Susan Andrew is a highly experienced Child Protection Specialist with over 15 years global experience. She holds degrees in Social Work and International Development from the University of Sydney and Deakin University in Australia. Susan has worked in more than 10 countries, collaborating with governments, civil societies and communities to develop effective child protection programmes.
Dr. Muhammad Mukaram Khan
Director General, CVD, PTA
Dr. Mukaram Khan is working as Director General Cyber Vigilance at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. He is a Software Engineer from NUST and holds MPhil and PhD from the university of Manchester in Information Security and Super Computing respectively. He is a cyber security professional with CISSP to his credit, besides various technical certifications.
Before this assignment, he has been working as CTO Pakistan Army and worked in various capacities to manage datacenters, designing enterprise architectures and leading nation-wide IT/cyber security projects. He is also associated with NUST as part-time academic to teach and supervise postgrad research in the areas of cyber security, AI, blockchain and system engineering.
Parvez Iftikhar
ICT Policy and Regulation Consultant
With more than 40 years of experience, Parvez Iftikhar is currently providing consulting services on ICT Policy and Regulation in various countries, mainly through global organizations like World Bank, ITU, DFID, USAID, and international consulting houses. Parvez has been the founding CEO of Universal Service Fund (USF) Pakistan (under the Ministry of IT), and the country-head of Siemens “Com” in Pakistan. He has been on sabbaticals to Carnegie Mellon, and Harvard Kennedy School, USA, and Oxford University UK. He received extensive technical and managerial training at Siemens, mainly in Europe. Parvez is also a member of Pakistan Prime Minister’s Task Force on IT and Telecom
Dr. Yasar Ayaz
Chairman / Central Project Director of National Center of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI)
Dr. Yasar Ayaz holds a PhD specializing in Robotics & Machine Intelligence from Tohoku University, Japan and is currently the Chairman / Central Project Director of National Center of Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) of Pakistan. He is also the Head of Department of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (SMME) of National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Pakistan. Furthermore, he has been awarded with honorary title of Specially-Appointed Associate Professor by Tohoku University, Japan. In addition, he is the Founder and President of IEEE Robotics and Automation Society of Pakistan and Deputy Chairman of the National Technology Foresight Panel on Robotics at the Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (PCST).
Dr. Yasar has authored more than 80 international publications and reviews a number of major journals in the areas of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Bioengineering. His research has been cited by top universities of more than 13 countries and he has claimed a number of national and international awards for his research.
Ms. Ameena Sohail
Legal and Regulatory Consultant
Ameena Sohail, a legal and regulatory consultant for network infrastructure entities and a lawyer by profession graduated from the International Islamic University, Islamabad in 1995. With experience of advising both public and private entities in the field of policy making, legislation, negotiating infrastructure contracts and defending clients before adjudicating bodies, she enjoys her work as a strategist for various advocacy assignments, the most. Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (PECA) is an important piece of legislation to her credit which was supervised by her from its formulation to its passage by the Parliament as Member (legal) at the Ministry of IT & Telecom, where all steps in the process were handled by Ameena herself and she further worked on the body of rules to be notified under PECA. Mrs. Sohail is currently the managing partner of M/s Precision Advocates and Consultants
Muhammad Shabbir
President of Internet Society Accessibility Special Interest Group
Mr. Muhammad Shabbir Awan is Founding President of Internet Society Accessibility Special Interest Group (Accessibility SIG) and member board of directors ISOC Pakistan Islamabad Chapter. Professionally a researcher in the domain of strategic studies, he is also pursuing his PhD in International Relations. Working in the domains of international relations and internet governance, Shabbir has a number of publications and international fellowships on his credit. He has also been working for the organizations of persons with disabilities since 1997 as a volunteer. Leading the working group on accessibility for persons with disabilities, Mr. Awan along with other representatives of PWDs, helped MOIT draft “Digital Pakistan” policy 2018. He is also the member of Pakistan School on Internet Governance (PKSIG) Steering Committee, Multi Stakeholder Group (MSG) of Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APRIGF), International Political Science Association (IPSA), Islamabad Council on World Affairs (ICWA), and member of Multi Stakeholder Group of Pakistan Internet Governance Forum.
Ahmed Bakhat Masood
Director (Cyber Security) in Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA)
Ahmed Bakhat Masood is currently working as Deputy Director (Cyber Security) in Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), previously worked in PTCL and Instaphone. By qualification, he is MS Telecom & Networks, Master in Computer Science (MCS), Lead auditor ISO 27001, MCSE. Mr. Ahmed played a pivotal role in establishment of Pakistan IXP, in making consensus amongst all stakeholders of IXP in Pakistan and currently working as secretary to IXP board. He remained Chair of Task Force on Arabic Internationalized Domain Names (TF-AIDN), a subgroup of ICANN, from July 2017 to June 2020. He also remained a member of the Program Committee of the Middle East DNS Forum, ICANN for four from 2015 to 2018. He is currently a member of the steering committee of pkSIG since 2016 and managing secretariat. Apart from other achievements, Mr. Ahmed played a vital role in the success of South Asian Network Operators Group (SANOG) 29, at Islamabad Pakistan.
Waqas Hassan
Assistant Director, PTA and Vice-Chair, Asia-Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum
Waqas has telecom/ICT regulatory experience of 16 years and contributes actively at the national and global forums such as APrIGF, APSIG, pkSIG, pkIGF, ISOC Pak chapter. He is an expert in internet public policy, stakeholder management and partnerships, advocacy and program development. He is alumni of DIPLO, APrIGF, APSIG, SANOG, CLDP and LIRNEasia. He manages PTA’s engagements with ITU, APT, GSMA, SAMENA and global tech companies. Waqas believes in an open, secure and all-inclusive Internet.
Fahd Batayneh
Stakeholder Engagement Director- Middle East
Fahd Batayneh has been part of the ICANN world since the summer of 2008 where he was active in a number of ICANN working groups. In October 2013, he joined ICANN Org as part of the Global Stakeholder Engagement Team (GSE) supporting the Middle East. Today, he is deeply involved in a number of regional projects that promote ICANN‘s work in the region. He holds a BSc in Computer Engineering with honors, and an MBA. He is happily married and has 3 kids, and calls Amman, Jordan his home.
Susan Andrew
UNICEF
Fouad Bajwa
CEO, Digital Dera
Fouad Riaz Bajwa is the Co-founder and CEO of Agriculture Republic think tank and its Digital Dera Climate Resilient Smart Villages Network PakPattan.
Fouad is a public policy entrepreneur and agriculture innovator.
He has been engaged with regenerative agriculture, rural Internet connectivity, technological innovation and policy initiatives focused on industrialization and future economic growth.
Fouad’s notable initiatives have been aimed at developing and introducing low-cost affordable technologies in Pakistan and across the world.
Fouad has served as a member of the United Nations Secretary General’s advisory group for the Internet Governance Forum in Geneva from 2009-2012. He has consulted and advised various UN bodies in various capacities.
Since 2015, Fouad has been contributing as an Adjunct faculty member at the Centre for Public Policy and Governance CPPG at Forman Christian College University FCCU.
He has been mentoring and advising numerous startups across the country and globally at United Nations, TechStars, Founders Institute, National Incubation Centres and Startup Cup Pakistan
Dr. Arianne T. Jimenez
Meta Head of Privacy & Data Policy, Engagement, for APAC
Dr. Arianne T. Jimenez is the Meta Head of Privacy & Data Policy, Engagement, for APAC and she is part of the company’s global Privacy and Data Policy Team. She’s responsible for helping drive Meta’s strategy and engagement in the region on privacy and emerging tech policy, and data-driven innovation. She is also involved in regulatory engagement, evaluating and responding to legislative and regulatory developments around privacy and emerging technologies, providing advice on product and policy development, and building initiatives focused on privacy and emerging technologies.
She brings both an academic and industry perspective, having specialized in privacy law for her Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.) degree, which she obtained from the University of California – Berkeley School of Law. Her doctoral dissertation was on Working Towards a Data Protection Soft Law Framework for the ASEAN Region.
She obtained her Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from the same institution, where she obtained a Certificate of Specialization in Intellectual Property and Technology Law. During her time in Berkeley, she was also a Graduate Tutor and a Research Assistant, focusing her efforts on legal research and writing, and US privacy.
During her legal career in the Philippines, from which she hails, she clerked for a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, worked as Legal Counsel and Data Protection Officer for a tech company, and taught law subjects at De La Salle University. She’s also published articles on intellectual property law and cyberlaw.
Mohammad Ismail
CEO Pacific Connect Private Limited
An Experienced Network and Telecom Professional with skills to design,
map, sell, deploy complex solutions for the Telecom, Networks, Security,
Lawful Intercept for Data, Internet as well as LTE.
map, sell, deploy complex solutions for the Telecom, Networks, Security,
Lawful Intercept for Data, Internet as well as LTE.
Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Center
Dr Kyle J. Gardner
Kyle Gardner is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and leads public policy for Google in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. Prior to Google, Gardner was a senior associate at McLarty Associates, where he helped companies navigate policy issues across South Asia. Before joining McLarty in 2019, he taught South Asian history at the University of Chicago.
Gardner has written extensively on South Asian history and politics. His book on the India-China border, The Frontier Complex, was published worldwide by Cambridge University Press in 2021. He received a PhD in history, with distinction, from the University of Chicago; an MA from the University of Chicago; and a BA, with high honors, from Wesleyan University. Gardner has studied French, Hindi, Tibetan, and Urdu. He is also a nonresident scholar at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University and a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Muhammad Adil Ali
Executive , Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd
Mr Muhammad Adil Ali has been volunteering for Pakistan School on Internet Governance since long. He served multiple tenures as office bearer of Internet Society Pakistan Islamabad Chapter. Helped in organizing and conducting multiple editions of pkSIG along with different other events under the umbrella of ISOC Islamabad Chapter. He is serving in Fauji Fertilizer Company as Executive – Information Systems. He is certified in different Microsoft, Cisco, SAP and Information Security Domains.
Lu Heng
Founder & CEO of LARUS Limited, Advisory Council Member of Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC)
Mr. Lu Heng founded his very first company at the age of 18 – a company which did business in the game industry from which he made his first success as an entrepreneur. During his studies in the Netherlands, Mr Lu learnt about the Internet in depth and had established extensive network in the industry. He foresaw that the Internet would be the future of our world, while cloud service and IP (Internet Protocol) would be the core which supported this world.
With this belief, he founded Cloud Innovation Limited in 2013, now providing millions of IP (Internet Protocol) addresses to the market. In 2016, he founded LARUS Limited, which has since become the market leader of IP (Internet Protocol) solutions provider in the world.
Mr. Lu believes that education is critical in promoting a better Internet. In 2019, he established LARUS Foundation to promote education on the Internet. The Foundation has sponsored more than a thousand of students from Africa to participate in major Internet events in the same year. Mr. Lu is presently the Advisory Council member of Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) to help guide the Council’s work and progress with his knowledge and industry experience.
CEO & Co-Founder SheDev
Zahra Nooreen
Zahra Nooreen is the CEO and co-founder of SheDev, the first women-led and owned tech company in Gilgit-Baltistan. SheDev is dedicated to empowering women digitally and helping them succeed in the tech industry. With her innovative approach and leadership, Zahra is inspiring a new generation of female entrepreneurs and professionals, driving positive change in her community and beyond.
Director Programs and Operations at TeleTaleem
Khurram Sultan
Khurram serves as Director Programs and Operations at TeleTaleem. He is a senior eLearning and edtech Technical Specialist with 18+ years of industry experience in leading Business Operations, Strategy, Program Design, Development, Implementation, Program Management and M&E functions. Khurram is a development practitioner with a blend of Social Innovation, Business, Technology and Project Management skills. He has been interacting very closely with Governments, Development Sector, Donors and other stakeholders on challenges facing the Education sector and has provided leadership to teams designing innovative new edtech products and services directed towards improvement of service delivery at grassroots level.
Khurram is currently leading multiple innovative and high-impact projects in the edtech space; These include (i) a first of its kind Blended E-Learning implementation in public sector schools in Islamabad sponsored by Federal Directorate of Education, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional training; (ii) Digital Learning initiative for Higher Secondary Schools in Gilgit Baltistan; (iii) Design and Development of STEM content and videos for grades 10-12 under Pakistan Science Foundation’s “Launching of STEM in Pakistan” project; (iv) Provision of E-Education services in the Smart Villages program launched by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and Ministry of IT and Telecom Pakistan.
Lawyer
Yasir Abbas
Yasir is a lawyer based in Gilgit Baltistan. He has more than 6 years of experience working with government, seasoned legislators, senior government officials, and international and regional organizations on human rights law, international law, governance, rule of law, public policy, and international affairs.
He is experienced in advising, brokering, and managing partnerships, cultivating strong networks, lobbying and advocating for progressive law and policy changes, liaising for investments, and integrated development-related interventions. Yasir has also produced research, drafted laws, and policies, represented government and organizations in the media, at high-level meetings, and engaged various stakeholders to meet the strategic vision of organizations.
Yasir is a graduate of the University of Sussex, U.K. with an LLM (Chevening Scholarship). He holds two undergraduate degrees: a Bachelor’s degree in Law (LLB) and a BS (Hons) in International Relations, both from universities in Pakistan.
Director, Ministry of IT & Telecom
Zakir Syed
Currently working as Director at the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication with a focus on digital transformation and internet governance, Zakir Syed is also part of the team that is responsible for national policies on emerging technologies including AI, Cloud, and Blockchain among others.
Zakir is a technology and public policy expert with more than 15 years of experience both in the public as private sectors. He has local, regional and international experience in Internet public policy, telecoms & ICTs, Internet governance and training.
A multiple times ICANN Fellow and Mentor, he was selected by the Internet Society as Ambassador to the United Nations’ Internet Governance Forum 2017 in Geneva. Previously, he has been Internet Society’s Next Generation Leader of on Internet and has been member of the program committee of the Middle East DNS Forum as well as that of the Middle East & Adjoining Countries School on Internet Governance (MEAC-SIG). He is a regular contributor to the PKSIG initiative since its inception.