Mahmoud El-Sakka received his B.Sc. (Hons) and M.Sc. degrees in Computer Science and Automatic Control Engineering from the University of Alexandria, Egypt, in 1985, and 1990 respectively, and his Ph.D. degree in Systems Design Engineering from University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 1997.

Since 1999, Dr. El-Sakka is a faculty member with the Department of Computer Science, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. From 1997 to 1999, he was a faculty member with the Department of Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

From July 2002 to June 2007, Dr. El-Sakka was appointed the chair of the Computer Science graduate program at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

From July 2017 to June 2022, Dr. El-Sakka was appointed the chair of the Computer Science undergraduate program at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

Dr. El-Sakka has been a member of the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) since 1999, as well as a Senior Member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (SM-IEEE) since 1999.