Omar D. Al-Sahili CV

- Update of Jun 12 - go to the end for download-

Omar Al-Sahili has over 16 years of extensive experience in the private, governmental and educational sectors, as well as proven experience and skills in commercial operations, project management, institutional development, strategic planning, partnership development, telecom regulations and private sector development.

Currently, Omar is the Sales Director at Wataniya Mobile, a Qtel Group Company and the 2nd Palestinian mobile operator, where he successfully managed leadership change at the sales department, completed its team building and expanded into new sales channels. Prior to that, he was the company’s PMO Director.

Before joining Wataniya, Mr. Al-Sahili was a Director for Business Development at DAI, an international management consulting firm, covering Palestine, Jordan and parts of the region. At DAI, Mr. Al-Sahili has worked in several multi-million dollar projects and has experienced the entire cycle of projects and initiatives from inception to close-down. Omar has played a pivotal role in managing specific initiatives and programs including managing subcontractors and consultants, deliverables, budgets and performance. In addition to DAI, his international experience consists of working with international management consulting firms like Education Development Center (EDC), Stanford Research Institute (SRI), The Services Group (TSG), Nathan-MSI and Sustainable Systems. Furthermore, he previously held the post of IT Director at the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR), and at the Institute of Law at Birzeit University he held the post of Systems Engineer.

Omar has played a pivotal role in the development and support of key private-sector led national institutions such as the Palestinian IT Association of Companies (PITA), the Palestine ICT Incubator (PICTI), the Palestinian National Internet Naming Authority (PNINA), as well as the Internet Society (ISOC-Palestine). In addition, he has built links with international IT companies like Google, CISCO, Intel and Microsoft in areas related to education and economic development.

As a sector leader, he is currently the Secretary of the National ICT Board of Advisors (PICTAB) under the Ministry of Telecom and IT, and he’s also a board member of the Palestinian IT Association of Companies (PITA). Furthermore, Mr. Al-Sahili has served on the Palestinian National Y2K Committee and was coordinator of the ICT Advisory Board of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR). He was a member of Palestine’s Technical Advisory Team on the accession to the WTO, and the Palestine Education Initiative (PEI) Team/ Industry Development Track. He was also a member of the Higher Committee of the Pan Arab Informatics Prize of Kuwait, Sh. Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah Informatics Award.

Born in Kuwait in 1971, Mr. Al-Sahili holds a Masters Degree in Engineering Science from the University of Toledo in Ohio, USA, since 1995, as well as a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering from the same university.

Omar holds Palestinian and Jordanian nationalities and is married with four children. He can be reached at the contacts below:

Work: +970 2 241 5000; Mobile: +970 56 856 0381

Email: omar.sahili@wataniya.ps; osahili@gmail.com; Skype: osahili

EDUCATION

• Master of Science in Engineering Science, Major Electrical Engineering, University of Toledo, Ohio, Aug 1995.
• Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Sub-specialty Computers, University of Toledo, Dec 1993.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Sales Director, Wataniya Mobile (Qtel Group), Palestine. (Nov 2010 – Present)

• Successfully managed leadership change at the sales department, completed its team building, expanded into new sales channels and maintained achieving targets through innovative trade activities.
• Member of company’s executive management and commercial teams.
• Managing over 90 employees, among 4 business units in 3 regions with 6 different main sales channels (Corporate Sales, SOHO Sales, Showrooms, Franchise, Indirect Sales and Distribution, and Alternative Channels)

Project Management Office (PMO) Director, Wataniya Mobile (Qtel Group), Palestine. (Feb 2010 – Oct 2010)

• Reestablished the PMO department and built the team including functions of Business Process Improvement, Project Management and Testing.
• Successfully designed and lead a company-wide improvement initiative (Customer Facing Project).

Founder and President, Business Alliance for Services and Investment Co. (Dec 2009)

• Business consultation and IT based startup ventures.

Business Development Director, DAI Palestine. (Jan 2005 – Feb 2010)

• Acting Country Director when needed.
• Special mandate to help setup DAI Office in Jordan and prepare for Jordan specific opportunities.
• Liaising with the home office Business Development and Marketing Units at the headquarters in Washington D.C.
• Several short term consultancy and strategic planning assignments (list at the end)
• Other Projects / Tasks:
  • Long term assignments to DAI USAID projects including Market Access Program (MAP), Palestine ICT Incubator (PICTI) and Palestinian Enterprise Development (PED).
  • Initiated and facilitated Google’s first engagement into the Palestinian market. (Mar 2009)
  • Advisor to the Gaza Private Sector Revitalization Initiative to assess private sector enterprises damages and needs after the December 2008 War. (Feb – July 2009)
  • Advisor to the Palestine Investment Conference, Bethlehe, to setup the overall operational framework and systems needs. (2010)
  • Business acquisition and recruitment for project proposals in Jordan and Lebanon.
  • Leading the Business-to-Business activities at the London Business Forum on Trade and Investment with Palestine. DFID / PIPA. (Oct-Dec 2008)
  • Project Quality Manager of a World Bank / UNDP project to produce a standard operating procedure on the Response to Avian Influenza. (Apr-Jul 2008)

Monitoring and Evaluation Unit Manager, Development Alternatives Inc., Palestine Enterprise Development Project (PED), Palestine. $12.1 Million Project. (Aug 2006 – Sep 2009). Work included:

• Acting project manager when needed.
• Project monitoring and evaluation processes including project indicators reporting.
• Setting up the M&E Unit for the compilation of data and assessment of the impact of the political crisis on industries and firms throughout the country.
• Managing six grants with Palestine Trade Center (Paltrade) and Palestinian IT Association (PITA) with a budgeted amount of around $1 Million.
• Managing four training and employment generation programs for fresh graduates. More than 340 graduates were provided with specialized training programs.
• Supervising the capacity building for the Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade) staff and designing and implementing programs in the areas of marketing services delivery (training, market share assessments, business development services and trade information services).
• Designing and supervising two strategic activities of producing a national ICT workforce analysis and an assessment of the outsourcing capabilities of the local ICT firms.

Clusters Development Manager & ICT Cluster Manager, Development Alternatives Inc., Palestine Enterprise Development Project (PED), Palestine. $15 Million Project. (Oct 2005–Aug 2006). Work included:

• Proposal writing, recruitment of technical and administrative staff, designing and conducting staff orientation, and training for the technical staff.
• Member of Management Team working on project strategy, work plan and initiatives.
• Managing the clusters development division and the eight Cluster Managers -in West Bank and Gaza- for Agro-Industry, Construction, Furniture, Pharmaceuticals, Stone and Marble, Tourism, Handicrafts and ICT.
• Leading the Clusters Competitiveness Assessment work in cooperation with technical experts from Stanford Research Institute (SRI).

Advisor, Nathan-MSI & Development Alternatives Inc., Palestine ICT Incubator (PICTI), Palestine. $3.8 Million Project. (Nov 2003–Oct 2006). Work included:

• Leading proposal writing, recruitment of technical and administrative staff.
• Providing PICTI staff with strategic planning, action planning & budgeting advice.
• Facilitating contractual and technical matters with USAID and Nathan Inc.
• Assisting in setting-up PICTI facilities and operations.
• Leading PICTI’s outreach program design and implementation aimed at instigating the pipeline of innovative ideas. More than 2700 IT students and professionals were reached in 6 months.

IT Sector Manager, Development Alternatives Inc. / Market Access Program (MAP), Palestine. $18 Million Project. (Mar 2001-Jan 2005). Work included:

• Acting project manager when needed.
• Strategic advisory to Palestinian IT Association of Companies (PITA) in areas of institutional development, marketing and policy management.
• Strategic advisory to the Palestinian National Internet Naming Authority (PNINA) including setup, structure and planning.
• Lead Advisor to the IT portfolio of the Palestine Trade Center (PalTrade) in the areas of sector development and on export promotion activities and initiatives including the successful Palestinian participations at Gulf IT Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai (2001 to 2005).
• Assisting ICT SME companies in business development programs (Business Planning, Financial Planning, Marketing & Sales, Exhibition Preparation, Image Building, Public Relations, International Quality Systems like ISO and CMM). More than thirty programs were implemented.
• Developing a tool (as methodology) to implement ICT Diffusion Programs.
• Establishing a marketing office at Dubai Internet City for the Palestinian IT companies.

IT Sector Coordinator, Development Alternatives Inc. / Market Access Program, Palestine. (Mar 2000–Feb 2001).

Director of IT Department, PECDAR, Palestine. (March 1999-February 2000). Work included:

· National Y2K Project Leader.

· Coordinator and member of the PECDAR ICT Advisory Board (ICTAB) aimed at initiating a public-private partnership for the ICT sector development.

· Managerial and administrative duties including preparation and evaluation of national IT projects.

· Coordination with regional and international organizations.

Systems Engineer, Institute of Law, Birzeit University, Palestine. (Nov 1995-Mar 1999)

Work included:

· Various managerial and MIS tasks including information systems, events management, etc.

· Founding programmer of the first comprehensive database of legislation in Palestine since 1852 (Al-Muqtafi)

· Systems Analysis, Equipment Specification, Quotations & Tenders Evaluation.

Instructor, Computer Science Department, Birzeit University, Palestine. (Sep 1998-Jan 1999)

Graduation Projects’ Supervisor, Palestine Technical College, Ramallah, Palestine. (Mar 1998-Jun 1998)

Trainer, Birzeit University, Palestine (May 1996). Windows and Excel.

Instructor, Computer Science Department, Al-Najah University, Nablus, Palestine. (Feb-Jun 1996)

Digital Design Lab Instructor, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. (Sep 1994-Apr 1995)

Assisted students in their projects designs and graded their reports.

Tutor, Student Development Center, University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. (Jan 1994-Jan 1995)

Tutored preliminary and intermediate engineering & math courses.

Computer Engineer, Micro Pro Technology, Toledo, Ohio, USA. (Apr-Jul 1994)

Hardware maintenance and software installation. Design databases using ALPHA-FOUR software.

CONSULTANCIES