Atef Helmy served as Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology from January 2013 to March 2015. Helmy has more than 30 years of solid experience in Information Technology, executive management and business. During his career, he assumed numerous executive management and leadership positions, including 24 years in managing two of the top 100 Fortune Multinationals covering the United States of America, Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. As Minister of ICT, Helmy Chaired the Board of Directors of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA), the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) and the National Telecommunication Institute (NTI). He also chaired the Board of Trustees of the Information Technology Institute (ITI) and the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), and oversaw the supervision of Egypt Post.
From 1983 to 1996, Helmy worked for NCR/AT&T where he held several Sales, Marketing and Executive positions. From 1992 to 1996, he was the United Arab Emirates Managing Director for the same company, leading the organization to a tremendous growth in terms of revenue, profit margin and customer and employee satisfaction. In 1996, Helmy worked at Oracle Egypt as the Managing Director, achieving outstanding success by growing the operation and the business significantly, as well as expanding partnerships with more than 80 Egyptian companies. He also participated in launching the Professional Training Initiative for engineering and computer science students, in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Egyptian universities. Within the framework of this initiative, more than 5000 students were trained, enabling them to step into the marketplace.
In 2005, he launched one of the largest Global Support Centers for Oracle Corporation in Egypt to serve Oracle customers worldwide. This Global Support Center has become one of the most successful references that contributed to positioning Egypt as one of the top destinations in outsourcing and off-shoring. From 2008 to 2013, Helmy was a Member of the Board of Directors of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA).
He was also a Member of Egypt Post Board of Directors from December 2011 to January 2013. Helmy served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Chamber Of Information Technology & Communication (CIT) from September 2009 to May 2010, a Member of the Consultant Council of the Minister of ICT for Incubators and Innovation from September 2008 to September 2009 and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Council for IT Exports from 2005 to 2006. He was also a Board Member in a number of ICT Organizations. Helmy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in in Electrical Engineering from the Military Technical College in 1973. He was awarded a Master’s degree in 1981 and a Diploma in Computer Science from Ain Shams University in 1979. Helmy honorably served in the Egyptian Military Forces for ten years in the field of communications and information technology from 1973 to 1983.
