SPEAKER PROFILE

As VP Information, Communications and Technology at BAC, Najwa Abdul Rahim leads and formulates the ICT strategy and operational plans in alignment with airport’s overall strategy to help achieve its mission and goals.   Her responsibilities include planning and execution of the ICT strategy model to improve performance, cost effectiveness and service quality. Ensure information availability, integrity and accessibility to all BAC users, partners and customers.

Prior to this appointment, Najwa was deeply involved in the development of the ICT strategy of the airport when the BAC was set up in 2008. She was also instrumental in the establishment of the ICT department in BAC and managed the migration of all airport operations applications and users from the Civil Aviation Affairs to BAC.

Before joining BAC, Najwa was the Assistant Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Women and was thus part of the lead team that formulated the strategic plans for the National Strategy for the Advancement of Bahraini Women. Her stint at the Ministry of Finance, spanning 20 successful years, helped shape her influential role in developing ICT not only in the ministry in particular, but also in the Government sector as a whole.

In recognition of her many social development initiatives as well as outstanding individual achievements, Najwa was appointed as an independent board member in TAKAFUL International Company where she recently ranked 66th in Forbes’ 100 most Powerful women in the Arab World, May 2012 issue.

Her lifelong commitment to learning spans more than two decades of educational achievement – she received the Gulf Executive Development Diploma from the Darden School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, U.S.A., she completed her MBA from the University of Bahrain and graduated with a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematical Statistics degree from the University of Kuwait.