Executive Director and Co-founder | ESAC Group
Environmental responsibility is tested in practice: in the decisions organisations make, the guidance teams receive and the work they carry out. For Dr. Hamsah Khalil, Executive Director and Co-founder of ESAC Group, leadership means connecting technical knowledge with the people and systems needed to put it into action.
Her journey from civil engineering into sustainability, hazardous waste management and environmental policy has shaped an approach grounded in accountability, trust and practical implementation. Through ESAC Group and her work developing ESAC Academy, she seeks to strengthen the connection between professional advice, learning and informed decisions.
From Engineering to Environmental Leadership
Dr. Hamsah began her career in civil engineering and project delivery, where decisions had visible consequences for budgets, schedules, safety and the people using a building. Her subsequent work in sustainability at Musanada, hazardous waste management at Tadweer, and environmental policy and climate work associated with NEOM broadened her understanding of responsibility.
Those experiences taught her to examine recommendations from several perspectives: whether they are technically sound, whether the people responsible can implement them and what consequences may emerge later. At ESAC Group, she brings that discipline to business leadership, emphasising clear ownership, realistic implementation and follow-up to establish whether a decision worked.
Building ESAC Group and ESAC Academy
Co-founding ESAC Group gave Dr. Hamsah the opportunity to bring together lessons from engineering, sustainability, environmental governance and professional development within a business whose direction she helps shape. Building the company has also made leadership tangible: every commitment must be supported by the people, capabilities and systems needed to deliver it.
Her vision for ESAC Group centres on connecting specialist advice with the knowledge clients and professionals need to act on it. Developing ESAC Academy extends that purpose into learning, making technical experience more accessible and helping colleagues develop their expertise. Together, these efforts reflect her ambition to build continuity between professional practice and education.
Leadership Built on Trust and Understanding
For Dr. Hamsah, trust begins with consistency between words, decisions and follow-through. She recognises that people need different forms of support: a technical specialist may need clarity about evidence, while a project manager may need a decision on priorities. Making expectations explicit helps both contribute effectively.
She encourages colleagues to raise concerns and challenge assumptions early. Honesty about uncertainty is part of that approach; rather than offer an answer she cannot support, she prefers to acknowledge the gap and investigate it.
Empathy informs how she responds to performance difficulties. Before deciding on a course of action, she considers whether the issue involves unclear expectations, a skills gap, an unrealistic workload or circumstances she has not understood. The response may involve coaching, reallocating work or clarifying responsibilities. Fair accountability depends on distinguishing what an individual can improve from what the leader needs to change.
Helping Teams Stay Resilient
During challenging periods, Dr. Hamsah begins by acknowledging the pressure honestly and explaining priorities, available support and what can reasonably wait. Breaking a large challenge into manageable decisions gives people a clearer understanding of their responsibilities and next steps.
She also pays attention to workload, recognising that repeatedly asking committed people to absorb more work can conceal a growing problem. Recognising progress and making room for concerns help teams maintain perspective. When circumstances change, she sees adjusting a plan as part of responsible leadership rather than a departure from it.
Making Room for Ideas and Learning
Dr. Hamsah encourages new ideas by focusing discussion on the problem an idea could solve, the evidence behind it and what needs to be learned before taking it further. A thoughtful hearing matters, particularly for junior colleagues whose proximity to a task can reveal practical obstacles others have missed.
In environmental work, experimentation needs clear boundaries because new approaches may affect safety, compliance or resources. Her preference is to test an idea at an appropriate scale, define success and agree when to review or stop. Even an unsuccessful trial can inform a better decision when it is properly evaluated.
Technology with Judgement
Technology initially supported Dr. Hamsah’s work in engineering, planning and project coordination. As her responsibilities expanded into sustainability and environmental policy, modelling, spatial analysis and performance data became more important in understanding problems and comparing options.
Her interest in digital tools and artificial intelligence starts with a practical question: what decision will the tool help someone make? She then considers the quality of the inputs, the assumptions behind the analysis and the expertise needed to interpret its results.
For her, technology does not remove professional responsibility. The responsibility for a recommendation remains with the professionals who review and use it. Leaders therefore need to understand the limitations of a tool well enough to question its output and judge where further investigation is required.
Lessons from a Demanding Period
Hazardous waste responsibilities at Tadweer during the pandemic represented one of the most demanding periods of Dr. Hamsah’s career. The work brought together public health concerns, operational urgency and coordination across organisations.
The experience reinforced the difference between issuing guidance and making it workable. A technically correct instruction still requires clear responsibilities, communication and practical support for those expected to apply it under pressure. It strengthened her commitment to maintaining discipline while responding to changing circumstances and listening to operational concerns.
It also deepened her respect for people carrying out essential work. Their experience, she believes, should inform decisions from the beginning, especially where misunderstanding or delay can have serious consequences.
Preparing the Next Generation
Dr. Hamsah believes future leaders will need intellectual humility: the willingness to recognise that experience does not answer every new question. Continuous learning, critical assessment of information and collaboration across professional disciplines are central to that outlook.
Digital confidence must be accompanied by the judgement to question a convincing output. In her field, environmental performance connects with finance, procurement, operations and public expectations; leaders need to understand those relationships rather than assess decisions in isolation.
As a woman in technical and executive roles, she also wants emerging professionals, particularly women entering technical fields, to have credible opportunities to progress. Meaningful responsibilities, constructive feedback and recognition for their contributions are central to that ambition.
A Legacy of Knowledge and Continuity
For Dr. Hamsah, a meaningful legacy would be visible in the quality of the work and decisions that continue after her direct involvement ends. She wants the organisations she serves to be better equipped to manage environmental responsibilities, and the people she works with to have greater confidence in their own judgement.
Through ESAC Group and ESAC Academy, she hopes to build that continuity by sharing knowledge, developing capable colleagues and creating systems that others can understand and improve. Her measure of contribution is the progress people make, the standards they uphold and the lasting usefulness of what they build together.
