Dr. Kamal Shehadi
Founding Chairman and CEO of the TRA, March 2007 – April 2010
Prior to his appointment in 2007, Dr. Shehadi was Managing Director of Connexus Consulting, a leading consultancy firm in the Middle East and North Africa specializing in telecom policy, regulation, and strategy. Dr, Shehadi has also served as a consultant to several international organizations and telecommunications companies since 1996 including the World Bank and the European Commission. He has also advised governments, operators and regulatory authorities on telecom regulation and licensing in countries like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Libya, and Lebanon. He has served on the board of a number of organizations, most recently the Lebanese Transparency Association and the Lebanese Businessmen Association (RDCL).
Dr. Shehadi has a B.A with honors from Harvard University in economics and a PhD from Columbia University (New York) in international political economy. He is the author of a number of publications on privatization, public finance, and foreign investment.
Dr. Shehadi resigned from his position of Chairman and CEO for personal and professional reasons in April 2010 and handed over his prerogatives to Dr. Imad Hoballah as Acting Chairman and CEO.
Dr. Imad Y. HOBALLAH, PhD
Chairman and CEO, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), Lebanon
March 2007 - August 2015
Dr. Hoballah has been the TRA Chairman and CEO between April 2010 - August 2015 and the Head of Telecom Technologies Unit between March 2007 - August 2015.
Dr. Hoballah chairs various organizations/ committees such as the Lebanese National Committee for the Transition to Digital TV, the "Arab Multistakeholder Advisory Group" (AMAG) of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the "International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Council Working Group on Languages", the ITU "Radiocommunication CCV Committee", and the ITU "Standardization Committee for Vocabulary (SCV)", and since March 2008, serves as Vice Chairman of the "Arab Spectrum Management Group (ASMG)". He has been actively involved in the group’s work to manage issues related to Spectrum Management, World Radiocommunication Conferences and other spectrum coordination projects between Arab States and other regions.
Dr. Hoballah was appointed Lebanon’s ITU Representative between 2012-2014 and has been Lebanon’s Representative to the "Government Advisory Committee (GAC)" of the "International Cooperation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)", Lebanon's representative to the "Arab Management Advisory Group of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)", and serves on the "Middle East Strategy Working Group (MESWG) of the ICANN".
Dr. Imad Hoballah assumed the "Arab Regulators Network (AREGNET)" Presidency between 2011 and 2012 and committed to work towards developing the sector by strengthening the capacity of local Authorities, enhancing their proactive engagement, and deepening the cooperation and exchange of experiences among all Arab Regulatory and Policy Making Organizations.
In December 2011, Dr. Hoballah was elected as Vice President of the Executive Committee of the "Arab Infrastructure Regulatory Forum (AIRF)".
Dr. Hoballah was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Omnix Media Networks, and had previously held a number of executive positions at Lucent Technologies and AT&T Bell Laboratories gaining extensive experience in the field. These positions included appointments as Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Executive Vice President (EVP) for Services & Program Management, MEA Region. He also held Executive Sales Director (Africa & Levant) and Director positions of Services and Software, Sales & Product Management, and Information, Operation, & Data Networking Systems at Lucent Technologies in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Hoballah was also Senior Manager of Operations Systems, and Operations Systems Architecture Group & Data Services Product Management at AT&T Bell Laboratories in the U.S. and the Middle East. Dr. Hoballah also served on the Board of several corporations.
Dr. Hoballah has a noteworthy academic record. He received a "Program for General Development Diploma" from IMD Lausanne (Switzerland, 2000), a Master’s Certificate in "Project Management" from George Washington University (Washington DC, 1997), an "Executive Masters of Business Administration" from Columbia University (New York, 1994), a Ph.D. in "EE/Communications" from Syracuse University (NY, 1986), an MS in "Electrical Engineering" from Syracuse University (NY, 1982), as well as a B.S in "Chemistry" from the Lebanese University (Lebanon 1979).
Mr. Marwan Matta
Commissioner, Board Member, Head of Legal Affairs and Licensing Unit, April 2007 – July 2007 Mrs. Mahassen AJAM
Commissioner, Board Member, and Head of Information and Consumer Affairs Unit, March 2007 – February 2012
Prior to her appointment Mrs. Ajam had an outstanding record as data and internet executive for IDM and GDS with wide experience in business development as well as international relations.
Mrs. Ajam recently served as a Board Member of the Professional Computer Association and, as such, has been actively involved in the sector policy and regulatory affairs. Mrs. Ajam holds an MBA from Ecole Superieure des Affaires (ESA, Beirut), a Masters in urban planning (Paris I, Sorbonne) and a degree in engineering from the Lebanese University.
Mr. Patrick EID Commissioner, Board Member, and Head of Market and Competition Unit, March 2007 – February 2012
Prior to his appointment Mr. Eid was working as senior technical consultant for Segenius, a major consulting company for telecom operators in the MENA region.
Mr. Eid has also held the position of Chief Technical Officer for the Lebanese mobile operator FTML- Cellis, a France Telecom affiliate. He also worked for IBM Lebanon as Manager of X25 activity mainly for the banking and corporate sector. Mr. Eid has an engineering degree in Telematics from Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (France, 1989).