SPEAKERS

Deepa Raja Carbon is the Managing Director and Vice Chairperson of the newly established Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA], her mandate covers creation, enablement and scale-up of the first-of-its-kind global Virtual Asset ecosystem, as an ‘interoperable’ standard for a future ‘autonomous and decentralised’ economy, assuring strong investor and market risk guard-rails for cross-border transposability. In tandem, Deepa holds the position of EVP Corporate Office at the Dubai World Trade Centre [DWTC], managing Corporate Strategy and Real Estate Commercial. Ms. Raja Carbon’s functional responsibilities across the portfolio span [i] economic policy and sector-specific strategy; [ii] investment and commercial value enablement; [iii] regulatory policy and legal governance - economic and market risk assurance; [iv] corporate business/ sector-specific performance management; and [v] brand and reputation management - driving mandated GDP targets. Additionally, she is the Economy and Policy Advisor to Economic Strategy Sector at the Dubai Government’s Department of Economy and Tourism [DET]. Responsible for enabling Dubai’s economic growth – the sector targets accelerated GDP and Productivity across the future economy, and sustainable contribution from recovering sectors, with core focus on Tourism in line with city aspirations to deliver 25 million tourists by 2025. As a leadership team member involved in the Dubai Expo 2020 from bid through core asset development phases, she is currently enabling the legacy transformation of this landmark global event for the UAE. With nearly 20 years experience in driving transformational growth programmes, Deepa started her career as a Strategy Consultant with Booz and Company’s North American management consulting practice spanning multi-sectoral clients across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Her initiation to the business environment was through special assignments for the World Bank and UNDP based out of Kenya and South Africa; and she continues to service social enterprise in her capacity as co-chair of Bunyan Knights for UAE next-generation leadership development

Graduating with highest honours - Distinction and Summa Cum Laude at the helm of her Cohort, she has been conferred with the L.L.M [Masters in International Business Law] from the prestigious Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas; and a Masters in Business Administration [MBA] from the University of Michigan [Ross] School of Business, Dean’s Honours List. Ms. Raja Carbon holds an undergraduate degree in Architectural Engineering [B.Arch] from the University of Mumbai, and is a recipient of India’s selective National Academic Scholarship awarded exclusively to the top 1% of youth entering professional academia across the country.