We have an international audience with our friends in Seattle, Pakistan, Estonia during this Virtual session of Startup Grind, Saad Bashir, City of Seattle, Shabahat Ali Shah, National IT Board Pakistan, and Siim Sikkut, Government of Estonia. We will be talking about how groups from around the world are dealing with the unprecedented times we are in.
City of Seattle
CTO
NITB Pakistan / Ignite - NTF
CEO / Chairman
Government of Estonia
CIO
Saad Bashir was nominated in Jan-2019 as the City of Seattle’s Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Saad’s team oversees a team of 800+ staff with P&L responsibility of $350 Million. Saad leads all aspects of technology management for the $6 billion corporation. Prior to Seattle, Saad was based in Canada’s capital, where he served as Director of Economic Development and Innovation and later as Chief Information Officer for the City of Ottawa.
Saad brings several years of experience in the private and public sectors. He has held positions with organizations including Citibank, Flextronics, Canadian Pacific, Nortel Networks and Calgary Economic Development. He is passionate about strategic planning, innovation development, culture transformation and change management.
Saad has a degree in Computer Engineering from Queen’s University. He has held various volunteer board positions including Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards, Ottawa Tourism, Oxfam Canada and others. He is also a 2013 recipient of “Forty Under 40” award.
He's the CEO of National IT Board Pakistan, Chairman of Ignite - National Technology Fund, Director of Universal Service Fund (USF), National Telecom Corporation (NTC) and Pakistan Telecom Corporation Ltd (PTCL). Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Ex Oracle, holds an MBA from MIT, Public Leadership program from Harvard Business School and Electrical & Communications Engineering from UET Lahore.
NADRA Pakistan (2002 - 2006)
- Chief Architect of the “Computerized National ID Card (CNIC)” process at NADRA that allocates 13-Digit CNIC number Citizens of Pakistan today.
- Project Head of NICOP and POC for overseas Pakistani citizens.
- Chief Architect of Paperless Workflow & Communication process at NADRA.
- Chief Architect of “Data Demographics” for critical policies & planning across government depts.
ORACLE Silicon Valley, California (2006 - 2014)
- Created Oracle Communications line-of-business across ASEAN (South-East Asian) countries.
- Founded NFV/SDN product line global business of Oracle in Silicon Valley.
- Created technology alliances with top Fortune 500 companies of Silicon Valley.
- One of the few leaders from ASIA invited to join Oracle Silicon Valley Telecom Team in California.
- Created Oracle Telecom Appliances business. $18M annual business in the first year
Silicon Valley Entrepreneur (2014 - 2019)
- Founder & CEO: Cronus Digital - A solutions company that brings innovation and creativity at the intersection of Telecommunications and Information Technology.
- Co-Founder: Helioswire Inc. - First Microsatellites powered blockchain and AI/ML solutions company of the World, focused on connecting machines and devices spread across global geographies.
- Founding Member: Spire Global Inc. – Big Data company focused on connecting maritime vessels across the World. Launched 70+ Microsatellites.
- As an Entrepreneur generated $100M+ business globally.
- Holds Executive relationships with the biggest commercial enterprises of the world spread across: ASEAN, EU, North America and Latin America.
- Leveraging executive relationships, propelled technology companies to become next generation Technology Power Houses.
Operations & General Management
- Track record of creating, training and managing large teams.
- Key Asset: Being an Engineer and an MBA, has equal command across Technology, Business & Management.
- Well known for operations management and known to transform distressed organizations into profitable and revenue generating organizations. Widely known in the Industry for his creativity, initiatives & leadership.
Education
- One of the most distinguished alums of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Kennedy School of Public Leadership.
- MBA from MIT - Sloan School of Management.
- Public Leadership & Corporate Strategy – Harvard Business School & Harvard Kennedy School.
- Electrical and Communications Engineer from UET Lahore.
Siim Sikkut is the Government CIO of Estonia, also titled as Deputy Secretary General for IT and Telecom in Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications since March 2017. His role is to set the strategy and policies, to launch and steer strategic initiatives and regulation in areas of digital government and society in Estonia. Siim is one of the founders of Estonia’s groundbreaking e-Residency programme. He was nominated to Apolitical 2018 list of world’s TOP20 most influential people in digital government, and is currently the chair of OECD Working Party of Senior Digital Government Officials.
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