Our Governors
Mrs. Ghadeer Abu-Shamat
Vice President – Education – GEMS
Superintendent – CEO GEMS Al Khaleej
Ms. Ghadeer is a professionally qualified bilingual educational leader with over 20 years of experience in Jordan, the UK, and the UAE. She is a Chemist by education. She holds a Master's Degree in Educational Management and Leadership from the Institute of Education (IOE), University College London (UCL), and a Higher Diploma in Educational Management and Leadership from the American University of Beirut (AUB). She is a Doctorate Candidate at IOE-UCL, London. Ghadeer started her educational career as a teacher at Amman Academy - Jordan, at the age of 21. After six years, she was promoted to become the youngest Principal in Jordan at the age of 27 in the same school. Prior to Ghadeer's appointment as a Superintendent- CEO at GEMS Al Khaleej International School (AKIS), she worked as a founding School Principal for an IB School in Jordan.
Ghadeer's passion for education and her personal characteristics and leadership skills helped her succeed and leave a positive impact in all the leadership positions throughout her years of experience.
Ghadeer joined GEMS- AKIS in January 2015. Her determination, dedication, and sharp vision helped her transform the school by moving AKIS ninety parameters into four years. The school has transformed under her leadership and moved from "Acceptable" to "Good" in 2018 and remained Good in 2020 with very good features. With her leadership, the school is progressing every year. In 2020, Ghadeer was promoted to become a Vice President- Education in GEMS, where she overseas other GEMS schools and projects.
Mrs Fatma Al-Khaja
Ms. Fatma Alkhaja has a master’s degree in international business from the University of Wollongong Dubai, and did her Bachelors in BA at the American University of Sharjah. She has 18 years of corporate experience where she has worked in various industries including, educations, banking, insurance, government, with her recent venture being in Oil & Gas as a Business Planning Manager for the Government & International Affairs Department.
Ms. Fatma is a certified risk auditor in business continuity management, and holds various certificates in different aspects of Communications, CSR, EFQM and Leadership.
Ms. Fatma enjoys engaging with the GNS Senior Leadership Members in understanding the norms of the school and how she can add value. Her interest lies in nurturing and mentoring the younger generation to become better versions of themselves.
Mr. Mohammed Elneel
Mohammed Elneel is an ICT Consultant with 22 years diverse technical, business development and public policy experience serving large corporations and government clients across the region. He’s currently engaged in ICT projects in four developing countries enabling national multi-sector solutions in the areas of Sustainable Energy & Water Utilities, Transportation, FinTech, eLearning, eHealth, and eGovernment, with a particular flair for projects founded on humanitarian motives aimed at developing sustainable social and economic prosperity.
Mr. Mohammed commenced his passion for engineering from early school years creating home automation solutions in the pre-internet era. His work experience follows an academic foundation which commenced with notable top-percentile IGCSE performance at GEMS, followed by a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s degree in Evidence-based Public Policy frameworks from Canada, along with numerous professional specialization certificates including an MIT certificate in developing Smart City solutions. Having worked in more than 5 countries, Mr. Mohammed mastered stakeholders’ engagement and consensus building as a core foundation for successful projects delivery.
On the family side, Mr. MOhammed works hard to strike a sound work-life balance taking pride in participating in all aspects of his children’s academic and social learning experiences. He has been an active member in parents’ councils for 11 years across Canada and UAE and generously donates his time to constructively support school management in realizing tangible service growth potential with particular focus on innovation and inclusion. His personal activities include endurance sports, football, swimming, travelling and photography.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammed-elneel-44a0052a/
https://arabiabraintrust.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/EN.pdf
https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca/ece/news/w-booth-alumnus-builds-connected-societies
Mrs. Naveen Raza
Ms. Naveen Raza is the mum of 3 boys at GNS in years 5, 3 and 1. She has over 17 years of banking experience working at HSBC in both the UK and for the last 12 years in the UAE. In her current role, she is the Head of Sustainability for the EMEA region. Naveen is passionate about her role as a LAB member and keen to support the SLT to achieve their vision of making GNS one of the outstanding schools in Dubai. In her limited spare time, Naveen likes to bake and keep fit.
Mrs. Reem Al Matrooshi
Ms. Reem Al Matrooshi is a founding parent and LAB member since the start of Gems Al Barsha National School. She has three children in the school both in Secondary and Primary sections. She has a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering from the University Of Sharjah. Since joining the LAB, she has been interested in Leadership and management as well as Personal and Social Development areas, seeing both areas as key in enabling educators to guide students to a better and prosperous future. Ms Reem believes that the school is not just there for the academic life for students, but also as a road to building their self-confidence and a social life in a way that prepares them to be the leaders of the future.
Mrs. Mariam Almarri
Ms. Mariam Almarri is a LAB Member and founding parent of GEMS Al Barsha National School. She is passionate about facilitating communication between parents and the school, conveying parents’ suggestions to higher management. Her goal as a LAB member is to support the school to achieve the highest standards of teaching and learning so that the school can be graded outstanding by the KHDA. She has also been a keen volunteer in our Friends of the School group, participating in a range of school events. In 2005, Ms. Mariam graduated from the Higher College of Technology (Dubai Women’s College) with a higher diploma of E-Commerce. She is passionate about online business and social media. A proud mother and housewife, her skills and interests include cooking, exercising, reading, and volunteering. She recently became a member of Dubai Women’s Association and her goal is to discuss the problems of our community and find solutions to eliminate them.
