Celonis, the global leader in Process Mining and Process Intelligence, has appointed Dave Hitt as Regional VP for the Middle East and Africa (MEA). With a wealth of experience in driving high-growth markets, Hitt will spearhead Celonis’ initiatives to promote the adoption of Process Intelligence across key MEA industries such as energy, mining, financial services, and the public sector. His appointment marks a significant step in Celonis’ ongoing global expansion and its commitment to helping businesses optimize processes and maximize the ROI of their AI investments.
MEA represents a strategic growth market for Celonis, with immense potential across both the public and private sectors. The region’s governments, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are investing heavily in digital transformation, driven by ambitious national strategies such as Saudi Vision 2030 and UAE Centennial 2071. These initiatives are focused on driving operational excellence, enhancing citizen services, and large-scale smart city projects—all areas where Celonis’ Process Intelligence technology can drive immediate impact.
“Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE are making substantial investments to modernize their public sectors, from healthcare and education to utilities and infrastructure”, said Hitt. “Celonis is uniquely positioned to help accelerate these transformations by providing real-time insights that enhance efficiency, speed up service delivery, and optimize large-scale projects”.
Beyond the public sector, Celonis sees strong potential in areas such as energy, financial services, mining, transportation, utilities and telecommunications. Celonis has already established a strong foothold in South Africa, where its technology has helped businesses across financial services and mining streamline operations and unlock new value opportunities. For example, the Celonis Cross Border Payments for Banking - powered by ProcessLab app helped the largest bank in Africa manage their payments process more effectively, reducing rework and eliminating bottlenecks. As a result, $2.4M in annual cost savings were identified by re-engineering the process. Payment processing capacity was increased by 18%, and cycle time was reduced by more than 30%.
MEA’s leading companies are looking for ways to enhance operational agility, reduce inefficiencies, and improve service delivery—challenges that Celonis is uniquely positioned to solve.
“For me, this role is about making the MEA region a success story,” said Hitt. “We’ve seen firsthand in South Africa how Process Intelligence can transform operations, and the Middle East also presents a great opportunity. The region is progressive and eager to drive digital transformation at an unprecedented scale. I’m excited to build on our momentum and help organizations across MEA unlock their full potential”.
Rupal Karia, GM for Celonis in the UK&I and MEA, comments: “I am delighted that Dave is taking on the role of Regional VP for MEA,” said Karia. “He brings deep expertise in scaling new markets and driving enterprise adoption of cutting-edge technology. Dave has been a key driver in building Celonis’ UK & Ireland business and will now focus on leveraging Process Intelligence and AI to drive value for our customers in MEA”.
As part of its regional growth strategy, Celonis will set up its first office in Dubai, featuring a team focused on sales, solutions engineering, and partner management.