Archives: Speakers

Developing and maintaining the TMF across functions. Adapting processes to fit business needs and ensuring measurable KPIs to ensure completeness, quality, and timeliness of the TMF.

Jan works since 2012 for John Deere Financial (JDF) in Europe. JDF since then expanded their vendor business footprint to > 15 new JDF countries in Europe.

Prior to joining John Deere he held marketing leadership and business development roles in IT and automotive captives, like Dell Financial Services (CIT, 3 yr) and Banque PSA Finance (Peugeot-Citroen, 13 yr). He also advised captive projects in the luxury sector.

Throughout his international career he initiated and lead multiple transformation and digitalisation projects within captives. He has an MBA from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

A well-known and respected thought leader in MENA affairs, Edward James has been with MEED for more than 19 years, working as a researcher, consultant and content director. Until September 2008 he was MEED’s Gulf Bureau Chief, after which he moved over to head up the consulting arm of the business. From 2015-2021 he was responsible for content and research at MEED Projects, the region’s leading projects tracking service. Today he heads up all content and research produced by the MEED group. His specific areas of expertise are construction, hydrocarbons, power and water, and the petrochemical market, and is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on the MENA projects market. He is a regular guest commentator on Middle East issues for news channels such as the BBC, CNN and ABC News and is a regular speaker at events in the region. He has an honours degree in Arabic and Middle East Politics.

Expert in water and energy industry. Holding MBA and, Mechanical Engineering degree from King Saudi University 1994. Certified Commercial Arbitrator, expert in projects and O&M started with Saline Water Conversion Corporation for 12 years. Following SWCC, assigned as “Strategic Team Leader” at the Ministry of Water & Electricity leading water privatization program and National Water Company establishment . 2010, continued executive career in leading international firms, Schlumberger and then, AREVA in the renewable and nuclear energy, managing business development activities in the Middle East. 2016 back to government at the Ministry of Economy and Planning, appointed board member of “Electricity & Co-Generation Authority”. Joined SWPC in 2018 as Chief Planning Officer.

Dr. Petar Tsankov is the Co-Founder and CEO of LatticeFlow AI, a Swiss deep-tech company advancing trustworthy and compliant AI. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from ETH Zurich, where he developed the first scalable frameworks for verifying the safety of deep neural networks. A recipient of the John Atanasoff Prize from the President of Bulgaria, Petar previously co-founded ChainSecurity, a global leader in smart contract security, acquired by PwC. Under his leadership, LatticeFlow AI has earned major recognitions, including the Swiss AI Award and US Army Global AI Award, and has been listed twice in CB Insights’ AI 100 ranking of the world’s most innovative AI companies.

Since joining GlobalData Strategic Intelligence as an associate analyst in the 2024 graduate intake, Aidan has written reports on artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, future of work technologies, and geopolitics within the mining, defense, and financial services sectors. In Aidan’s most recent report, he explores the impact of AI on the banking, payments, wealth management, and insurance sectors, discussing potential risks to FS firms that do not develop holistic AI strategies. He explores topics like anti-money laundering (AML), agentic AI, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, know-your-customer (KYC), Insider threats, and human error. Aidan is now writing a report about the various climate risks and resilience strategies within the financial services sector.

Adam Blair has spent over a decade leading go-to-market teams at high-growth startups and scaleups and currently serves as VP Sales, EMEA at DeepL. Since joining in 2022, Adam has delivered significant growth at DeepL, where he is able to combine his passion for building and scaling high-performing teams with his interest in both languages and technology.

Flavia Poma is head of Machine Learning and AI Quantitative Research at Lloyds Banking Group. She specializes on applications of Machine Learning and AI technology for Markets and Treasury business, with particular focus on aspects of trading, liquidity, funding and capital. She started her career as a mathematician; after her PhD studies with the Algebraic Geometry research group, Flavia turned to financial mathematics and quantitative analysis, gaining extensive experience in quantitative financial modelling, covering a wide range of aspects from rates, FX, credit and XVA quantitative research, trading automation and trade surveillance.

Where others see rules, documents, and threats, Marius Beliūnas sees people. He is not just another information security or operational risk management leader with years of experience in state-level critical infrastructure and processes. Instead, he is an architect of resilience, building security cultures on the foundation of human relationships. For Marius, security is not a set of documents gathering dust on a shelf—it’s a living, breathing part of an organization’s DNA. It starts with leadership that doesn’t just demand compliance but leads by example. It thrives in an environment of psychological safety, where teams openly discuss mistakes and learn from incidents. And it grows through interactive, scenario-based training that shakes employees out of routine thinking.  His signature approach—engaging, real-world exercises designed to challenge and inspire—has become his trademark. Because for Marius, true security isn’t about policies; it’s about people. Why Listen to Marius? Because he doesn’t just talk about security—he makes it human.