Maged Fahmy, SVP and Head of Region – MEA, Ellucian

Laura Ipsen, President & Chief Executive Officer, Ellucian

Mike Wulff, Chief Product & Technology Officer, Ellucian

Valerie Singer, General Manager, AWS Global Education

Moderator: Josh Rice, Chief Commercial Officer, Ellucian

Higher education is evolving rapidly, requiring institutions to rethink how they serve students, strengthen resilience, and prepare for the future. Join university presidents as they share how they are leading institutional transformation by aligning strategy, innovation, and student success. Explore the leadership decisions, governance approaches, and strategic priorities shaping future-ready institutions that deliver lasting impact for students, faculty, and society.

Sam Philip, Director, Global Platform & Extensibility Architects, Ellucian
Adnan Afzaal, Senior Solutions Consultant, Ellucian

Explore the role of AI across the Ellucian platform, with a focus on how AI capabilities are evolving across all three tiers. The session will highlight what is available today, what is currently in development, and what is being explored through innovation, providing attendees with a clearer view of Ellucian’s AI direction and how these capabilities can support institutions, staff, and students.

Basil Abu Khiran, Manager, Solutions Consulting, Ellucian
Fadi Alazayem, Senior Principal Consultant, Ellucian

Explore the latest developments in Academic Advising and Academic Planning, including new capabilities designed to support more effective student guidance and planning. The session will also highlight the Insights Retention Model and how data-driven insights can help institutions identify opportunities to strengthen student retention, progression, and success.

Faisal Ghunaim, Senior Principal Solutions Consultant, Ellucian

Explore the latest capabilities in Ellucian Insights, with a focus on the Decision Dashboard and reporting. The session will demonstrate how institutions can access and use data more effectively, turn information into actionable insights, and support more informed, data-driven decision-making across the institution.

Maya Hajjar, Senior Principal Engineer - SIS, American University of Beirut

AUB's digital transformation journey demonstrates how institutions can modernise the student experience while maximising the value of their existing enterprise systems. This session will explore AUB's implementation and evolution of Ellucian Experience, its integration with Banner, and the transition from traditional self-service to a more connected, personalised, and intuitive digital experience. It will also look ahead to how this digital foundation can enable the next phase of innovation, including AI-enabled capabilities and more proactive, personalised student services.

Sam Philip, Director, Global Platform & Extensibility Architects, Ellucian
Sanjeev Marjee, Principal Consultant, Ellucian

Modernisation goes beyond moving to the cloud—it's about creating a simpler, more agile and future-ready institution. Explore how universities are using SaaS and modern cloud platforms to reduce technology complexity, strengthen security, streamline operations, and build a scalable digital foundation that enables continuous innovation and prepares institutions for what's next.

Basil Abu Khiran, Manager, Solutions Consulting, Ellucian
Faisal Ghunaim, Senior Principal Solutions Consultant, Ellucian

Discover the latest innovations and enhancements across Ellucian Student, designed to help institutions modernise student administration and deliver a more connected experience. This session will highlight new and evolving capabilities, explore how Ellucian Student is responding to changing institutional and student needs, and provide a look at what's ahead as institutions continue their modernisation journey.

Sam Philip, Director, Global Platform & Extensibility Architects, Ellucian

Explore how Ellucian helps institutions create a connected, flexible, and extensible digital ecosystem by bringing together applications, data, and experiences across the institution. This session will highlight integration and interoperability capabilities, APIs, and platform services that simplify connectivity, reduce complexity, and make it easier to extend the technology ecosystem—creating a scalable foundation for innovation, agility, and future growth.

Fadi Alazayem, Senior Principal Consultant, Ellucian

Discover the foundations of Ellucian Student Essentials and how it supports the core processes that connect the student lifecycle. Designed for attendees who are new to Colleague or looking to strengthen their foundational knowledge, this session will explore key capabilities and experiences across student records, registration, academic processes, and administration. Learn how Ellucian Student connects these essential functions within the broader Ellucian platform, helping institutions create more efficient, connected, and student-focused operations.

Basil Abu Khiran, Manager, Solutions Consulting, Ellucian

Explore how Ellucian Journey is reimagining lifelong learning through AI-powered, personalised experiences that connect learners with the skills, learning pathways, and opportunities aligned with their goals. Discover how institutions can extend engagement beyond the traditional student lifecycle, support workforce and skills development, and create more flexible pathways for lifelong learners. The session will also highlight the latest Ellucian innovations and look ahead to the evolving role of AI in enabling more connected, personalised, and future-ready lifelong learning experiences.

Dr. Fatma Al-Mesleh, Vice President for Students Affairs, Lusail University

Discover how Ellucian Banner has supported the university's digital journey from its earliest days, enabling more connected, efficient, and paperless student services across admissions, registration, records, and other student affairs operations. This customer-led session will explore how integrated technology, accessible data and reporting, and connectivity with platforms such as Blackboard have helped empower staff, streamline processes, support informed decision-making, and improve productivity—while delivering more effective digital services to students.

Celebrate an unforgettable evening at the Conference Appreciation Dinner, where we come together to honor the achievements, partnerships, and successes that have shaped our MEA community. Enjoy great food, meaningful connections, and a vibrant atmosphere as we recognize excellence across the region. The evening will end in a special awards ceremony, celebrating institutions and individuals whose innovation, leadership, and impact continue to inspire us all.

Basil Abu Khiran, Manager, Solutions Consulting, Ellucian
Faisal Ghunaim, Senior Principal Solutions Consultant, Ellucian

Explore how the Ellucian Student platform supports the financial aspects of the student journey, from scholarships, sponsorships, and stipends to student accounts and receivables. This session will highlight key capabilities, recent enhancements, and innovations—including Banner Accounts Receivable—designed to simplify financial administration, improve visibility, and create a more connected experience for students and staff. Discover how these capabilities work together across the broader Ellucian platform to enable efficient, transparent, and scalable student financial services.

Islam Alhasan, Software Developer, Ajman University

As application volumes grow and student expectations evolve, institutions need admissions processes that are fast, accurate, and connected. In this customer-led session, Ajman University will share how it modernised its CRM Recruit admissions experience through two complementary innovations: OCR technology that automates applicant data capture from Emirates IDs and passports, and an integration with NAPO, the UAE Ministry admissions platform, that connects and automates the application lifecycle. Discover how these initiatives have reduced manual effort, improved data accuracy, streamlined admissions processes, and created a more seamless, real-time experience for applicants and admissions teams—while maintaining core Ellucian functionality.

Fadi Alazayem, Senior Principal Consultant, Ellucian

Explore how Ellucian Academic Planning helps institutions create clearer, more connected pathways from programme requirements through to completion. This session will showcase key capabilities, recent enhancements, and innovations that enable students and advisors to plan with confidence, make informed decisions, and proactively stay on track toward academic goals. Discover how Academic Planning connects across the broader Ellucian Student platform to strengthen advising, simplify the planning experience, and ultimately support student progression, persistence, and successful completion.

Yamen Doughan, Senior Principal Enterprise Architect, Ellucian

Digital transformation initiatives often struggle when technology investments are not directly connected to institutional strategy, stakeholder expectations, and operational priorities. This session presents a practical strategic alignment framework used within higher education to bridge the gap between vision and execution. Through a structured approach incorporating strategic objectives, Voice of the Customer (VoC), SWOT analysis, and business capability assessments, institutions can identify transformation priorities, establish clear investment roadmaps, and ensure technology initiatives deliver measurable institutional value. Attendees will learn how to create traceability from strategic goals to capability improvements and technology investments while building a foundation for sustainable digital transformation.

Moderator: Jeff Dinski, Chief Strategy & Corporate Development Officer, Ellucian

As AI reshapes higher education, CIOs are making critical decisions about technology, governance, operations and institutional priorities. This panel will explore practical approaches to modernizing core systems, building a connected digital foundation, managing organizational change, and aligining AI initiatives with institutional goals.

What do today's students expect from higher education? Join a candid conversation with students as they discuss the experiences, and support that have the greatest impact on their academic journey and employability. Explore how student perspectives can help institutions shape more personalized, connected, and future-ready learning experiences while driving student success and institutional transformation.

Maged Fahmy, SVP and Head of Region - MEA, Ellucian