About Emirates Aviation University

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum began his aviation career in 1985, when he was appointed President of the Dubai Department of Civil Aviation. In the same year, he became Chairman of the newly founded Emirates, and helmed the launch of the airline with two leased aircraft to two destinations from Dubai. Today, he leads the Emirates Group, which includes dnata.

Emirates is now an award-winning global airline with a network of more than 150 destinations spanning six continents. With more than 270 aircraft, the airline has the world’s largest fleet of Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s. Under his leadership, Emirates has been profitable for the last 30 years, a rarity in the airline industry.

Dnata is one of the world’s largest air services providers that operates in 127 airports. Offering ground handling, cargo, travel, and flight catering services in 85 countries across six continents, dnata is a trusted partner for over 300 airline customers worldwide.

Sheikh Ahmed has contributed immensely to Dubai’s global stature as a leading business, tourism, trade and transport hub, with aviation now accounting for 28% of its GDP. With several leadership roles in government, his role in the formulation of policies and strategies has helped strengthen Dubai’s vision, economy, communities and culture. He is a patron of many charitable organisations, and has won prestigious national and international accolades.

Sheikh Ahmed has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, Colorado, USA. The Royal Aeronautical Society honoured his achievements in aviation with a fellowship at the 1994 Farnborough Air Show, UK. In May 2013, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from City University London – Cass Business School.

The aviation programmes – both undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the university have grown significantly under his leadership.

Professor Al Ali graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and Master of Science in mathematics from the University of London, and subsequently obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in applied mathematics from City, University of London, UK.

He is a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, Associate Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its applications, and has served on numerous national bodies and committees, including as board member of the Dubai Statistics Center.

Previous roles include Assistant Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the Faculty of Science at the United Arab Emirates University, and has published several articles and papers in well-regarded journals of applied mathematics.

Steve joined dnata in 2009 as Vice President Operations, where he was instrumental in the birth of the One dnata Strategy. He then moved to lead the Emirates Group Performance Development department in 2011 as Senior Vice President, and led a number of major change programmes. In 2015, he was appointed Divisional Senior Vice President UAE Airport Operations and also began overseeing dnata Travel and its ongoing transformation from June 2020. Steve was appointed dnata’s global CEO in March 2021. Prior to joining dnata, Steve had 15 years of experience in British Airways in the UK and Middle East.

In June 2021 he was appointed Group CFO responsible for managing Finance Strategy, Financial Reporting, Treasury, Management Accounting, Global Financial Services and Insurance within the company. Michael is also a board member of Emirates Aviation University, Emirates Flight Catering, MMI/Emirates Leisure Retail, and Emirates-CAE Flight Training. He is actively engaged with the aviation industry as a member of the Airline Financial Advisory Council of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and also guest lectures at the University of St. Gallen. Prior to joining Emirates, Michael was Head of Controlling at Berlin-Chemie AG in the pharmaceutical industry. He began his career at Lufthansa AG where he held various managerial positions in Finance, Internal Audit, Cost Management, Corporate Controlling and Risk Management based in Cologne, Bangkok, Toronto and Frankfurt. Michael moved from Lufthansa to head all Finance-related activities for the Star Alliance organization before joining Thomas Cook AG (former C&N) as Director Corporate Controlling. Michael holds a Diploma in Business Administration at the Private University of the German Federal Reserve Bank, a Diploma in International Management from INSEAD Business School, and a Certificate of Advanced Studies from the University of St. Gallen.

Originally from Germany, Oliver worked as a lawyer before embarking on his professional HR career at Lufthansa German Airlines. He held various local, regional, and global HR leadership roles in different divisions of Mercedes-Benz/Daimler, including Berlin, Stuttgart, and finally as Senior Vice President Human Resources Latin America, Central Europe, Africa, Asia, and Middle East, based in Singapore. He has also worked as Corporate Vice President Global Human Resources for LG Electronics and Hyundai Capital in Seoul, South Korea.

Ahmed Safa joined Emirates in 1991 as an engineer and rose up the ranks. In 2006, he became Vice President and in 2007, he was appointed Senior Vice President, leading the front-end of engineering that supports the Dubai hub and outstations. Ahmed’s responsibilities expanded into Heavy Maintenance and Overhaul, and in 2016 he was asked to lead a broad number of sectors within Engineering, including supply chain, inventory management, design organisation, aircraft configuration, and engineering innovation among others. He is the nominated post holder for CAMO – Continuous Airworthiness Management Organisation. Ahmed is a licensed aircraft engineer with a Master of Business Administration degree from Bradford University.

Rick worked in private practice with the law firm DLA Piper in Australia. As legal counsel for Deloitte, he was based in the regional Asia-Pacific office in Sydney and then in the global head office in New York. Rick graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons). He also holds a graduate diploma in applied corporate governance and is a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia. Rick is qualified to practice law in Victoria, New South Wales and in New York.

Dr. Sharif is also an active member on several prominent Councils including the UAE Genome Council, the Emirates Research and Development Council and the Advisory Board of the 4th Industrial Revolution Center in the UAE. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Thomas Jefferson University - Sidney Kimmel Medical College - Asano-Gonnella Center for Research in Medical Education & Health Care as well as collaborations with international institutions such as Queen’s University Belfast , one of the U.K.’s leading research-intensive 

Prior to this, David was founding CEO of the Worldwide Universities Network, Head of Research Policy for Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Assistant Director R&D at Cambridge University Hospital. He spent several years in strategic consultancy and investment banking after completing his DPhil and postdoctoral research at Oxford University. He has won many awards including a Queen’s Award for Enterprise and the European Association for International Education’s (EAIE) premier award for Internationalisation. He holds numerous Board level and advisory positions including with JISC, China-Britain Business Council, THE Student, EURIE, NARIC and the Hainan Government.

Amira’s expertise covers a range of topics along the HR value chain (including Employer Branding, Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, Succession Planning, Leadership and Talent Assessment and Development, Retention Management, Change Management and Communication). Amira is currently responsible for defining, developing and delivering learning and talent development strategies across the Emirates Group to the highest standards in alignment with the overall Group business strategy. Amira formerly was the head of Emiratisation and Talent Acquisition for the Group and presently is SVP-HR of Group Training & Development. In 2024, Amira was awarded the Woman in leadership BUNYAM Award with certificates of distinguished recognition by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Co-existence. This prestigious award was in recognition of Amira’s unwavering contributions to the enhancement of talent and developing young leaders for a sustainable future.