SPEAKER PROFILE

A respected authority in the ICT & eGovernment arena, Mr. Al Qaed has been a key contributor to high profile projects across the region, in addition to his leadership role in the development of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s eServices & digital transformation. An IT professional with extensive expertise in the field, Al Qaed was appointed Chief Executive of the Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) by Royal Decree No. 78 in 2015 following a resolution to merge the Central Information Organization (CIO) with the eGovernment Authority (eGA).

He held important positions at the CIO since 1993 rising to General Director of Information Technology before he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the eGovernment Authority eGA in 2007. Mr. Al Qaed contributed to many of the authority’s most significant achievements, including the Kingdom of Bahrain’s climb up the United Nations eGovernment Index, helping it to achieve a leading place among Middle East countries in 2010 and maintain its high position among countries listed in the eGovernment Readiness Index up until the last report issued in 2018. The Kingdom was also awarded the His Highness Shaikh Salem Al Ali Al Sabah Informatics Award in 2014 for the National Portal, bahrain.bh, taking the lead amongst 9,500 other Arab public and private portals.

Mr. Al Qaed is also Chairman of the contact center services company, Silah Gulf, established by Bahrain’s government in 2009 to serve various public and private sectors, including banking and telecommunications. Its 750-member team caters to clients in Bahrain and other GCC countries, notably Kuwait.

Mr. Al Qaed chairs the ICT eGovernance Committee, that is concerned in setting strategies, policies, and standards to optimally deploy ICT in different projects. In addition to chairing the Government Service Centers Evaluation Committee, he heads several national task forces formed through a resolution issued by the Coordination Committee chaired by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander, and First Deputy Prime Minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. These include a task force aimed at reducing recurring information system expenditures, which was formed in 2015; a task force to simplify and improve company formation procedures; and a task force aimed at reducing government IT operational expenditures in line with a decision by Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of Ministerial Committee for Financial Affairs and Expenditure Control, His Excellency Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa. He also headed the Organizing Committee of the 11th United Nations Public Service Forum Day & Awards, which was hosted by the Kingdom in June 2013. Bahrain was the first country in the Middle East to host this event, the most successful in its history in terms of attendance numbers.

Mr. Al Qaed  was also a member of numerous boards and committees, including the Supreme Council for Education’s Career Training and Technology Board, the Social Insurance Organization’s Board of Directors, the Labor Market Regulatory Authority’s Board of Directors, and the Tender Board between 2009 and 2015, alongside his membership in the Executive Committee of the Action Plan to Enhance Governance in Government Entities.

Mr. Al Qaed was awarded a Master’s Degree in Advanced Systems Engineering from Sheffield University in the United Kingdom in 1996. In 1994, he was granted a scholarship by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to attend a six-month intensive course on systems engineering at the Royal Scientific Society in Jordan. He received a Bachelor‘s Degree in Computer Science in 1993 from King Saud University in Saudi Arabia.

His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa awarded Mr. Al Qaed the FirstClass Efficiency Medal on National Day and the Accession Anniversary in December 2011 in recognition of his achievements. That same year, the Organizing Committee of the 12th Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia presented Mr. Al Qaed with the ‘Person of the Year’ Award for his contributions to the eGovernment program in Bahrain, including helping to turn the Kingdom’s eGovernment strategy into reality.

In June 2014, His Highness the Amir of Kuwait, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah selected Mr. Al Qaed to be among the jury members of the His Highness Shaikh Salem Al Ali Al Sabah Informatics Competition, Tadween which included a officials, academics and ICT specialists from across the Arab World.

Arabian Business magazine ranked Mr. Al Qaed 29th amongst the Most Powerful CEOs in recognition of his leadership role in introducing many technological innovations and changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Bahrain’s citizens and residents closing the digital divide.

He continues to actively participate in conferences as a keynote speaker, and also shares his knowledge through articles in journals focused on the technical and administrative aspects of Information Technology.