Roy Thomas
Economic & Financial Advisor
Office of the Minister, Ministry of Finance
State of Qatar
Roy Thomas was called upon as an Advisor by H.E. the Minister of Finance from Qatar National Bank in 2013. Building on more than 13 years of experience and excellence as a Senior Economist at Qatar National Bank, Roy has a multifunctional role that includes key analytics in fiscal and economic performance to enable prudent budgetary planning and performance measures for the State. Roy performs a critical coordination role across government agencies to ensure accurate fiscal and debt reporting to the IMF, rating agencies and investors, as well as internal stakeholders such as the Central Bank and the Planning and Statistics Authority.
To highlight a pick from his project specific achievements, Roy was a key member and backbone for “The Project Al-Majed” Team that managed the record breaking USD12 billion Global Sovereign Bond Issuance by the State of Qatar in April 2018.
Through maintaining close feedback and research relationships with international analysts at credit rating agencies, Roy has been instrumental in upholding the government’s credit ratings at high investment-grade levels.
Roy holds an MBA from Leeds Business School in the UK and a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from St. Joseph’s College in Bangalore, India.
Dr. Khalid Al-Ali
Engineer & Entrepreneur
Dr. Khalid M. Al-Ali brings deep experience and expertise to his roles in various organizations, having spent much of his career in Silicon Valley. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Senseta, a world leader in mission-critical big data fusion, AI and drone-powered deep technologies. He is the Co- Founder and Chairman of the Silicon Valley Space Business Roundtable (SVSBR). He was the Executive Director of the University of California Office for NASA Partnerships and the University Affiliated Research Center (UARC).
He was the Science Advisor for the Office of the Center Director at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and was the principal investigator, project lead, and program visionary at NASA ARC and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL), on key projects involving advanced aircraft and spacecraft technologies, intelligent avionics, novel power systems, planetary rovers and robots, spacecraft, and intelligent exploratory vehicles for Lunar, Martian, and Antarctic missions. He was the Director of Research at Carnegie Mellon University – Silicon Valley Campus and founded the Carnegie Mellon Innovations Lab (CMIL).
Dr. Al-Ali was the advisor to the Board of Directors of Qatar Foundation and CEO of the Qatar Science and Technology Park Project (QSTP). He was a founding member of both Qatar’s Information Technology and Communication Committee and the Steering Committee of the Information Technology and Communication Project. Dr. Al-Ali is the principal inventor of U.S. and worldwide-patented technologies, along with a multitude of disclosed inventions not yet patented. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and dual B.S. degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Fatma Al-Kuwari
Council Member
Fatma Al-Kuwari is one of the two women elected to Qatar’s Municipal Council, representing the 9th district, which covers Al- Thumama, Ras Bufontas (North), Mesaimeer (North). After an unsuccessful first attempt in 2011, Fatma ran for the second time in 2015 and won most of her constituents’ votes. Her loyalty to the district and its people won her this seat despite her close competition. As a mother of three, her campaign slogans and logos depicted her aspirations to balance between life in politics, motherhood, and community service. She has been diligently working and advocating for environmental issues, healthcare, women participation in politics, and be of great use to her community and country at large.
Dr. Mohamed Al-Mulla
Council Member
Dr. Mohamed Abdulla Al-Mulla, who holds Ph.D. in International Law from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of University of London, is the first Qatari and GCC national to join the UN as early as 1985 and to work in the UN for more than 27 years. He has contributed to the global efforts to preserve international peace and security through his extensive work in the areas of international relations, multilateral negotiations and UN diplomacy under the era of successive four Secretary Generals of the UN.
He worked directly with five Under-Secretary Generals in promoting social development and human security. In particular, as a UN Representative for the Gulf Countries, in close cooperation with one of the Under-Secretary Generals, he designed and initiated the famous Global Initiative to fight Human Trafficking (GIFT), which until now continues to mobilize global stakeholders to prevent trafficking in persons, raise awareness through public media (CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and others), take stock, build coalitions, and build a common plan of action through a series of international events leading to Vienna Platform Conference.
Dr. Al-Mulla has held several senior positions in the UN. He served as UN Regional Coordinator for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, where he built consensus and obtained strong commitments from the GCC countries for partnerships with the UN in order to develop international technical assistance projects for that region. Additionally, he managed a UN project that led to the establishment of the Gulf Centre for Criminal Intelligence (GCCI) in Doha, to serve a state-of-the art international criminal justice network at regional and international levels.
He has also served as a Program Coordinator for South-East Asia, where he led the process of development of Lao PDR’s National Strategy on poverty reduction, leading in 2006 to complete elimination of the opium poppy cultivation as well as managing the development of the Memoranda of Understanding between the six Greater Mekong countries (Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), which provided a legal basis for the law-enforcement agencies of these countries to cooperate directly with their international counterparts in compliance with international treaties.
He is an Advisor to Qatar’s Ministry of the Interior on the UN affairs, international law, and the rule of law, a member of Board of Directors of the International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges (IAAI). He has received multiple awards in recognition of his achievements and service to support international efforts in building human security and social development.
Dr. Mohamed Al-Mulla is a native speaker of Arabic, speaks fluently English and can communicate in Farsi, Urdu and German.
Shaikha Al-Thani
Shaikha Al-Thani is a cultural strategist from Qatar. Hailing from a diplomatic family, Shaikha’s passion for arts and culture formed at a young age while living across Europe.
Shaikha returned to Qatar in 2013 where she joined Qatar Museums (QM) as a branding expert. In her role, she oversaw the development and implementation of several museum brands and spearheaded marketing campaigns that furthered awareness of QM locally and internationally.
Shaikha is currently based in New York where she is working with museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Rubin Museum of Art to advance audience engagement, build and implement strategic objectives and introduce innovative frameworks and methodologies that enable them to thrive in the 21st century. She is deeply passionate about the growth of the arts and culture sector in Qatar and has a vested interest in expanding knowledge of Qatar’s arts sector worldwide through cross-cultural dialogue.
Ms. Shaikha Al-Thani has been awarded a MA from Pratt Institute in Arts and Cultural Management and a BSc in Marketing Management & Communications Culture and Media from Oxford Brookes University.
