Biography:

Manal Shihab, received the ME degree in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, in 2007, BE degree in Computer and Communications Engineering from Beirut Arab University, Lebanon, in 2002.

Professionally, she is currently working as a Senior Software Expert at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Lebanon. She previously worked as a Senior Software Engineer at Beirut Container Terminal Consortium in 2007, as a Senior Web Developer and Web Department Manager in Dubai Internet City, UAE, in 2003, and as a Junior Web Developer at Stripling and Beck, an outsourced company from the US in Lebanon in 2002.

Manal is currently a member of the Order of Engineers in Lebanon and a member of WIT.

Statement of purpose:

From the first day I heard there is an organization called Women in IT in Lebanon, I realized that our country has started paving its way towards the liberalization of women’s thoughts and a revolution against the traditional feminine work. The concept of a woman depending on a male figure is nowadays changing fast especially that our life style is heading towards a technological era. It’s an era that not just men play an important role in, but also women need to follow in order to catch up with what is changing around. Having said all this and being a woman working in the ICT sector, my role is to educate other women and pass the torch of my predecessors. My intention is to highlight the importance of information technology being a window that allows access to a wide variety of learning resources from anywhere anytime. There is no limit for education. If I can, all other women CAN too.