Maria Bartolo Zahra

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Professional Overview

With over 20 years of experience in human resources and business advisory, Maria Bartolo Zahra is a seasoned expert. She specializes in transformation and strategic management, people management and development, and organizational design. Throughout her extensive career, she has led and participated in many projects, ranging from small initiatives to large-scale transformations. Specifically, she has made significant contributions in remuneration and reward, job evaluation, organizational design, performance management systems, employee engagement and retention, recruitment and selection, and training and development.

In 2017, Maria co-founded SurgeAdvisory with Joseph F.X. Zahra. By leveraging her extensive expertise, she aims to offer top-tier advisory services in human resources and business management.

Areas of Expertise

In recent years, Maria’s advisory expertise has increasingly focused on remuneration and reward consulting. Consequently, she has developed comprehensive pay and career structures based on job family models. Additionally, she has designed management incentives and executive pay schemes. Furthermore, she has implemented performance management processes. Maria’s notable projects include:

  • Leading and compiling salary reports
  • Conducting compensation benchmarking exercises
  • Reviewing employee compensation and benefits
  • Designing incentive plans.

Moreover, her experience spans various business sectors, including manufacturing, hospitality, IT, and financial services.

Teaching and Leadership Roles

In addition to her consulting work, Maria has contributed to academia. She was a visiting lecturer at Middlesex University (Malta), where she taught human resources strategy and management and leadership and management development in a global context.

Moreover, she has acted as Board Secretary for private and non-governmental organisations as well as held significant leadership positions:

  • National President of Junior Chamber International (JCI) Malta in 2009
  • Secretary General of BPW Valletta (International Federation of Business and Professional Women) from 2014-2015
  • Chapter President of BNI Malta, Pinto de Fonseca Chapter in 2018.

Notably, in 2009, Maria was nominated by the US Embassy in Malta to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program. This program focused on business development issues for women business leaders.

Academic Background

Maria holds a Master’s in Human Resources Management and Development from the University of Leicester. Additionally, she possesses a Post-Graduate Professional Diploma in Marketing from The Chartered Institute of Marketing. She also holds a Certificate in Recruitment Practice. Due to her exposure to reward and remuneration, she has specialized in Reward Management through her studies with the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

Personal Insights

Outside of her professional life, Maria is dedicated to her family. As a mother of three young boys, she ensures to spend quality time with them. She cherishes their growth while wanting them to remain little for as long as possible. This personal commitment to her family reflects her understanding of the balance between professional dedication and personal well-being.