Events

Maram Al-Jazireh is Global Head of Financial Institutions & Sustainability at Arab Bank and is responsible for relationships and business development activities with financial institutions globally as well as leading the ESG function within the bank. She is a member of the Financial Institutions Credit Committee, the Sustainable Finance Working Group and the ESG Steering Committee. Maram graduated from Oklahoma State University with a major in Accounting. Prior to joining Arab Bank in 2001, she worked at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh International, Cairo Amman Bank, Citibank N.A, Amman and ABN Amro Bank in Dubai. She previously served as chair of BAFT, co-chair of BAFT MENA Council, member of BAFT’s Executive Committee and was a member of its Board of Directors. She is also a fellow of the Middle East Leadership Initiative (Aspen Global Leadership Network – The Aspen Institute).

Rana Beydoun is the Head of Financial Institutions at the Commercial Bank of Dubai. She has joined CBD in 2022, covering Sovereigns, Bank and non-Bank Financial Institutions. Prior to that, she lead a similar position at BLOM Bank where she was responsible for relationships and business development activities with financial institutions globally. Her career spans 20 years in banking. Rana Beydoun holds a Masters degree in International Economics from the University of Birmingham – UK. She is the co-chair of the MENA Council and a BAFT Board member.

Tod Burwell is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BAFT. Prior to being promoted to CEO, he served as the Senior Vice President of Trade Products with oversight of all trade-related initiatives including the Global Trade Industry Council, Trade Committees, and other strategic initiatives of the organization. Mr. Burwell has over 25 years of trade, supply chain and cash management experience as a banking practitioner, as well as serving as a consultant to global corporations and suppliers of strategically integrated trade solutions. Prior to joining BAFT, Mr. Burwell was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase and held senior global management roles responsible for trade operations, launching the logistics business and managing global product sales for trade finance and logistics management.

Michelle Gauchat is Deloitte’s US banking and capital markets leader, responsible for leading Deloitte’s US banking and capital markets strategy and bringing together the right offerings to serve Deloitte’s portfolio of banking and capital markets clients. As a former banker, she advises regional and global banks on strategic issues across channel strategies and experience, technology and digital modernization, payments product development, post-merger integrations, and operating model transformations.

Mariya George is the Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of Directors of cleareye.ai. Before starting cleareye.ai, Mariya was the Head of Banking and Insurance at UST Global. She was responsible for the industry group’s overall vision, strategy and investment priorities, developing the network of alliance partners and an aggressive revenue growth goal of 70%. She was also responsible for the global P&L, sales, business development, consulting, client relationship management and technology execution. Prior to this, Mariya was the Business Head for East and Midwest market in North America. She led the global sales organization across North America and primary markets in Asia (India, China), and built a team to lead and manage new Fortune 500 customer acquisitions and doubled her portfolio.

Ms. Inna Gogoua is a Vice President & Managing Director in the International Financial Institutions group in Capital Markets for PNC Bank, NA. She is responsible for relationship, credit and compliance management and coordinating all aspects of PNC’s relationships with international banks in Europe, Latin America, MENA, India and Australia. Prior to joining PNC, Ms. Gogoua worked in the Commercial Real Estate and Equipment Finance departments at Huntington National Bank. She is a member and chair of the board of Cleveland Foreign Credit group, an association for corporate companies, financial institutions and intermediaries engaged in facilitation of international business. In 2016, she participated in BAFT’s Future Leaders program and is a member of the Future Leaders Council.

Faisal Hussain is responsible for the Correspondent Banking business for Standard Chartered for the Africa & Middle East region based in Dubai. Faisal heads a regional team covering over 25 countries. Faisal is a member of the MENA BAFT Council and has been closely involved in rolling out Standard Chartered’s Correspondent Banking Academy initiative in the region aimed at “de-risking through education”. Faisal has been involved in several thought leadership and product innovation initiatives with the objective of enhancing business collaboration for Standard Chartered with the region’s financial institutions. Faisal joined Standard Chartered in 2007 from Citibank. Faisal holds an MBA degree and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Shannon Manders is the Editorial Director of GTR (Global Trade Review), a London-headquartered publication covering global trade and trade finance, which she joined in 2009 as a staff reporter. In her role, she leads the team of reporters and drives content development and editorial direction, ensuring that GTR maintains its position as the leading authority in trade finance news, insight and analysis. Shannon has extensive experience in moderating discussions, both at GTR’s own conferences and at a range of other top industry events hosted by the likes of the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, SWIFT (Sibos) and the Commonwealth Business Forum. She regularly covers stories from international locations, and has hosted numerous roundtable discussions and webinars.

Miriam Ratkovicova is a Managing Director in the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Sanctions practice of Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP. She has more than 25 years of experience advising US, Canadian, European and Asian large financial institutions on various Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/AML, Sanctions, Anti-Bribery & Corruption (ABC) and other Financial Crime compliance matters. Specifically, Miriam has led multiple large and complex projects involving historical transaction investigations, Know Your Customer (KYC) remediations, AML and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) risk assessments, and customer risk ratings. Miriam has delivered anti-financial crime engagements in numerous countries throughout Europe, Americas and Asia Pacific.

Miriam is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT) and the BAFT Executive Committee. She was recently elected as the BAFT’s Secretary/Treasurer and appointed as the BAFT’s Audit & Risk Committee Chair. Miriam is also serving as the Chair for the United for Wildlife North American Chapter.

Paolo Sironi serves as Global Research Leader for Banking and Financial Markets at the IBM Institute for Business Value. He is the author of several books on quantitative methods, technological innovation, and financial markets. In his debut novel, Quantum Sapiens, he explores artificial general intelligence and the hard problem of consciousness, examining their scientific foundations while confronting the profound ethical questions raised by technology’s growing influence. One of his titles, the banking bestseller Banks and Fintech on Platform Economies: Contextual and Conscious Banking, has reshaped how seasoned bankers and innovators understand the digital transformation of financial services. A former startup entrepreneur, he previously led quantitative risk management in investment banking.

Nick Smit is a Managing Director, Head of Financial Institutions North America, with responsibility for originating and executing transactions for financial institution clients in North America, including asset managers, insurance companies, and banks. Nick has 18 years experience in the financial industry, primarily in corporate and global client relationship management. After he joined ING in 1995 as an Account Manager in Global Clients based in Amsterdam, he held various management roles within ING’s global banking network, including Head of Corporate Banking in Geneva, Head of Global Clients and Head of Corporate Clients for the Nordic Region based in Brussels, and Chief of Staff for ING’s global corporate and institutional business based in Amsterdam. Prior to joining ING, he worked in international trade and export finance at Standard Merchant Bank in Johannesburg.

Prior to joining Scotiabank, Chad served as the Executive Vice President of Commercial Solutions at Mastercard, where he was part of the Management Committee. In this capacity, he led a global team designed to build and sell B2B offerings to over 210 countries, including the global corporate card program, where he pivoted the company’s strategy and execution to drive growth. While there, he also led the strategy to launch non-carded B2B payments and additional software services designed for corporate clients. Previously, he was the Global Head of Digital for Transaction Banking within its Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking division. In this role, he led the digital product and design organization responsible for building the cash management offering, including advanced liquidity and global payment solutions across the US, UK, and EU. Chad has also held Corporate Banking leadership roles at Capital One and was in Retail Banking and Investing prior. At Scotiabank, Chad is driving the transformation of various client-facing treasury capabilities into a holistic and integrated global transaction banking business, aligning innovative solutions with the needs of diverse global clients. He earned a B.A. in Business Administration at Sam Houston State University. Chad is recognized for his exceptional leadership and commitment to fostering an inclusive environment, promoting diverse perspectives, and building high-performing global organizations.

With more than 20 years of international banking and payments experience, Ainsley Ward is a recognized industry thought leader who oversees business development for CGI's payment solutions. Previously, he worked on modernization and open banking initiatives in Canada and served as a banking subject matter expert for CGI in Belgium. Having worked with banks on every continent, Ainsley is well versed in the demands of payment market modernization, as well as in finding opportunities from mandatory changes and guiding banks to better outcomes.