Programme

Born in 1982 in Moscow. Mark Shmulevich is a seasoned business development and innovation manager with a track record of managing high-technology innovation – from space engineering to nano-scale quantum devices. Currently Mark is a deputy Minister in the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, where he is focused on fostering the development of the Russian IT industry. Mark was appointed this position in July 2012. Mark's previous job was a Chief Development Officer and Member of the Steering Committee of the Russian Quantum Center, a new cutting edge scientific research center in Moscow focused on quantum physics and quantum technologies. Before that Mark had been working in the field of space technologies for 6 years. He led formation of the joint venture between JSC Russian Space Systems (10000+ employees) and Trimble Navigation, USA, in the field of satellite navigation. He was a member of the Board of Directors of this joint venture in 2010-2012. Mark worked as a Head of Business Development of the Russian Space Systems from 2009 till 2012. Mark has been selected as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2011.

Sergey Beloussov is entrepreneur businessman and executive with more than 20 years’ experience of creating, developing and managing transnational companies involved in the IT sector in North America, Europe and Asia. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He received a Bachelor’s degree in physics, a Master’s degree with distinction in physics and electrical engineering, Candidate of Science degree in information technologies from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and holds more than 100 patents. Sergey Beloussov currently serves as General Director at Acronis, a leading provider of new generation data protection solutions: backup, crash data recovery and secure access systems. Acronis data backup software helps enhance the security and accessibility of servers and data. Acronis solutions are built upon 15 years of research and development and are available in more than 130 countries, are translated into 14 languages. Acronis products are used by more than 5 million end users and over 300,000 corporate customers. From 2000 to 2011, Sergey Beloussov served as General Director of Parallels, a global leader in development of virtualization and automation software for individual and corporate users and service providers. He became Chairman of the Board of Parallels in 2000. In 2010, he founded Runa Capital, a venture capital firm, where he is now a senior partner. Mr. Beloussov supports innovation and advancement of science and education. He is the founder of QWave Capital, a VC firm, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Quantum Centre, board member of the Singapore Centre for Quantum Technologies, member of the Advisory Council of Innopolis University and member of the Supervisory Board of Novosibirsk State University.

Mohammad Gawdat’s background is as an engineer, and he paired that with an MBA degree from Maastricht School of Management in the Netherlands. He has an impressive combined career of 21 years, starting at IBM Egypt as a systems engineer before moving to a sales role in the government sector. Venturing to the UAE, Mohammad joined NCR Abu Dhabi to cover the non-finance sector. He also became acquainted with the consumer gods industry as Regional Manager of BAT. In the last seven and a half years, Mohammad assumed many roles at Microsoft and most recently was Head of the Communications Sector across Emerging Markets worldwide. Mohammad’s biggest passion is emerging markets, because of their vast degree of cultural diversity and the challenges they face. As Managing Director of Emerging Markets, Mohammad manages Google’s sales and business operations in over 110 countries.

Born in 1978, Dmitry Grishin is considered as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in Russia. After graduating with distinction from the Faculty of Robotics and Complex Automation at Moscow State Technical University and working as a software engineer on several projects, Dmitry joined Mail.Ru in 2001. He became CEO of Mail.Ru in April 2003. In 2005, he co-founded the Mail.Ru Group. He then assumed the CEO role of Mail.Ru Group in 2010. In that same year, he helped transition the company as it went public on the London Stock Exchange. Dmitry became elected Chairman of the Mail.Ru Group Board in 2012. Currently, Dmitry also serves as the head of the department of Information Technologies and Programming at St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics. His passion for innovation led him to found the Russian Code Cup – the largest competition for programmers in Eastern Europe. Through the Code Cup and other projects, he continues to foster growth in the technology sector worldwide. In 2012 Dmitry has founded Grishin Robotics, a global investment company that is dedicated to supporting personal robotics around the world.

Marthin De Beer, Senior Vice President of Cisco’s Video and Collaboration Group, is responsible for the company’s efforts around end-to-end video and collaboration. Video and Collaboration are two of Cisco’s five corporate priorities and key growth drivers for the networking business. Under his leadership, Cisco’s TelePresence business has grown from an emerging technology to become the market leader. During his more than 16-year tenure at Cisco, De Beer has held various leadership positions, including responsibility for Cisco’s global enterprise IP communications solutions and leading the introduction of Cisco’s Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data (AVVID) solution. He was instrumental in taking Cisco’s IP communications business from inception to a nearly $1 billion business. De Beer is on the Board of Directors for the US Russia Business Council and is a member of the selection committee for the World Economic Forum, Technology Pioneer Community. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Mr. Dobkin is the cofounder, CEO and President of EPAM Systems. Under his direction EPAM Systems has grown to become one of the world’s leading software development outsourcing services companies. After earning an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Byelorussian National Technical University, Mr. Dobkin began his career in Minsk, Belarus. After immigrating to the United States, he held thought and technical leadership positions in Colgate-Palmolive and SAP Labs. A recipient of numerous awards, in June 2008 Ernst & Young named Mr. Dobkin winner of The Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2008 award in New Jersey, IT Consulting category. In 2006, Consulting Magazine named him to “Top 25 Most Influential Consultants”. In February 2012 Mr.Dobkin rang the NYSE Opening Bell to celebrate the company’s successful completion of its initial public offering. He continues to actively promote the former Soviet Union region and Central and Eastern Europe across the US and Western Europe by presenting at noted international industry and technology events, such as Gartner Outsourcing Summits, Forrester's GigaWorld IT Forum Europe.

As an entrepreneur and software engineer, Taso has been part of multiple successful ventures including Slide (acquired by Google 2010, $228m), Fotolog (acquired by HiMedia, $100m) and others. Taso is the founder and CEO of Toptal, a company which connects business with an elite network of engineers and teams across the world. Toptal works in over 50 countries and is backed by the #1 venture capital firm in the world, Andreessen Horowitz, as well as the Rockefellers and co-founders of Facebook. Taso has spoke at Harvard Business School, Oxford and Wharton on entrepreneurship and team building.

Robert Farish is vice president at International Data Corporation (IDC), the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. He is responsible for IDC’s research, consulting, and events business in the CIS region. He has spent most of his professional life tracking the information technology market in Russia. Prior to joining IDC, Mr. Farish was the director of Russia Data Services, an independent Moscow-based IT research firm. In early 1990’s he also worked as a Moscow-based technology journalist. Today he heads IDC's regional team covering the CIS countries. During his time at IDC, Mr. Farish has personally authored studies on many of the technology areas addressed by IDC. His leadership has resulted in a major expansion of IDC's research, consulting, and events business in the CIS. He is a regular speaker at IT events in Russia and respected authority on the Russian IT market.