Len O'Donnell is President and Chief Executive Officer of USAA Real Estate Company, the commercial real estate investment and management arm of USAA, overseeing all operations of the company. Mr. O'Donnell came to USAA Real Estate in January of 2011 as President and Chief Operating Officer with more than 30 years of experience in real estate. In this capacity, Len was responsible for all acquisitions and capital market activities.

He was previously a Principal and Chief Investment Officer for Crimson Real Estate Fund, a real estate opportunity fund managed by Crimson Real Estate Advisors which specialized in value-added acquisitions and build-to-suit development. Prior to that, he served as President and CEO of Crimson Capital Ltd, a diversified real estate investment company offering investment management services, as well as development, property management and leasing through affiliated companies.

Ghazi is a seasoned IT executive with over 20 years of experience in the IT and Telecommunications industry and a reputation for driving the smart digital transformation in various lighthouse projects such as Smart Dubai, Smart Riyadh, and others.

Ghazi is the Founder & CEO of NXN, the region’s leading advisory and managed services organization in the field of smart cities and next-generation technology innovation. NXN (Formerly neXgen) commonly known as ‘The Smart City Company’ provides expert services for cities, districts, government institutions, real estate developers and enterprises. Ghazi is responsible for managing the company, formulating and implementing long-term strategies. He is a proven leader with profound expertise in developing strong client relationships, and a passion to consult governments in building the strategies and master plans for realizing their smart city ambitions. Ghazi received the Telecom leadership award at the 8th Arab Internet and Telecom conference in May 2006. He was also named among most influential ME IT leaders in Al Idari magazine’s special issue of TOP 100 ME business leaders in February 2006.

Before NXN, Ghazi was the Managing Director/Vice President for Cisco’s Service Provider business in the Emerging Markets theatre. He was responsible for defining the strategy and Go-To-Market plans for Service Providers business in a region that includes Cisco’s fastest growing markets worldwide. Ghazi also sat on Cisco’s Corporate Service Provider Business Council that is tasked with shaping Cisco’s Service Provider technology strategy worldwide. Ghazi has led Cisco’s MENA operations for 3 years as General Manager. He built and lead one of the most effective go to market organizations in the region, Cisco’s highest growth region worldwide. Prior to that, he served as the General Manager of Cisco Saudi Arabia for 2 years.

Prior to Cisco, Ghazi was the head of multimedia ATM access technology at General Datacom’s R&D labs in Montreal, Canada. Earlier in his career, Ghazi was a Chief Network Architect in the network planning group for Teleglobe Canada, Canada’s international carrier.

Ghazi holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from the University of Quebec, Canada and an executive MBA program for enterprise from Stanford & London Business Schools.

As a Senior Middle East Economist at Oxford Economics, Mohamed is responsible for forecasting the macroeconomic outlook for several Middle Eastern economies with specific focus on the GCC.

Mohamed joined the Oxford Economics team after spending three years at the Central Bank of Bahrain as an Economist, conducting economic research and analysing macroeconomic trends at the local, regional, and global level.

Trevor is a Partner and Head of the Middle East Finance and Projects Group. He has over 30 years' experience working on construction projects in a range of sectors including real estate, infrastructure (airports, rail, highways, bridges, schools and hospitals) and energy. He focuses on the project implementation contracts including: consultancy contracts; construction, design and construction and EPC contracts; project, development and construction management arrangements; O&M contracts; framework and alliancing arrangements.

Cynthia is an audit partner in Deloitte's Dubai office with over 25 years of experience in the profession. Prior to joining Deloitte Dubai in January 2006, Cynthia was a partner at Baker Tilly, UK, where she was the partner in charge of the audit department and prior to that she was with Deloitte in South Africa for 10 years.

Cynthia has worked with businesses ranging from quoted companies to large and small owner-managed entities in the Middle East, UK and South Africa controlling overall service delivery. She has experience in advising on corporate transactions, including acquisition due diligence and group re-organisations.

Cynthia is the Middle East Construction Industry Leader for Deloitte; as such Cynthia chairs industry conferences and writes articles on industry issues. Cynthia is an author and founder of the GCC Powers of Construction Publication issued by Deloitte Middle East, which includes expert views on opportunities and facts in the region. Her current portfolio of clients includes all the major construction companies audited in the UAE including Wade Adams, Dubai Contracting Company, Alec Construction as well as a number of international referral assignments including Habtoor Leighton Group,and Murray & Roberts

Cynthia is also the Director of Operations for Audit in the Middle East implementing a large scale transformation programme. With her keen interest in people and the development of talent within the Firm she also leads the UAE Audit division’s HR department which looks after over 500 people across the UAE and Chairs the ACCA Women in Finance Forum for the UAE.

Rob Devereux is CEO of ICD Brookfield Management Limited, responsible for Brookfield’s joint venture partnership with the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

Mr Devereux joined ICD Brookfield Management Limited in 2014, working on the JV’s first major investment of ICD Brookfield Place, a 53 storey, 1.5 million sq ft office tower designed by Foster and Partners and located within The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). Prior to joining ICD Brookfield, Rob was a Director with Multiplex for 10 years in Dubai, India and Sydney. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Construction Management and a Postgraduate Diploma in Property Development and Management from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Jay Epstien represents local and national owners, developers and users in all aspects of real estate transactions involving urban office buildings, shopping centers and mixed use projects.

He has been the lead lawyer on many of the largest office leases in Washington, DC, representing both landlords and tenants, including numerous law firms that have sought his counsel. He has represented major corporations in corporate real estate facilities matters throughout the United States, involving corporate relocations and disposition of significant existing facilities.

Jay is a member of DLA Piper's US Executive Committee and co-chairs the Global Real Estate practice. In addition, he is a fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers, currently serving as President, and a member of the Anglo American Real Property Institute.

Pankaj is a financial service professional with over 17 years of rich investment banking and asset management experience in the United Arab Emirates in various leadership roles. Prior to joining GII, Pankaj was Head of Investment Business Development at Allied Investment Partners, a UAE-based investment banking company he contributed to build from inception in 2007, to manage the assets of number of prominent business people and leading members of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family. Together with Terence Allen, Pankaj was also instrumental in starting Union National Financial Consultancy in 2004, an investment advisory company (which changed its name to Gulf Islamic Investments in 2014) dedicated to assist prominent members of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family in managing their assets.

During his time at AIP and UNFC, Pankaj was responsible, among other things, of the management of a $2.5 billion investment portfolio, in addition to a number of advisory mandates, which included well in excess of $4 billion in successful debt and equity syndication. Prior to AIP and UNFC, Pankaj was a part of Investment Banking Division of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, where he successfully introduced Indian investment opportunities to NBAD’s investors. Pankaj has been involved in many project and company start-ups, and sits on Management Board & Advisory Board of many companies. He is also Ambassador & Strategic Advisor to Horasis (leading emerging market forum). Pankaj is actively involved in social & philanthropic work too.

Pankaj holds BSc (Maths) and an MBA Degree. He is also a Certified Private Equity Specialist (CPES).

Natasha is a Director at Integrated Alternative Finance Ltd (IAF), a wholly owned subsidiary and the principal debt investment platform of Abu Dhabi Financial Group. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Abu Dhabi listed property developer Eshraq Properties Co. and Septech Holdings, a specialist water provider headquartered in Dubai.

At IAF, Natasha leads the investment team and is responsible for the origination, structuring and execution of ADFG’s debt investments in the Middle East including last mile financing for property developers, acquisition financing for financial sponsors, mezzanine financing and subordinated debt. Natasha has structured over US$7 billion in real estate financing, including last mile financing for Balqis Residences on the Palm Jumeirah and a GBP100 million listed Eurobond for the Broadway development in London.

Prior to joining ADFG in 2014, Natasha was part of the Corporate Finance and Debt Advisory team at Deloitte Corporate Finance Advisory in Dubai, where she had broad experience across a range of advisory services and sectors including education, logistics, energy and real estate. She advised GEMS Education on its equity disposal to Fajr Capital, Blackstone and Mumtalakat in 2014 as well as raising US$265 million sale and lease backs and US$200 million hybrid Sukuk offering in 2013. Natasha has also advised on a 100 percent debt financed acquisition of shipping assets through senior and mezzanine financing and assisted a US based marine renewable energy company on raising project finance for the development of its projects.

Natasha holds an MSc in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Bristol in the UK with a year at University of Bologna, Italy.

Jamil joined JODC in September 2017 as the Chief Commercial Officer. In his previous role he was National Director and Saudi Arabia Country Head at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). 

Jamil has over 13 years of experience spanning across reputable names including PWC, A'ayan Capital, Shada Homes, and Ewaan Global Residential Company, assuming the roles of Investment Manager, Director of Strategy and Business Development and CEO.

Jamil holds a BA in Business Administration from American Intercontinental University and an MSc in accountancy from California State University Fullerton. CPA from the state of California.

Mustafa Kheriba is the Chief Operating Officer of ADFG, and Executive Director of the Company's Investment Manager, ADCM Ltd. Mustafa has extensive experience and an inherent understanding of the UK real estate market and pioneer emerging markets such as the GCC, Eastern Europe, and Iraq.

Mustafa manages the day-to-day operations, business development and control aspects of ADFG and its subsidiary companies. He also oversees deal origination, fund raising activities and directly manages key investments for the company. He also currently serves as Executive Director of Integrated Alternative Finance, Spadille Ltd., Integrated Capital, Northacre Plc, Reem Finance, Integrated Securities and Injaz Eastern European Property Development Company, in addition to being Non-Executive Director at Qannas Investments Limited. Mustafa is also currently a board member and Managing Director of Gulf Finance Company in the UAE and KSA.

Mustafa previously held senior posts in financial services and investment companies in the GCC, USA and Canada. Prior to joining ADFG, he was Vice President of Operations & Portfolio Management at Brainnox Investment Management, an in-house private equity division of a German conglomerate based in Dubai, managing the group’s investments in Eastern Europe and MENA. Mustafa has been named among the top 50 MENA Fund Managers in the 2015 and in 2016 annual survey conducted by MENA FM Magazine. Mustafa holds a BA from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from Ohio Dominican University with Magna Cum Laude donors.

Paul's core practice focuses on both conventional and Islamic finance products with experience across the full spectrum of banking and finance transactions, including leveraged and acquisition finance, derivatives and capital markets, asset and project finance, general bank lending, restructuring and insolvency.

Having spent over eight years working in the Middle East, based in both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Paul has led many of the largest and most innovative banking and finance transactions undertaken in the region to date and is regularly cited by the main independent legal directories as a leader in his field.

Like many leading practitioners in Saudi Arabia Paul has been heavily drawn into the regulatory reforms which form part of Vision 2030, including coordinating the drafting of the new VAT law and its implementing regulations.

Peter McCreanor is the founder and CEO of Tribe. Peter has 25 years' experience including senior roles with Macquarie and Lend Lease in Australia, Asia and the Middle East.

Prior to founding Tribe he was employed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets where he was CEO of the Macquarie-led ZonesCorp Infrastructure Fund, a co-investment fund with the Government of Abu Dhabi established for the delivery of industrial city assets under one of the region's first PPP schemes.

Shane has 15 years experience in Banking and Corporate Finance throughout North America, Europe and The Middle-East. Shane joined Standard Chartered Bank in his current role in 2012 to develop the Bank’s Real Estate offering in the region. He was previously with Deloitte Corporate Finance (Ireland) where he helped grow the Debt & Capital Advisory platform there, advising on a variety of cross-border transactions including capital raisings, restructurings and FIG M&A transactions throughout Ireland, the UK and continental Europe across the Real Estate, Hotel and Leisure, Manufacturing and Financial Services Industries.

Shane holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LLB) from University College Galway, a Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies Degree (BBLS) from University College Dublin, a certificate in Islamic Commercial Law from CIMA and a certificate in International Treasury Management from Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT).

Joe is a Partner at Knight Frank and Head of the Middle East Capital Markets team. Joe started his career in Central London, advising UK and international institutions, pension funds and property companies on their investment strategies. Joe was also involved in the asset and investment strategy for a number of UK focused real estate investment funds. Having worked in the Gulf since 2008, Joe has dealt with Middle East based clients on direct investment and development opportunities regionally and internationally and currently sits on Knight Frank’s Global Capital Markets Board.

Tom O'Grady is a highly experienced and well respected real estate lawyer with over 30 years’ experience advising clients in the UK, Ireland and for the past ten years in the Middle East and continues to be a ‘go to’ name for clients (both local and international) on their most complex and innovative real estate transactions. Tom has particular expertise in corporate structuring and development work, completing a number of significant, high-profile deals in the office, retail and hospitality and leisure sectors on behalf of leading names. He remains at the forefront of the industry and continues to drive legal innovation.

Daniel leads the legal and leasing teams at Gulf Related as well as providing oversight of the property management team. His successes at Gulf Related include the creation of the Dining Collection at The Galleria as well as leading the negotiations for the purchase of Al Maryah Central and the anchor tenant deals, including the Richemont Group, LVMH, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and the Inditex brands such as Zara.

At Gulf Related, Daniel's legal responsibilities include negotiating real estate acquisition and joint venture agreements; recommending and implementing equity and debt structures; establishing and overseeing real estate funds; establishing and executing retail leasing programs. His commercial responsibilities include managing the leasing team; overseeing the marketing team and taking a leading role in the day-to-day corporate office and project operations.

Prior to joining Gulf Related, Daniel was Senior Associate in the real estate group of leading US law firm, Paul Hastings out of its New York office. At Paul Hastings, Daniel worked on commercial real estate, joint ventures and finance transactions for developers, funds and banks across a broad range of complex transactions. Transactions he worked on include 2 Park Avenue, New York, The James Hotel, New York and Hilton Garden Inn on 35th Street in New York. Daniel, who has been admitted to both the New York State Bar and the Supreme Court of New South Wales, graduated with a Bachelor of Law (honours) from Sydney’s University of Technology.

Duncan Pickering regularly acts for international investors on high value transactions across all property sectors including a number of portfolio acquisitions and disposals and transactions with cross-border/complex structuring elements.

Duncan has also acted on the development of large mixed-use schemes dealing with all aspects of the acquisition, structuring and disposal of those schemes. Duncan leads the Middle East Retail Group, a multi disciplinary group focussed on servicing the retail sector.

Before moving to Abu Dhabi in 2008 Duncan spent 11 years practicing in DLA Piper's City of London office.

Based in Dubai, Craig has responsibility for JLL’s research team in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This team advises clients on the impact of real estate market conditions on the performance of specific developments and investments. The MENA research team also prepares a range of regular publications on market conditions and Thought Leading reports on trends impacting on future real estate market conditions.

Craig has more than 25 years experience providing clients with quality advice on real estate market conditions in the UK, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. With a background in urban economics and spatial planning, he has particular experience and expertise in the areas of property market research, development consultancy, transport related infrastructure projects and corporate real estate.

Since 2006, Craig has advised clients on a wide range of projects in markets across the Middle East including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon. He has spoken on real estate markets at numerous conferences across the region and has appeared as an independent real estate expert before the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC). He is a regular commentator on real estate issues in the print and broadcast media in the MENA region and is a guest lecturer on real estate courses in the UAE.

Craig has authored more than 30 published articles/research reports on a range of different subjects impacting on real estate in the Middle East including; transport infrastructure; high – tech and business park developments; off shoring of business processes; the influence of technology on real estate; drivers of real estate demand and city development; corporate real estate strategy and business location planning.

Before moving to Dubai in 2006, Craig was responsible for the development of JLL’s Real Estate Intelligence Service (REIS), a subscription based research service provided to leading developers and investors across Asia Pacific

Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Craig worked with Debenham Tewson & Chinnocks (now DTZ) in their research and planning teams in London and the College of Estate Management at the University of Reading (UK).

Anuj Ranjan is a Managing Partner and Regional Head of Middle East and South Asia, responsible for overseeing all of Brookfield’s investment initiatives and operations. Mr. Ranjan joined Brookfield in 2006 and has held various positions within the company and its affiliates, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity and real estate advisory. He relocated from Toronto to Mumbai in 2009, where he helped build Brookfield’s India business, and then in Dubai to further expand Brookfield’s presence in the region. Mr. Ranjan has been involved in over $20 billion of transactions globally.

Anthony has over ten years’ experience within the institutional real estate market. He was appointed Head of Real Estate in 2018 having previously been Fund Manager, Real Estate at Emirates NBD Asset Management since 2012. He has had a key part in building ENBD REIT’s institutional portfolio and its subsequent listing on the Nasdaq Dubai in March 2017.

Prior to Emirates NBD Asset Management, Anthony was an Asset Manager at Public Investment Corporation (South Africa) managers to Africa’s largest government pension fund, and prior to that a Professional Valuer at Old Mutual Properties (South Africa).

He is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS), a registered valuer and holds Bachelor of Science Honours in Property Studies from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Mohamed is the head of contracts & commercial of Eagle Hills International Properties, with vast experience in complex construction contracts procurement covering a variety of geographical locations and markets that includes Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Being an Architect by education, combined with his post-graduate studies in Construction Law and his experience working for Engineers, project Management firms, Contractors and Developers, Mohamed has developed a wealth of experience across the construction supply chain.

Simon is a Senior Director and Head of the Valuation and Advisory business for the UAE. Simon has wide-ranging valuation experience across the MENA region, advising financial institutions, developers, funds and business entities alike. Since relocating to the UAE from a prominent private practice in the UK in 2001, Simon has been the resident partner at Cluttons as well as heading the investment and advisory businesses within investment banks both Islamic and conventional within the UAE and elsewhere in the GCC. During this time he has been involved in significant number of valuation mandates across the GCC, North Africa, Europe and the US of almost all asset classes as well as being involved in a number of high profile investment acquisitions across these geographies. Simon is a Senior Director and Head of the Strategic Advisory teams as well as leading the recently opened CBRE KSA operations.

Simon possesses in excess of 17 years’ professional experience of valuing a diverse range of assets including hotels, shopping malls, offices and retail properties, industrial warehousing, land portfolios and mixed-use master plan developments with more than 13 years within the UAE and wider GCC. Simon has been an RICS qualified surveyor 17 years and as well as being an RICS registered valuer is regularly a chairman of assessors for future qualified chartered surveyors.

Sanjay Vig is Managing Director – Corporate Advisory & Direct Investments at Al Mal Capital PSC since December, 2016. Al Mal Capital is currently focusing on direct investments in Education, Healthcare and Income yielding real estate. We recently acquired a school in Dubai for USD 100 Million as well as a strip mall in California, USA. Prior to joining Al Mal, Sanjay Vig was the Managing Director, Alpen Capital (ME) Limited for the last 11 years. He has also served as the Senior Vice President and Head of Capital Markets at Emirates Bank Group.

During his past 17 year tenure in the Middle East, he has lead-managed mandates of over USD 16 billion in the areas of debt and equity capitals markets and project finance in GCC / India. These cover conventional debt / Islamic finance advisory, M&A, JVs, divestments and private equity in Middle East / South Asia.

He is an economics / finance professional, with over 30 years of corporate / investment banking experience in India, UAE and the Middle East. An Order of Merit Holder of Indian Institute of Bankers, he has undergone management courses in India as well as executive management courses in US and Europe.

Gary currently leads the Murray & Roberts business in the Middle East. An engineer first and foremost, Gary has performed a spectrum of roles in the built environment. Gary is a strategic thinker and a team player who has held various corporate and mega project board and committee positons around the world. Previously Gary was Managing Director of Laing O’Rourke in the UK, CEO of Al Naboodah Construction Group and Managing Director of Murray & Roberts Projects in South Africa.

A Civil Engineering Graduate of Heriot Watt University, Gary trained at Costain Group where he spent 15 years carrying out a variety of strategic, operations and project delivery roles rising to positon of Director responsible for the Middle East business. Gary is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.