AI Leader · PhD · Founder · Author

Aseel Addawood

د. أسيل الداود

Visionary AI leader with over 14 years of cross-industry experience in enterprise AI strategy, digital transformation, and scalable technology adoption — from Saudi Arabia to EMEA and beyond. U.S.-trained PhD, active member of IEEE, AAAI, and ACM.

14+
years of cross-industry experience
50K+
conference & event attendees
1K+
Oracle employees trained in AI
520+
academic citations
Professional journey

Career timeline

Apr 2025 — Present
Oracle
KSA Leader · EMEA AI Center of Excellence
Accelerating AI transformation for 30+ high-profile clients including the Digital Government Authority and Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Training 1,000+ Oracle employees across KSA and EMEA on AI adoption strategies.
Current Role
Dec 2023 — Apr 2025
Oracle
Europe, Middle East & Africa AI Leader
Led enterprise AI strategies and scalable domain-specific use cases across EMEA — including advising the Spanish Ministry of Justice on AI integration.
Mar 2021 — Dec 2023
Ministry of Energy
Director of Emerging Technology · AI & Data Analytics Advisor
Established the Emerging Technology Department, delivered 8 national AI initiatives, and supported 10+ AI startups in the energy sector. Drove data governance and digital transformation across government operations.
Aug 2020 — Aug 2022
Oracle
Senior Regional Data Consultant · Senior Cloud Engineer
Delivered cloud-based AI and advanced analytics solutions across META. Identified AI-driven automation opportunities for 100+ cross-sector clients, optimizing workflows and enhancing operational efficiencies.
Aug 2019 — Dec 2022
Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud University
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Designed AI-focused computer science curricula and launched the university's first AI student club. Previously served as Teaching Assistant for 9 years (2010–2019).
Aug 2019 — Present
Bayan Group
Founder · Chairman of the Board
Advanced AI localization in Saudi Arabia through strategic oversight, team growth, and alignment with global AI strategies. Also chairs Bayan Academy — an Arabic-language AI and data science education platform.
Jul 2018 — Sep 2018
USC · Los Angeles
Visiting Researcher
Worked on Twitter troll detection through deception linguistic markers at the Information Science Institute, advised by Emilio Ferrara and Kristina Lerman.
Academic background

Education

2014 – 2019
PhD in Informatics
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL — USA
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
2017 – 2018
MS in Information Management
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL — USA
2012 – 2013
MEng in Computer Engineering
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY — USA
With Distinction
2006 – 2010
BS in Information Technology
King Saud University
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Second Class Honors
Core competencies

Areas of expertise

01
AI Strategy & Digital Transformation
Enterprise-wide AI strategy development, Vision 2030 alignment, public sector digital transformation, and AI governance frameworks across KSA and EMEA.
AI Implementation Ethical AI OCI Architecture Change Management
02
Natural Language Processing
PhD research in computational linguistics and Arabic NLP. 15+ peer-reviewed papers with 520+ citations. Published work on COVID-19 infodemic analysis and social media behavior.
Arabic NLP Social Computing Text Mining Machine Learning
03
AI Talent & Ecosystem Development
Founder of Bayan Academy. Organizer of WiDS KSA. Trained 1,000+ professionals. Enabled 15+ startups. Mentor at 1932 Project and ArabWIC President.
Startup Enablement WiDS KSA Women in Tech Mentoring
Recognition

Awards & honors

★
Women in Tech Global Award
Women in Data Science (WiDS) International · 2024
★
Top 10 Women in AI in MEA
AI Magazine · 2023
★
Customer Advocate Award
Oracle EMEA Technology Engineering · 2021
★
Hackathon Finalist — Oracle MAdHack
Oracle Internal · 2020
★
Computing Advancement Grant
CRA-W · 2018
★
Leadership Scholarship
Arab Women in Computing · 2017
Advisory & governance

Board memberships

SASO
Board Member
Saudi Standards, Metrology & Quality Organization · Aug 2023 – Present
Taibah University
Advisory Board Member
College of Computer Science · Feb 2023 – Present
TVTC
Steering Board Member
Technical & Vocational Training Corporation · Aug 2022 – Present
Sortera
Chairman of the Board
AI-powered industrial recycling initiative · Aug 2022 – Present
Seetech
Chairman of the Board
AI-driven smart city solutions · Feb 2022 – Present
Atlantic Council & Georgetown
Women in Innovation Fellow
US Embassy · PepsiCo · UPS · Apr 2022 – Present

Let's build something meaningful

Open to advisory, speaking, consulting, and strategic partnerships.

Book a consultation aseel.addawood@gmail.com Connect on LinkedIn →