BrazilEY named as consultant partner for Saudi Emerging Technologies Forum
Professional service firm Ernst & Young will serve as the official consulting partner for the Saudi Emerging Technologies Forum to be held later this year.
Billed as the largest R&D event in the region focused on the disruptive technologies of what has been labelled the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Saudi Emerging Technologies Forum will in November welcome over 3,000 government officials, senior executives and attendees for three days of workshops, exhibitions, interactive demonstrations and discussions around rapidly emerging technologies.
With the deployment and latest applications of artificial intelligence, blockchain, IoT, robotics and data science just some of the topics on the agenda, the conference will also feature over 50 tech and industry leaders drawn from an array of sectors for a series of keynotes and panels – including an executive briefing led by Glenn Maxwell, a partner with the regional Advisory practice of EY, the official consultant partner for the event.
Currently heading up Ernst & Young’s Finance Advisory practice for the Middle East and North Africa, along with holding responsibilities for the advisory lines activities around optimisation and revenue enhancement, robotics process automation (RPA) and shared and managed services, Maxwell has been with the firm for the past three and a half years, and altogether based in the region for close to a decade.
Graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Cork in 1998, Maxwell subsequently spent five years in a financial shared service centre development role with Pfizer, before joining the Irish office of Accenture – where he would head up the firm’s Corporate Finance business for the UK and Ireland, spending 12 years locally and being made partner before transferring to the Middle East.
Arriving in 2010, Maxwell served as a managing director with responsibility for Accenture’s Products (Retail, Consumer Goods, Travel and Transportation, etc.) business in MENA, along with the firm’s local Finance & Enterprise Performance practice, before ultimately crossing to EY as a Dubai-based partner in 2016 – having also gained health and public service strategy and transformation experience along the journey.
“This event represents a turning point in the digital transformation domain in Saudi Arabia because it will be the only platform in the Kingdom that will celebrate the Vision 2030 digital transformation leaders who are driving the deployment of emerging technologies in government entities and private sectors,” said forum director Chiara Palieri, who added that government representatives will unveil their latest digitisation programmes during the event.
Joining Maxwell as guest presenters over the three-day forum, to be held at the Kempinski Hotel in Riyadh from 11th to 13th of November, are among others du CEO Sultan Osman and Cyrus Hodes, Director of the AI Initiative, along with senior representatives from the Saudi Environment, Labor and Social Development, Health, Foreign Affairs, and Finance ministries among others. Ten innovation pioneers will also be awarded at a ceremony during the event.
