Widad Haddad heads the overall business for Emerson in the UAE, Oman, Yemen & Lebanon.

Widad joined Emerson as a Marketing Engineer in 2008 and has been steadily promoted since, to

the point where she led the Marketing Department as the Marketing Director from 2014 to 2018 before taking the role of Vice President and General Manager for UAE, Oman,Yemen & Lebanon in July 2018; and becoming the first female Vice President & General Manager for Emerson in Middle East & Africa.

In this role, Widad manages an organization of 120 employees covering sales, service, operations, finance, legal, HR and admin. Widad is also an executive sponsor of Emeron’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council in MEA.

Before joining Emerson, Widad held various roles in engineering, marketing and sales. She started her career in Lebanon in 2002 as a Mechanical Engineer designing Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning and Plumbing systems for residential buildings and commercial centres. After two years, she ventured into corporate training for a short tenure before moving to Dubai to become Marketing and Sales Manager of a local manufacturing and trading company specialising in industrial electrical supplies. After a year-long stint in 2007 on the creative side of advertising with Zee Network television, she joined the engineering world again with Emerson.

Widad is a graduate of McMaster University in Canada and has a BEng in Mechanical Engineering. She also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Organization and Business Psychology from University of Liverpool in the UK.

Widad is a mother of a seven years old boy, and plans to continue balancing her growing career and motherhood. She is a strong advocate for women in the industrial sector and has contributed to several events in the region to strengthen the voices of women and increase emphasis on the importance of diversity. She has mentored and coached both women and men on career, leadership styles, navigating organizations and growing careers.