At GPRC Summit Dubai 2026, Diligent brought its regional team together with GCC risk, audit and security leaders, customers and partners. The event showed how Diligent is investing in the Middle East through local relationships, regional expertise and practical support for organisations navigating change.
That investment matters during a period of regional and global uncertainty. For risk oversight and assurance leaders, good governance means seeing risk clearly, assigning ownership and showing that action was taken. Resilient organisations need sustained local engagement, not one-off support.
The 4th Annual GPRC Summit Dubai took place on 26–27 August 2026. The two-day summit included keynote addresses, specialist sessions, panels, networking and an exhibition floor.
With the theme “Driving Success: Integrating GRC with Strategy Execution in a Hyperconnected World”, the summit focused on how governance work shapes performance and strategic execution. Sessions covered the pressures reaching boardrooms, from AI and cybersecurity to institutional resilience, compliance, sustainability and performance measurement.
For GCC risk, audit and security leaders, these are operational questions. When cyber risk changes, they need to understand the wider impact, assign the response and give the board the context to decide.
Diligent participated as a Gold Sponsor, with an exhibition stand, regional team participation, customer and prospect meetings and a Day 1 thought-leadership session.
At the stand and in customer meetings, the Diligent MEA team heard how those pressures play out in practice. Risk and audit leaders spoke about strengthening oversight without slowing decisions, making interconnected risk visible to boards and adopting AI without weakening accountability.
Those issues are difficult to manage when information is fragmented. Teams need to see what changed, assign ownership, track follow-up and prepare a defensible view for leaders. A connected workflow makes that sequence easier to manage and gives risk and audit professionals a clearer basis for action.
As Michael Rasmussen, GRC Pundit and Analyst at GRC 20/20 Research, put it:
“Trying to manage governance, risk, and compliance, or today what we’re calling GPRC: governance, performance, risk, and compliance, with documents, spreadsheets, and emails is a recipe for disaster. It’s what I call the inevitability of failure.”
For risk and audit leaders, the objective is to connect risk signals, controls, owners, evidence and board reporting so decisions are based on current information.
Diligent was recognised at the summit for its contribution to advancing governance, risk, compliance and resilience across the UAE and wider region. The award was presented on behalf of the UAE Government by Brigadier General Staff Ayoub Butti Al Falasi and accepted on behalf of Diligent by Narimane Kurdi, Director of Revenue Marketing, and Paul Skerratt, RVP of Sales UAE.
This recognition reflects Diligent’s contribution to stronger oversight, connected GRC and resilient decision-making across the region. It acknowledges the work of our regional colleagues, customers and partners to turn governance requirements into practical ways of working. We are honoured by the award and by the responsibility to keep contributing practical expertise as the needs of the market evolve.
As Qais Gharaibeh, Regional Vice President for the Middle East at Diligent, said:
“The Middle East is adapting quickly to new norms demanding stronger oversight on how risk is managed and compliance is respected. Strong governance remain central to how organisations manage growth and transformation while adapting to uncertainty. At Diligent, we’re focused on helping leaders connect risk, audit, compliance and board reporting so they can have the integrated oversight needed for resilient decision-making.”
AI was a consistent thread throughout the summit. In a session titled “The Autonomous Risk Officer: How Agentic AI is Reshaping Risk Management”, Diligent’s Greig Allen explored how risk leadership may evolve as AI moves beyond assistance towards more agentic capabilities.
For risk and audit leaders, the opportunity is not simply to automate more activity. It is to decide where AI can surface context, coordinate work or prepare a recommendation, and where an expert must review the output and retain decision rights. Organisations need clarity on accountability, oversight, traceability and responsible use.
As Greig said:
“Our participation at the GPRC Summit Dubai reflects Diligent’s deep commitment to the Middle East. As regional organizations accelerate their digital transformation, having unified governance tools is essential to turning risk into strategic advantage and driving sustainable economic progress.”
That is the standard responsible AI should meet in governance and risk work. AI can help professionals find relevant information earlier, route tasks to the right owner and prepare work for review. It should not make final decisions, remove oversight or replace professional judgement.
Diligent’s presence in Dubai was part of a continuing regional commitment, not a one-off event activation. The summit showed how resilience depends on the quality of governance and decision-making that supports it. That is why Diligent will keep investing in the region, staying close to local leaders and customers, sharing practical thought leadership and helping organisations connect governance, risk, compliance, audit and strategy.
For GCC risk, audit and security leaders assessing their next priority, Diligent’s Risk & Resilience in the Gulf checklist provides an eight-step way to diagnose maturity across enterprise risk management, cyber risk and third-party risk, then prioritise what to address first.
Better resilience depends on stronger governance. Diligent is proud to help organisations build the oversight and decision-making discipline that supports it.
Risk & resilience in the Gulf
Enhance your organization's resilience with our 8-step checklist for modern risk management in the Middle East. This guide helps legal, risk, and audit leaders in the GCC identify critical gaps and implement AI-powered strategies for effective governance, risk, and compliance. Download now to assess your maturity and create a roadmap for a stronger, proactive risk management approach.
