Iman Hill: Rising Through Challenges
From Childhood Courage to Global Leadership: A Story of Family, Strength, and Impact!
The first time a child steps onto a plane alone, clutching the hands of younger siblings, the world can feel both exciting and overwhelming. For Iman Hill, that moment came at the age of five, flying from Jeddah to Edinburgh with her sisters. They could speak only a few words of English, yet the journey demanded courage, independence, and a sense of responsibility far beyond their years. That flight became the first lesson in leadership for a girl destined to make an impact across continents and industries.
Iman Hill grew up in a home filled with love, values, and high expectations. Her mother, Egyptian, and father, Palestinian, were both doctors working in Saudi Arabia. They raised 6 children with fairness and emphasized that education forms the foundation of success. Their guidance instilled in Iman a drive to embrace challenges, pursue excellence, and value both personal and collective growth.
She received an unconditional offer from Aberdeen University and set off to study Biochemistry. Missing medicine by a single grade was a deeply disappointing moment, yet it opened another door. In Aberdeen, the presence of the Oil and Gas industry was impossible to ignore. After graduation, she applied to the leading companies in the field and was accepted by BP. This began a 38-year journey in an industry that fuels economies worldwide and offers opportunities to live across the globe, collaborate with brilliant minds, and work with remarkable technology.
Iman’s career has included projects of astonishing scale. Imagine drilling a well that begins beneath 2,500 meters of water and extends 5,000 meters into the subsurface to reach oil and gas, 7,500 meters, just 10,000 feet less than the altitude most commercial jets fly. Her time at BP and later at Shell provided a foundation in both technical expertise and commercial insight, shaping a professional life built on innovation, collaboration, and resilience.
Beyond her professional accomplishments, Iman Hill has navigated personal challenges with strength and grace. Widowed 16 years ago, she raised 5 children, 3 daughters and 2 sons, guiding them through formative years with patience and love. Each of her children has been a source of inspiration, teaching her about empathy, humility, and the importance of learning from those closest to us.
Iman’s journey shows perseverance, courage, and purpose. From a young girl facing a foreign country and language to a seasoned professional leading complex global projects, she has approached every chapter of life with focus, heart, and integrity. Through every challenge and achievement, Iman Hill shows that growth emerges from acknowledging opportunities, learning from experiences, and balancing ambition with compassion. Her life inspires those who seek to create impact, lead with purpose, and build a legacy grounded in love and values.
Let us learn more about her journey:
Leadership and Resilience in a Global Context
Iman’s experiences working across every continent have given her a deep understanding of cultural diversity and the nuances of human interaction.
Her personal philosophy on leadership is very simple. She believes in being clear on the purpose for her team, organisation, and herself, and in communicating continuously. She translates this purpose down to what individuals need to do, describes what the future could look like, and outlines the kind of organisation and behaviours it takes to reach that future.
On a personal level, she values being authentic and vulnerable in an honest way, openness and transparency, acknowledging and developing others, and genuinely caring about staff. She approaches leadership with courage, always choosing to do the right thing, even when it proves most difficult.
On resilience, Iman Hill believes that in today’s very volatile and dynamic global context, organisations that remain resilient are those that actively use foresight and are able to adapt and pivot quickly. Personal resilience, for her, comes down to setting a purpose. Energy follows purpose. She has maintained a purpose to be a present and engaged mother to her five children while being a high-performing and dependable professional. Her resilience is rooted in aligning actions and decisions with these purposes.
Motivating People Under Demanding Conditions
Building on this foundation of purpose-driven resilience, she applies the same clarity and intention to her relationships with people. She views workplace connections as extensions of personal relationships, requiring care, respect, and thoughtful communication. They thrive when acknowledgement and constructive feedback are offered without blame, and when individuals feel seen, understood, and empowered to contribute authentically. This approach ensures that teams remain engaged, motivated, and capable of navigating challenges with the same resilience that guides her leadership.
People feel motivated when they are valued, seen, and clear on what they are doing and why they are doing it, and when they have the freedom and understanding to bring their whole selves to the team without fear of judgment or exclusion. The opposite of these things is demotivating.
Approaching Cultural Diversity in Leadership
For Iman Hill, respecting and valuing differences is a fundamental, foundational value. Her approach begins with taking time to observe, understand, and ask questions about preferences.
She also pays attention to her feelings and reactions in situations because often they are a barometer of unconscious bias. When she finds herself irrationally reacting to someone, she stops and examines why.
The Power of Speaking the Client’s Language
Iman Hill observes that in business negotiations, efforts to speak the language of the other party have a significant impact.
While specific examples remain confidential due to commercial sensitivities, she emphasizes that demonstrating the willingness to communicate in another’s language helps build trust and connection rapidly. In her experience, clients and partners appreciate such efforts, which often lead to stronger relationships and smoother collaboration.
Sustaining Motivation During High-Pressure Transitions
Iman Hill makes time for even more interaction with the team. She conducts regular one-on-one check-ins.
She keeps the team focused on just the next step, so that they do not become overwhelmed by the immensity of the task. She becomes even more vigilant so that she can spot warning signs of fatigue, burnout, or demotivation quickly.
Balancing Empathy and Assertiveness in Stakeholder Management
Iman Hill says that listening to understand, not listening just waiting to speak, allows a person to gauge what is needed when. She is known for being firm but fair. No one minds balanced, respectful assertiveness.
Making Difficult People Decisions
For Iman Hill, the toughest decisions are those related to people. It is very difficult, but at the same time very important, when making decisions that will affect people’s lives, to remain objective and follow clear criteria.
The personal lessons she has learned are that there is no room for decision-making based purely on emotions in business, and she had to toughen that part of herself while keeping her humanity.
Adapting to Shifts in Global Energy Markets
Iman’s personal strategies in adapting to unexpected shifts mirror her business strategies. She imagines as many possible outcomes as possible and considers her action plan for each.
In her sector, where the cyclical nature of business is familiar, she ensures that the Vaalco Egypt business unit remains robust against volatility, whether it arises from price fluctuations, supply chain challenges, people and competency matters, or geopolitical and fiscal, and regulatory changes.
What Sets a True Leader Apart
Iman Hill does not like generalising, but she explains that a manager focuses primarily on the mechanics of processes, performance, and results.
They often rely on authority or position to lead. A true leader of people does all that while placing priority and focus on purpose, vision, trust, and human potential. Their strength lies in inspiration, empathy, and influence.
Navigating Complexity in the Petroleum Business
Simply, the petroleum business is complex. To make investment and other decisions as a senior executive, one must have the experience and skills to ask the right questions and to know when the answer received is flaky.
That is why Iman Hill said at the beginning that the technical and commercial grounding acquired from spending the majority of a career in two world-class organisations is worth its weight in gold.
On top of this, having worked in many different countries, thirteen at last count, in settings from onshore desert to ultra-deep water, and in all the different parts of the value funnel from exploration all the way through to production operations, means Iman Hill has the experience to consider the multiple facets of an issue or decision quickly, but robustly.
Building Trust Through Communication
Trust is the foundation of everything, and communication is one of its main pillars, along with authentic behaviour. Iman Hill considers her word to be her bond, and if she cannot fulfil something she committed to, she communicates this straight away and re-contracts her commitment.
Finding Passion in Work Through Learning and Leadership
“I am so incredibly lucky that I absolutely love my work. Sure, there are days when I get very frustrated and think about walking off into the sunset. But that lasts all of about 10 minutes. The reason I love my work is that I still get to learn every single day, and apply my brain to some very complex problems. I get to lead and motivate people who are far brighter than me, and I get to see how advancements in technology are completely changing some of our core ways of doing things. And I get to work with our committed partners and stakeholders in the Egyptian Government to deliver for Egypt and Vaalco. I get to create a legacy, and I hope to leave this business here for Vaalco, much stronger and valuable than when I came to it. How many people can say that they have these opportunities?”