Bapco Leadership - Senior Women Profiles

Jenan Al Askari Head of Employee Engagement

Jenan Al Askari is a corporate communications specialist whose current appointment is Head of Employee Engagement.

Originally schooled in Bahrain, Jenan opted to continue her degree studies in the UK at the University of Portsmouth, where she graduated with Honours in Communication Design in 2006. Jenan joined Bapco the same year as a Graphic Designer in the Public Relations Department, able to use her bilingual skills to design and create publications for Bapco.

During her time in Public Relations, she supported several high profile projects and events. These included the inauguration of the Lube Base Oil Project by the late Prime Minister His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the opening of Princess Sabeeka Park in Awali by Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ebrahim Al-Khalifa and the Bahrain International Airshow.

Jenan’s experience was recognised with her next promotion to Corporate Communications Specialist, responsible for Bapco’s internal and external communications. Jenan comments that this was an exciting period of her career, liaising with local and international media wherever there was interest in Bapco’s activities. Her other responsibilities included stewardship of the Bapco Annual Report, management of the social media accounts, issuing of press releases and scripting and production of the Chief Executive’s monthly videos. In this role, Jenan was also involved in crisis communication and reputation management, a vital role to provide transparency to Bapco’s stakeholders.

In 2020, Jenan joined the Chairman and Chief Executive’s office as a Communications Strategy Specialist as part of the Corporate Strategy Team. Working with the leaders of strategic projects, Jenan assisted by building commitment between stakeholders to deliver the intended strategic outcome. Jenan contributed to the Chairman’s vision and mission, facilitating progress towards key performance indicators. Jenan also supported the quarterly Strategic Planning Council meetings.

Since late 2021 Jenan has led the newly formed Employee Engagement Section, reporting directly to the CEO. Jenan comments that the Section represents the internal voice of the business during the transformation journey that Bapco is currently undertaking and communicates the CEO’s vision.

Throughout her career, Jenan has always believed that people are the most important asset of the business, and her goal has been to open lines of communication between the managers and the employees. Jenan is proud to be included in Bapco’s Sustainability Report, as it reflects Bapco’s very welcome focus on women empowerment.