Eng. Alaa Rahma is currently the Head of Protection, Control and Telecommunication at GCC Interconnection Authority, Khobar. Since holding this role in 2007, he has been in charge of electrical protection system, substation digital control system, telecommunication system at GCC Interconnection Authority 400kV Electricity supergrid Grid interconnecting the 6 GCC states as well as development of the Telecommunication and Data Center business for the GCCIA and many other projects.

Prior to joinning GCCIA, he worked at the Ministry of Electricity in Bahrain from 1993 to 2007 with his last post as Head of Protection System.

Angus Kerr started working at Eskom in South Africa as a trainee engineer. In a 32 year career there, he has moved through various roles in Distribution and Transmission networks, from project engineering to settings to technology management, finishing up in the transmisson division as a Chief Engineer specializing in IEC61850 and transmission feeder protection. In 2023 he joined the exciting NEOM project in Saudi Arabia as the head of a team of engineers developing an architecture and suite of specifications for fully digital transmission substations based on the IEC61850 standard. Innovation in technology, training and mentoring, and constantly challenging and stretching himself has always been a hallmark of his approach to engineering.

Dr. Abdelsalam Elhaffar (MIEEE) received the B.Sc (89) and M.Sc. (99) degrees from University of Benghazi (UoB), Libya, and D. Sc. Tec. degree from Helsinki University of Technology in 2008, Finland. He has been working for the general electricity company of Libya as a Protection Engineer in till 2002. He worked as an assistant professor at University of Benghazi and a consultant to several companies in the field of protections, maintenance, and troubleshooting for gen-sets until 2014. Now he is working with Sultan Qaboos University. His research interests include power system protection, distributed energy resources, smart grids, and AI applications in power systems.

Eng. Ahmed El-Hamaky has more than 24 years of experience in Electrical Power Systems following attainment of a diploma degree in power system protection in 2005 from Ain Shams University and a B.Sc. of Electrical Engineering from Cairo University in 2000. He has been an IEEE senior member since December 2011 and is also a member of IEEE Power Energy Society (PES).

In 2014, he received a post graduate Certificate in Business Administration from the Open University in the United Kingdom, he is at OMICRON since May 2010, presently acting as Regional Manager for the Middle East, Africa and Türkiye.

In 2021, Ahmed received Alumni of the Year Achievement Award-Highly Commended from the Open University in the United Kingdom

Alexander has over thirty years of experience in protective relay, meter testing and high voltage plant testing.

He received his practical training at Eskom Distribution in Brackenfell before joining OMICRON electronics GmbH in Austria as a Sales and Application Engineer.

Since 1997 he is managing Alectrix, which is the exclusive distributor for OMICRON equipment in South Africa.

Alex has delivered dozens of papers at local and international conferences and symposiums on subjects such as protective relay testing, maintenance and diagnosis of power transformers, current transformers and other substation assets, as well as aspects of power system simulation.

Ali is the Regional Business Manager for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL), with several years of experience in MENA Region, having large proficiency in developing Business strategy and Client relationship in the region. Leading Customer Service team and operation activities. Graduated from Charted Management Institute CMI, in Management and Leadership.

André F. S. Melo is a Global System Architect at Digital Power Application Center (DPAC) of Schneider Electric. He received the B.E. degree in Computer Engineering from Universidade Potiguar (UnP) in 2017 and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR) in 2021. He is now pursuing Ph.D. degree in Power Systems at Universidad de Sevilla. His fields of expertise include Protection and Control System, Digital Substations, and IEC 61850. Mr. André is active member in various work groups of CIGRE B5 and IEEE PES PSRC and PSCCC.

An Electrical Engineering Graduate with more than 23 years’ experience in India and Gulf as Lead Protection and Commissioning Engineer in Transmission Utilities and Power plant.  

He is working with Oman Electrical Transmission Company –OETC since last 13 years.

At present, he is designated as Technical Expert-Protection.

He is responsible for

• Leading Team of 17 Protection Engineers
• Plan, execute, and supervise maintenance, up gradation of protection & metering system   of OETC Network
• Design, review, and implement appropriate protection scheme in system for new grid station and existing grid stations projects.
• Recheck, review, and approve all relay setting calculation, CT sizing calculation for new projects
• Vertical, horizontal, and external communication for projects, system maintenance from 33 kV to 400 kV grid stations. Detailed Incident analysis, provide technical support to all other section

Arulraj graduated as an Electrical and Electronics Engineer at the Saveetha Engineering College-Chennai-India in 2014 and started at GK Power as Relay Service Engineer for MiCOM Numerical protection and control IEDs,later he worked as a Substation Automation System(SAS) Engineer for many projects for ALSTOM and Schneider Electric in India until 2018.

He worked as a verification and validation Engineer for bay level products in ABB Global R&D team from 2018 until 2020 and now he is responsible for IEC 61850 application testing and cybersecurity solutions in OMICRON.

Bazirio Alfred Tembo is a seasoned Power System Protection and Automation Engineer with over a decade of experience in electrical engineering. His expertise spans power generation, transmission, and distribution, with a focus on implementing and optimizing protection systems. He excels in configuring, testing, and troubleshooting IEC 61850-based Protection systems, ensuring reliability and seamless operation of substation Protection and Automation Systems. Alfred is also skilled in mentoring engineers and leading projects to successful outcomes while maintaining a strong commitment to safety and quality standards.

Daniel Wiesner holds a degree in Electrical and Industrial Engineering. Since 2008, he has been working at OMICRON, initially as a Technical Support and Applications Engineer and later as a Team Leader for OMICRON’s Technical Support for Secondary Testing Solutions. Since 2015, he has been working as an Area Sales Manager with various responsibilities, including the Global Key Account Management of several accounts.

Electronic and communications engineer from Colombia. Since 2007, he worked as control and protectin specialist, participating protection and communication IEC61850 projects that took place in different countries of south and north America.
In 2016, he joined OMICRON, currently part of a consultancy team supporting utilities in digital substations projects around the globe.

Graduated in 2013 An Alumni of the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C , with a bachelor's in Computer Engineering an inside Track of Electrical Engineering. Was the IEEE School Chapter president. Work experience ranges from an Internship at NASA GSFC to ICT system Administration & Virtualization at Nashua (ISP). The Substation Automation Systems SAS utility space made for a comfortable fit due to experience with Linux distros & FPGAs. Joined Botswana Power Corporation through their Graduate program attaining the role of SCADA/EMS/DMS/RTY engineer by 2019 integration and commissioning Substation Automation Systems to IEC leaning standards.

Hamisi has over 5 years of extensive experience in testing, commissioning, operating and maintaining of power system protection systems.

Eng. Jassim Al Hamad graduated with BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Bahrain in 1996 and MBA from University of Strathclyde in 2009. Started at ABB Automation as Systems Engineer in 1996 then moved to Emerson as a Project Manager in year 2000. Jassim has been working at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories since 2004 as Regional Sales Manager for Middle East and since 2012 as Regional Sales and Services Director for India, Middle East, and Africa.

Jörg Blumschein studied technical cybernetics and process measurement at the University Magdeburg where he became a graduated engineer in 1992. Since 1992, he works with SIEMENS in the devel-opment department of protection relays. Today he is the Principal Key Expert for Protection.

Mohamed Ibrahim has more than 20 years of experience in Testing and Commissioning activities. He joined OMICRON in 2015 and currently works as a Regional Application Engineer.

He is also an OMICRON Academy trainer.

Lars completed his studies in energy and automation systems (M.Eng) at the Berlin University of Technology in 2018. 
  
Since 2012 he has worked at Siemens Germany in the field of protection and energy automation in various areas from sales to commissioning. 
In 2022 he joined the product management of SIPROTEC 5 and is responsible for the universal protection relays for conventional and non-conventional transformer technologies. 

Eng. Rashad has more than 13 years experience in GCC . He is currently working at alfanar Engineering service as Technical Training Manager. He holds both an MBA and PMP.

He is experienced in testing and commissioning of MV, HV and EHV substations in utilities and Oil & Gas sectors, including Switchgear Components, GIS, Power Transformers and Protection Systems. He also has a vast experience in convening and delivering training courses in a variety of technical subjects as Protection Relays, Switchgear Schemes, Power Transformer Testing and Solar PV System Design.

Nadia Bouslama is the Regional Marketing & Communication Manager for MEA at OMICRON Electronics. With over 23 years of experience, she has extensive expertise in developing strategic marketing initiatives and leading high-performing teams. Nadia has a solid track record in driving brand visibility and implementing innovative campaigns. Passionate about women’s empowerment, Nadia has spoken at the Women Power Summit 2018, leads the OMICRON Energizing Women (OEW) initiative, and actively mentors young women across industries. She holds an MBA and BBA in Marketing from Hofstra University, USA.

Rajesh Ananth. K has completed Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical & Electronics from Anna University during the year 1999. He has experience of over 23 years in the field of Power system protection & automation covering industries, Power Plants & Utilities.

He started his career from a process industry as Graduate Engineer during 1999 with roles & responsibilities in operation & maintenance of transformers, motors & switchgears. Later, he has worked in the field of settings calculation, testing & commissioning of protection relays used for Generators, busbar, transformers & transmission lines. He has conducted various training programs including Application & Protection of Power System courses (APPS) for the customers worldwide. He joined General Electric (Formerly Alstom Grid Middle East) during 2008 and currently leading the Protection Applications team of Middle East, North Africa & Turkey region. He is also passionately working in the Wide Area Monitoring & Digital Substation Solutions.

N. V. N. JAGADISH, received M-Tech Degree in Advanced Power Systems- Electrical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada, India. He was Assistant Engineer- Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS™) with Dubai Electricity Water Authority (DEWA) - Government of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He is professional engineer from Saudi Council of Engineers and currently working as Distribution Protection Engineer in Saudi Electricity Company, Distribution Protection Engineering Department - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. His current research interests include, Establishment of FACTS controllers for Power Quality improvement and mitigation of voltage fluctuations caused by Electrical Arc Furnaces (E.A.F.) simulated on Real-Time Digital Simulator (RTDS™); Design, Development of Microgrid Controller and Upgrade of protection schemes for Renewable Energy Penetration in Distribution Network, Distributed Generation (DG) Protection and Control, Wide Area Frequency based Power Sharing Schemes for Bi-Directional AC/DC Hybrid Multiple Sub-grids using Synchro Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) and Distribution System Stability, and Grid Impact Studies of Lightning Strikes on Renewable Energy Sources, mitigation strategies and Lightning Protection and Ground Systems using IEC-61400-24 Standards.

Stuart is a Corporate Specialist in Power System Protection at Eskom. He is involved in protection and automation technology direction setting for the Transmission business in this exciting era of expansion of South Africa’s Transmission network. His portfolio is “Special Projects” including Transmission-Generation interface protection, under frequency load shedding and Phasor Measurement Unit technologies. Stuart enjoys working on complex power system incident investigations – our own version of “Air Crash Investigation” and is passionate about lecturing through Eskom’s Academy of Learning. His hobby is scale model building, focusing on radio control ships, 1/72 scale aircraft and Aryton Senna-era Formula 1.

Suma Lungu has more than 18 years of specialized experience in Power System Protection. His current position is Senior Manager – Electro Technical Services for ZESCO Limited responsible for the Zambian transmission grid, power stations and interconnectors.

Suma holds an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Zambia and is a Fellow of the Engineering Institution of Zambia. One passion is post-fault investigations and analyzing disturbances and blackouts, contributing to uncovering critical insights that enhance grid reliability and resilience. He is an active member of the Southern African Power Pool Protection Task Team, contributing to regional strategies for grid security.