Team
Nigel Sillitoe
CEO
One of the original founders, Nigel has extensive experience in the financial services industry. He had great success leading BNY Mellon’s entry to the region in 2001 and subsequently as Head of Thames River Capital in the Middle East. Over the past eight years he has established offices regulated by both the Central Bank of Bahrain and the DFSA in Dubai. Nigel is a high profile member of the GCC’s financial services industry
Nigel has a Diploma in Management Studies from Oxford Brookes University.
Richard Dean
Director
One of Insight Discovery's original investors, Richard built his reputation in Dubai as one of the city's leading financial journalists. Over the past decade he's covered the region for the finest names in global journalism, including The Financial Times, The Economist and Reuters. Now a successful broadcaster, he presents The Business Tonight radio show in Dubai. He's also a sought-after TV producer, public speaker and media consultant.
Richard holds an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Hull, and gained his postgraduate degree in economics from the University of London.
Steve Williams
Director
Steve is CEO of Gulf Finance, a boutique finance company focused on Lending money to small and medium sized enterprises. He was previously with Lloyds TSB in Dubai, where he was Chief Operating Officer and a member of the Board.
During his four years with Lloyds TSB in Dubai, Steve grew the consumer banking business in the Middle East from a single office to a multi-branch operation that is a highly profitable, well-respected component of the Lloyds TSB Group. Prior to this Steve was with the Lloyds TSB Group in the UK.
Active in the British Business Group, Steve is a former Director of Business Development for this Dubai based association.
Sonja Gehlsen
Director
Prior to joining Insight Discovery, Sonja was UAE Country Director for Oxford Business Group, a UK-based research and publishing group. She has also worked as a Consultant with a global media consulting company where she worked on-location in Mexico, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana, Hungary, Russia, Jamaica and Venezuela.
Sonja holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Cologne and has attended various courses at the Market Research Society in London.
Stephanie Graf
Director
Stephanie has more than 10 years experience in the field of accountancy, internal control and consulting for locals as well as multinational companies. After working for Deloitte, one of the biggest companies in the field of consulting and auditing, Stephanie was head of the Finance department for SPI+, the economic development agency for the province of Liege in Belgium.
Stephanie holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Liege in Belgium and a Post-graduate degree from the University of Aachen in Germany and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Accountants and Fiscalists in Belgium.
Fatemah Din
Head of Business Development
Having worked in London, Sydney and Dubai, Fatemah has invaluable experience in managing businesses across diverse cultural environments and possesses an excellent understanding of different cultures and customs. Her background is in business development across a number of business sectors.
Fatemah holds a BA honours in Business and Media from Kingston University.
Consultancy Team
Paul Gebara
Paul Gebara, has over 22 years of marketing, research, business development and project management consulting experience. Paul was previously the marketing director for the largest division of an international Holding Group in Abu Dhabi. He has also established the UAE branch of a major (top3) global research company and was responsible for the market research and feasibility studies for over 200 projects throughout the Middle East. Paul has served as marketing and a research advisor for various industries, such as publishing, industrial commodities, market and demand evaluation, banking, and FMCG.
Paul has a Masters Degree in Operational Research (with Marketing) from Lancaster University
Richard Coates
Richard Coates, Davos Consulting Group, has developed and managed a consulting business, Human Resource Partnership, based in the UK and Bahrain over a period of 12 years, as well as working at British Airways and Mercer.
Richard has an MA in Politics Philosophy and Economics, Oxford University, B.Litt in Industrial Relations, Oxford University Chartered Fellow of Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD).
Louisa Coates
Louisa Coates, Davos Consulting Group, started her career with Hewlett-Packard, where she managed the recruitment, induction and training programmes for a manufacturing and R&D operation in the UK. She moved into HR consultancy in 1988, becoming a director of London and Bahrain-based Human Resource Partnership. She joined Mercer in 2001as Head of Assessment and Development (consulting) in the UK, then became qualified as a coach in London. Louisa moved to Dubai in 2004 where she focuses on executive leadership, assessment and development.
Louisa has a BSc and MSc in Strategic Management from Bristol University, a Diploma in Coaching and is qualified as a Level A and B Occupational Testing practitioner, MBTI Step I and II and NLP Practitioner.
Ruth McKee
Ruth, a financial journalist, has been based in Dubai for the past four years. She is a Middle East correspondent for Mergermarket, Financial Times Group, an M&A proprietary intelligence newswire which involved interviewing CEOs, CFOs, senior executives and business owners on their strategic direction. She has also worked as a Deputy Editor, providing top level interviews, for CPI Financial publisher of Banker Middle East, Private Equity and Venture Capital Middle East and Islamic Business and Finance. She was involved in the launch of the latter two.
Ruth holds a BA (Hons) Media Performance from the University of Bedfordshire and is a qualified journalist from the Belfast Institute.
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