Speaker Details
Dr Kamal Shehadi
Group SVP for Regulatory Affairs, Etisalat
Dr Kamal S Shehadi is Etisalat Group's Senior Vice President for Regulatory Affairs. In that capacity, he is responsible for strategic regulatory engagement at Group level. He is also responsible for overseeing and reporting to Group about the performance of Etisalat's operating companies' regulatory activities, identifying regulatory or public policy opportunities to create value, managing regulatory risk, and contributing to shaping the regional and international policy and regulatory environments in which Etisalat operate.
Prior to joining Etisalat Group, Dr Shehadi was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), Republic of Lebanon (www.tra.gov.lb). During his tenure (2007 - 2010), TRA advised the Government of Lebanon on telecommunications; built a capable organisation of 40 professionals; developed a comprehensive regulatory framework; instituted the regulatory authority's key processes, especially those related to consultations, licensing, and consumer protection; issued licenses to over 30 service providers; developed the capability to manage the spectrum, monitor the quality of service, and carry out its various regulatory functions; and hosted the ITU's 2009 Global Symposium for Regulators.
From 2000-07, Dr Shehadi was Managing Director of Connexus Consulting (www.connexusco.com), which he established as the leading consultancy in the Middle East and North Africa in telecom policy and regulation. He consulted to telecom companies, including Etisalat, investors, governments, and various international organisations, including the World Bank, the European Commission, and the United Nations. He has carried out consulting assignments in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Lebanon.
From 1997-98, Dr Shehadi was Vice President of Sovereign Risk Analysis, Middle East, at Thomson BankWatch. From 1994-97, he was Director of Research at the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, an independent policy think-tank, where he published on private participation in infrastructure, telecommunications liberalisation and regulation, public finance, Euro-Mediterranean relations, and many other public policy issues.
Dr Shehadi has a B.A. with honors (A.B. cum laude) from Harvard University in economics and a PhD from Columbia University in international political economy. He was awarded a number of academic distinctions for his academic achievements, most notably the Interdisciplinary Fellowship of the Center for Social Sciences at Columbia University and the John M. Olin Dissertation Fellowship at Harvard University (1989-90 and 1990-91).
