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May Neama, a Bahrain-based strategic marketing and corporate communications leader, is recognized for translating executive strategy into organizational alignment and brand value creation, with direct implications for enterprise performance and long-term value. She bridges real-world corporate leadership with academic credibility.
In a significant milestone for distinguished Bahraini leadership, Ms. Neama recently became the first woman from the Kingdom of Bahrain to lecture at Columbia University on organizational alignment as a driver of brand and enterprise value. This guest lecture, delivered at the prestigious Ivy League institution, was presented to participants in the School of Professional Studies’ Executive MS in Strategic Communication program, a cohort of experienced professionals preparing for senior leadership and enterprise decision-making roles across global markets.
Addressing the program, Neama’s lecture, “The Reality of Organizational Alignment: Building an Authentic Brand from the Inside Out,” leveraged her nearly 20 years of executive experience leading high-stakes brand and transformation initiatives in complex, multi-stakeholder and cross-border environments for influential organizations, including her tenure as a Regional Client Servicing Director at a marketing consultancy serving ADNOC and Qatar Foundation, and her role as Group Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Kalaam Telecom Group.
Solving the C-Suite’s Most Expensive Problem
The session focused on a critical pain point for modern C-suites: the disconnect between executive strategy, organizational alignment, and the lived customer experience. Citing McKinsey research indicating that while 70%–90% of mergers, acquisitions, and large-scale transformations fail outright due to cultural and alignment breakdowns, even those that succeed often incur millions of dollars in avoidable costs, Neama demonstrated how internal alignment functions as a primary driver of enterprise value protection, growth velocity, and long-term brand equity.
“When boardroom vision doesn’t connect authentically to customer experience, monetary value erodes across brand equity, growth, and organizational trust,” Neama stated. “True alignment requires leadership courage: turning strategy into a shared organizational language that every team, across borders, can execute against.”
The lecture served as a direct extension of Neama’s executive leadership experience and her advanced studies at Columbia Business School, which she is on track to complete in early 2026. She continues to collaborate with faculty to convert human-centric leadership and data-driven innovation into decision-ready frameworks used by boards, CEOs, and executive committees, bridging global best practice with GCC market realities.
A Framework for Authentic Brand Building
Throughout the session, Neama shared practical, executive-level frameworks used by leadership teams navigating scale, acquisition, and transformation, including the McKinsey 7S model, which she described as a critical diagnostic tool for identifying misalignment that silently erodes enterprise value.
“Misalignment is the silent killer of brands during periods of rapid growth or acquisition,” Neama noted. “Sustainable impact requires leaders to act as partners, aligning structure, systems, culture, and strategy into one coherent operating model.”
From Practitioner to Academic Authority
Notably, Neama was the longest-standing marketing leader at Kalaam Telecom Group, where she led regional brand transformation initiatives, managed regional teams to translate board vision into execution, launched the company’s global brand, and delivered measurable ROI, while establishing new benchmarks, policies, and systems for integrated marketing and corporate communications within the telecommunications sector.
Shaping the Next Generation of Marketing Leaders
This lecture engagement marks a significant milestone in Neama’s broader mission to strengthen leadership capability and organizational alignment across generations. While mentoring future leaders remains important, her work is firmly grounded in partnering with executive teams navigating real-world transformation, growth, and repositioning mandates.