Wednesday, February 8
9:30 a.m.
Auditorium (bldg. 20)
About Dr. Biyari
Dr. Biyari is the CEO of Saudi Telecom Group (STC), the largest integrated telecom operator in the MENA region with investments in Turkey, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon and UAE. He joined the company in May 2013 as the senior vice president (SVP) for technology and operations and was then appointed as the chief operating officer in January 2015. In April 2015, he was appointed by the STC board of directors as a chief executive officer. Dr. Biyari currently is the chairman of the SAMENA Telecom Council, an association of telecom operators in South Asia, Middle East and North Africa. He is also involved with a number of STC subsidiaries and affiliates. He is the chairman of Sapphire, the chairman of Intigral, the vice chairman of VIVA Kuwait, and the vice chairman of Oger Telecom. He served previously as a board member of both Turk Telecom and Avea and a chairman of STC Solutions. Since joining STC, Dr. Biyari has been leading a major transformation program across STC different sectors aimed at making STC a world-class operator, including driving major digitization and innovation initiatives. Prior to joining STC, he served as SVP and GM at Advanced Electronics Company (AEC), a Saudi high-tech Offset Program company. From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Biyari was a professor of communication systems at the Electrical Engineering Department at King Fahad University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM).
Dr. Biyari is a member of a number of professional organizations, including being a senior member of the IEEE. He has lectured and published numerous papers on communication and information systems. He has also lectured on technology management and innovation, as well as ICT industry-related issues. He was twice-elected the chairman of the IEEE Saudi Section. Dr. Biyari also served as a member of the committee responsible for developing the Long Term National Plan for the ICT industry in Saudi Arabia. He was also a member of the Executive Committee responsible for KFUPM’s long-term strategic plan. In 2009, the Council of Ministers elected him to the board of directors of the Electricity and Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA) in Saudi Arabia, on which he served until 2015. Dr. Biyari holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering-communication systems from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1990 and his B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from KFUPM in 1983 and 1985, respectively.