Top 25 META Leaders Championing CX

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Check out our top picks of CX leaders in the META region focused on result-driven CX strategies.

Technology is the primary element shaping customer experience (CX),  over 60 per cent of companies in the Middle East have been actively investing in CX solutions to strengthen their business strategies. Being the critical differentiator for top brands, business growth and customer loyalty heavily rely on Chief Experience Officers (CXOs) and CX Heads to drive revenue and brand valuation.

From creative thinking to mapping more robust customer journeys, CX leaders are responsibile for the brand, making it more customer-centric, to be ahead of its competitors.

Here are our top picks of CX leaders in the META region who are achieving business goals and strengthening the brand name, spurring the region’s technology-driven business growth.

Abdulmohsen Al-Mulhem

Abdulmohsen Al-Mulhem has been working at Bank Albilad for over five years, where he is currently the Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer. He is also a member of the MADA Elevation Marketing Committee, Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority – SAMA, and a member of the CSR Committee, Riyadh Chamber of Commerce & Industry.  He started his career as a Regional Manager at Alawwal Bank in 1998. After nine years of service, he moved to Alinma bank as a Deputy General Manager of Marketing Segmentation and Partner Care for over eight years. He studied strategic branding, business, and management marketing at London Business School.

Adele Trombetta

Leading Cisco’s Customer Experience organisation in MEA and the Technology Transformation Group in EMEAR, Adele Trombetta’s dual role ensures that Cisco’s customers get the best out of their technological investments.  Previously, she worked at Hewlett Packard Enterprise as the South Delivery Vice President, EMEA, and she also worked at IBM for over five years as the European Accounts Growth Leader. Trombetta holds an MBA from Henley Business School.

Amr Emam

Amr Emam has 14 years of experience in the banking industry. Skilled in service quality improvement, customer experience and customer service, he is currently the Head of Customer Experience at the United Bank of Egypt. Previously, Emam worked at First Abu Dhabi Bank and at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. He has studied Management Science, Computer and Information Sciences and Support Services at Hoda Sharawy Language School.

Demet Tekin Sari

Demet Tekin Sari has been working at sahibinden.com, Turkey for over six years. He is currently the Chief Sales and Customer Experience Officer. Previously, he worked at Turkcell for over seven years as the Customer Experience Manager. He also worked at Pronet Security Services. Sari pursued his education from the Middle East Technical University and Boğaziçi University.

Gökhan Nalbantoglu

With over 25 years of business management experience in Turkey, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Gökhan Nalbantoglu is the VP, COO, Customer Experience, EMEA South at SAP. Previously, he worked at Datameer, Ereteam, IBM, SAS and HP. Nalbantoglu received his bachelor’s degree from Boğaziçi University. He also pursued the Young Managers Programme from INSEAD.

M. Görkem Öztürk

Görkem Öztürk has been working with eBay, Turkey for over six years, where he is currently the Head of Customer Experience. Previously, he worked at Turkcell Global Bilgi for over nine years. Öztürk had started as a back-office professional and grew ranks to Senior Account Manager.

Guy Yoffe

Guy Yoffe has been working at Bank Leumi, Israel, for over 13 years. He started as an analyst, and after five years, he became the relationship manager. Two years later, he became an executive PA and then the Head of Strategy & Regulatory Affairs division for over four years. He is currently the Head of Customer Experience and Service. Yoffe pursued his education from the University of Haifa.

Hena Masood Ahmad

With over 15 years of retail experience, Hena Masood Ahmad is the Customer Experience Head, Victoria’s Secret, Kuwait. Previously, she was the Commercial Department Manager at Marks & Spencer. She was also the Assistant Department Manager of Customer Service at Pantaloon Retail. Ahmad pursued her education from the Institute of Communication Management, India and Uttar Pradesh Rajarshi Tandon Open University.

Ilana Barak

With vast experience in business development, customer experience and customer service in the retail, communication, and technology industries, Ilana Barak has been working at Cellcom for over seven years. She started off as the Marketing and Value Added Services Revenues Increase Manager for three years at Cellcom. She then worked at Bezeq The Israel Telecommunications Corporation and Dynamica Cellular, before returning to Cellcom, where she is currently the VP and Head of Customer Experience. Barak pursued her education from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Mohammed Aldossary

With over 20 years of experience in cross designing, implementing, and enforcing protocols to improve customer and employee experience, Mohammed Aldossary is the SVP, Head of Customer Experience at Riyad Bank. Previously, he was the Customer Care General Manager at the Ministry of Finance, Senior Manager CX at Banque Saudi Fransi, and CX Insights Manager at SABB. He graduated from King Abdulaziz University.

Nadir Anjum

With over 12 years of experience in successfully driving change, quality assurance, performance management, satisfaction and experience for internal and external customers across GCC, Nadir Anjum is the Head of Customer Experience & Community Engagement at Emaar, The Economic City, where she has been working for the last nine years. Most recently, she led the CX at King Abdullah Economic City. Previously, she worked at Drake & Scull International PJSC and AMIDEAST. Anjum acquired her BBA degree from Troy University.

Nathalie Amiel-Ferrault

Nathalie Amiel-Ferrault is the Chief Customer Experience Officer of a Logistics & Transportation startup specialising in eCommerce distribution in the ME region. She is also the vice-president and executive board member of the French Business Council (UAE). Previously, Amiel-Ferrault worked at FedEx Express MEISA (the Middle East, Indian sub-continent, Africa) as the Vice President, Marketing, Communications and Customer Experience. She holds a master’s degree in management and business and international marketing from Montpellier Business School.

Nizar A

With experience in marketing, sales, and business development across telecommunication and financial services, Nizar A has been working at American Express for over 18 years. Currently, he is the Chief Customer Experience Officer. Prior to this, he worked at Globalstar as a senior marketing and product development manager. Nizar studied business computer and marketing studies at the Lebanese American University.

Omar Batayyah

Omar Batayyah has been working at the Saudi British Bank (SABB) for over eight years, where he is currently the Head of Marketing and Customer Experience. Previously, he worked at Unilever for over nine years as a Marketing Manager and then as the Food & Beverages Marketing Director. He also worked at Savola Edible Oils for over six years as the Al Arabi Brand Manager. Batayyah pursued his education from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM).

Rayan Samman

With over 20 years of business experience, Rayan Samman is the Group Chief Experience Officer at Saudi German Health. Previously, he worked as the Area Senior Manager of SME relationship management and sales at Bupa Arabia; Project Director at Ritix Group. He was also an independent consultant on CSR and business development. Samman holds a professional diploma in customer experience from Glasgow Caledonian University.

Rick Well

Rick Well is the Head of Customer Experience, Amazon Turkey. He has been working at Amazon for over five years. He was also Amazon’s acting member of PMI’s Global Executive Council for four years. Previously, he was the program management and strategy lead at Microsoft, and has worked at General Dynamics Mission Systems. He pursued his education from the United States Naval Academy, Arizona State University, and Central Michigan University.

Riyadh Alonazi

Riyadh Alonazi has been working at STC for over 23 years. Leading the B2C customer experience landscape to provide memorable journeys, he currently leads customer experience and operations at STC. He received his bachelor’s degree in Management and Information Systems (MIS) from King Saud University. Alonazi also holds a market driving strategies programme from London Business School.

Rossen Dimitrov

Rossen Dimitriv‘s career began by flying as a cabin crew. He then became accredited with a Federal Aviation Administration Commercial Business Jet licence and rose through the ranks to lead customer experience transformations for leading airlines. After a brief stint at Air Italy as the Chief Operating Officer and as a Chief Guest Experience Officer at WestJet, Dimitrov returned to Qatar Airways as the Chief Officer of Customer Experience. He worked at Qatar Airways for five years earlier as the Senior VP of Customer Experience.

Serdar Gungor

With a background in customer experience, operations management, and business development, Serdar Gungor is the Chief Experience Officer at Sodexo Benefits and Rewards Services. Previously, he spearheaded the home delivery business of TAB Food Investments and was the CEO of fiyuu, an experience-oriented on-demand digital delivery platform in Turkey. He has also led the CX departments at Turkcell and Turkcell Superonline. Gungor graduated from Istanbul University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management and a Master of Science in Psychology from Istanbul Commerce University.

Shariar Zoha Pavel

With over 18 years of experience in the mobile industry, Shariar Zoha Pavel is the CO, Huawei Device, UAE. Previously, he was the Regional Service Excellence Manager, ME and Africa Region at Microsoft Mobile; and worked at Nokia for over six years as the Regional Service Manager. Pavel acquired his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dhaka.

Sinem Dursun

With a demonstrated history of working in the telecommunications industry and skilled in CX, marketing management, customer value and loyalty, Sinem Dursun is the Head of Customer Experience Strategy at Allianz Turkiye. Previously, she worked at Turkcell as a Senior Mobile Customer Experience Manager and at Vodafone as the Customer Operations Insights Executive. She was also the Customer Relations and Marketing Assistant at Garanti Emeklilik for three years. Dursun pursued her education from Bahcesehir University.

Tarek Abubakr

A former professor at Cairo and American universities teaching electronics and communications, Tarek Abubakr moved into the industry representing Etisalat Misr for the last ten years. He is currently the Head of Technical Customer Experience and manages a team to provide end-to-end audits on network performance for the best customer perception. Abubakr acquired his master’s degree in systems and control from Cairo University.

Turki AlDhfayan

With over ten years of experience as a strategist and expertise in the modernisation of banking channels, Turki AlDhfayan is the Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer at Al Rajhi Bank. He has previously worked at Real Estate Development Fund as the Head of digital transformation and at Riyad Bank as the VP Head of digital channels and value-added services. AlDhfayan was also the e-channels manager at Emirates NBD. He received his bachelor’s degree in business from Arab Open University.

Yoav Maor

In eight years, Yoav Maor has managed and advised eCommerce operations, and multiple global customer success teams, and founded an AI platform for sellers within the eCommerce space. Currently, he handles the customer experience and business operations at Fiverr Business, Israel. He has worked as the Head of Customer Operations and User Experience at Camilyo and he was the Director of Customer Success at Wiser. He was also an advisor for Akeneo, an open-source PIM company that focuses on marketers’ needs.

Yousef Younis

With over 12 years of experience in the healthcare industry, Yousef Younis is the Corporate Chief of Customer Experience at Mouwasat Medical Services, Saudi Arabia. Previously, he worked at Dr. Samir Abbas Hospital as the Director of Insurance & Contracting, and he worked as Senior Manager – Customer Service operations at Bupa Arabia for over eight years. Younis studied Business, Management and Marketing at Anglia Ruskin University.

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