Management

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum - Chairman & Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum began his aviation career in 1985, when he was appointed President of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation. In the same year, he became Chairman of the newly founded Emirates, and helmed the launch of the airline with two leased aircraft to two destinations from Dubai. Today, he leads the Emirates Group, which includes dnata.

Emirates is now an award-winning global airline with a network of more than 150 destinations spanning six continents. With more than 270 aircraft, the airline has the world’s largest fleet of Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s. Under his leadership, Emirates has been profitable for the last 30 years, a rarity in the airline industry.

dnata is one of the world’s largest air services providers that operates in 127 airports. Offering ground handling, cargo, travel, and flight catering services in 85 countries across six continents, dnata is a trusted partner for over 300 airline customers worldwide.

Sheikh Ahmed has contributed immensely to Dubai’s global stature as a leading business, tourism, trade and transport hub, with aviation now accounting for 28% of its GDP. With several leadership roles in government, his role in the formulation of policies and strategies has helped strengthen Dubai’s vision, economy, communities and culture. He is a patron of many charitable organisations, and has won prestigious national and international accolades.

Sheikh Ahmed has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, Colorado, USA. The Royal Aeronautical Society honoured his achievements in aviation with a fellowship at the 1994 Farnborough Air Show, UK. In May 2013, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from City University London – Cass Business School.

Professor Ahmad Al Ali – Vice Chancellor, Emirates Aviation University (EAU)

Professor Al Ali has been Vice-Chancellor, Emirates Aviation University (EAU) since 2008. He directs the strategy of the university, fostering partnerships and forging new ones within the industry and government, to maintain the university’s excellent reputation in teaching and research. He also makes sure the university is self-funded and achieves its goals.

The aviation programmes – both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the university have grown significantly under his leadership.

Professor Al Ali graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and Master of Science in mathematics from the University of London, and subsequently obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in applied mathematics from City, University of London, UK.

He is a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Associate Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its applications, and has served on numerous national bodies and committees, including as board member of the Dubai Statistics Center.

Previous roles include Assistant Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the Faculty of Science at the United Arab Emirates University, and has published several articles and papers in well-regarded journals of applied mathematics.

Steve Allen - CEO dnata

Steve Allen is responsible for all dnata’s businesses covering ground handling, catering and travel across six continents. In addition, he has responsibility for managing Emirates Group’s relationships with its associated businesses, including MMI, Emirates CAE Flight Training and Premier Inn.

Steve joined dnata in 2009 as Vice President Operations, where he was instrumental in the birth of the One dnata Strategy. He then moved to lead the Emirates Group Performance Development department in 2011 as Senior Vice President, and led a number of major change programmes.

In 2015, he was appointed Divisional Senior Vice President UAE Airport Operations and also began overseeing dnata Travel and its ongoing transformation from June 2020. Steve was appointed dnata’s global CEO  in March 2021.

Prior to joining dnata, Steve had 15 years of experience in British Airways in the UK and Middle East.

Michael Doersam- Chief Financial Officer, Emirates Group

Michael joined Emirates in 2006 as Vice President for Outstation Finance and Risk Management at the Group’s headquarters in Dubai. In this role, he was responsible for the Finance activities across the airline’s network in more than 80 countries and the Group’s credit risk management in its home market of the United Arab Emirates. Two years later, in 2008 he was appointed Senior Vice President for Group Finance.

In June 2021 he was appointed Group CFO responsible for managing Finance Strategy, Financial Reporting, Treasury, Management Accounting, Global Financial Services and Insurance within the company.

Michael is also a board member of Emirates Aviation University, Emirates Flight Catering, MMI/Emirates Leisure Retail, and Emirates-CAE Flight Training.

He is actively engaged with the aviation industry as a member of the Airline Financial Advisory Council of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and also guest lectures at the University of St. Gallen.

Prior to joining Emirates, Michael was Head of Controlling at Berlin-Chemie AG in the pharmaceutical industry.

He began his career at Lufthansa AG where he held various managerial positions in Finance, Internal Audit, Cost Management, Corporate Controlling and Risk Management based in Cologne, Bangkok, Toronto and Frankfurt. Michael moved from Lufthansa to head all Finance-related activities for the Star Alliance organization before joining Thomas Cook AG (former C&N) as Director Corporate Controlling.

Michael holds a Diploma in Business Administration at the Private University of the German Federal Reserve Bank, a Diploma in International Management from INSEAD Business School, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies from the University of St. Gallen.

Ahmed Safa – Divisional Senior Vice President Engineering, Emirates

Ahmed Safa is responsible for providing leadership, strategic direction, organisation and guidance to a large multinational, multicultural teams across all Engineering and Maintenance disciplines. His team includes Operational Departments, Technical Fleet Organisation, Lifecycle Asset Management, Engineering Training, Engineering Facilities and Engineering Procurement.

Ahmed Safa joined Emirates in 1991 as an engineer and rose up the ranks.

In 2006, he became Vice President and in 2007, he was appointed Senior Vice President, leading the front-end of engineering that supports the Dubai hub and outstations. Ahmed’s responsibilities expanded into Heavy Maintenance and Overhaul, and in 2016 he was asked to lead a broad number of sectors within Engineering, including supply chain, inventory management, design organisation, aircraft configuration, and engineering innovation among others.

He is the nominated post holder for CAMO – Continuous Airworthiness Management Organisation

Ahmed is a licensed aircraft engineer with a Master of Business Administration degree from Bradford University.

Amira Al Awadhi - VP HR Business Partner & National Development, Emirates Group

Amira Al Awadhi serves as Vice President Human Resources Business Partner & National Development for the Emirates Group. In her current role, Mrs. Al Awadhi is responsible for leading Flight Operations, Service Delivery, Engineering, Airport Services & IT human resources strategy. During her 20 years at Emirates Group, Amira Al Awadhi has worked closely with leaders across the organization to establish and manage an HR structure that reflects and supports their dynamic business needs.

Prior to her current role, Amira Al Awadhi was Vice President Human Resources National Recruitment & Development at Emirates Group where she has managed efforts that have resulted in the attraction, development, and retention of UAE nationals, overseen major initiatives across the Group as well as developed a strategy with external bodies to support the Groups Emiratisation strategy.

Mrs. Al Awadhi holds a Higher Diploma in Financial Services from Dubai Women’s College, Certificate in Personnel Practice from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the United Kingdom (CIPD), and Certificate for completion of “Leading to the future Leadership program for executives” conducted by Tommy Weir and Certificate of Global Business consortium program for the Executive Leadership program from London Business school.