The Middle East & North Africa Stevie® Awards New Product& Sustainability Awards Judging Committee | The Middle East & North Africa Stevie® Awards

New Product & Sustainability Awards Judging Committee

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Judith Cartwright

Founder & CEO, Black Coral Consulting, Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Judith Cartwright is a senior commercial leader and strategic advisor with over two decades of international experience driving business transformation, profitability, and long-term value creation. She is recognised for her ability to bridge commercial performance with sustainable growth, helping organisations strengthen decision-making, sharpen competitive positioning, and deliver measurable results in fast-changing market conditions across global and regional markets. Judith is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Black Coral Consulting, where she partners with executive teams and stakeholders to improve performance through a commercial lens. Her work supports organisations to optimise revenue strategy, elevate operational alignment, and build more resilient business models. She is known for a practical, outcomes-led approach that turns insight into execution, ensuring strategies are scalable, commercially sound, and aligned to evolving customer expectations. Prior to founding Black Coral Consulting, Judith held senior international leadership positions, including serving as Global SVP of Revenue at Kerzner International. In this role, she led commercial strategy and transformation programmes across globally recognised luxury brands and complex multi-market operations. Her leadership contributed to double-digit performance improvements and strengthened integrated commercial approaches that enhanced overall asset value, improved governance, and accelerated decision velocity across leadership teams. Judith’s expertise spans commercial strategy, revenue optimisation, performance improvement, and transformation planning. She supports organisations to identify growth levers, improve forecasting and decision frameworks, and deliver stronger returns while protecting long-term brand and operational integrity. She also works at the intersection of innovation, technology, and sustainability, with particular focus on the practical application of AI and the evolving value of sustainability-led innovation as a competitive differentiator. A respected industry contributor and governance leader, Judith currently serves on the HSMAI Middle East Revenue Optimisation Advisory Board and previously served as Chair from 2022 to 2024. She is also an invited member of the Hoteliers Guild, Academy of Hospitality Arts, and an Associate Member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC). These roles reflect her commitment to strengthening commercial capability, raising standards, and developing high-performing leadership practices with accountability and impact. Judith is also a published author and recognised voice on commercial performance and future-focused strategy. She authored 10 Success Factors for Asset Management with a Commercial Lens, highlighting the importance of commercial discipline and integrated planning in improving long-term outcomes. She is also a best-selling contributing author to Beyond Reps, supporting wider conversations on longevity-led wellness and sustainable wellbeing as strategic and economic opportunities. In recognition of her leadership and impact, Judith and Black Coral Consulting have received multiple honours, including Stevie Awards and other regional accolades for excellence. As Chair of the Stevie MENA New Product and Sustainability Awards Judging Committee, Judith brings strong commercial judgement, global perspective, and rigorous evaluation standards. She champions innovation that is creative, credible, scalable, and capable of delivering measurable value across industries. She evaluates entries through the lens of customer value, operational feasibility, differentiation, and responsible growth, rewarding solutions that prove impact, not just intent, and setting a benchmark for excellence across the region. for years ahead, at scale.

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Sathya Narayanan Annamalai Geetha

Principal Architect, Google, Apex, United States

Sathya Narayanan Annamalai Geetha, Google Sr. Customer Cloud Architect (19+ yrs), is a Stanford LEAD grad, Fellow-BCS, Dist. Fellow - SCRS & IEEE Sr. Member. Author of "Enterprise-Grade Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Strategies," he is a recognized AI leader (Google President's Award), CAIO Circle advisory board member, and speaker who mentors underserved students. Adjudicator for CODiE, DevPost & SCRS.

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Dipak Kumar Banerjee

Senior Production Planning Tooling Engineer, Techie Associates, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

Dipak Kumar is a highly accomplished professional with extensive experience in leading production planning operations. He has consistently enhanced productivity and reduced costs through the implementation of effective instructional methodologies and strategic resource allocation. With his expertise, Dipak Kumar adeptly manages projects from initial conception to final completion, ensuring optimal results.

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Esha Bangar Hira

Lead Systems Engineer, Visa Inc, Fremont, California, United States

Technical DevOps Leader with nearly two decades of extensive experience, specialized in DevOps practices on premises and on cloud. Esha’s expertise lies in engineering, scaling, and stabilizing DevOps tools.

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Werner Botha

Chief Executive Officer, CarShield, Moscow, Idaho, United States

Registered professional mechanical engineer with several years of experience in the energy sector. Founder and CEO of Bara Consultants for the last 6 years which focuses on consultation to the energy sector as well as waste-to-energy sector. This includes developing novel projects and processes to the specific mentioned sectors.

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Arun Raju Chinna Raju

Doctorate in Business Management, Westcliff University, Redmond, Washington, United States

Arun is a strategic product and business leader specializing in AI-driven innovation, business system modernization, and supply chain transformation. He has experience in global consulting and program management, driving scalable, data-centric solutions. His doctoral dissertation examines the impact of AI on consumer trust and decision-making, and connections to technology adoption.

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Aditya Dani

Chief Architect, PureStorage, Santa Clara, California, United States

Chief Architect at Portworx by PureStorage, leading technical strategy for enterprise data management solutions used by Fortune 500 companies. Founding engineer who helped drive the company from startup to successful acquisition. Guiding customers through strategic infrastructure modernization, enabling business transformation at scale. Focus on innovation that delivers tangible business outcomes.

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Khaled Elnems

Q.C. & Industrial Product Designer, Parsons & Founder, EGY Inventors Society, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Works with International Consultants (Parsons) and is a jury member on the Committee for International Engineering Innovation Exhibitions, a Co-founder (Vice President) of The Egyptian Society for Women & Youth Inventor (Syndicate), Head of Delegation for Young Inventors in Egypt and UAE. He supports cooperation with women and marginalized inventors.

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Zhongqi Fu

Senior Product Designer, Reveleer, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States

Zhongqi Fu is an award-winning creative designer who excelled across healthcare, AI, renewable energy, and B2B SaaS. Now a Senior Product Designer at Reveleer, she previously led high-impact design initiatives for multiple unicorn startups. She is also a devoted mentor who guides junior designers in developing their craft and career paths.

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Amanda GröGor

Marketing Manager, Azraq, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Amanda is a senior marketing and brand strategist with 10+ years of experience delivering high-impact campaigns for global names. Beyond brand work, Amanda brings a unique expertise in CSR and sustainability. As a Board Director at Azraq, Amanda's environmental advocacy differentiates her approach to marketing. Amanda helps companies with environmental goals.

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Jessica Guo

Founder & Design Director, Mud Silk Studios, Brooklyn, New York, United States

Jessica is the founder of Mud Silk Studios, a women-led brand that reimagines ancient Chinese craftsmanship through sustainable, multidisciplinary design. The studio’s work promotes mindful consumption and has received a Sustainability Award from Hey Social Good. Products have been sold in 108 cities across 21 countries and exhibited internationally.

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Ashi Aziz Halani

Supply Chain Manager - Demand Planner, Amazon , Bellevue, Washington, United States

Ashi is a Supply Chain Manager at Amazon with 4+ years of experience in procurement, logistics, and inventory management. Ashi is passionate about optimizing retail operations through data-driven planning, automation, and sustainable practices. Ashi's focus is on using analytics to enhance efficiency, customer experience, and global supply chain performance.

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Zeyi Jiang

Senior UX Designer, ArcSite, New York City, New York, United States

Zeyi Jiang, a Columbia GSAPP alum, is a Senior UX Designer with 6 years in B2B/C SaaS, ARVR, AI. At ArcSite, he led PLG and focused on B2B SaaS design innovation, driving 18.8% growth, 71% conversion lift, and +48.1% ARR to $10.5M.

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Nikhil Kumar

Principal Consultant - Supply Chain Services, PrimeS4 Supply Chain Solutions, Lutz, Florida, United States

Nikhil is an experienced supply chain and technology leader with more than 16 years of expertise driving end-to-end transformation across global organizations. He has led complex programs for logistics service providers, manufacturers, distributors, and life sciences companies, helping them optimize warehouse, transportation, and fulfillment operations.

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Mukesh Kumar Mishra

Software Technical Manager, Hexaware Technologies Inc, Iselin, New Jersey, United States

Mukesh is a results-driven Software IT professional with over 20+ years of diverse experience spanning Technical QA Leadership, Software Development, and End-to-End Product Development. His core focus lies in software product development, backed by a comprehensive understanding of wide-ranging technology solutions and architectures. Mukesh possesses professional proficiency in low-code technologies.

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Glenn Nobbs

Founder & CEO, The Masterkey Guild, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

With over three decades of shaping experiences across some of the world’s most respected and award-winning hotels, Glenn has lived and breathed hospitality on an international stage — from Australia’s iconic harborside to the heart of the Middle East. He has now transitioned to bring support, genuine connection and community to Hotel General Managers.

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Yves Preissler

Founder, YP Business Consulting, Kuwait

Yves Preissler is a senior strategic advisor, concept architect, and keynote speaker operating at the intersection of fitness, wellness, recovery, and hospitality, with more than 25 years of international experience across strategy, operations, and capital-led development. He is the Founder and Managing Principal of YP Business Consulting, a global advisory firm.

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Joyjit Roy

Principal Technical Program Manager, Kforce Inc, Austin, Texas, United States

Joyjit Roy is a business and technology leader with 21+ years of experience delivering enterprise growth through digital transformation, AI and ML adoption, and operational excellence. Strong background in strategic program leadership, innovation execution, and driving measurable business outcomes across complex, global organizations.

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Shatrunjay Singh

Senior Software Engineer, Bloomberg LP, Princeton, New Jersey, United States

Shatrunjay Kumar Singh is a senior technology leader and full-stack engineer with 20+ years of experience in financial technology and legal analytics. He leads secure, AI-enabled platforms for Bloomberg Law, Gov, and Tax, including LLM-powered legal analytics. A CISSP, he combines deep technical expertise with cloud security leadership and active mentorship.

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Waseem Sulaiman

Advisor, DevoTeam, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

An experienced Digital Transformation leader and exceptional trusted advisor who led many publicly traded companies' technology departments. Played an integral part in collaboration with and management of multiple projects on regional and international levels. Holds 25+ years in IT management, managing IT Governance. A trusted advisor for many government projects.

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Zaid Thanawala

Senior Sustainability Research Scientist, Amazon.com, San Francisco, California, United States

Zaid Thanawala is a Senior Sustainability Scientist at Amazon with 9+ years of experience. He leads Life Cycle Assessments and carbon forecasting for Amazon Devices, supporting Net-Zero by 2040. Previously at Salesforce, O-I, and Heineken. He holds degrees in Chemical Engineering, Sustainable Energy Technologies (TU Delft), and Sustainable Systems (RIT).

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Anand Tirupathi

Assistant Professor & Assistant Dean - Executive MBA, SP Jain School of Global Management, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

TP is a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) and a Chartered Accountant (Indian CA) with over 38 years of post-qualification experience having worked in India, Singapore and Dubai. TP has worked in various companies in India, Singapore and Dubai in Senior Management Positions for over 25 years and advises companies.

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Sravan Kumar Vadithala

Global Manager for Repairs, Parts, and Service Proposal Management, Air Products and Chemicals, Katy, Texas, United States

Sravan Kumar brings over 16 years of progressive leadership experience spanning application engineering, proposal and project management, product design, and sales across complex industrial and energy systems. His career focuses on translating advanced engineering solutions into scalable, profitable business outcomes across global markets. He has led and supported diversified product portfolios.

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Sreeja Vallamulla

Founding Engineer, Obviously AI, Inc, Alameda, California, United States

Sreeja Vallamulla is a San Francisco–based Founding Engineer at Zams, building reliable agentic AI systems. Former CTO of VedaVerse, she previously worked on enterprise software at Accenture and holds an M.S. in IT. She has published with IEEE, reviews IEEE conferences, and served as a 2025 Stevie Awards for Women in Business judge.

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Yongzun Wu

UX designer, Samsung, Beijing, China

Yongzun Wu, Design Lead at Samsung, oversees UX for 10 flagship apps and has led global teams for 6+ years. In 2025, he redesigned Samsung Bixby(similar to Apple’s Siri) into a global AI assistant. His work has won awards like Red Dot and MUSE and been featured in exhibitions.

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Dr. Mohammad Zaid

Associate Professor, Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie, Ramallah, Palestine

Mohammad is an Associate Professor in Sustainability Accounting at Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie. He received a PhD degree from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, China. From 2017 onward, Mohammad has focused his expertise on sustainability-related issues. He demonstrated his expertise by conducting several research projects.