ConTech Leader of the Year

Anas Ayoub, Founder and Digital Construction Director of XD House, is an architect and technologist redefining the ‘golden thread’ of information in the Middle East. Over the last 24 months, Anas has pioneered a standards-as-code automation framework, integrating the Morta low-code platform with Autodesk Construction Cloud.

This leadership led to XD House becoming the first organisation globally to achieve the BSI Kitemark for ISO 19650 using a relational database, a feat that has set a benchmark for secure, high-speed digital delivery.

Under Anas's strategic guidance, XD House has moved beyond a traditional BIM advisory to create a scalable, automated engine that empowers project teams to deliver complex mega-projects. His leadership has delivered a 70% reduction in Master Information Delivery Plan compilation time and a 20-30% gain in operational efficiency, directly impacting major regional developments such as The Avenues Al Khobar and Marina Lifestyle Hotel at Amaala.

A LEED accredited professional with a Master’s in Global BIM Management, Anas is not just an innovator but a role model, mandating 100% professional certification for his staff and championing a bottom-up digital transformation. His work proves that by simplifying technical complexity through automation, the construction industry can achieve unprecedented gains in quality, safety, and sustainability.

Kalpesh Kinariwala has steered Pantheon Development into a new era of design led growth, digital adoption, and geographic expansion. He has personally guided the company’s evolution from a residential developer to a creator of mixed use, lifestyle driven communities.

Under his leadership, advanced digital frameworks such as BIM, data-driven project management, and modular/offsite construction methodologies have become central to project execution. Kalpesh has championed precision planning and operational discipline, enabling the successful delivery of complex developments with reduced timelines, enhanced safety standards, and superior quality control.

A strong ESG advocate, Kalpesh has proactively integrated sustainable construction practices into the organisation’s core strategy. By promoting offsite construction techniques, he has significantly reduced material waste, lowered carbon emissions, and enhanced on-site and community safety.

Beyond project performance, Kalpesh is deeply committed to people and partnerships. He prioritises workforce upskilling, encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration, and fosters a culture where innovation and accountability go hand-in-hand. His leadership has resulted in measurable cost efficiencies, improved risk mitigation, and accelerated project delivery across the portfolio.

Through strong partnership building - including collaborations with engineering consultants and contracting firms - Kalpesh has fostered an ecosystem of trust and innovation. In a competitive real estate landscape, his leadership continues to influence development patterns while upholding values of quality, affordability, and community enrichment.

Dr. Marwan AbuEbeid is an authority in driving digital transformation across the global construction value chain. As the Digital Construction Lead at Turner Construction International, he has pioneered the integration of disruptive technologies, including IoT, Blockchain, and AI, to achieve unprecedented operational excellence.

His leadership is underscored by his stewardship of iconic, high-complexity projects such as the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and the Presidential Palace.

Beyond project delivery, Dr. AbuEbeid has significantly influenced national policy, authoring two critical chapters of the UAE National Smart Construction Guidelines. A prolific thought leader, he has delivered over 20 global keynote addresses and serves as a founding member of the UK-funded Center of Excellence in Smart Construction.

His academic pedigree includes a Ph.D. in Construction Project Management and executive certifications from Harvard and MIT.

Dr. AbuEbeid’s career is defined by a relentless commitment to advancing the AEC industry through digital innovation, making him a definitive role model for leadership in the built environment.

Mohammad Alkhedher led El Seif Engineering Contracting Co.’s Digital Transformation Program Office (DTPO), overseeing Project Jan26, an enterprise-wide initiative established to solidify El Seif’s standing as a leader in digital engineering in Saudi Arabia. He delivered the full program with vision and precision within a compressed 24-month timeline.

Under his leadership, El Seif deployed a fully integrated, end-to-end digital platform comprising 10 modules:

1. Estimate to streamline tendering and cost planning

2. Control to provide real-time visibility into cost, schedule, and performance

3. Document to centralise document management with full traceability

4. Plan & Progress to enable tablet-based field reporting and accurate progress tracking

5. Compliance to digitise quality, safety, and regulatory workflows

6. Completions to streamline commissioning, handover, and closeout

7. Model to integrate 3D workflows for enhanced visualisation and early issue detection

8. Schedule to optimise enterprise planning and resource alignment

9. Contract to enable integrated commercial and contract administration

10. Change to support systematic, data-driven change management.

Mohammad ensured end-to-end platform cohesion through ERP and BIM integration, positioning El Seif as a regional pioneer in digitally enabled construction delivery.

Mohamed Saadeh, General Manager of Darwish Interserve Facility Management (DIFM), has transformed the company into a world-class, technology-driven FM organisation. Under his leadership, DIFM manages 90 active projects across 19 million square meters, delivering integrated hard, soft, specialised, and support services with a workforce of 4,500 employees.

Mohamed’s approach combines strategic vision, operational excellence, and digital innovation to enhance facility performance, client satisfaction, and sustainability. He has spearheaded initiatives such as AI-driven predictive maintenance, IoT-enabled monitoring, and digital twin implementations, optimising operations across high-profile projects like Hamad International Airport, Qatar University, and Aspire Zone.

Beyond technology, Mohamed emphasises employee engagement, welfare, and recognition programmes, including the Employee Excellence Award and sports/team-building events, ensuring a motivated, high-performing workforce. His leadership has resulted in 38% revenue growth, repeated client re-awards, and measurable efficiency gains, reflecting both operational and strategic impact.

Through his vision, Mohamed has positioned DIFM as a trusted partner for clients, a benchmark for innovative FM solutions, and a leader in construction technology adoption across the Gulf region. His contributions demonstrate how technology, strategy, and people-centric leadership combine to deliver measurable outcomes.

Mohamed has been Parsons’ Program Controls and Risk Lead for EMEA region since 2022, leading the modernisation of program controls and risk management through technology adoption and data-driven solutions.

His initiatives continue to enhance operational efficiency, strengthen decision making, and elevate the standards of service delivery. These initiatives, spanning an enterprise risk management framework, an integrated schedule and earned value system, and AI-driven scheduling advancements, have delivered on our top strategic goals and strengthened Parsons’ position as a clear value-adding market differentiator. Mohamed has transformed how Parsons manages time, risk, and performance across both mega programs as well as at an enterprise level, shifting program controls from retrospective reporting to predictive, data driven decision support.

Mohamed has built a culture where his team is expected to think creatively about processes, data, and tools. He promotes experimentation, encourages bottom-up ideas, and ensures promising concepts are rapidly industrialised into operational frameworks.

Two flagship accomplishments demonstrate Mohamed’s impact. He developed Parsons’ AI Scheduling capabilities, an AI enabled framework that uses parametric and generative AI coupled with Parsons’ best practices to analyse execution methodologies, improve predictability, and support optimisation and recovery strategies.

At an enterprise level, he architected an AI-powered schedule, earned value, and risk management system, creating an advanced data environment and digitalising reporting processes, providing executives and project managers consistent performance insight.

Rowan Alawi is a digital transformation leader reshaping how infrastructure organisations in the MENA region manage projects, data, and field operations. Rowan led the development and implementation of Trase, a workflow automation and document control platform that replaces fragmented, paper-heavy processes with fully digitised, auditable, and real-time project management.

Her leadership directly enabled organisations such as Hill International and Mowasalat Qatar to transition from manual reporting to structured digital workflows, resulting in measurable operational improvement. Across projects, Rowan’s initiatives reduced reporting time by 70%, improved issue-response speed by over 40%, and eliminated thousands of paper-based documents through automated digital submission and routing.

Her work also strengthened governance and ESG outcomes by enhancing transparency, enabling paperless operations, reducing rework-related emissions, and improving workforce coordination and safety through real-time visibility.

Rowan has driven Trase’s expansion into Qatar, Oman, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, securing $2m+ Annual Recurring Revenue growth in 2025 after two consecutive years below $20,000. This reflects her ability to align digital innovation with commercial traction, market fit, and scalable deployment.

With a track record of execution, measurable impact, and organisation-wide influence, Rowan represents the new generation of digital leaders transforming the built environment.

Sam Kumar is the Chief Project Officer & Founding Partner of ELEV8 Architects, where he has led a comprehensive digital transformation of architectural delivery across the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Sam has pioneered the integration of AI-driven generative design, BIM automation, digital compliance systems and data-led planning tools to reshape how projects are conceived, delivered and managed.

Under his leadership, digital capability has become a core differentiator in winning major commissions across Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, the GCC and Asia Pacific, including large-scale masterplans, mixed-use developments and high-profile commercial portfolios. His approach combines strategic vision with hands-on execution, enabling teams to work faster, smarter and with greater consistency.

Sam’s work has resulted in measurable improvements in productivity, quality and commercial performance, including significant reductions in design cycle time, improved approval rates and enhanced client engagement through real-time design analysis and simulation. His leadership has created a culture of innovation, where technology is not treated as an add-on, but as a core business enabler that drives competitiveness, scalability and long-term growth.

Since joining Al-Ayuni Investment & Contracting Co. as Vice President of IT, Shadi Alghanim has led a rapid and comprehensive Construction Technology transformation, repositioning the organisation as one of the most digitally advanced construction companies in the region within just two and a half years.

He transitioned Al-Ayuni from a fragmented, outdated on-premise ERP and infrastructure landscape to a fully cloud-based, integrated digital ecosystem built on Oracle Fusion Cloud, Oracle EPM, Primavera P6, and Aconex, while introducing structured project and construction automation.

In parallel, he transformed legacy infrastructure into a modern cloud environment leveraging Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft 365.

Data evolved from a fragmented, low-trust operational by-product into a governed, structured, and trusted enterprise asset, enabled through a modern enterprise data warehouse and analytics platform on Microsoft Fabric, supporting advanced analytics and future AI use cases.

He established enterprise-wide cybersecurity and compliance practices, achieving ISO 27001 certification and reaching approximately 75% National Cybersecurity Authority compliance, embedding security and governance into all digital initiatives. He also forged strategic partnerships with leading technology vendors, focusing on innovation and long-term value.

Most notably, he transformed the IT function from a traditional support role into a technology innovation and enablement organisation, driving new ways of working, data-driven decision-making, and sustainable construction technology adoption aligned with Industry 4.0 and Saudi Vision 2030.