Dr. Okan Geray has more than 20 years’ experience as a management consultant for various industries and countries. He worked at A.T. Kearney's global management consulting firm before joining the Dubai Government in 2002. He has worked in Dubai eGovernment, Dubai Smart Government, and more recently as the Strategic Planning Advisor in Smart Dubai Office following its establishment.

His responsibilities include strategic planning, strategic performance management, policymaking, and global thought leadership.

He was co-chair of the “Enhancing Innovation and Participation” working group in United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) joint global initiative with ITU and UNECE which addressed smart governance, smart economy, and smart people aspects of smart cities. He has led the publication of two global products for U4SSC, Guidelines on Strategies for Circular Cities and City Science Application Framework.

Okan was also co-chair of the “Data Economy Impact, Commercialization, and Monetization” working group in the ITU Focus Group on data processing and management. He is currently co-rapporteur of ITU Study Group 20 Question 7 on “Evaluation and assessment of Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities”. He is a member of the SDG11 Global Council.

He holds double major B.S degrees in Industrial and Computer Engineering from Bosphorus University in Istanbul Turkey, and an M.S degree and Ph.D. in Systems and Control Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in the USA. He has published journal and conference papers and book chapters and has been an adjunct lecturer in management for 15 years.