Ricky overseas the treasury, financial market risk management, investment, corporate and aircraft financing, and insurance activities at Etihad Airways.

Ricky holds a Masters Degree in Engineering and various financial and management related qualifications, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Corporate Treasury Management and a committee member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers – Middle East.

Prior to joining South African Airways, he headed up treasury and risk management services companies as Managing Director of Andisa Treasury Solutions, and as Managing Director of Standard Risk and Treasury Management Services, a subsidiary of the Standard Bank Group.

Mr. Wong is the Group Vice President and Treasurer of Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, TAQA, a position he acquired in Jan 2008. In his role Mr. Wong is responsible for insurance, cash and risk management and corporate finance. He has over 25 years of extensive oil and gas industry experience including previous senior financial positions as the Corporate Treasurer of PrimeWest Energy and Manager of Corporate Planning with Anderson Exploration Ltd. and Devon Canada.

Mr. Wong is a Canadian national. He is a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and has an MBA degree from the University of Calgary.

He has over 24 years of work experience of which 8 years were spent in Australia including 5 years with Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC) in the business services and audit divisions. He moved to the UAE in 1993 and has spent the last 17 years with Al Jaber Group in the Finance Function having established the Internal Audit Department and is now Group Treasurer.

He has experience in and exposure to Financial Reporting & Management Accounting, Banking and Treasury including Capital Markets , Cash and Trade Finance, Financial Derivatives, Auditing, Risk Management, Corporate law, Corporate Governance and Investments.

The AL Jaber group is one of the largest private sector groups in the GCC and has diversified interests in many areas including Contracting, Manufacturing, Trading and Logistics and Real Estate. They have had an annual turnover in excess of 3B USD over the past 2 years and are based in Abu Dhabi, with strong presence in Qatar and Singapore.

Dr. Gökkent’s experience spans fr om academia, insurance, and banking. Before coming to region, Dr. Gökkent worked at the Strategic Planning Department of Garanti Bank, Turkey as an economist where he also served as a member of an advisory body for Volkswagen-Dogus Finance Company.  Dr. Gökkent has also served as an active Member of the banking sector advisory body at the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association.  

He has held a number of academic positions since 1997 in the US, Turkey, and the UAE. He had been an acting department head at Abu Dhabi University prior to joining NBAD.

Dr. Gökkent holds a Ph.D. in Economics fr om Florida International University and is a recognized expert in regional economics and the banking sector.

He has 10 years of experience in credit research. His prior roles include head of credit research at HSBC (Dubai), Head of Credit Research at Commerzbank (London), and senior credit analyst at Bear Stearns (London). Previously Mr. Bhogaita worked in the areas of corporate restructuring and insolvency, auditing, and corporate finance.