Ahmad Sharaf is Chairman of Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). Mr. Sharaf has been the DME’s Chairman since 2005 and is responsible for the strategic direction of the Exchange.

In addition to his roles at DME, Mr. Sharaf is CEO of Dutco Energy, a newly-formed company which is part of the Dutco Group. Prior to that Mr. Sharaf was Chief of Strategy for Dubai Holding, which develops and manages an extensive portfolio of financial and real estate assets throughout the world. 

Before joining Dubai Holding, Mr. Sharaf held senior management positions with international and state energy companies in the United States and the Middle East. A petroleum engineer by training, Mr. Sharaf began his career with Conoco Inc. in Houston, Texas.

Following the creation of ConocoPhillips in 2002, he was appointed General Manager and Director, Business Development, Middle East, responsible for managing new growth opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Mr. Sharaf is a Member of the Board of the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), a Member of the ENOC Audit Committee, and Vice Chairman of Dragon Oil. Mr. Sharaf serves as a Member of the Board of Visitors and a Group Member of the Global Partnerships Committee of the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.

Mr. Sharaf earned a B.Sc and M.Sc in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

Abdullah Al-Harthy heads the Asset Allocation function for the State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) of the Sultanate of Oman, responsible for setting up and implementing the Fund's strategy to optimize and oversee its assets. He also chairs the investment committee for the domestic equity portfolios.

After graduation from University, Mr. Al-Harthy joined SGRF as a Financial Analyst, and became Senior Asset Allocator in 2003. From 2005, he was assigned to several projects to set up strategic investments entities including Oman Investment Fund (OIF), Vietnam-Oman Investment Company (VOI), and Libya Oman Investment Company.

Alongside his positions in SGRF, Mr. Al-Harthy is a Member of the Board of Directors of several companies including Vietnam-Oman Investment Company (VOI), National Aluminum Product Company (NAPCO) and Libya-Oman Investment Company. Mr. Al-Harthy chairs the Investment Committee of VOI and is a member of NAPCO′s Executive and Audit Committees.

Mr. Al-Harthy was awarded the CFA charter in 2004 and is a member of the CFA Institute. He has a Bachelors degree in Finance from Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.

Mr. Al-Harthy is an independent director at the DME.

Mr. Loh joins DME as an independent director with many years of experience in capital markets across Asia.

After graduation, Mr. Loh worked as a Senior Portfolio Officer at Export Credit Insurance Company of Singapore.

His previous appointments include Senior VP of Fixed Income Sales and Trading at Lehman Brothers, Managing Director of Fixed Income, Sales, Trading and Corporate Finance at Peregrine Fixed Income, Head of Asia Pacific for Boston Bank and Head of Capital Markets in Asia for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Mr. Loh holds a Business Administration degree in Finance and Economics from Washington State University, Pullman.

Daryl Pattison has more than 40 years' experience in the energy industry, specializing in all aspects of the commercial sector, with experience spanning General Management, Trading, Supply, Shipping, Project Development and Risk Management in both the upstream and downstream sectors.

Having spent the past 4 years with Concord Energy in Singapore as Managing Director of Concord Investments, Daryl brings a wealth of Asian experience to the DME. This is further enhanced by two years spent as President of International Supply and Trading with Essar Oil Limited in Mumbai and two years with Reliance Petroleum Limited, also in Mumbai, as Senior Vice President of Supply and Trading.

Prior to that Daryl was Vice President and Energy Futures Manager at Goldman Sachs in New York.

Dr. Fereidun Fesharaki is Chairman of FACTS Global Energy, an energy consulting firm with offices in Singapore, London, and Honolulu.

Dr. Fesharaki was born in Iran and educated in the UK with a PhD in Energy Economics at the University of Surrey in 1974. His academic credentials include Visiting Fellow: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; Senior Researcher: Institute for International Political and Energy Studies in Iran; Senior Fellow and Head of Energy Program at the East-West Center in Hawaii (since 1984). He is also an Affiliate Professor of Economics at the University of Hawaii.

Dr. Fesharaki is the past President of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), a professional association of 4,000 energy specialists in 70 countries. He is also:

• Life Member: Council on Foreign Relations: New York (since 1989)
• Member of the International Advisory Board of Nippon Oil: Japan's largest oil company (since 1991)
• Appointed by the US Secretary of Energy as member of the National Petroleum Council, Washington DC (since 2008)
• Senior Associate, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): Washington DC (since 2004)
• Senior Fellow, the US Association for Energy Economics (for distinguished services to the field of energy economics) (since 1995)
• Member of the Board of Directors, American Iranian Council (AIC) (since 1997)
• Member of the editorial boards of several energy publications.

Dr. Fesharaki is author or Editor of more than 20 books/monograph in energy economics.

Dr. Fesharaki is an independent director at the DME.

His Excellency Nasser Bin Khamis Al-Jashmi is the Undersecretary for the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Oil & Gas.

An economist by training, he originally joined the Ministry of Finance in 1989 as a Financial Researcher in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Financial and Economic Affairs, later progressing to the position of Director General of Budget and Contracts in 1997, where he remained for 6 years before his move to the Ministry of Oil & Gas in February 2003.

His Excellency Al-Jashmi chairs the Board of Directors for Oman LNG, Oman Refinery Company and Oxy Mukhaizna. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Qalhat LNG, Oman Gas Company, Petroleum Development Oman, Oman Shipping Company, Oman Petrochemical Industries Co. and Gulf Energy Maritime.

He holds a Masters Degree in Applied Economics, a Diploma in Development Management from the American University in Washington DC, and a BSc in Economics and Political Science from Jordan University.

His Excellency Saud Nassir Al-Shukaily became the Secretary General for Taxation of the Sultanate of Oman in July 2004 after spending five years at the Ministry of Finance. His previous positions include Director of the Office of the Minister of Civil Service and Director of the Office of the Minister of the National Economy, before he joined the Ministry of Finance as the Director General of Revenues and Finance in 1999.

His Excellency Al-Shukaily is Chairman of the Board of Directors for Oman Power and Water Procurement Company and is Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors for Oman Airports Management Company and Oman Refinery Company.

He has a Masters degree in Development Management from The American University, Washington DC, and a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina.

His Excellency Al-Shukaily is an independent director at the DME.

Retiring after 13 years as Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the longest serving exchange chairman in the history of the futures industry, Jack Sandner was elected Special Policy Advisor to the CME Board of Directors in January 1998 and a member of the Executive Committee.

During the last two decades, under his leadership, the CME embarked on many groundbreaking initiatives creating innovative Global products, seamless Technology for global distribution and execution and a new business paradigm for the 21st century. The CME became the global financial services innovator and industry pacesetter for the 1980's & 1990's establishing an unparallel track record of bringing products and services to market.

Most recently, he was a member of the team that took the CME public on December 6, 2002, the first exchange in the United States to be publicly traded. Mr. Sandner was instrumental to the CBOT and NYMEX acquisitions.

Juma Bin Abdullah Al-Hinai has been Director General of Income at the Ministry of Finance, Oman since 2007. With extensive experience in oil and gas revenue, he has held responsibility for the financial, accounting, contractual and administrative affairs of many major oil and gas companies operating in Oman, including Petroleum Development Oman, Occidental Oman, Oman Gas Co., Oman LNG and Qalhat LNG.

Mr. Al-Hinai is also a Government-designated member on the Board of Directors of several companies, including the Oman Refineries and Petrochemicals Company, Occidental Oman and Shell Deep Water BV Oman. He is Chairman of the Major Tender Board (Petroleum Development Oman), a member of the Finance Committee of PDO, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Muscat National Holding Co. and a Board member of Oman International Bank (OIB), the second largest bank in Oman.

Mr. Al-Hinai has a MBA from the University of Hull and a Higher Diploma in Accounting and Banking Management.

Kendal Vroman has served as Senior Managing Director, Commodities & Information Products of CME Group since February 2010. He is responsible for overseeing the company's energy, metals, agricultural commodities, and information products businesses. Prior to assuming his current role, he most recently served as Managing Director and Chief Corporate Development Officer of CME Group and was responsible for overseeing the company’s corporate development team, with oversight of strategic planning, business development and information products management.

Since joining the company in 2001, Vroman has held a variety of senior leadership roles including Managing Director, Corporate Development and Managing Director, Information and Technology Services. He has led strategic planning efforts throughout his CME Group career, and he also developed the company's first program management function. Vroman played a key leadership role in integration planning associated with the CME/CBOT merger in 2007, the historic CME/CBOT clearing agreement in 2003-2004 and the company's initial public offering in 2002.

Before joining the company, he worked as Vice President, Corporate Operations/Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive Officer for marchFIRST Inc. from 1999-2001.  At marchFIRST, he handled a variety of executive level project management tasks, including integrating staff and operations during the 2000 merger of USWeb/CKS and Whittman-Hart.  Prior to the merger, Vroman served as Principal for Whittman-Hart’s Collaborative Technologies Group from 1995-99.  He also worked as a Senior Consultant for Andersen Consulting LLP’s Americas Information Systems Division.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in applied computer science from Illinois State University and a master’s of management degree, with emphasis in finance and marketing, from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. 

A Chartered Accountant and Chartered Banker, Dr. Roy Leighton′s experience spans both the private and public sector. He is an independent director and Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee of Turquoise Global Holdings Limited, partly owned by the London Stock Exchange. Currently Dr Leighton is Chairman of the UK Private Equity Company IPS Limited and a Director of the Advisory Board of Natixis Bank, London. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Cass Business School in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Dr Leighton is a Doctor of Science and Honorary Professor of City University London. He is also Founder Chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Group (APG) for Wholesale Financial Services at the UK Parliament.

He is a past Chairman of the FSA’s Practitioner Panel on which he served for seven years.

Dr. Leighton is an independent director at DME.

Mr. Miller is currently Senior Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer with Financial Markets International.  Previously, Mr. Miller has served as: the Deputy Chief Investment Officer for the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System; Senior Risk Manager for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority; Risk Advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation and Africa Global; Independent Risk Oversight Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Internal Audit for Commonfund; and Director, Trading Operations and Asset Mix Management for General Motors as well as holding several other positions at GM in Investments, Treasury and Manufacturing.

Mr. Miller currently serves as a member of the board of directors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and American Axle and Manufacturing (AAM).   At the CME, Mr. Miller serves on the Finance Committee and Audit Committee and chairs the Market Regulation Oversight Committee.  At AAM, Mr. Miller serves on the Technology Committee and chairs the Audit Committee.

Mr. Miller graduated with a Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Graduate Division.  Mr. Miller is a CFA charter-holder.

 

Christopher Fix joined DME as Chief Executive Officer on August 26, 2012. Following a highly successful career spanning 20 years with BNP Paribas, Christopher brings a wealth of experience to the Exchange.

Christopher and his family moved to Dubai from Singapore, where Christopher was BNPP’s Head of Marketing for Commodity Futures APAC for three years. During this time Christopher‘s desk increased its customer base in Asia four-fold, an achievement which led to the desk being named Energy Risk's Energy Broker of the Year, Asia in 2011.

An American by birth, Christopher is a consummate linguist and speaks fluent French, excellent Mandarin and conversational Russian.

Christopher will spearhead the DME’s strategic development and will the lead the Exchange towards closer ties with oil producers, customers and the financial community, with particular focus on the DME’s core target market of Asia.

Greg Collins is Chief Compliance Officer at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), where he works to ensure that the DME operates according to the highest international regulatory and financial standards. His role includes ensuring that the Exchange complies with DFSA, ESCA and CFTC regulations as well as maintaining regulatory relationships in more than 20 jurisdictions where the DME offers services.

Greg has over a decade of broad-based exposure to the financial services industry having practiced in funds management, private banking, investment banking, sales and trading. He has global compliance experience across key international financial centers including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Before joining the DME Greg spent seven years at Merrill Lynch, where he worked in a number of senior compliance roles including Head of US Surveillance and Director, Corporate Compliance both based at the bank's New York headquarters. He also served as Head of Compliance for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in Australia. Earlier in his career, Greg worked with Deutsche Asset Management, ING Mercantile Mutual and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Greg holds degrees in Law and Arts from the University of Queensland and is admitted to practice as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland in Australia.

Owain Johnson is Chief of Products and Services at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME). He is responsible for the commercial activity of the Exchange, including marketing, business development strategy and new product development.

Owain joined DME in July 2012. His previous position was as an executive director in CME Group’s Singapore office.

Owain spent four years in Singapore covering the Asian energy and commodity markets. Prior to that Owain spent 10 years as an energy market analyst in the UK and South America, working for a number of high profile companies.

A regular speaker at international energy conferences, Owain holds a Masters' Degree from Cambridge University.