We believe the Middle East will be a huge driving force in the world’s energy transition and Wood is helping accelerate the journey to net zero in the region as a trusted partner, supporting our clients to ensure reliable energy supply and decarbonise industry.
Over the past year, we’ve grown in the region by investing in and developing our people, creating an energy transition hub, winning new work and continuing to deliver performance excellence for our clients. None of this would be possible without our remarkable people.
Through our Remarkables campaign, we’ve been spotlighting some of the incredible talent in the Middle East – let’s re-visit Ali, Ken and Shahad, and find out what they’ve been up to.
Our first local engineering lead in Iraq, Ali Ibrahim
Ali supports one of our largest contracts in Iraq and has been the quickest within the region to develop from engineer to lead – taking just three years. Having transitioned from a local Iraqi company, Ali is enjoying the truly global nature of working at Wood, stretching his skillset and working on some of the world’s most significant projects. He was recently promoted to Deputy Engineering Manger after taking on the additional responsibility of engineering co-ordinator in his previous role and undertaking several internal training courses. Ali also benefitted from having a mentor to support his development at Wood.
“One of my long-term goals was to become an engineering manager, and I’m pleased to share that I've been promoted to Deputy Engineering Manager. I’m currently fulfilling this role, and it has been a significant success for me this year.”
Ken Ede – decarbonising the Middle East
New Zealand native, Ken, has been with Wood for 14 years, having joined in Melbourne in 2010. With career highlights including launching a rocket into space from a semi-submersible platform, it’s safe to say that Ken’s been on a similar trajectory in 2024. This year, he was promoted from his role as our Middle East decarbonisation director to become the region’s Senior Vice President for our Projects business in the region.
“2024 has been a great year for the Middle East team – we kept our people safe, invested in the team and expanded our workforce, while increasing our sustainable work by 300%. I became Senior Vice President of the Middle East for the Projects business which is a great honour and I’m excited about the future prospects here for Wood. We have an amazing team here who can really capitalise on the opportunities ahead of us.”
Driving the change as a female graduate engineer, Shahad Al Mousa
Having dreamt of experiencing life and work in a country away from her homeland of Iraq, Shahad is one of the candidates from our Basra Graduate Program. Honing her skills as a process engineer, Shahad has been based in our Dubai office since 2022 and has thrived as a focal point on one of our Iraq contracts. Shahad is also part of our Shadow Leadership team - an internal initiative at Wood where passionate employees have the ability to work with senior leaders to strengthen their network, gain exposure and provide fresh input and perspective on business challenges and opportunities.
"One of the highlights of the year for me has been stepping into leadership roles through Wood’s internal Developing Professionals Network (DPN) and becoming the Middle East & Iraq lead for our Women of Wood (WOW) community. Wood has continued to present opportunities for me to gain invaluable leadership experience and I’m incredibly grateful and excited to keep shaping my career here.”
Find out more about our 2024 success in the Middle East