Dr. Waddah S. Ghanem Al Hashmi FIEMA, FIIRSM, FEI, FBDIGCC, MIoD
Fellow & UAE Chapter Advisory Chair, GCC Board Directors Institute
Hon. Chairman – Energy Institute – Middle East
Chairman of the Federal Committee for Occupational Safety and Health
Sr. Director at Emirates National Oil Company
An environmental engineer by training with a double masters in both sciences and business administration who has spent more than 25 years starting in consulting and then soon after the energy industry in several technical and senior executive roles. He is a certified director and sits on several international boards. His research area over the past decade has been in Governance and Leadership and making of high reliability organizations. He is the Chairman of the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Standards Committee, a published author of more than 8 international books. He is currently the Sr. Director for Logistics and Marine Assurance in the Emirates National Oil Company.
Dr Waddah also in a visiting faculty at the University of Technolgi Petronas (Malaysia) and Hult Business School. He is an external examiner at the University of Petroleum and Energy Sciences (India) and sits on the Industrial Advisory Boards at the Herriot Watt University and the University of Abu Dhabi. Waddah is considered one of the authorities on health, safety, environmental and sustainability governance and leadership. He is also the Chairman of the Platform for Connected Leadership.
1. How important is the chapter in helping the GCC BDI in fulfilling its objectives?
There is no doubt that in the past 15 years the GCC BDI has played a significant role in bringing greater awareness to the region with respect to good corporate governance practices and the value that governance and leadership on boards can bring to organizations. We have over 3000 members today in the Institute and there has been much interest throughout the GCC.
The members based in the KSA are also very active and constitute a large segment of the members. The UAE members are also a significant percentage, and the UAE chapter will further focus some of the activities in 2023 and beyond to support these members.
The Chapter Advisory Board shall review all matters concerning the Chapter and makes recommendations on the Chapter and its activities aimed at the promotion and achievement of the strategic objectives set by GCC BDI.
2. What is the relevance of being a member of the GCC BDI in 2023?
The GCC BDI has expanded its roles, activities and has now become more regionally active. The focus on offering the delivery of high class and quality board directorship and secretary certification programmes and internationally recognised qualifications and more recently chartership is a critical and great development.
With a greater membership base which is also regionally distributed and with more on offer in terms of training, certification, learning and networking through events and seminars, being a member today provides greater benefits than ever before.
The GCC BDI are also partners with several other Institutes such as the IoD in the United Kingdom, which means for those operating or working at times in the UK can benefit from extended benefits of joint membership as well.
3. Where do you see the GCC BDI in 5 years?
I believe with the current trajectory, and with the growth of the interest and importance of corporate governance in the region and the need for competent and certified directors it would be very likely in my view for the membership numbers to double or event triple in the coming 5 years. I think also with the new members having greater interests in several emerging areas, such as enterprise risk management, ESG, sustainability and so on; there will be a more diverse offering of programs, seminars and events that will help raise awareness.
In fact I see the programs such as the foundations of directorship, the certificate and the diploma in directorship becoming quite in demand as stakeholders, organisations and individuals further appreciate the significance of being very much in the know when it comes to corporate governance and what is requires of you to be an effective director, especially, that as we see today, many directors sit on more than one board, so the impact can’t be underestimated.