ME CIO 2008 Summit

Day 3 Thursday November 27, 2008 – 10:30 am - 11:15 am

Iftikhar Nadeem (Advisor - Information Strategy)
KFUPM

Iftikhar Nadeem is Advisor, Information Strategy and Raed Project Manager at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM). He has BS in industrial engineering (1986) from NED University, Pakistan, and an MS degree in systems engineering (1992) from KFUPM. He has also completed advanced management training from INSEAD, France. Iftikhar has managed several Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects that involved leading ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, J.D. Edwards (PeopleSoft), Great Plains and BaaN. He regularly advises clients on IT-enabled business strategies and solutions.

Mr. Nadeem has delivered professional seminars on development of strategic IT plans at the Chambers of Commerce & Industry, and other organizations as an invited speaker. His professional interests are in business process improvement, strategic planning for enterprise information systems, development and implementation of business and technology models for e-Business initiatives and leading edge IT technologies. He has received advanced training on dynamic enterprise modeling, and management of enterprise information systems and business process improvement methods from a leading institution in the United States, Netherlands and England.

Prior to joining KFUPM as a research assistant in 1989, Mr. Nadeem worked with the State Petroleum and Petrochemical Corporation of Pakistan and Pakistan Steel Corporation in the areas of production planning and control, process planning, quality control, development of manufacturing applications, and development of training programs for young engineers in the state enterprises. He also led a team entrusted to design and implement a special fabrication project and earned the President of Pakistan Award for the corporation for which he worked. Mr. Nadeem served as a member of international advisory board for President of Pakistan’s task force for human development in 2002.

He is a member of many regional and international professional associations including Saudi Computer Society, Saudi Arabian Quality Council, American Society for Quality, and Institute of Industrial Engineers. He has published several articles in areas of his professional interest. He regularly speaks on national and international forums on latest developments in e-business trends and directions as an invited speaker.

Project Raed: Aligning the IT Strategy with the Higher Education Strategy at KFUPM

Higher education is witnessing an unprecedented growth in the Arabian Gulf Sates for a few years now. While new institutions of higher learning are emerging in both private and public sectors, old ones are bracing for new opportunities and challenges. King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) is an institution of higher learning committed to preparing professionals empowered with the knowledge, skills, values and confidence to take a leadership role in the development of the Kingdom in the fields of science, engineering, environmental design and business.

It’s also engaged in producing research that contributes to the knowledge and sustainable development of the Kingdom and region by providing innovative solutions to identified economic and technical problems and opportunities, and providing a stimulating campus environment for the welfare of its students, faculty and staff, and offering outstanding professional services and out-reach programs to the society at large. In order to achieve the above more effectively and efficiently, KFUPM embarked on a strategic information technology project, popularly known as Project Raed (Arabic word which means pioneer).

The project adopted and sustained the best information technology enabled business processes in order to support the most productive environment for learning, innovation, and research. Project Raed is a unique success story of our times that achieved a measurable alignment of IT strategy with the business strategy of a leading institution of higher education through a carefully choreographed transformation of the business-driven IT.