Brand Guardianship Forum 2022 - The CEO as Brand Guardian

David is the Chairman and CEO of Brand Finance Plc – the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. He has worked in the area of branded business, brand, and intangible asset valuation since 1991. He specialised entirely in the field after becoming the Director of Brand Valuation for Interbrand in 1995. He subsequently left Interbrand in 1996 to launch Brand Finance which is celebrating 25 years in business this year.

David represented the British Standards Institution in the working parties responsible for crafting international industry standards: ISO 10668 on Brand Valuation in 2010 and ISO 20671 on Brand Evaluation in 2019.

David is a passionate writer and has authored many articles on brand valuation, published in numerous marketing and finance newspapers and magazines, such as: Financial Times, Accountancy Age, and Marketing Week. He has also lectured on the topic of brand valuation for Harvard, Chicago, and London Business Schools.

David graduated from Bristol University with an English degree, qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse in London, and obtained a postgraduate diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He is a Fellow of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and has a practising certificate with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

Punit became Deloitte Global CEO in June 2015. He was re-elected in 2019. Deloitte operates in 150 countries, with more than 300,000 professionals and 2020 revenues of $47.6 billion. Punit is also a member of the Deloitte Global Board of Directors.

As Deloitte Global CEO, Punit set in motion a global strategy to achieve undisputed leadership in professional services. Deloitte is today the leading professional services organization in the world and a leader in audit quality. In his first term, he led efforts that resulted in double-digit aggregate revenue growth globally, with Deloitte becoming the largest of the Big Four professional services organizations. Currently Deloitte is recognized as the strongest and most valuable commercial services brand.

Under Punit’s leadership Deloitte launched WorldClass—a global effort to prepare 50 million futures for a world of opportunity—based on the belief that when society thrives, business thrives. Recently Deloitte made a commitment to be net zero by 2030 under its WorldClimate initiative. Punit is also committed to advancing diversity and inclusion at Deloitte, including through measurable actions toward gender balance across Deloitte and within its leadership ranks.

Prior to his current role, Punit served as the chairman of Deloitte LLP (US member firm) from 2011–2015. He served as CEO of Deloitte Consulting from 2009 to 2011.

In 2020, Punit was awarded the Oregon History Makers Medal by the Oregon Historical Society in recognition of his visionary business leadership. Additionally, he was named by EMPower to their list of Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Role Models 2020. The Indiaspora Business Leaders List recognized Renjen as one of over 50 executives from the Indian diaspora of top-tier international corporations in 2020.

Outside of Deloitte, he is a member of The Business Roundtable, The International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, and serves as the member of several not for profit boards including the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (vice chairman). Previously, he served as the chairman of the United Way Worldwide.

Punit was born and raised in India. He moved to the United States on a Rotary Foundation scholarship to attend Willamette University; he has previously served on the Willamette University board of trustees. Willamette University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2019. He is married and has a son.

Hatem Dowidar is the Group CEO of e&. He joined the Group in September 2015 as Group Chief Operating Officer and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer, International in March 2016.

Ever since he took the company's helm, Dowidar has spearheaded several ground-breaking strategic programmes that propelled the company’s business growth to new heights across the 16 markets where it operates. As the company transformed into a global technology and investment conglomerate in February 2022, and despite the ever-changing business landscape, his astute brand stewardship has been the foundation for enhancing e&’s brand equity, enhancing employee experience, and adding value to stakeholders.

Today, e&’s portfolio of brands is among the most valuable in the region standing tall in global rankings. Dowidar also has been ranked 22nd in the Global Brand Guardians Index (BGI), up from 79th place in 2022 and has become 1st in the BGI Telecoms Ranking.

Under his guidance, the company is also recognised as the most valuable publicly-traded company and, according to Forbes, also the most valuable listed telecommunications service provider in the GCC region. A highly skilled strategist and visionary, Dowidar has been instrumental in ushering in a new phase of strategic partnerships and key collaborations with global industry leaders such as Microsoft and Meta that will digitally empower societies.

Prior to joining the Group, Dowidar was the Group Chief of Staff for Vodafone Group based in London. He brings 32 years of experience in multinational companies and more than 25 years of these within the telecommunications industry across various leadership positions in multinational companies.

He initially joined Vodafone Egypt in 1999, served as Marketing Director (CMO) and later became the CEO of Vodafone Egypt from 2009 - 2014, where he steered the business growth with benchmark profitability in challenging and competitive environments.

Dowidar has a long track record of achievements in the various leadership positions he held at Vodafone Group and its subsidiaries, including Group Core Services Director, Chairman and CEO of Vodafone Malta, CEO of Partner Markets with partnerships covering over 45 markets and Regional Director Emerging Markets. He also has extensive Corporate Governance experience through his representation as Chairman and Board Member in several Corporate Boards within and outside the telecommunications industry.

Dowidar began his career in AEG/Deutsche Aerospace (Daimler Benz Group) in Egypt, before moving into marketing at Procter & Gamble, where he held several managerial roles.

He is currently a board member of Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily), Maroc Telecom, Etisalat Misr (Etisalat Egypt), Pakistan Telecommunications Company (PTCL), Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce & Industry and in the board of trustees of Khalifa University.

On a global industry level, Dowidar is a member of the GSMA , United Nations and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) leadership panel. GSMA is an industry organisation representing the interests of global mobile operators as well as the broader mobile ecosystem. IGF leadership panel is a multi-stakeholder group for policies and practices relating to the Internet and technologies. Convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the IGF facilitates knowledge exchange on how to maximise Internet opportunities and address risks and challenges. Since its foundation, the IGF has identified a wide range of key issues to be addressed by the international community and has shaped policy decisions related to the Internet and technologies throughout the world. He is also the only Arab member from the MENA region on the Leadership panel, which currently consists of 15 members.

Previously, Dowidar served as a board member for Hutch Lanka, Etisalat Nigeria, Attijariwafa Bank Egypt, Barclays Bank Egypt and Vodacom Africa, Vodafone Egypt and Malta, and ElSweedy Electrometers.

He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Electronics Engineering from Cairo University and an MBA from the American University in Cairo.

Brian Moynihan leads a team of more than 200,000 employees dedicated to making financial lives better for people, companies of every size, and institutional investors across the United States and around the world.

Bank of America has been recognized as a leader in financial services, including on Fortune magazine’s list of World’s Most Admired Companies and Best Big Companies to Work For, named Global Finance’s Best Bank in the United States and North America in 2020 and placed on Forbes’ World’s Best Employers List in 2019. The company is the top global bank on Fortune’s Change the World list. It was also the 2019 Catalyst Award winner for supporting the continued development, empowerment and advancement of women in the company and around the world, and is recognized annually as a top employer by Working Mother, LATINA Style, Black Enterprise, Military Times and U.S Veterans Magazine. Bank of America is included in the Forbes Corporate Responders List of 25 companies leading through the health crisis caused by the coronavirus.

Moynihan participates in several organizations that focus on economic and market trends, including the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council (chair), the Financial Services Forum, the Bank Policy Institute, the Business Roundtable, the Clearing House (chair), the American Heart Association CEO Roundtable (co-chair), the Business Council and the Federal Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board. He is also a member of the Vatican Council for Inclusive Capitalism and co-chair of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ Sustainable Markets Initiative.

Moynihan serves as chair of the company’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Council and is a member of the museum council for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He is also a member of the Brown University Corporation's Board of Fellows, the Catalyst Board of Directors, the Council on Competitiveness Board (chair) and the Appeal of Conscience Board of Trustees.

Moynihan works with public officials, businesses and civic leaders at the local level through his participation on the Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership and the Partnership for Rhode Island.

Helen Edwards has an MBA from London Business School, is a PhD in marketing and straddles the business and academic worlds of marketing through teaching, writing and consultancy. She is an award-winning business columnist, an Adjunct Associate Professor of Marketing at LBS, and sits on the board of the UK Effies. Her latest book ‘Marginal to Mainstream: why tomorrow’s brand growth will come from the fringes – and to get there first’ is due to be published later in the year.

Annie is a qualified management accountant and has worked on Brand and Business valuation projects serving global clients, including Barclays and Shell. She is experienced across of variety of services including brand licensing, research analytics, rebrand uplift and balance sheet valuation. Annie heads up various studies at Brand Finance, including the annual Global Intangible Finance Tracker (GIFT™) and the Brand Guardianship Index. In addition, Annie has conducted research and analysis for the Brand Finance brand rankings, specialising in Banking, Retail and Oil & Gas sectors. Annie has served clients worldwide, with a particular focus on the USA and the Middle East. Annie joined Brand Finance as an Analyst in August 2017 after graduating from The University of Edinburgh with a Masters degree in Philosophy and Economics. She has since completed her CIMA professional qualification.