Meet Dr. Nairouz Bader, CEO of Envision Partnership, a leading global executive search and leadership development firm with a focus on gender diversity. With more than 25 years of experience spanning executive search, board development, and international expansion, Dr. Nairouz has built a career at the intersection of leadership, strategy, and impact.
As CEO of Envision Partnership, a certified woman-owned business enterprise, she works closely with organizations to recruit senior-level leaders, including board directors, chairpersons, chief executive officers, and other top executives. The firm serves clients across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, leveraging Dr. Nairouz’s extensive global network and deep understanding of leadership markets.
Dr. Nairouz is also an active board director and a respected voice in international business development. She serves as Head of CBC Events at the Canadian Business Council of Dubai and the Northern Emirates, as well as Head of the CBC Dubai Connect Group for COP28, where she plays a key role in fostering trade and investment opportunities between Canada and the UAE. Additionally, she serves as an OOE (Official Osec Expert) for human resources, certified by OSEC, Switzerland, and as a council member of the AESC Asia Pacific Council, representing the executive search industry in the region. Dr. Nairouz’s mission is to inspire and empower leaders to achieve their full potential and create positive impact.
Establishing Envision Partnership
Dr. Nairouz started her career in the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, working with global organizations such as Hoffman-La Roche and GlaxoSmithKline. Those formative years taught her how complex organizations really are, how strategy, culture, and people intersect, and how profoundly leadership shapes everything that follows.
Later, she transitioned into executive search and leadership advisory because she wanted to work directly at that intersection. At the same time, she became increasingly aware of a persistent imbalance: the limited representation of women at the most senior levels of leadership, particularly across the Middle East. For Dr. Nairouz, this disparity wasn’t just a statistic; instead, it was a signal, and ultimately a calling.
Later in 1997, she founded Envision Partnership to help organizations grow through more inclusive, forward-thinking leadership. Dr. Nairouz always wanted to build a firm that brings global standards together with deep regional understanding, while opening doors for untapped talent. What began as a professional ambition soon evolved into a deeply personal mission, one rooted in the belief that diverse leadership is not only equitable but essential for long-term success.
When Leadership is About Character
Dr. Nairouz’s early career experiences taught her that leadership is defined as much by character as it is by competence. Working in multicultural environments helped her realize the value of empathy and active listening, lessons that shaped her approach long before she entered executive advisory roles. Later, as she moved into advisory roles, integrity and accountability became the cornerstones of how she led and how she expects her teams to lead.
Serving as Chair of the AESC MENA Council reinforced those values. Leadership advisory carries a unique responsibility: we influence careers, cultures, and the long-term direction of organizations. Today, Dr. Nairouz’s leadership style is collaborative, transparent, and rooted in trust. She believes deeply in empowering people while keeping teams connected to a shared purpose.
The Pivotal Moment
Like many women entering senior roles, Dr. Nairouz also faced resistance not only because of her capabilities, but because people were simply not habituated to seeing women in those positions. She learned early in her career that the most powerful response is performance.
One defining moment came in 2019, when nearly half of the executives placed by Envision Partnership were women, including appointments in sectors traditionally dominated by men. Another pivotal experience followed when Dr. Nairouz persuaded a financial institution to consider a woman for a C-suite role for the first time. Within a year, that leader had transformed the organization’s culture and operational performance. “The result didn’t just validate the placement,” she recalls. “It changed mindsets at the board level.”
These moments eventually strengthened her belief that creating opportunities is only the beginning; true progress requires challenging outdated narratives and building environments where diverse talent is not only included but empowered to thrive.
Constant Evolution is Key
Under Dr. Nairouz’s leadership, Envision consistently monitors global shifts, starting from technological advancements and new leadership models to geopolitical changes and emerging skill demands.
Envision Partnership combines data-driven insights with a deeply human-centered advisory. The firm’s work spans digital talent mapping, leadership effectiveness assessments, succession planning, and organizational culture transformation. But its greatest differentiator is its long-term partnership approach. Envision grows with its clients, anticipating their needs and co-creating solutions aligned with each organization’s strategy, culture, and ambition.
The Differentiating Factor
Envision Partnership is a specialized executive search and consulting firm known for delivering tailored solutions across sectors and functional areas. Under Dr. Nairouz’s leadership, the Envision team brings deep, diverse industry experience, enabling the firm to provide strategic guidance and innovative solutions that drive measurable outcomes.
Rather than focusing on transactions, Envision prioritizes long-term partnerships, building relationships rooted in trust, transparency, and shared ambition. Its holistic consulting approach recognizes the interconnected nature of modern businesses, helping the firm to address leadership, structure, and culture sustainably.
“As a woman-owned firm, diversity and inclusion are integral to who we are,” Dr. Nairouz explains. “That commitment not only shapes our identity, but also strengthens the value we bring to our clients.”
Balancing Global Best Practices with Local Market Realities
Striking the balance between global best practices and local market realities is an integral part of Envision’s DNA. Dr. Nairouz firmly believes that global models cannot simply be transplanted into regional contexts; instead, they must be thoughtfully adapted.
To do that, the firm invests time in understanding each organization’s cultural fabric: how decisions are made, how teams collaborate, and how leadership shows up in day-to-day practice. From there, Envision designs strategies that align global standards with local nuance, ensuring relevance and impact.
This approach helps Envision to support multinational organizations as they integrate into regional markets, while also assisting regional companies in building the leadership capabilities needed to compete on a global stage. The main objective is not to choose between global or local, but to blend both and create leadership solutions that are sustainable, scalable, and culturally grounded.
The Ever-Evolving Industry
Dr. Nairouz firmly believes that digital transformation has fundamentally reshaped what it means to lead. Executives today must navigate rapid technological change, remote or hybrid workforces, data-driven decisions, and continuous disruption.
While technology plays a powerful role in Envision’s advisory work, it never replaces human insight. Digital tools enable faster intelligence gathering, deeper assessments, and more precise identification of emerging capabilities. Yet in Dr. Nairouz’s view, the essence of leadership, emotional intelligence, ethical judgment, and authenticity has become even more critical in an increasingly digital world.
A Structured and Strategic Approach to DEI
“We embody the diversity we advocate,” says Dr. Nairouz. Envision’s team represents a blend of nationalities, backgrounds, and perspectives, while cultivating an environment where every voice matters.
The firm takes a structured and strategic approach to DEI with its clients. It designs balanced leadership pipelines, mitigates unconscious bias, strengthens board diversity, and supports organizations in embedding inclusion deeply within their culture, not only as a checkbox, but as a long-term strategy.
Under Dr. Nairouz’s leadership, Envision firmly believes that diversity strengthens resilience, innovation, and competitive advantage, and it encourages its clients to view it the same way.
The Long Lasting Legacy
As the founder and CEO of Envision Partnership, Dr. Nairouz hopes her legacy reflects two commitments:
Firstly, she helped open meaningful pathways for women and underrepresented leaders to reach senior roles where their voices can influence real change.
Secondly, she contributed to shaping organizations where leadership is guided not only by performance metrics but by integrity, humanity, and purpose.
Through her work at Envision and across the broader leadership ecosystem, she aspires to leave behind a stronger, more inclusive leadership ecosystem that empowers future generations to thrive.
Suggestion for Aspiring Women Leaders
Dr. Nairouz suggests aspiring women leaders be unapologetically themselves. Authenticity is one of the most powerful strengths you possess.
Build resilience, as challenges and setbacks will come, but each one will fortify you. Surround yourself with mentors and supporters who believe in your potential, she adds, is equally critical. Take up space. Ask questions. Speak your truth.
Above all, Dr. Nairouz reminds women never to underestimate their ability to shape the future. Leadership needs their perspective—and the world is better when it is heard.
