BIO
Leena Al Olaimy is the award-winning author of Compassionate Counterterrorism: The Power of Inclusion in Fighting Fundamentalism and a serial social entrepreneur as Founder and CEO of Symbaiosys, an investment data platform for nature-based Solutions (NbS) with a mission to unlock the unpriced value of our planet's ecosystems. Leena is also cofounder of 3BL Associates, a people+planet strategy consultancy working on peace, climate change, and inclusive economic growth; cofounder of Public-Planet Partnerships, a methodology for enabling regenerative collaboration between humans and nature; and cofounder of Diversity On Board which connects exceptional, underrepresented Arab talent to board opportunities.
Through 3BL's strategy consultancy, Leena has advised Nobel Peace Prize winners, impact investment funds, governments, and corporates, on multi-stakeholder and inter-species models to advance sustainable development.
Leena previously served on the Chatham House steering committee for the Future Dynamics in the Gulf project, on the advisory board of His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan’s West Asia-North Africa Forum, and on the Board of Trustees for the Bahrain Foundation for Dialogue. Post-Arab Awakening, she was invited to meet with leaders representing both sides of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland and with the African National Congress and former de Klerk administration government leaders from South Africa’s Apartheid era to learn from their experiences in reconciliation.
Leena is a Fulbright scholarship recipient, and has been recognized as a Dalai Lama Fellow, Wall Street Journal “Woman of Note,” a Salzburg Global Fellow, a Business for Diplomatic Action Fellow, and an Expo 2020 Global Impact Innovator. She is listed among Bahrain’s most influential women, and has given over 250 talks globally engaging audiences like the World Economic Forum and several United Nations organizations.
Leena began her career as a communications consultant advising Fortune 500s, and later she worked at the Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs on key regional security forums convening Middle Eastern heads of state, G8 foreign secretaries, and other dignitaries. She holds a BS in Culture and Interpersonal Communications from New York University and an MA in Globalization Studies from Dartmouth College, and is an alumna of both the THNK School for Creative Leadership in Amsterdam and Singularity University. Leena loves jazz, lions, and nature and is learning interspecies communication.
