Executive Team 

Salma Abbasi

Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, e Worldwide Group

A technologist and philanthropist, proven to be a visionary leader with dynamic drive and positive energy, Salma Abbasi motivates both, professionals and civil society. She has nearly 30 years experience in the field of technology and business process reengineering.

Salma started her career in 1981 in Silicon Valley as a design engineer for AMD and rapidly progressed holding a series of diverse executive management positions in fortune 500 companies; engineering, manufacturing, quality assurance and reliability, international business development and customer satisfaction. This rich experience has given her unique capabilities, knowledge and understanding to think outside the box in multiple cultures, difficult situations and in times of crisis, to create opportunities, and win-win scenarios for all. This led Salma to form the e Worldwide Group in 2001. The Group is a dynamic consortium of 37 successful companies, universities and organizations focused on providing multiple services and solutions in 4 key areas; Sustainable Development and Empowerment, Alternative Energy, Recycling and Environment, Security and Resilience, and Management Consultancy.

As the Chairperson of the e-World Wide Group, Salma is also using her vast international experience and contacts to leverage best practices, strategies and partnerships to promote her businesses but also focuses on social economic development. Salma believes that through the creation of business opportunities and Information communication technology development will bridge the digital divide and gender divide in a sustainable practical manner will improve the “quality of life” for marginalized people all over the world. She is also linking ICT companies in developing economies with International corporations and organizations to promote knowledge transfer, skills and product exports to create sustainable growth for the local SME’s thus benefiting local economies which is resulting in sustainable socio-economic development.

She is a member of the High Level Adviser’s Panel of the United Nationals Global Alliance for Information Communication Technologies and Development (UN GAID). GAID is focused on providing an inclusive, multi-stakeholder global forum and platform for policy dialogue and partnership-building to promote the use of ICTs to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and to enable multi-stakeholder partnerships for development. In 2009, Salma Abbasi joined the WHO, International Organizing Committee for the First Global Forum on Medical Devices to build a better understanding of the role that technology can play in improving the lives of people with special needs. In March, 2010 she developed an innovative concept using ICT’s delivering knowledge and awareness through the ‘m’ and ‘e’ factor to ‘prevent avoidable deaths’ of women and infants. This concept had been endorsed by the WHO and they are now jointly piloting this concept in countries with extreme cases of death.

She was invited to be a Senior Associate Fellowship in the International Policy department and later in the Conflict, Security and Development department at King’s College University London in 2002. She is also an associate member of Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Strategic Studies (RUSI), which is dedicated to addressing security & resilience issues. In 2007, she became a member of International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) High Level Experts Group (HLEG) for cyber security, which is working on defining national level security strategies and policies for cyber crime and security. Salma is also working in collaboration with ITU on a global initiative that protects children from the negative elements in cyber space which she designed in 2008.

She has also developed a unique concept for the holistic transformation of Madaris to promote interfaith harmony, understanding and social-economic development for youth from multiple societies and cultural back grounds. Following this, she joined hands with UNESCO, to support and drive the ‘power of peace’ initiative (PPN) and has now championed the creation of young ‘global ambassadors of peace’, engaging university students and school children around the world to embrace the ‘concept of understanding, tolerance and respect’.

She has been actively working to drive interfaith understanding, dialogue, and awareness using ICT’s to bridge the socio-religious gap and promote human security in multi-cultural societies since the early 80’s. Salma is also working with Governments around the world to promote ‘effective’ community cohesion and preventing extremist violence and radicalization.. In addition, Salma works with very closely with the UN and Governments, to develop strategies to implement effective ‘ICT’ policies and initiatives focusing in multiple areas of safety and security along with supporting the elements of the MDG’s. This has resulted in social economic development and security.

Most recently, in March 2010, Salma Abbasi was awarded the Ibn Khaldun Award for Excellence for promoting understanding between global cultures sponsored by the UK Ministry of Communities and Local Government at the British Muslim News Awards ceremony. Furthermore, she has joined hands with Mosaic, founded by H.R.H the Prince of Wales focused on creating a positive enabling environment to drive leadership and inspiration to create a harmonious integrated society in Great Britain. She is supporting organizations to drive holistic capability building and training of local ‘women’ councillors from minority ethnic groups to enable their effective engagement at various local and national platforms to create a sustainable space for their ‘voices’ to be heard.

Salma established a non-profit organization in California called “Rahima” with Habiba Hussain, concentrating on assisting the integrating refugees into the Bay Area community. Now, she actively works with SAMF, to implement multiple projects focusing on sustainable socio-economic development and Income generation programs for marginalized youth and women, disaster relief, and prevention radicalization and extremism all over UK, Africa and South Asia. The result of this work has positively impacted community cohesion and understanding. She recently launched special initiatives for women’s empowerment through capacity building and financial independence using ICTs. She is also actively involved in community work, focusing on people with special needs, terminally ill, homeless, battered women and children.

Born in UK, she is a graduate from Westminster University London, BSc Civil Engineering, and later moved to California where she completed her MSc in Electrical Engineering. Pursuing her career as a technologist with great interest in social development she is now doing her doctorate at University of London, Royal Holloway College on ‘Understanding Challenges and Barriers for Women’s engagement with ICTs and their impact on social economic development in Muslim societies‘.

Salma has been described as a “visionary leader who executes”. It is her personal goal to make a difference in everything she does, to improve the quality of peoples’ lives all over the world. She continues to spread her positive ideas, energy, experience and understanding, by speaking at conferences all over the world on multiple platforms from sustainable development, gender empowerment, to security and policy review to reach as many people as possible and create a safe space for debate and knowledge creation to support peace, understanding and harmony in the world.

 

Dr. Amanat Hussain

Dr Amanat Hussain has over twenty years of experience in providing management consultancy services to a wide range of public and private sector organisations. He has extensive experience of providing business change consultancy, Programme and project management support, business analysis, and system selection and implementation expertise. 

Dr. Hussain has managed Complex Change Programmes in diverse market sectors including defence, financial markets and the public safety environment. He has successfully delivered the Command, Control, Communication and Information (C3i) Programme for the United Kingdom Metropolitan Police Service. He has working with the Olympic Security Directorate to design the National Command and Control Programme to provide security for the 2012 London Olympics. He has recently been appointed the Chief Programme Advisor on the Enterprise Command and Crisis-management Centre (EC3) for the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai. He is also working with the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary on 2012 Organisation Transformation Programme.

 Dr Hussain lectures at a school of management on organisational development and project management and has developed and run professional courses on project management, operational risk management and organisational change. Dr Hussain has written a book titled “Managing Operational Risk in Financial Markets” that was published by Butterworth Heinemann in March 2000.

 

 

Dr. Pierre Rossel

Pierre Rossel is a PhD graduate in anthropology (1990) from the University of Neuchatel (Switzerland).
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His key qualifications are core competence reassignment and reengineering, change management, innovation for regional development, early detection of technological of innovation potential, foresight intelligence and roadmapping, e-Government and e-Governance, m-Government, digital cities, bridging of the digital divide, information and communication technologies for sustainable development.
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He has worked as a Program coordinator in ICSC World Laboratory technology transfer operations (Lausanne based, but with transfers and competence park building taking place in Argentina) and served as Director of the Tissot Economic Foundation (1988-1993). During the 1990s, he has been the Managing director of the European master in Science, society and technology at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale of Lausanne. He has also worked as Work package manager in a European program (ARIADNE II) on the development of e-learning tools for capacity building in the area of technological intelligence for SMEs.

He has been the Swiss delegate in the COST A22 European project on new methods in foresight (2004-2007), and Chair of one of the three working groups (on seeds of change, weak signal analysis and early detection). He has been teaching, researching and providing advisory services ever since in the domain of early detection of technological innovation potential, on the basis of an extensive international experience.
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Presently he is offering services as Senior Scientific fellow at College of Management, Ecole polytechnique fédérale of Lausanne, and is also the Vice-president of the Tissot Economic Foundation.
 

 

Dr. Kevin W. Cushing

Dr. Kevin W. Cushing has worked in the Middle East since 1981.  During that time Mr. Cushing, worked for McDonald Douglas on the F-15 Aircraft Sale (Royal Saudi Air Force Peace Sun Program), General Electric FPS-117 radar sale, and site installation (Royal Saudi Air Force Peace Shield Program), and ACS Defense on the Long-Haul Communication Network, Satellite Earth Station, and Rapid Action Deployment Units contract (Royal Saudi Air Force Peace Shield Program).  During his tenure with ACS Defense, Mr. Cushing worked as the Vice President Business Operations and General Manager – Middle East.  In the spring of 2004, Mr. Cushing was a cofounder of Dalma Tech², which provides military and commercial clients with systems engineering and development services throughout a system life cycle. 

Kevin W. Cushing is a PHD in international business from American University London. He has multiple corporate education degrees like Corporate Investment Strategies, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, International Corporate Finance, Emerging Markets in Asia and Latin America etc. Mr. Cushing attended LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York where in 1977 he received a Bachelor of Science in Finance.  In 1994, Mr. Cushing received an MBA from Western New England College, Springfield, Massachusetts

 

 

Robert Neil Cooke

Robert Neil Cooke is President of Neil Cooke & Associate , he was Former Business Development Manager, BSI GM Vice President ,BSI Inc USA. Robert Neil Cooke was also a Business Manager, Trainer and Lead Auditor for a variety of business systems and Standards.

Robert Neil Cooke is an experienced UK & overseas Lead Auditor, Trainer & Management Systems Consultant. He is a qualified trainer for ISO9001 2000 Lead Auditor, ISO9001 2000 Internal Auditor, ISO9001 2000 System Transition, ISO9001 2000 Auditor Transition, ISO 17799: 2000 Lead Auditor,  BS 7799 Awareness, ISO 14001.1994 EMS Awareness, Process Mapping Tools, Social Accountability (SA 8000),Social Accountability Awareness.

He has worked as a Business Development Manager, Director of Operations, GM Vice President; Area Manager- Operations. He has also worked as Senior Building Surveyor / Control Officer in planning department of local government.

 

 

Shabir Hussain

Shabir Hussain has proven leadership qualities that has inspired diverse stakeholders to work together to deliver professional policing services to all the communities in London. Shabir held the rank of Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police (MPS), and has held Association of Chief Police Officer rank for the last 6 years of his 26 year police career. Shabir has developed and implemented significant policy changes and has shaped and influenced the strategic direction of the police service particularly in the area of aviation and transport security. He had the overall aviation security responsibility for Heathrow and London City Airport that provided an integrated security capability to maximize the probability of detection and neutralization of potential threats. He also developed the integrated national security plan for the transport network for the 2012 Olympics games. He was the commandant at the Hendon Police College where he led the total restructuring of the training methods, training content and reporting process’s to ensure professionalism, openness, transparency and honesty. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, the police staff college and the Royal College of Defence Studies.

 

 

Hassan Mohammad Al-Sharif

Hassan Mohammad Al-Sharif has held the position of Regional Information Officer/Executive Director, Information Technology, Kaiser Permanente, Oakland, CA , Director, Governance, Risk and Compliance, IT Compliance, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, EXTENDENT, INC. San Francisco, CA , 2003 ,Senior Director, Strategic Applications, Blue Shield of California, San Francisco, CA , 2000 Independent Healthcare Technology Consulting Director, San Francisco, CA , 1999 Senior Director, Advanced Technologies, Health Systems Design Inc. , Oakland, CA , 1996.

He has 25 years of experience in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley in multi-disciplinary functions in Fortune 500 companies Over 12 years of experience in health information technology. He has expertise in planning, implementation, deployment, security and compliance of Electronic Medical and Health Record systems (EMR/EHR) enterprise implementations.