With more the 20 years of legal experience in the oilfield services industry, Ibrahim serves as executive vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary for Weatherford International, one of the world's largest multinational oil and natural gas service companies, where she oversees a team of more than 145 lawyers and staff.

Ibrahim joined Weatherford in 2015 during the oil & gas downturn and immediately prioritized reorganizing the legal department functions and internal service model, ultimately cutting costs and streamlining overall legal operations. She also oversaw a number of key financings and other debt matters as part of Weatherford's efforts to improve its debt and capital structure. Ibrahim and her team also executed a number of planned divestitures to help reduce the company's debt during the last year.

In addition, Ibrahim has played a key role in Weatherford's transformation plan, which now includes plans for a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

What was your proudest professional achievement in 2018?  

Being the general counsel of a multinational oil and gas services organization, it would be easy for me to say my proudest professional achievement last year was another year reduced legal spend and litigation activity, and an increase of in-person compliance training globally.  But, my proudest professional achievement as a leader at Weatherford and the corporate executive founder and sponsor of our diversity and inclusion group is that it has been recognized externally as a best in class organization and has grown in one year from one country and 33 participants to 40 countries and 450 participants.  Being part of an organization that supports all employees showing up for work as their whole selves is gratifying and makes me extremely proud of the culture we are building.  We still have a lot to accomplish, but 2018 was amazing growth.

What was your biggest professional challenge in 2018?

One of my biggest challenges in 2018 was employee retention and morale. Unfortunately, Weatherford was viewed as distressed and financially unstable organization, requiring optimism, fortitude and adaptability to change at a time when some employees were less than inclined to adopt those behaviors. As a leadership team we devised a retention plan, bonus plan and educational opportunities that bridged the gap and helped ensure employees felt valued and saw a future with Weatherford.

What's the one piece of advice you would give someone when dealing with a crisis?

Do not be caught flat-footed. Handling a crisis is a multi-pronged event. Plan ahead for different types of crises, including knowing and trusting the team that will help address the issue and preparing a communication plan inclusive of all stakeholders such as your board of directors.  You must have an actionable executable plan and have a crisis ready culture. Leadership that can make strategic and tactical decisions under pressure is critical. And, sometimes the most obvious and yet the most forgotten, remember to breathe.    

An awards ceremony will be held on Sept. 18 at the Belo Mansion in Dallas. The Attorney of the Year award winner will be announced at the ceremony.

Click here for booking information. For information about sponsoring the event, contact Andre Sutton at 757-721-9020 or email [email protected].