Dr. Hend Zainal

Hend Zainal is the Executive Director of Strategy, Management and Partnership in Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Higher Education Division. Hend is an experienced Higher Education management executive specializing in design thinking, interdisciplinary education, and community engagement.

In her current role, Hend is responsible for managing QF’s Doha-based Partner Universities including Virginia Commonwealth University, Weil Cornell Medicine, Texas A&M University, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, Northwestern University, and HEC Paris. She has held various internationally focused leadership roles in the government and private sectors in Qatar before returning to QF in 2015.

Hend was responsible for the development of QF’s Higher Education strategy, published in 2021, which focuses on improving the learner’s journey by fostering better connection across all stages of education, ensuring students’ access to multi-campus program and course offerings, encouraging multidisciplinary academic and research efforts, and promoting better coordination and collaboration on administrative levels.

Hend holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, an Executive MBA from HEC Paris, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of Qatar Leadership Center, a national leadership development institute developing talent amongst Qatari professionals in executive roles in public and private sector organizations. She was selected as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow in 2023.