Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna Al-Qasimi
UAE Minister of Economy and Chief Executive Officer, Tejari

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi is the United Arab Emirates’ Minister for Economy & Planning.  In November 2004, she became the first woman in the country’s history to assume a cabinet position.  Sheikha Lubna is also the Chief Executive Officer of Tejari, the Middle East’s premier electronic business-to-business marketplace.

After honouring Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi as the  “Distinguished Government Employee Award” in 1999, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Defense Minister appointed her as the head of Tejari at the launch of the marketplace in 2000.

Prior to managing Tejari, Sheikha Lubna was the senior manager of the information systems department at the Dubai Ports Authority (DPA), a position she held for more than seven years.  Before joining DPA, Sheikha Lubna acted as the Dubai branch manager for the General Information Authority, the organization responsible for automating the federal government of the United Arab Emirates.  She has more than fifteen years of information technology management experience in the Middle East region.

In 2001 Sheikha Lubna headed the Dubai e-government executive team responsible for instituting e-government initiatives throughout the public sector.  Sheikha Lubna holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University of Chico, and an Executive MBA from the American University of Sharjah.

She volunteers extensively with the “Friends of Cancer Patients” Society and serves on the Board of Directors for the Dubai Autism Center.

She also serves as a Board Member for the following organizations:

• Board of Directors for Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Dubai.
• Board of Trustees for Dubai University College, Dubai
• Board of Trustees for Electronic-Total Quality Management College, Dubai.
• Board of Trustees for Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, Phoenix Arizona.
• Board of Trustees for Zayed University, UAE

Sheikha Lubna is a recipient of many awards for her personal achievements, to name a few:

• Dubai Quality Group: For Support to Leadership, Quality, and Change year 2000
• ITP: The Best Personal Achievement Award year 2000
• Datamatix: IT Woman of the year 2001
• Business.Com: Personal Contribution Award year 2001
• Datamatix: Outstanding Contribution year 2002
• Commonwealth of Kentucky: Honorary title: “Kentucky Colonel” 2003
• Great Britain’s House of Lords: Entrepreneurship Award 2004
• American Business Council of Dubai & the Northern Emirates: American Business Award 2004

Under her leadership, Tejari has been recipient of the following awards:

• PC Magazine D.I.T: Awards of Excellence year 2000
• Business.Com/Visa: Best B2B Marketplace site www.tejari.com year 2000
• MEED Awards: IT Project of the Year 2002.
• Gulf Marketing Review: Gulf Brand of the Decade Award (E-Commerce & IT Category) in 2003.
• World Summit for Information Society Geneva – Best eContent Provider in e-business – 2003.
• UAE Super Brands Council – Super Brand of 2003.
• Arab Technology Awards – Outstanding Contribution to E-Commerce.