Dr. Ahmed Altheneyyan has been deputy minister for technology and digital capacities development at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology since December 2017.  He has a bachelor’s degree in information systems from King Saud University, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in computer science from Old Dominion University, Virginia. Altheneyyan began his career as a lecturer at the Institute of Public Administration. He also worked with the General Organization for Social Insurance and the Shoura Council as an IT consultant, and joined Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University as a part-time assistant professor. In 2003, he joined Saudi Telecom Co. as a customer relationship management system technical leader, before becoming a manager of application and data architecture. By the end of 2004, Altheneyyan joined Mobily, where he stayed for 10 years, starting as a customer support systems manager before becoming a senior manager for IT operations and then its director.  He also served as vice president of IT operations, risk management and business continuity, and eventually became a chief technology operations officer from 2013 to 2015. Althenneyan then joined the Defense Ministry as chief information officer and technology adviser until late 2017. The third edition of the ICT competition was recently launched in Riyadh. Altheneyyan said the initiative is part of the ministry’s strategic plans to qualify people in digital transformation, and to create a competitive environment that attracts and stimulates innovation and digital entrepreneurship.