Advisory Board

Ron Thomas is a globally recognized leader, strategist, and educator with an influential presence in strategy and human resources. He currently serves as the Managing Director ofStrategy Focused Group, an international consulting firm with headquarters in Dubai and offices in New York City and Singapore.

In academia, Ron holds prestigious positions as a visiting executive senior faculty member at the Human Capital Institute, an Adjunct Facilitator for the EMBA programs of Howard University and the American University in Dubai, and a contributor to the Global Human Resources Leadership Institute at Howard University School of Business.

Throughout his distinguished career, Ron has held pivotal leadership roles, including CEO of Great Place to Work-MENA, CHRO of Al Raha Group in Riyadh, and VP of HR at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. His expertise has supported prominent organizations such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dubai Tourism, and the Singapore Government Civil Service.

Ron has earned numerous accolades for his exceptional contributions, including recognition as one of the Top 5 HR/Leadership Thinkers in the Middle East by CIPD, the Outstanding Leadership Award for Global HR Excellence, and being named among Asia’s 50 Most Talented Global HR Leaders. He is also a recipient of the Global 200 Inspirational Leaders Award and was listed among the Power 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership.

As a thought leader, Ron’s insights have been featured in distinguished publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, and Workforce Management. A prolific writer, he contributes regularly to global HR magazines and online platforms, sharing expertise on leadership, workforce strategy, and organizational transformation.

Beyond consulting and academia, Ron serves on influential boards, including the Harvard Business Review Advisory Council and McKinsey’s Quarterly Executive Online Panel. He is a sought-after speaker, captivating audiences worldwide with his compelling presentations that inspire transformative thinking and help shape the future of business.

Ron’s passion for knowledge-sharing, innovation, and leadership continues to empower individuals and organizations to achieve their full potential. His dynamic career is a testament to his dedication to driving impactful change across industries and regions.

With two decades of expertise spanning Business Assurance, Training, TIC industry, and Standardisation services, Ahmad brings a powerful blend of strategic vision, commercial expertise, and operational excellence. Ahmad holds a Master’s Degree in International Business and a Bachelor’s in Management Information Systems.

Ahmad’s professional journey is distinguished by a progression through senior roles at BSI, including Global Director for Assessment and System Certification, Global Business Development Director for Assurance Services, as well as General Manager of Assurance Services for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa region.

Ahmad currently serves as Chief Operating Officer for BSI’s Assurance Division, steering its global operations with a focus on quality, innovation, and client value. As COO, Ahmad shapes
and drives strategies that deliver consistent, high-quality solutions worldwide, fostering operational efficiency and embedding a culture of continuous improvement. Renowned for building resilient operational frameworks, Ahmad empowers teams to achieve their best, unlocks new growth avenues.

A strong advocate for digital transformation, Ahmad champions the Assurance Digital Innovation agenda, introducing technologies that make services smarter and more impactful. Recognised for building resilient operations and empowering teams, he has established a
reputation for unlocking growth and reinforcing BSI’s position as a trusted global partner.

Regularly speaking at international forums and drawing on extensive global experience across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, Ahmad brings a broad perspective and a commitment to excellence, learning, and innovation to every aspect of his leadership.

Ana Kotherja is a senior finance executive with over 20 years of experience in financial management, taxation, and strategic leadership. Since 2015, she has served as Finance Director of Elite Travel Group, one of Albania’s leading tourism and destination management companies, where she oversees financial strategy, risk management, and business development.

Her career spans both the public and private sectors, including senior roles at Kurum Holding and the Albanian Tax Administration, as well as academic contributions as a lecturer in Finance and Organisational Behaviour at Aleksander Xhuvani University.

Ana is an active member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Albania, serving on the Tax and Customs Committee, where she advocates for legislative reforms and improved governance in the hospitality and tourism industry. She brings to the Advisory Board deep financial expertise, strong regulatory insight, and a proven commitment to advancing sustainable growth and strategic governance.

Dr. Ahmed M. Darwish is a distinguished Egyptian engineer, policy leader, and international consultant with a career spanning academia, government, and global development. He holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Cairo University, and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of California, Davis, where he later received the Lifetime Achievement Medal (2017). His expertise has been sought by major international organisations including the UN, World Bank, European Union, and African Union, covering areas such as governance, organisational development, business process transformation, and information technology strategy. He has been honoured with multiple awards, including the Egyptian National Engineering Award (1999) and Singapore’s Middle East Eminent Persons Award (2007).

Dr. Darwish served as Egypt’s Minister of State for Administration Development (2004–2011), leading national e-government strategy, institutional reform, and governance initiatives, earning global recognition for Egypt’s rise to 23rd worldwide in UN e-government rankings. As Chairman of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, he established one of the world’s largest special economic zones, spanning 461 sq km and six ports. An accomplished academic and former IEEE Egypt Section Chair, he has over 64 peer-reviewed publications, supervised numerous doctoral and master’s theses, and delivered keynote speeches at leading global forums, including the World Government Summit and OECD conferences.

Sepp Hartinger began his career as a political consultant in 1973 as the first full-time campaign manager for the Social Democrats in Austria, and in this role was responsible for many election campaigns in Austria. In 1983, he founded his own communications agency, Hartinger Consulting, which developed into one of Austria’s leading creative and strategy agencies in the years that followed. When the communist system in Eastern Europe collapsed in 1989, Sepp Hartinger worked in numerous Eastern European countries as a consultant in a wide variety of election campaigns. In 1996, together with a number of European colleagues, he founded the EAPC, the European Association of Political Consultants, of which he is still a leading member today. Sepp Hartinger was also a member of the IAPC, the International Association of Political Consultants, from 1982 to 2023 and its President from 1999 to 2001.

Robert is the co-founder and former CEO of the Institute, and author of 2 books:

• Value Moments – determine what your customers value, then deliver it!
• Customer Happiness on the Horizon – How to achieve Customer Happiness and Loyalty
  Influenced by Happy employees!

After 28 years of running Ethos Integrated Solutions LLC, a leading provider of customer experience solutions in the UAE, I decided to retire and recharge my batteries for the next challenges. However, I remain active and passionate about helping organizations improve their employee happiness and wellbeing, which I believe is the key to success in any industry.

As the co-founder and chairman of The International Customer Experience Institute, Robert has co-authored www.employeehappiness.com, a website that offers a unique
framework to measure and compare employee happiness and wellbeing across the world. I am also the chairman of the board of Outward Bound UAE, a non-profit organization that aims to create the best Outward Bound school in the world. I enjoy motivating and inspiring others to achieve their potential and live a fulfilling life.

Dr. Robin Mann is the Head of the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research (COER), New Zealand, Chairman of the Global Benchmarking Network, and a Board Member of the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation. He is also the Co-Founder of BPIR.com Limited, a leading best practice resource website, and the Founder of both the International Best Practice Competition and the TRADE Best Practice Benchmarking Methodology. Robin leads major benchmarking initiatives, facilitating over 50 benchmarking projects for the Dubai Government in recent years and supporting hundreds of projects worldwide. He has served as a Business Excellence and Productivity Advisor to numerous countries and published over 50 peer reviewed journal papers on business excellence. Originally from the UK, he earned his PhD in Total Quality Management (TQM) from Liverpool University in 1992.

BA Design and Graphic Arts Technologies, Post-Graduate in Editorial Design, Post-Graduate in Applied Research to Design, Post-Graduate in Communication and Political Marketing, MA Political Science and studying Ph.D. in Design. Designer and Creative Director for over 23 years, President of APDTAG (Graphic Arts Graduates Portuguese Association) since 2005, Director of the School of Communication, Arts and Creative Industries 2016-2021, currently holds the position of General Director of Communication and External Relations at ISEC Lisbon (largest private polytechnic
university in Portugal). University professor, researcher (Print Technologies and Creative Industries). President of the Observatory of Creative Industries (Portugal).

Ayesha Manzoor Wattoo is the Director General of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, which is a Pakistan government entity working for media regulation with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Ayesha Manzoor Wattoo, with her extensive experience of more than 15 years with the government, has been successful in implementing the media code of conduct in Pakistan. She has led successful campaigns to curb the spread of disinformation and fake news. She has spoken and represented Pakistan on various national and international forums and conferences. She is an active advocate of freedom of speech and expression, provided that it doesn’t harm the safety and security of her country and its people. She is an enthusiastic writer and her articles are published in national newspapers. She has written a book named “Petals In My Diary” in which she has highlighted the lives and issues of a rural woman in Pakistan. She is a goodwill ambassador for Narcotics Control and Autism in Pakistan.

Author; advisor to governments and company executives worldwide; expertise in geopolitics, strategy, leadership, & Action Learning; professor at IMD, EDHEC, University of Toronto, &
Harvard’s Summer School. Founder and CEO of Global Executive Learning; Founder of Business Driven Action Learning. Chairperson and Founder of the annual Global Forum on Strategic Transformations, Leadership and Learning–an international community since 1996.

Born in Canada: Lived and worked in the USA, U.K., Switzerland, France, and Canada

Emilija Stojmenova Duh, Ph.D. is an accomplished leader in digital transformation, an associate professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, and a former Minister of Digital Transformation for Slovenia. With a career spanning academia, innovation, and public service, she has consistently driven impactful initiatives that bridge technology, policy, and sustainable development.

In 2024, Dr. Stojmenova Duh was selected as one of the 100 Women in GovTech by GovInsider, recognizing her contributions to the field of digital transformation and innovation.

Dr. Stojmenova Duh is actively collaborating with AIEOU: https://aieou.web.ox.ac.uk/, an exciting interdisciplinary research hub based at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, which explores the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in education. This collaboration underscores her commitment to advancing innovative solutions that empower learners and educators worldwide.

She also leads the 4P Digital Innovation Hub (4P DIH), a groundbreaking initiative focused on fostering digital literacy, sharing best practices, and promoting public-private-people partnerships. The hub plays a critical role in enhancing digital competencies, supporting regulatory evolution, and enabling open data access to stimulate entrepreneurship locally, regionally, and internationally. She is a member of the Global Young Academy (GYA) and represents GYA in the ALLEA Working Group on the European Research Area. Furthermore, she is member of the Women in Ethics in AI group at UNESCO.

Dr. Stojmenova Duh has spearheaded numerous national and European research and development projects, with a particular focus on rural development, open innovation, and co-creation. Her contributions include co-developing a methodology for measuring the social and economic return on investment of digital products and services. In 2018, she was selected as Slovenia’s representative in the HiddenNoMore project, an initiative funded by the U.S. State Department within the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP), which supports women in STEM leadership.

Additionally, she is a member of the informal expert group on the European Interoperability Framework at DG DIGIT, contributing to shaping interoperability policies at the EU level. Her leadership extends to serving on high-level councils and boards, including the Slovenian Research Agency, the Employment Service of Slovenia’s Expert Council, and the Council for Development in Agriculture, Forestry, and Food at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Helping organisations bring out the best in their people with the Investors in People Framework.
The framework helps leaders increase employee engagement, build a culture where people love to work, improve leadership and people management, and achieve better results. The Investors in People accreditation is recognised around the world, making it the global benchmark when it comes to leadership and people management.

Over 10 years of business experience in public relations and law.
In parallel, over 15 years of multimedia experience (Refresh Your Life e-magazine, NGO group, TV and radio author producer host, AIDS project), communication, work and management of the numerous stakeholders. Network of business and personal connections. Energetic and professional with constant look over team members by person and by group. Ability to work with people at various levels, functions, and with multicultural backgrounds. Strong team leader, quick learner, enjoys challenging environment, remain tranquil and straight in reaching the goal.

• Self-motivated, proactive, and able to work independently, adapts well to varying job
  situations.
• Organization, negotiation, planning and problem solving and recognized for easy interpersonal communication, internal and external collaboration.
• Excellent knowledge and use of legal database both in Serbia and Italy, as well as in the other countries.

Lived in Singapore, Egypt, the Netherlands, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the USA. Spoke on ownership leadership in over 50 countries around the world. Led enterprise transformations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Mentors executives and runs leadership pipeline programs throughout the world. Today, London UK is home with his wife Atsuko. Mark runs leadership programs within organisations, enabling you to grow your role models into more powerful context providers. It enables your organisation’s talent to grow faster and the organisation to achieve greater Speed, make a bigger Impact, and enjoy a higher Retention of your top talent. It’s enabling your organisation’s leadership to create the future faster. Mark is an experienced educator with the IE Business School and Headspring Executive Development, and has taught in various other business schools across Europe, too.

Purpose led and driven by results, I am a senior Director, researcher, and lecturer with proven capability in enabling large end-to-end digital transformation projects while engaging, empowering, and protecting key stakeholders for sustainable and holistic human centric transformations.

My experience was obtained while leading my teams in several international contexts, translating business strategies into tangible value enabled by technology, with high exposure to C-Level executives. In these experiences I played an active role in shortening the gap between strategy and execution, while advising my clients on future roadmaps with new age solutions. On top of my consulting roles, I hold multiple lecturer and researcher positions at several universities in Portugal and the UK. I am a regular contributor to various renowned journals and conferences having multiple top tier publications, and I am a regular keynote speaker in several events on the topics of Strategy, Purpose led Social Entrepreneurship, Digital Policy, Digital Leadership and Digital Transformation.

Keywords: SAP, s/4hana, ERP, Cloud, Salesforce, MS Dynamics, RPA, Robotics, Process Automation, Machine Learning, IoT, Digital Innovation, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Future of Work, Outsourcing, Offshoring, Nearshoring, Design Thinking, Agile, SCRUM, PMI, ASP, Prince2, iValua, Coupa

Dr Louise van Rhyn is an internationally recognised thought leader and master practitioner in organisational and leadership development, with more than three decades of experience in pioneering innovations in learning. She holds a Doctorate in Management (DMAN) from the University of Hertfordshire, where she studied under Professor Ralph Stacey and colleagues in the Centre for Complexity and Management. This work, which framed organisations as complex responsive processes of relating, continues to shape her approach to leadership and systemic change.

Louise is the founder of Symphonia for South Africa and the designer of the award-winning Partners for Possibility (PfP) programme, an innovative leadership development and social change initiative that pairs business leaders with school principals in under-resourced communities. Since 2010, PfP has enabled more than 3,800 leaders to learn in real-world complexity while contributing to education and social transformation in South Africa.

Across her career, Louise has facilitated hundreds of leadership and organisational development programmes internationally. She is known for her ability to integrate scholarship with practice, creating powerful, human-centred learning experiences that strengthen leadership capacity, foster organisational transformation, and build cultures of possibility.

Louise brings to the Stirling Centre a deep commitment to advancing innovative approaches to learning and leadership that honour both scholarship and lived experience.

Academic Interests:

• Innovation Ecosystems
• Performance Measurement
• Business Excellence Models
• Change Management

Background

Tomasz Szejner joined the Centre for Strategy and Performance for a PhD research project under the supervision of Dr Ken Platts and he became a member of Wolfson College.

At Cambridge, Tomasz has developed a Business Excellence Model for performance measurement, designed to support organizations in both cultural transformation and organizational development in transitional and emerging economies. The model assists in a continuous improvement process, which helps organizations to improve their operations, and build a more sustainable competitive advantage. His PhD research project was conducted in cooperation with leading multinational corporations. Tomasz has been involved in business consulting in the area of Business Excellence, Continuous Improvement and Change Management for 20 years. When working for Capgemini Consulting Corporation, as a Director of Business Excellence, he designed a “Transforming Government Program”. The main theses from his program were published in the book: “Building Better Quality Administration for the Public”, recognized by OECD and promoted by The Network of Institutes and Schools of Public Administration in Central and Eastern Europe.

He became a UK Business Excellence Award Assessor for the British Quality Foundation. He is also an Auditor of Quality Management Systems certified by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance in London.

During his business career, Tomasz founded the “Forum for Building a Culture of Democracy” – an initiative dedicated to reconstructing values systems to ensure the strengthening of democracy and promotion of market economies within civic societies in post totalitarian countries. His initiative was noticed by the Government of the United States and resulted in an invitation to the White House in Washington DC. His unique initiative was appreciated and recognized by the Secretary of State – Madeline Albright. Tomasz is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in London, and a member of The Polish Aristocracy Association.

Professor of Quality and Organizational Excellence, University of Minho Born in Braga, Portugal, in 1978, he graduated in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Minho in 2002 (5-year degree). He completed his PhD in Industrial Engineering in 2008 at the University of Minho. In the academic field he had been lecturing courses in the fields of Quality and Organizational Excellence. Always privileging research and development for industrial applications, he has been involved in several R&D projects supported by Portuguese Institutions and under European funding programs. Paulo has supervised with success 8 PhD students and more than 150 Master students. He has co-authored or authored more than 300 publications, several of them ISI/Scopus-indexed papers. He is the Coordinator of the Research Group on Quality and Organisational Excellence at the University of Minho. During 2015, Paulo was a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a sabbatical leave. Paulo is a Founding Partner of Be Excellent (since 2013) and Be Innovative (2023). Paulo had/has several technical and management positions at the University of Minho and other national and international organizations, profit and non-profit, in the past 20 years. Paulo participates as a Keynote Speaker in Quality and Organizational Excellence international conferences and he is author of several publications in the Quality field. He coordinates several research and consultancy projects on Quality, at national and international level. In 2006 he was distinguished with the award of the Best Paper Presented in the Student Technical Paper Competition during the ASQ World Conference on Quality and Improvement. In 2008, his PhD Thesis was distinguished by the Portuguese Association for Quality as the best thesis developed in Quality. In 2009, Paulo was distinguished as Senior Member of the American Society for Quality. In 2011, he was distinguished with the award of the best presentation in the European Organization of Quality Congress. In 2011 and 2016, Paulo was nominated as one of the Quality Progress “New Voices of Quality” (ASQ) and in 2012 he was awarded with the Feigenbaum Medal (ASQ). He has been an Academician of the International Academy for Quality since 2014.

“Steve has enjoyed three decades learning from the very best in business, running his own companies and helping many more grow to their potential. Working with market leaders such as Xerox and Apple, he learned how blue-chip multinationals train and develop their teams to help their business flourish. He then applied these lessons to the SME market, understanding that if you give team members the motivation and time to work on their development, they are truly capable of great things.

This career has covered sectors such as IT, Telecoms, Marketing, Software Development and Self Care, for a variety of company sizes. Initially, Steve’s strength was to help commercially grow revenue with his foundation in business development and account management, however, for the last decade, he has added further skills to his set, such as operational strategy, marketing plans, training & development, people leadership and geographical growth, with particular focus on the Middle East market.

He presently sits on the board of a Children’s Charity based in Scotland, provides leadership mentoring for the University of Dundee, business mentoring for Scottish Chambers of Commerce, and he recently completed a full term as President of Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce.“

Thayse Leonardi is a journalist and a specialist in Communication and Branding, with additional training in Coaching, NLP, and Transactional Analysis focused on family businesses. With over 17 years of experience in communication and in developing spokespersons in Brazil and abroad, she leads an operation specialized in strategic communication solutions for family enterprises. Our focus is to empower spokespersons — CEOs, next generations leaders, and successors — to become influential leaders, capable of communicating with assertiveness, intentionality, and genuine connection.

Theresa Baghdasaryan is a dynamic hospitality leader and entrepreneur with more than a decade of experience in hotel management, brand development, and cross-border collaboration. She currently serves as CEO of Hayasa Hospitality Group, one of Armenia’s most innovative operators, where she oversees a growing portfolio that includes Hayasa Hotel Yerevan, Hayasa Apartments, the forthcoming Hayasa Hotel Old Yerevan (opening 2025), and Hayasa Hotel Gyumri, along with several other projects under development.
Her career has spanned every level of the industry—from her beginnings at the front desk to senior management and ultimately executive leadership. Along the way, she has successfully led multiple pre-openings, implemented guest loyalty programs, and consistently achieved strong performance. 

Beyond her role at Hayasa, Theresa is the founder of Hosprof.com, a platform created to connect hospitality professionals, foster continuous learning, and encourage regional collaboration. With its planned relaunch in 2025, Hosprof will introduce new membership features, networking opportunities, and executive education initiatives, further advancing her vision of hospitality as a driver of shared knowledge and community impact.
Previously, Theresa held senior leadership positions at Golden Palace Yerevan, Opera Suite Hotel, and Best Western Congress Hotel, where she gained extensive expertise in operations, sales, marketing, and revenue management. She also co-founded Rooshe, a foodtech startup, and worked as a consultant supporting boutique and midscale hotel projects across Armenia and beyond.
Theresa holds a Master’s degree in Education Management from Yerevan State University, completed executive leadership training at Leadership School, and pursued hotel management studies at ESSEC Business School. She is fluent in Armenian, Russian, and English, with additional working knowledge of German.
Driven by the belief that “the future of hospitality lies not in buildings, but in the bonds we create,” Theresa combines strategic vision with a people-centered approach. She is passionate about transformational travel, sustainable tourism, and building bridges between Armenia and international markets through collaboration, education, and exchange.

Elaine Flynn is a Northern Ireland–based professional with extensive experience in education management, commercial contracting, and strategic stakeholder engagement. She has a proven track record of delivering impactful outcomes through strategic planning, collaborative leadership, and innovative problem-solving.

Elaine’s career spans both public and private sectors, where she has successfully managed complex education programmes, negotiated commercial partnerships, and led multi-agency initiatives. Her expertise in stakeholder and partnership management has seen her work with government bodies, private organisations, and community partners to drive service improvement and long-term change.

Specialising in curriculum development across priority skills areas, Elaine focuses on upskilling, reskilling, and supporting innovation for business. Her work is informed by a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges in skills development within Northern Ireland’s diverse urban and rural communities.

Passionate about inclusive, lifelong learning, Elaine brings to the Stirling Centre for Strategic Learning and Innovation a commitment to systems thinking and capacity building in public services — values that align closely with the Centre’s mission. Her strong personal interest in travel, culture, and diverse learning experiences further shapes her global outlook and approach to transformational change.

Alex Milovanovich is a globally experienced strategic advisor and board-level leadership expert with over 30 years of international experience spanning Africa, Europe, and the Western Balkans. Renowned for his ability to guide boards and executive teams through complexity and uncertainty, Alex brings a unique combination of real-world operational insight and strategic foresight to senior leadership development and institutional governance.

From post-conflict reconstruction in the Western Balkans to managing transformation in emerging markets such as Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa, Alex has operated across multiple sectors—including construction, media, banking, and chemicals—helping organisations translate volatility into opportunity and strategy into tangible results.

A former Fellow and Goodwill Ambassador of the Chartered Management Institute (UK), Alex is deeply committed to advancing the practice of responsible and strategic governance. His thought leadership has been featured in Strategy Magazine, The European Business Review, and most notably in his e-book Strategic Management in the 21st Century, which equips today’s leaders with tools to navigate turbulence with confidence and clarity.

Areas of Expertise

• Strategic governance and board-level advisory
• Risk navigation in volatile and uncertain contexts
• Transformational leadership in emerging and post-conflict markets
• Scenario planning and strategic alignment
• Executive education and leadership development

Professional Highlights

• 30+ years of cross-sector experience in both emerging and developed markets
• Advisor to boards and C-suite leaders on governance, resilience, and strategic transformation
• Regular contributor to global executive education programmes and strategic leadership forums
• Author and speaker on 21st-century leadership, strategy execution, and uncertainty management

Why Alex?

• Board-Level Insight: Combines operational acumen with strategic foresight to support impactful decision-making at the top.
• Complexity Navigator: Skilled in risk anticipation, adaptive governance, and strategic resilience.
• Global Perspective: Brings lived experience from across dynamic and challenging international contexts.
• Trusted Thought Leader: Recognised contributor to the global dialogue on leadership, strategy, and organisational futures.

Alex Milovanovich is a valued faculty associate at the Stirling Centre, contributing to executive programmes focused on strategic foresight, governance, and leadership in uncertain environments.