NEP 2.0

Kalthoom Ali Salem is Lead of Education – Middle East at Apple, where she enables engaged learning for students across a variety of educational institutes. In her previous role as Chief Strategic Partnerships Officer at GEMS Education, she played a key role in championing the organization’s mission by developing relationships and partnerships across the public and private sectors, both in the UAE and internationally. 

Prior to that, Kalthoom worked at Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), where she held senior leadership positions including Executive Director of Education Development and Director of Institutional Development. In her decade in KHDA, she led the government body’s unified strategy to attract, retain and enhance the quality of private education provision in Dubai, and was also responsible for the development of laws and guidelines governing all private K-12 schools in the emirate. She also played a critical role in the development of Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 (DSP2015) with The Executive Office.

Kalthoom envisions an education sector that personalizes learning based on each learner’s needs and backgrounds, and that celebrates achievement equally across academic, non-academic and soft skills. By promoting educational excellence for all, she hopes to equip all learners to contribute actively to the UAE’s knowledge economy.

Kalthoom holds a Bachelor of Science in Education from Higher Colleges of Technology and a Master of Science in Data Analytics from Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as executive leadership credentials from Cranfield School of Management. Kalthoom has also completed the Leadership Program under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.