Balancing Strategy, Family and Strategic Transformation: Inside Hind Ounis’ EDHEC EMBA Journey

For EDHEC EMBA participant and global public affairs leader Hind Ounis, returning to education was never a question of if; it was a question of timing.

Currently Global Director of Public Affairs at a global healthcare company, Ounis had spent years considering further study while building an international career across communications, healthcare and corporate affairs. She wanted the right personal and professional conditions before committing to a programme as demanding as an Executive MBA.

“I had been considering going back to studying for a while, but I was waiting for the right timing,” she explains. “I wanted my youngest child to be old enough to be independent.”

That moment eventually arrived. Her daughter had just turned nine. Professionally, Ounis was also beginning to think more seriously about the next phase of her career, within the healthcare sector.

Initially, she envisioned a specialised master’s degree focused on digital transformation. An MBA felt like a more distant prospect.

“Honestly, I did not initially feel ready to join an MBA,” she says.

A conversation with EDHEC’s admissions team changed her perspective. What began as exploratory discussions quickly became a clear decision.

“I was quickly convinced by the programme and the school.”

The Executive MBA’s Healthcare Innovation & Technology specialisation proved particularly compelling. The programme’s focus on innovation, strategic transformation, and artificial intelligence aligned closely with the future direction of healthcare and with Ounis’ own ambitions to broaden her expertise beyond public affairs.

She also appreciated the programme’s human dimension and the diversity of the cohort, both central pillars of the EDHEC Executive MBA experience.

At first, Ounis considered an online MBA format to preserve flexibility alongside her demanding international role. Yet the admissions team encouraged her to consider the in-person Executive MBA in Paris instead.

“I am happy that I listened to that advice,” she says. “It is quite enriching to connect with others, work in groups and learn from one another.”

That collaborative environment has become one of the defining aspects of her experience so far.
 

Managing intensity with structure and resilience

Like many Executive MBA participants, Ounis balances multiple demanding responsibilities simultaneously: senior leadership, international work, travel, family life, and academic commitments.

The programme’s structure has played an important role in making that balance sustainable. The once-a-month format allows participants to anticipate busy periods and organise work and family responsibilities around class sessions.

“Now that I am approximately halfway through the programme, I can clearly see that there are natural peaks and valleys in the workload,” she explains.

Over time, she has developed routines that help maintain equilibrium even during the programme’s more intensive phases. Some are deliberately non-negotiable.

“For example, we always have a weekly movie night at home with my children,” she says.

Exercise also remains essential, even if less frequent than before starting the programme. Morning workouts, walks with family, and moments away from work or study provide an important reset.

She has also become more pragmatic and flexible with her own expectations.

“If a workday has been particularly long or demanding and I have not been able to complete the reading I had planned, I shift it to the next morning when I am more focused.”

Long train journeys to Paris have become productive study sessions, blending professional work and EMBA assignments during the three-hour commute to campus.

One lesson from the programme’s Transform360 leadership development experience has remained particularly important.

“Early in the programme, we had a session on resilience, which has stayed with me,” she says. “I have become particularly mindful of the importance of sleep. Without proper rest, it becomes difficult to stay focused, efficient, and fully engaged.”

The focus on leadership, resilience and self-awareness forms a central part of the Executive MBA’s personalised Transform360 development journey.
 

Applying strategic thinking immediately

For Ounis, one of the programme’s most valuable aspects has been the ability to immediately apply classroom learning to real professional challenges.

“The strategy frameworks we have learned are extremely valuable for approaching both professional and academic challenges in a structured and systematic way,” she explains.

The Executive MBA’s emphasis on strategic analysis, leadership, finance and organisational management is designed precisely for experienced professionals looking to strengthen decision-making capabilities while continuing to work.

Beyond technical knowledge, the experience has also reshaped how Ounis perceives her own capabilities.

“This experience has helped me better recognize my own strengths, which has significantly increased my confidence.”

With more than two decades of experience across public relations, corporate communications and healthcare, she is accustomed to navigating complexity, managing stakeholders and leading integrated initiatives across cultures and functions. Yet the programme has allowed her to identify and articulate strengths that previously felt instinctive rather than explicit.

At the same time, the EMBA has pushed her into unfamiliar territory.

“Financial analysis has definitely required more effort,” she admits with a smile, referencing her academic background in Political Science and Public Relations.

That combination of confidence and discomfort has become part of the programme’s broader transformational effect.

“The programme has given me an extra boost of confidence, which has helped me further affirm my leadership skills,” she says.
 

A long race with new possibilities ahead

Ounis often compares the Executive MBA experience to endurance training.

“I see this Executive MBA as a long race,” she explains. “As with any race, it comes with both excitement and a certain level of anxiety before each new class.”

That feeling often appears before subjects outside her comfort zone. Yet the anxiety rarely lasts long.

More often, she says, the challenge becomes engaging and rewarding once the work begins. She recalls a supply chain and operations simulation where participants experienced in real time how small changes in demand can disrupt entire systems.

“When I first read the instructions, I felt quite nervous about getting the answers wrong,” she says. “But after just a few minutes, I became fully engaged and ended up really enjoying the exercise.”

Her team did not finish first. That was never the point.

“The objective of learning was fully achieved, and we had fun along the way.”

That mindset reflects the broader journey that has shaped Ounis personally and professionally across continents. Born in Paris, raised partly in the United States, and having spent nearly two decades building her life and career in Montreal before relocating to Switzerland, she describes herself today as both French and Canadian.

Those international experiences shaped her outlook, as did the example set by her parents, both of whom reinvented themselves professionally later in life.

“One of the most important values I gained from this experience is the belief that with determination and hard work, ambitious goals are achievable,” she says. “It also instilled in me the conviction that it is never too late to learn, evolve, or reinvent oneself.”

Today, the Executive MBA is already opening new perspectives.

“I aim to further advance my career, and embrace my experience as an integrated marketer to potentially consider moving into a Marketing role in a few years, a path I would not have felt ready for before joining the Executive MBA.”

And perhaps most importantly, she can already see the transformation taking place.

“I am genuinely excited about what comes next.”