Speakers
Sallyann Della Casa
As Founder and Chief Identity Hacker of GLEAC, Sallyann Della Casa is one of the 4% of women globally who has a patent-pending method and algorithm to signal and train agents in human skills.
In 2016, she served as the only female at a C-suite level at Careem to help stabilize the workforce and shape its organizational culture.
Careem was purchased by Uber for 3.1 b in Jan 2020.
On Oct 15th, 2022 , she dropped the world’s first NFT tokenizing industry experts time on and is building the first Metaverse Living
Museum of Human wisdom with the NFT experts profiles (think Wikipedia in Metaverse and interactive).
A Harvard alum with degrees in Law, Organizational Behavior, and Urban Planning, Sallyann spends her days as the Founder of GLEAC, a mentorship and learning platform that shortens the distance between you and expertise. GLEAC powered the World Fair in Dubai, upskills African youth on the YOMA the Unicef Platform and also empowers learners on the JIO platfrom across India.
Sallyann is also the Founder of the Growing Leaders Foundation.
Presentation title: What would happen if we disrupted libraries and …… ( Get ready for a roller coaster innovation ride! )
Aaron Tay
Aaron has been an academic librarian for over 10 years in Singapore and has worked in a variety of areas including library discovery, social media and bibliometrics. He is currently Lead, Data Services at the Singapore Management University Libraries. He has been honoured for his contributions to the profession with a few awards including Library Association of Singapore (LAS) Professional Service Award, Congress of Southeast Asian Libraries (CONSAL) award (Silver) and Pacific Rim Research Library Alliance (PRRLA) Karl Lo award. He enjoys reading and thinking about the use of technology for academic users and regularly blogs his thoughts at the popular Musings about Librarianship since 2009. |
Ujala Satgoor
Ms Ujala Satgoor is the Executive Director: University of Cape Town Libraries since 2019. With over 25 years’ experience, Ujala has fulfilled a leadership role on many national and international library and information services advisory and governing boards and committees during her career, which includes Board member: IATUL (2020-); Chair: Committee of Higher Education Libraries in South Africa (2018-2020); LIASA President (2012-2014); Co-Chair: 2015 IFLA WLIC National Committee; Member: AfLIA Governing Board; Member: IFLA Africa Section and Member: Council on Higher Education Library & Information Services Reference Group. With several published papers, Ujala’s experience includes library grant proposal writing and grants management, library leadership development and strategy formulation, and most recently, leading in times of crises including the UCT Jagger Library fire (2021). Ujala was named the first LIASA Executive Librarian of the Year in 2018.
Nick Poole
Nick is the Chief Executive of CILIP, where he works with the Board of Trustees and Presidential Team to set strategy and lead programmes to advance the interests of CILIP Members. Nick currently represents the sector on the Government Media Literacy Taskforce and holds the secretariat of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Libraries, Information and Knowledge (APPG LiNK). Nick was previously Chair of Wikimedia UK, the UK chapter of the global Wikipedia Movement and is the former Chair of the Executive Board of BIC Ltd.
Nick has previously held roles in museums, central Government and corporate finance. He has been principal investigator on research-led programmes with a budget in excess of EUR110m and was for 7 years the UK representative to the European Commission. He studied languages at University and holds postgraduate qualifications in Historical Linguistics from the University of Cambridge, Fine Art and Illustration from London University of the Arts and the History and Philosophy of Science from Birkbeck College.
Diane Job
With over a decade of experience as the Director of Libraries and Learning Resources at The University of Birmingham, Diane Job has overseen several innovative projects that have transformed library services and resources.
Under her leadership, the University successfully completed its new Main Library and Teaching and Learning Building, both of which feature innovative design elements focused on enabling continual service improvement and development. These buildings not only enhance the learning experience for students but also promote a culture of innovation and excellence.
Moreover, Diane’s commitment to learning and development extends beyond the University’s campuses. She was instrumental in the institution’s ambitious new capital program and played a key role in the development of the Dubai campus project. Her emphasis on creating a culture of learning, improvement, and development that flows in both directions has been transformative and has the potential to shape the future of libraries and learning. Her extensive knowledge and experience will undoubtedly provide valuable insights and inspiration to conference attendees.
Isobel Abulhoul OBE
CEO & Trustee - Emirates Literature Foundation
Isobel Abulhoul came to Dubai in 1968 and co-founded Magrudy’s, a bookshop chain, in 1975 which is still thriving and now has eleven bookshops across the UAE.
In 2008 Isobel founded the international Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, the Middle East’s largest award-winning celebration of the written and spoken word. In 2013, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and also the Festival patron, issued a Decree establishing the Emirates Literature Foundation, naming Isobel as one of the trustees on the Board and holds the position of CEO. She is also a Trustee of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction Board, Secretary General of the Kalimat Foundation and a director of the Board for the Mohammed Bin Rashid Library. In addition, Isobel was elected to the Supreme National Committee for Tolerance and selected as member of the Police Advisory Council for Community Service. In September 2021, she was appointed as Chairperson for Global Council (Nexus Model).
Isobel has received several awards and accolades over the years such as Cultural Personality of the Year by Dr. HH Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah in 2010, prestigious OBE award by HM Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain in 2012 and the Pioneer’s Award in 2016 from HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Isobel’s passion and drive for education and literature remains as strong as ever.
Ahlam Bolooki
Ahlam is the Director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature – the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word. With a mission of inspiring all to read for pleasure, the festival is a platform for open dialogue, forward thinking and promotes a more empathetic society.
She is also the General Manager of ELF Publishing, the publishing house under the Emirates Literature Foundation umbrella with a mission to publish strong regional narrative that deserve to be read.
Ahlam is the leader of the UAE Wikimedia User Group and founder of the Kateb Maktub movement which cultivates free information culture and enriches Arab authors data online.