Robert is the Director of the Economist Corporate Network based in Dubai and covering the MENA region. Robert works closely with network members to help inform their business strategies through political, economic and operational insight and to connect them with their senior leadership peers.
Robert is a business journalist, editor and publisher with nearly 25 years of experience covering a wide variety of sectors, including hospitality, retail, construction, energy and transport, and a particular interest in human capital management.
He is an accomplished event chairman, moderator and speaker.
Robert completed an MBA at the University of Leicester School of Business in 2012 and holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Nottingham.

Pat Thaker provides the intellectual leadership necessary to ensure that the Economist Intelligence Unit’s analysis and forecasts for the Middle Eastern and African markets are the most insightful available to international decision-makers. Her deep knowledge and regional experience means she frequently chairs and speaks at conferences in the MEA region on subjects such as the business case for Africa, the impact of low oil prices for the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), global food security, urban sustainability and corporate social responsibility. She leads the EIU’s Middle East and Africa team, ensuring that its regional forecasts are integrated with its global macroeconomic outlook, and developing the regional expertise required to diagnose problems and devise viable solutions for EIU clients.

David holds the role of Chief Executive Officer, Middle East & North Africa. Previous to this role David was Executive Partner and Chief Executive in Australia and New Zealand, a post he has held since returning to his home country in 2014.

Additionally, in 2018 he took on the role of Chief Transformation Officer, Creative Agencies, WPP AU NZ, driving WPP’s AU NZ creative agencies to be primed for the future.

David began his career in Sydney with Batey Ads before joining Ogilvy in 1999 in Australia, working on Nestlé and Unilever among other major brands. Four years later he was promoted to Executive Director of the Sydney office, managing new business and client relationships throughout the agency. In 2005, David moved to London to head up Ogilvy’s Global Trade Marketing operation in Ogilvy’s global shopper marketing agency. In 2006 David was promoted to Global Client Services Director and in 2009 took over as Worldwide Managing Director across all global clients.

Graham joined Japan Tobacco International in 2007 to lead the Jordan and Palestine markets based in Amman, Jordan. In 2011 he was appointed to lead the markets of the Levant based in Cyprus and in November 2016 he was appointed General Manager and Vice President for the Middle East, based in Dubai, UAE.

Graham has been working in the tobacco industry since 1993 holding various senior Regional Financial and General Management roles across the Middle East and Africa Regions and has additionally lived in both Egypt and Lebanon during this time.

Graham is a Chartered Accountant and holds a degree in Accountancy from Glasgow University.

He is married with one child.

David brings over 30 years of experience holding leadership positions in multinational organizations across various industries including manpower, aviation, facility management and supply chain.

As the CEO & Managing Director of the UAE’s longest serving People & Environmental Solutions business, David is responsible for leading the 85-year-old Emirati Organization, providing executive leadership and strategic direction for over 12,000 strong workforce across multiple industries and service lines.

Since his joining in 2016, David oversaw a period of exponential growth while leading a number of strategic acquisitions and joint ventures, in addition to cultivating and steering complete organization re-brand and market re-positioning.

But most remarkably he spearheaded the bid and ultimate award of Dulsco as the official waste management partner of the UAE’s flagship Expo 2020 Dubai.

Prior to joining Dulsco, Mr. Stockton was the CEO and Managing Director of G4S the global integrated security company responsible for five core business units including Facility Management, Aviation and Employee outsourcing. Earlier in his career David spent over 9 years in British Airways where he was responsible for the repositioning of the Onboard product and service and re gathered a wealth of knowledge in the aviation industry services.



As a leader David is committed to creating powerful synergies among employees, customers and community. He believes that linking those three pillars starts with empowering the people and consolidating their sense of responsibility towards their communities, which will transcend to customers, bringing them together for the march towards a prosperous and sustainable future.

Imad Feghali leads Jacobs’ Buildings and Infrastructure Middle East operations with almost 1,500 professionals located in the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Egypt and Kuwait and an overall turnover of USD 250M.

Imad joined Jacobs 20 years ago as a Civil Engineer in the firm’s San Jose (Northern California) Office. He later transferred to Southern California where he led for 9 years several infrastructure projects and managed key clients’ accounts. In 2011, he moved to the United Arab Emirates where he managed for a period of 3 years the delivery of large programs and projects before taking on a number of leadership positions in different markets across the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Over the past 7 years, he led the Solutions and Technology team across the Middle East, then managed the operations and sales of the company’s water sector in the Middle East and India and prior to taking on his current role, he was the Vice President for new business across the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

Imad is a Civil Engineer by training and is registered Professional Engineer in the State of California since 2004. He holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the Saint Joseph University, an M.S. degree in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.S. degree in Engineering Management from California Polytechnic University in Pomona and an MBA from INSEAD (France).

Imad is based in Dubai where Jacobs’ largest regional office is also located. He is married and has two kids.