners. She joined ExxonMobil in 1980, working in different technical assignments in research, production and exploration functions.

She received numerous awards for her work from both the professional societies and organisations. These include American Association of Petroleum Geologists Honorary Membership Award (2010), Distinguished Service from Association of Brazilian Petroleum Geologists (2009), President’s Award, ExxonMobil Exploration Company (2008), and Hamilton College Science Medal (2006).

Salma Al Hajeri is the Vice President for Non-Operated Assets for MENA & Russia at Mubadala Petroleum. Salma is responsible for overseeing the performance of the non-operating JVs and directing the portfolio of MP in MENA and Russia regions. She has more than 20 years of experience in the Oil & Gas Industry. Salma joined Mubadala Petroleum in 2012, and prior to that she worked at ADNOC - Onshore as a Reservoir Engineer.

Salma holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from U.A.E University, and MEng in Petroleum Engineering from the Petroleum Institute – UAE, and MBA from Abu Dhabi University. Most recently, Salma has been awarded the “Women of Achievement” from LEWAS 2021 – Bahrain.

Mark brings over 40 years of experience in all aspects of the oil and gas industry to nogaholding. Prior to joining the company, Mark served as the Head of Group Chief Executive’s Office working as chief of staff to bp CEO Bob Dudley. Mark stewarded bp’s executive processes and worked directly with the executive team and Board of Directors where he had oversight of investment governance and strategy development.

Previously he has served as a regional president of bp’s North Sea business, in which he transformed the core business to improve profitability by doubling production in a period of five years. Earlier Mark was the Vice President of Operations at bp Azerbaijan, where he was the operational leader for one of bp’s top three global business, accountable for the safe and reliable operation of two mega-fields, that produced one million barrels of oil equivalent daily.

Graduated from The University of Maine ( USA) with a BS in Finance in 2009. Shee earned her MBA from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia Hong Kong) in 2017. Graduated the Harvard Business School Executive Education’s Young Leaders program.

Halah holds more than 10 years of experience with Saudi Aramco spanning different organisations and functions including Industrial Security Operations, Community Services, and Planning and Performance Management.

She is currently leading Saudi Aramco’s D& I division responsible for executing the corporate D&I strategy, programs, outreach and communications.

Amal ALSubaie is an Oil Accounting Engineer in the Business Development & Optimization Department (B&O) in Saudi Aramco Total Refining and Petrochemical Co. (SATORP). She is responsible for the verification and monitoring of the refinery consumption of raw imported products and the final products for exports. She was also a member of the Business Continuity Management System (BCMS) at SATORP.

During her time at SATORP, Amal has served as Assistant Treasurer. In addition to her main duties, she has also served as a member of the medical committee at the company. Prior to joining SATORP, Amal served as Corporate Credit officer in Global and Multinational Corporate Banking at SABB bank. She also served as Financial Planner in SABB investment funds.

Claudia Janse van Rensburg is currently an Account Manager with ART Hydroprocessing based in Dubai, with an exclusive focus on supporting ART’s Middle Eastern customers. Prior to joining ART Hydroprocessing in January 2018,

Claudia was a Lead Process Engineer at National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (NATREF) where she was responsible for the VDU/CDU, FCC, Bitumen, and Merox Unit process engineering teams. During her time at the refinery, she also worked extensively on the HF Alkylation and VRDS units and was the custodian of various refinery wide optimization initiatives.Claudia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

Linda Brown is a Corporate Communications Executive with a passion for leading change and creating strategic intent for organisational purpose and business success. In her current role, Linda is responsible for promoting and protecting the BASF brand in the region and for creating an awareness amongst the variety of stakeholders in the region about BASF’s innovative solutions, sustainability initiatives and other key drivers of the business.

Linda has been with BASF for 11 years. Prior to being appointed into this position on 1 January 2022, Linda was Head of Communications & Advocacy for BASF’s Africa region, and before that, Communications Manager for BASF’s Mobile Emissions Catalyst Division in Europe. In her 30-year career in Corporate Communications, Linda has contributed in a variety of industries, including social development, higher education, research, utilities and the medical sector, all based in South Africa.

Maram Al Sabbagh is an Environmental Specialist working for Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco). Maram has been in Bapco for nine years and currently holds the position of the Environmental Coordinator for the Bapco Modernisation Program (BMP), the largest project investment in the history of Bapco, leading the Project’s Environmental and Social team. Throughout her time at Bapco, Maram led a number of environmental initiatives including the Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Week Environmental Committee, Bapco’s Green School Awards and Bapco’s Mangroves Nursery and Transplanting Project.

Prior to joining Bapco, Maram worked as a Corporate Sustainability Engineer at Abu Dhabi Polymers Company (Borouge), one of ADNOC’s Group Companies, in 2013, and was a Level 2 Environmental Consultant at Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in Abu Dhabi prior to that, in 2010. Maram holds a BSc in Natural Sciences (with a minor in Organic Chemistry and a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology) from University College London (UCL) and an MSc in Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London.

Mariam started her career as a Rotating Equipment Engineer on-site and now has more than 10 years of experience in the field of Maintenance and operations. She is now a Maintenance and Reliability Advisor in ADNOC HQ.

Dr. Anissa Bendjeriou-Sedjerari is Industry & Research Center Liaison at KAUST Catalysis Center (KCC) and Innovation & Economic Development (I&ED). She was awarded a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Science and Technology of Montpellier (FRANCE) followed by research scientist positions at KCC, CALTECH and Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon (ENS-Lyon).

Over the last years, she played key roles in several academic and industrial collaborations within KCC, KAUST and with international institutions including EPFL-Lausanne and UC-Davis, CALTECH, USA. Her broad research interests have been published in numerous international journals.

Besides, she is an active member of the MEPEC (Middle East Process Engineering Conference and Exhibition), GDA (Gulf Downstream Association). She is also involved in all women program with Aramco (LEWAS, GROW) and promote female scientists’ not just at KAUST but also in the Middle-East in order to empower Women in Oil and Gas Industry, one of the challenge of the Saudi Vision 2030 program

Dr. Nour Othman Baqader is a petroleum scientist from Productivity Enhancement focus area, Production Technology Division, at The Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center - Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC), the Upstream Research Center for Saudi Aramco. She graduated with PhD in Protein Biochemistry from University College London, UCL, London, UK; and directly joined Saudi Aramco in 2015. Dr. Baqader’ s research interests on the oilfield chemicals, such as, fracturing fluids, for production engineering applications. Within a short time, she has managed to have several patents, publications, and has lead several promising projects. In 2018, one of her projects was shortlisted as a finalist in Oil Awards as Best Production Technology. In 2019, she was appointed as a Chair of Researcher Development Committee (RDP).

She led a team of 14 enthusiastic members and young professionals. Her role was to foster a program that engage young researchers and engineers through activities, workshops and different initiatives. Dr. Baqader skills do not end with her office work, she has also volunteered at several different activities inside and outside of her work such as teaching Petroleum engineering for the young school girls during the summer of 2019. In 2020, She was selected as scientific member for Science 20, S20 in G20 of Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Sara has been in Saudi Arabia since 2012 when she came to do her doctorate study in Environmental Science and Engineering department in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Prior to coming to Saudi Arabia, Dr. Sara obtained her BSc and MSc in Applied Chemistry from the University of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Zagreb,
Croatia.
After obtaining her degree in 2016, Dr. Sara worked in Ali A. Al-Naimi Petroleum Center in KAUST, helping in establishing their laboratories.
In June 2017 she joined Core R&D team in Dow Middle East Innovation Center in Kaust where she is a laboratory leader, safely setting up the new laboratories and is leading technical liaison with KAUST. She has a strong focus on technology, safety and inclusion as she serves as a co-chair in KSA for one of the employee resource groups in Dow, the Women Inclusion Network focusing on establishing inclusive culture, achieve gender parity and drive inclusive leadership to enhance Dow’s performance.

Hafsa Al Subhi is a Project Planning and Performance Team Leader with 9 years’ experience exclusively in Oil and Gas Projects in OQ – Oman. Hafsa graduated from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman as a Civil Engineer with Distinction and recently got awarded her MSc in Construction Projects Management from Herriot-Watt University – Scotland. Since she joined Orpic (former OQ company), Hafsa contributed significantly to the prestigious projects of Suhar Refinery Improvement ($2.8 Billion), Liwa Plastics Industrial Complex Project ($6.7 Billion), and the Integration Management Assignment of The Oman Oil and Orpic Group. Hafsa successfully manages her work-life balance as a young wife and dedicated mother of 3 boys, ages 8, 5 and 4 years old.

Sarah joined the Secretariat of the World Petroleum Council in 2021. She is involved in the project management of the triennial World Petroleum Congress, the WPC Youth Forum and other smaller events. She also works closely with Boston Consulting Group on Untapped Reserves, the only global oil and gas focused gender diversity study, introduced in 2017, and whose third edition will be released in September 2023. For version 2.0 of the study, WPC and BCG collected extensive data from 2,800 individuals and 50 companies representing 14% of the global workforce and full results can be found here: https://untappedreserves.wpc.bcg.com/

Prior to the WPC, Sarah has worked in event management for over 25 years, highlights of which include working at the World Economic Forum in Davos and being part of the team which set up the biennial SYROIL exhibition, on behalf of Shell Syria Petroleum Development.