Project Management is a Vital Lever for Achieving
Strategic Outcomes and Shaping the Future!
Interview with Hanny Alshazly
Managing Director, Middle East & North Africa
Project Management Institute
Dubai, UAE
Interviewed by Yasmina Khelifi
International Correspondent, PM World Journal
Paris, France
Introduction to the interviewee
Hanny Alshazly is the Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa region at the Project Management Institute – PMI. He leads the regional strategy and growth, working with governments, academia, and industry to advance project management and strengthen professional communities across the region. With more than 25 years of global experience in education, he aligns strategy with learning objectives and works with education and government leaders to deliver measurable outcomes. He has led both multi-million-dollar initiatives and projects with national reach that bring together innovation in learning and organizational growth. Hanny’s career includes senior leadership roles at leading global education technology firms such as D2L, Blackboard, and Ellucian, where he drove innovation and international business expansion. His focus is to combine deep expertise in learning with strategic business leadership to expand the impact of project management across MENA.
Hanny is a regular speaker at international conferences on education, project management, and organizational transformation. He contributes to the wider professional ecosystem through advisory roles and mentorship, including serving on advisory boards and as an External Mentor at Ajman University Innovation Center in the UAE. Hanny has received several international honors, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from Athabasca University in Canada, where he earned a Master of Education and an Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Distance Education and Technology. He also holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science with a focus on Business Administration from Dalhousie University in Canada.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannyalshazly/
Twitter: https://x.com/hannyalshazly
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannyalshazly/
Email: hanny.alshazly@pmi.org
Interview
Q1: First, thank you for accepting an interview request from PMWJ. As a PMI Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Managing Director, what are your primary responsibilities?
Alshazly: As Managing Director for PMI in the Middle East and North Africa, I am responsible for leading our regional strategy and growth. My focus is on ensuring that our work across MENA remains aligned with PMI’s global mission of building the capabilities of project professionals who play a central role in driving successful outcomes and advancing progress. Together with my team, I work closely with governments, academia, and industry leaders to deliver impactful initiatives and expand PMI’s presence and partnerships. A key part of my role is also supporting our chapters and growing a strong community of members, volunteers, and certified professionals who are raising standards, sharing knowledge, and shaping the future of the profession across the region.
Q2: What is PMI’s strategy in MENA in the next 5 years?
More…
To read entire interview, click here
How to cite this work: Khelifi, Y. (2025). Project Management is a Vital Lever for Achieving Strategic Outcomes and Shaping the Future! Interview with Hanny Alshazly, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue X, October. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pmwj157-Oct2025-Khelifi-Interview-with-Hanny-Alshazly-PMI-MENA.pdf
About the Interviewer
Yasmina Khelifi
Paris, France
Yasmina Khelifi, PMP, PMI- ACP, PMI-PBA is an experienced project manager in the telecom industry. Along with her 20-year career at Orange S.A. (the large French multinational telecommunications corporation), she sharpened her global leadership skills, delivering projects with major manufacturers and SIM makers. Yasmina strives for building collaborative bridges between people to make international projects successful. She relies on three pillars: project management skills, the languages she speaks, and a passion for sharing knowledge.
She is a PMP certification holder since 2013, a PMI- ACP and PMI-PBA certification holder since 2020. She is an active volunteer member at PMI France and PMI UAE, and a member of PMI Germany Chapter. French-native, she can speak German, English, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and she is learning Arabic. Yasmina loves sharing her knowledge and experiences at work, in her volunteers’ activities at PMI, and in projectmanagement.com as a regular blogger. She is also the host and co-founder of the podcast Global Leaders Talk with Yasmina Khelifi to help people in becoming better international leaders.
Yasmina can be contacted at https://yasminakhelifi.com/ or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yasminakhelifi-pmp-telecom/
Visit her correspondent profile at https://pmworldlibrary.net/yasmina-khelifi/
To view other works by Yasmina, visit her author showcase in the PM World Library at https://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/yasmina-khelifi/
