Webinar: Women and Leadership in the UAE
The Story the West Isn’t Hearing
Saudi Vision 2030. The UAE Gender Balance Council. Women now outnumbering men in university graduates across the Gulf. The headlines suggest a region in transformation – but the real story of women stepping into leadership across the GCC is more nuanced, more hard-won, and rarely told by the women living it. This isn’t a panel about progress on paper. It’s a conversation about what leadership actually looks like on the ground.
In this candid discussion, two veteran executive coaches based in the UAE – drawing on a combined 50 years of experience across government, corporate, and individual leadership work in the region – will share what’s really driving change, who opened doors for them, and what they wish more organizations were willing to talk about.
Whether you’re a leader navigating the GCC, an organization investing in leadership development there, or simply curious about a region too often reduced to a headline – this is a conversation worth your time.
Now available on-demand!
Meet the Panelists
Joy Nissen, PsyD, MBA, BCB | Global Managing Partner, AIIR Consulting
Joy Nissen is Global Managing Partner at AIIR Consulting. A psychologist and seasoned executive, she brings a rare combination of behavioral science expertise and real-world business leadership – having scaled a global company from zero to $30M in revenue while leading teams across the US, Europe, and Asia. Raised in Taiwan and having lived and worked across four continents, Joy brings a global lens to leadership development. She is particularly attuned to the cultural nuances of leadership in rapidly evolving markets.
At AIIR, Joy works with executives and organizations across industries, specializing in executive coaching, leadership assessment, and team effectiveness. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and an MBA from Widener University, she is also board certified in biofeedback.
Ghada Zakaria, MCC, CPCC, GSC, ORSC | UAE-Based Executive Coach
Ghada brings 25 years of experience and over 6,000 coaching hours across government, corporate, and individual leadership contexts in the GCC and beyond. She was the first Emirati to gain accreditation and certification as a professional Co-Active executive coach from CTI. Before coaching full-time, she led a landmark workforce integration program at the Jumeirah Group – training and placing over 450 Emirati nationals into a multinational workforce – work that earned the Dubai Human Development Award.
She has led fast-track government leadership programs across Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and Ajman, and hosted Bokra Ahla, the region’s first coaching reality show on Abu Dhabi TV. Her coaching spans executive presence, systemic team dynamics, resilience, and adaptive leadership. Over the years, Ghada has expanded her practice to include neuroscience and psychological training – driven by how frequently mental health and wellbeing surface as factors in leadership growth. She holds an MCC from ICF and is trained in ORSC, Gallup Strengths, Family Systems Constellation, EIP3, MTQ48, Mental Health First Aid, and Theory U under Otto Scharmer in Berlin.
Cindy van de Kreke-Freens, MCC, CPCC, MSc | UAE-Based Executive Coach
Cindy is a seasoned executive, team, and leadership coach with nearly 30 years of experience across hospitality, financial services, sports, and semi-government sectors. She has lived and worked in the UAE for 20 years. For the past 15 years her focus has been executive and team coaching, leadership development, and organizational change – and for the last five years she has also been training aspiring coaches at the Co-Active Training Institute.
Cindy holds an MCC from ICF and a Master’s in Business Strategy, Leadership & Change from Heriot-Watt University. Her approach draws on psychodynamic systemic coaching (KDVI), neuroscience, ORSC, and Co-Active methodology. She has facilitated sessions for government ministries in the UAE and brings a distinctly intercultural lens shaped by a childhood spent across multiple countries.