The Middle East Excellence Awards Institute has awarded Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar, group chief operating officer at Etisalat, the title of Middle East CEO of the Year 2010 awards within the ICT sector.

The award ceremony took place at the Burj al Arab in Dubai, where Ahmed bin Ali, senior vice president, corporate communications at Etisalat received the award on behalf of Julfar.

The recipients of these awards are selected by a specialised jury according to several criteria including possessing a clear vision, excellent leadership skills, and supporting the organization to reach new levels of development.

The recipient’s role in planning and improving financial performance are also considered. The jury examines the statistical and financial situation of the company, as well as the winner’s effective role in the developing ICT in the region.

Datamatix, an independent IT, Business and economic research organisation, receives about 700 submissions for the competition and chooses one CEO per industry.

A 23-year veteran of the telecommunications industry, Julfar has worked in various roles at Etisalat. He has been responsible for a large number of the company’s innovations and initiatives. As group chief operating officer he has overall operational responsibilities over the engineering, marketing and IT departments, and all the regions of Etisalat’s operations.

Julfar has made significant contributions to development fiber optic network, which has a significant effect on improving data speeds which in turn allow for more advanced services to be provisioned.

The Middle East CEO Awards recognize successful government and business sector leaders whose visions, directions, examples and actions have become the essence of their organizations' success.

Awards are conferred on CEOs and C-level managers who demonstrate outstanding leadership qualities and commitment to advancing their organizations’ strategic goals.

This world class awards programme is the first of its kind in the region, with nominees selected through a professional process and judged according to internationally accepted standards. – TradeArabia News Service