Valerie Hawley is the Director of the Sorbonne Centre for Artificial Intelligence (SCAI), an entity aiming to enhance AI capabilities across the Middle East. SCAI focuses on Healthcare, Financial Services, and Climate Change. Her expertise lies in advising companies on their disruptive innovation strategy by developing use cases and competencies in AI-related technologies.
Valerie brings over 12 years of experience in disruptive innovation: first as an entrepreneur; second, in her leadership role in setting up the digital innovation and entrepreneurship programme at HEC Paris; and third, in her recent role as the head of innovation at Daman, the National Health Insurance Company of Abu Dhabi and finally as an active partner of True Global Ventures (TGV) a global Venture Capital firm built by a group of serial entrepreneurs with a solid track record of investing their own money together with Limited Partners into ventures run by serial entrepreneurs. Portfolio companies leverage Web3 technologies, incorporating blockchain as competitive advantages to drive change with proven products. The fund is dedicated to blockchain companies, primarily in late-stage Series B and C across four verticals: Entertainment/gaming, infrastructure, financial services, and data analytics / artificial intelligence (AI). Her strategic consulting skills were honed at KPMG where she managed multiple cross-disciplinary teams.
Valerie has been working in the UAE for over 10 years and has built a vast network within the innovation ecosystem.