About

Selected by leaders in the Middle East as the top line of business partner in 2015 and 2016 on the back of excellent assistance provided to colleagues, Yosr Hamza is an integral part of Gartner’s success in the Middle East, and was responsible for establishing the company’s regional legal function when she first joined in 2014. She has been described as a ‘smart, collaborative, proactive and business-oriented’ person by company sources. Hamza regards her move from private practice (with her most recent private practice roles being with DLA Piper in Cairo and Holland & Knight in Dubai) to in-house legal work in 2014 as a major highlight: ‘Unlike the norm, I recognised at an early stage of my career that I wanted to move in-house. While private practice was an excellent place to launch my career as a law graduate, both private practice and in-house positions still have their benefits and drawbacks. The trick is to determine where you, your skills and your lifestyle requirements will fit most comfortably. I wanted to give myself the chance to get used to being outside my comfort zone as a lawyer and interact confidently with senior stakeholders to ensure they take risk-assessed business decisions. It takes courage to be a business partner not only a gate-keeper, and to provide relatable business advice to leaders that is more than just legal advice’. As Gartner continues to grow, Hamza and her team are focused on creatively and efficiently utilising their limited resources to deliver faster and reliable results, and to support their colleagues. In order to do this, Hamza says they have identified the areas of ‘collaboration and relationships, proactivity and accountability, being client oriented, risk mitigation and internal training’ as particularly key. In addition to the day-to-day business, her team played an important role in the integration of CEB, a company Gartner acquired in 2017, and a US$2.6bn acquisition that expanded Gartner’s offerings to all functional leaders in the c-suite.