Meet OurEsteemed Judges

I am Dr. Saima Hassan, an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Computing, KUST, with a PhD in Information Technology from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia. Alongside academia, I serve as the Vice President of Agentic Education at MindHYVE.ai, where I lead the rollout of ArthurAI™ and work to strengthen AI literacy and industry–academia collaboration across institutions. I am also a UNDP Innovation Award recipient for my startup idea Smart Learnify. I was honored with a nomination for the U.S. IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program) — recognitions that reflect my commitment to educational innovation, leadership, and impact. Beyond my professional roles, I am deeply motivated by empowering young learners, especially women, to explore technology with confidence and curiosity, believing that true progress comes when innovation and inclusion grow together.

Product lead with an M.Ed in Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard and prior studies at LUMS. She drives product workflows, partner integrations, and field demos, translating pedagogy into reliable tech delivery at scale.

I am Zafar Iqbal, CTO & Director at Symtera Technologies Pvt. Ltd., with 17+ years of experience in cloud, cybersecurity, IT infrastructure, and an AI enthusiast and digital innovation promoter. I hold an MSCS degree from ITU along with multi-domain certifications, and I am an entrepreneur, startup mentor, and strong supporter of emerging founders, driving AI-powered digital transformation across industries. I'm also a nature-loving explorer who believes creativity grows through curiosity and new experiences.

Masood Khan is a Global Supply Chain & Business Leader and LinkedIn Top Voice (2024) who brings over 20 years of global business strategy experience from Fortune 100 companies. As an AI & Sustainability Strategist specializing in transforming logistics and operations, he focuses on applying AI to core business challenges. Masood is the author of 2 books, including a #1 New Release on Amazon, 'Sustainability Rewired: Pioneering the Future,' as well as 'Beginner to Executive Prompting Guide,' and a podcaster and guest lecturer at universities. His real-world global business experience informs his approach to designing role-specific prompt engineering use cases that transform how professionals work across industries. Masood serves as an AI Hackathon Judge and, with his keen eye for turning technical capabilities into business value, combines practical frameworks with strategic vision.

Kashi Ahmed is a seasoned business and technology leader who has steered multi-million-dollar CRM and cloud transformations for Fortune 500 clients. Backed by over two decades of experience in enterprise-level IT strategy and architecture, he pairs deep technical rigor with board-level business insight. Kashi holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering, an M.S. in Computer Science, a Graduate Certificate in Leadership, and executive-education credentials from MIT Sloan. His passion for AI, Web3, and cloud automation drives thought-leadership that reaches thousands of professionals each month. You'll also find him passionately mentoring students and professionals, volunteering at non-profit events, and speaking on digital-innovation panels. A collaborative business partner, change agent, self-motivator, result-oriented leader, and a creative strategist whose career history has been consistently characterized by exceptional performance in each venture undertaken. Soft skills include; superb oral and written communication skills, ability to present information to all levels appropriately, and leading technology teams.

Proven ability to deliver engaging lessons that foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills. Proficient in business intelligence tools (Power BI, Tableau) and dimensional modeling. Strong background in quantitative developer, analyst, and management accounting within the fields of economics and finance, leveraging analytical skills to drive business decisions. Specializes in IGCSE and A-Level math curricula. Experienced AI Software Developer and Founder at an AI Startup | Mathematics & Statistics Educator | Data Science, Machine Learning, AI, Econometrics Expert | Quantitative Developer & Analyst | Management Accounting Specialist | Full Stack Developer | Cloud-Native Generative AI Engineer | News Paper Writer

Akber Choudhry is a Principal Cloud Architect and AI/DevOps leader who modernizes legacy, monolith, and on‑prem systems into cloud‑native and microservices architectures. With 20+ years of experience, he combines hands‑on delivery—building pipelines, writing Terraform, and mentoring teams—with architectural leadership. He is fluent across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, and brings a DevSecOps mindset where security and operations are treated as code. Akber leads pragmatic MLOps and Generative AI initiatives that drive measurable business value and has delivered globally across regulated environments in Canada, the US, UK, and Europe.

I am an accomplished engineering leader with 20+ years of experience in the software industry, including more than a decade in engineering management and 6 years in executive leadership roles. My expertise lies in driving innovation and scalability, mentoring engineering teams, and delivering high-quality enterprise B2B SaaS products. As a Certified Scrum Master and Agile coach, I have successfully fostered collaborative, high-performing teams. In 2018, I was promoted to Chief Technology Officer at Elixir Technologies. At Elixir, I played a key role in designing and developing Elixir Tango, the first SaaS platform in the Customer Communications Management (CCM) space. I traveled globally (US, Europe, ME, and APAC) to meet clients, conduct training sessions, and represented Elixir at multiple developer conferences. In 2021, I joined Imarat Group of Companies & Graana.com as VP of Engineering, leading the digital transformation initiatives and optimising software development processes for multiple products. I restructured and scaled the engineering team, introduced Agile Scrum practices, and implemented modern DevOps methodologies to improve cost efficiency, performance, and delivery timelines. Leveraging cloud-native technologies like microservices, Docker, and Kubernetes, I streamlined development workflows and enabled faster, high-quality software delivery. Currently, I am working with the digital transformation team at Zones, architecting a scalable digital platform for B2B e-commerce portals. This involves designing future-ready systems to align with business goals, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver exceptional user experiences. As hands-on leader, I stay updated with the latest technologies and contribute directly to code. My technical background spans C++, Java, and JavaScript, with recent expertise in modern stacks such as ReactJS, React Native, Node.js. And more recently I'm also working with Python (for AI projects), and Golang (for data-intensive, high-performance, scalable systems). In addition to technical expertise, I am passionate about fostering a learning culture and co-creating technology roadmaps that inspire teams to innovate. I share insights through articles and speeches, empowering teams and organisations to achieve their potential.