Middle East Leadership Academy witnesses its fourth leadership programme session launch in Muscat Oman

Attendees from Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar will participate in the leadership session and benefit from the tailor-made curriculum set by international business leaders.

MELA 4 curriculum features key leadership and development topics including: Taking Leadership to a New Level, Understanding Yourself, Intercultural Intelligence, Creating Strategies that Make a Difference, Understanding Systems and Power, Negotiation Skills, Building High Performance Teams and Purpose.

MELA 4 will be held at the Barr Al Jissa Resort and Spa in Muscat, Oman from March 7 - 17, 2013; the participants had either been nominated by MELA alumni and key business figures or had registered online and went through vigorous selection and interview process to be eligible to enter the MELA academy for induction into the MELA network upon the training completion.

The business leaders, speakers and facilitators taking part in the MELA 4 session include: Dr. Jim Crupi, President and Founder, Strategic Leadership Solutions Inc.; Michael Kouly, President of the Cambridge Institute for Global Leadership (CIGL);; John King, Founding Partner and CEO of Cultural Architecture, Inc.; Raoul Restucci, Managing Director, Petroleum Development Oman; Brice Bay, Chairman and CEO, EnVeritas Group; Dan Ciprari, Serial Entrepreneur & former CEO of Illumitron International, Inc.; Anne Jafery, Chairman, Middle East Council of American Chambers of Commerce; Ritu Upadhyay, Producer, Bloomberg Television, UAE; Sami Al Mufleh, CEO, Hills Advertising; Mohamed Al Ayed, President & CEO, TRACCS; Ahmed M Al Abri, COO, Bank Muscat; Yousef Tuqan Tuqan, CEO, Flip Media; Fay Niewiadomski, Founder & CEO, ICTN; Tarik Yousef, CEO, Silatech; Ibtisam Riyami, Director of People and Change, Petroleum Development Oman; Anand Sharma, Chairman & CEO, TBM Consulting Group, Inc.; Wissam Darwiche, Executive Director for Principal Investments, Waha Capital; Andrea Bednar, Executive Director, Performance Consulting, Sunergos LLC; Rabea Ataya, Founder, Chairman, & CEO, Bayt.com.; Salim Al Aufi, CEO, Public Authority for Civil Aviation, Oman; and Bill Starnes, Former Partner, Trammell Crow International.

During the academy participants will be paired into groups and will be working together on a final project showcasing skills and strategies gained from the 10-day training session they participated in. During the last day of the session each group will be presenting their project to the speakers, facilitators and MELA alumnis who will attend within the academy as part of the bi-annual MELA reunion session. MELA 4 participants will then be officially inducted into the MELA network during the graduation ceremony that recognizes the individuals on their participation and receive their certificates for completion of the MELA academy.

The distinctiveness of MELA is in the dedication and support of over 20 business leaders from the United States and the region who dedicate their time and are part of the programme alongside the delegates serving not only as trainers, but coaches, mentors and facilitators. Supporting this initiative are a number of leading regional and international organizations including: Petroleum Development Oman, Society of International Business Fellows, Weqaya, SilaTech, and King Abdullah II Fund for Development.

MELA is a private, non-profit initiative launched by the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF) whose members serve on a volunteer basis as many of the facilitators and instructors at the MELA workshops. A network of networks, MELA connects its members to similar and expanding networks encompassing over 800 leaders from the United States and Central Eurasia through the Society of International Business Fellows and MELA's sister organization Central Eurasia Leadership Alliance.

The board members of MELA are: Nabil Ali Alyousuf, Partner in Al Jal Capital; Ms. Meisa Batayneh, founder and principal architect at Maisam Architects and Engineers; Dr. James Crupi, President and founder of Strategic Leadership Solutions, Inc., founder of SIBF and founder of MELA; Michael Kouly, President of the Cambridge Institute for Global Leadership (CIGL); Andrew Summers, formerly with Silchester International Investors; Sheikh Hassan Isam AlKabbani Acting Chairman of the IKK Group of Companies; and Wael Al-Lawaiti, CEO of Omran.

Each MELA class elects two representatives to join the board of directors for a two-year term and representatives from MELA 1, 2 and 3 are: Soughit K. Abdelnour, Senior HR Manager at Deloitte Middle East; Firas Abu Wishah, Business Development Director for Petra Engineering Industries; Basma Essa, Brand Communications Manager ENOC; Peter Mehany, Technical Vice President Global Napi Pharmaceuticals; Abdullah Al Kasabi, General Manager of RZM Holding; and Sami Ammous, Contact Center Lead at Avaya.

MELA provides its members the opportunity to build lifelong bonds of trust with other leaders from business, education and civil society from across the region that ordinarily would take years to develop.

To enter MELA potential members must first attend the MELA Leadership Academy which offers the newest MELA members perspective on leadership development, bond with each other and the MELA mission, and begin the process of integrating into the larger MELA organization.