GLEIF Board of Directors

Ms. Glasser is leading the Data Strategy & Analytics Practice at FRG, a specialized consulting firm focused on data and risk, and is an Independent Board Member of Oppenheimer & Co, Inc. She has a 30-year track record of implementing innovative solutions and managing organizations in risk, data, and analytics.

Previous to her current position at FRG, Dessa was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase. During her time there, Ms. Glasser launched the firm’s Capital Stress Testing Analytics team. Then, as its first Chief Data Officer, she built the Chief Data Office for Asset and Wealth Management. Ms. Glasser served as Deputy Director of the Office of Financial Research (US Treasury), supporting the Financial Stability Oversight Council, where she implemented a range of data and risk solutions, including assisting with the launch of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI). Dessa also established the Chief Risk Office for Bunge, as its first Chief Risk Officer. In addition to this experience, she has also held senior positions at Credit Suisse, Merrill Lynch, IBM, and KPMG. She began her career teaching at Rutgers University.

Ms. Glasser has a B.S. from Fairleigh Dickinson University and holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Fordham University, where she also sits on the Advisory Board for the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She is a recipient of the US Treasury Exceptional Service Award and was listed as a ‘Director to Watch’ in the Directors and Boards 2019 Annual Report. She helped launch and is a Co-lead of the global Women Data Professionals Forum of the EDM Council.

Ms. Artz is a strategic leader, advocate and expert on data and privacy global issues, focused on practical and innovative outcomes, with a diversity and inclusion lens. Her current roles include Data Strategy and Privacy Policy Advisor to CIPL, NED to Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation, Board Advisor to Privacy Culture and Vice Chair of PICCASO, Expert Advisor to GSS-Rose Limited, Chair of the International Regulatory Strategy Group Data Committee, Chair of the Data Privacy Expert Group at the Global Coalition for the Fight Against Financial Crime, is on the Founding Editorial Board for the Journal of AI and Ethics, and is on the UK International Data Transfers Expert Council, providing independent advice to government.

Previously, Vivienne was a Managing Director and Chief Privacy Officer at the London Stock Exchange Group, Refinitiv and Thomson Reuters, leading the Privacy Office and overseeing global privacy strategy and practice across 190 countries. Vivienne was global Head of Privacy Legal at Citibank where she worked for 17 years, after practicing as a lawyer in London.

Vivienne is on the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance, having been President and CEO from 2017-2020. Vivienne is an exceptional gender champion and leader and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in 2021 for services to financial services and gender diversity.

Amy Kabia was appointed to the GLEIF Board of Directors in June 2020. She’s a global operations executive with over 26 years of experience in financial services. She is a former Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) where she held roles in Data Management, Operations, Transformation, and Regulatory Capital. Prior to JPMC, Ms. Kabia spent six years at Washington Mutual and six years at GE Capital.

Recognizing the data quality challenges experienced by financial institutions, Ms. Kabia created a methodology for producing data with sustainable quality. Design for Data Quality (DfDQ) applies the principles used in manufacturing durable goods to the process of manufacturing data. DfDQ ensures a controlled data production process, operational accountability, and a feedback loop with data consumers.

Ms. Kabia obtained a Bachelor of Science from the University of Colorado and is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.

Dr. Folarin Alayande is an international development economist, technology investor, and financial services executive. He has a track record of over two decades in corporate transformation advising and working with significant global and emerging market corporations at the intersection of digital technologies and finance.

He has held leadership roles at Accenture and as Chief Strategy Officer of FBN Holdings Plc as well as served in The Presidency of Nigeria as a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Economic Recovery/ Co-ordinator of the Economic Plan Implementation Unit from 2017-2019. He is also Co-Founder of the African Network of ‘Presidential and Prime-Ministers’ Delivery Units under the auspices of the African Development Bank.

Educated at The London School of Economics in finance and accounting, he worked with Citibank in treasury operations and risk management where he won the CEO Quality Awards for 3 consecutive years, before joining global technology firm Accenture. At Accenture he led projects globally, including as Faculty Lead for the Global Core Analyst School in Illinois, USA. From 2011-2014, he held the role of pioneer Director and Operating Group Lead of the Health and Public Services Group in Nigeria leading multi-year transformation programs and economic planning projects.

Dr. Alayande’s other recent roles include Lead Consultant and expert advisor on investments, infrastructure and risk financing to multilateral organisations, including the African Development Bank and UNDP. He has also been Research Fellow at the Covenant University Centre for Economic Policy and Development Research (CEPDeR) ; as well as Vice-President at Mastercard leading the Public Sector technology business in Sub-Saharan Africa. A Distinguished Recipient of the Certificate of Excellence on the Bicentennial of the American Constitution from former United States Chief Justice Warren Burger, his Ph.D. thesis focuses on international trade and industrial incentives. He is author of several academic and professional publications including a leading reference book on financial sector reforms. Dual-qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute of the UK and Ireland, he has led Board Governance Audits and facilitated Board sessions for corporations in multiple countries across 5 continents, and is a regular contributor to expert panels on navigating growth.

With over 25 years of experience in data, Hany Choueiri has held numerous senior data leadership roles across financial services. Most recently at Sainsbury’s Bank as interim Head of Data. Previous to this, he was the Chief Data Officer of Aldermore Bank where he headed up Advanced Analytics and Data Governance and was responsible for driving the Bank’s data strategy. Mr. Choueiri has consulted extensively on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for for a number of organisations including AON for Central Eastern Europe. Before AON, Mr Choueiri worked as the Bank of England’s first Chief Data Officer leading the strategic One Bank Data initiative while also representing the Bank of England at the Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) and at State Street as the Head of Data Governance and Strategy for the EMEA region.

Between 2009 and 2014, Mr. Choueiri worked in various roles at HSBC most recently as the GBM Chief Data Officer, Europe & Head of Data Quality Services where he was instrumental at spearheading the first LEI registrations for the HSBC Group of companies. Having pioneered one of the first Data Warehouses, Hany’s career has been centered around data and its management resulting in unique insights on the opposing perspectives of data as a risk versus data as a benefit.
 
Mr Choueiri obtained a Master of Science degree in Information Engineering, specialising in Robotics from the City University, London. He also studied at University College London where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Hany has held a number of other qualifications including PRINCE2, MSP, IAPP CIPP/E and CIPP/US in data privacy.

Mr. Demaël is currently a Senior Advisor to the largest strategic consulting firm dedicated to TMT, Altman Solon and works with several start-ups in tech space including cleantech, travel tech, food tech. He brings over 30 years of diversified, global work experience to the GLEIF Board of Directors, having twice managed P&Ls spanning more than 200 countries and territories. Jacques has also driven global technology innovation and service rollouts while overseeing operational management in highly regulated environments. Mr. Demaël led several transformation and governance functions in complex technology environments, including acting as an Executive Advisor in Corporate Finance at Bryan, Garnier & Co.

Since 2020, Jacques has also served as a Board Member at Wingly, where he supports its senior management in establishing the firm as an industry leading digital marketplace for private aviation services.

Mr. Demaël is an alumnus of the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, where he graduated with a Masters in Electrical Engineering, Technology and Policy Program.

Mr Salil Kumar Jha is Director of Indian Bank (a Government of India owned Bank). He is also Independent External Monitor of Oriental Bank of Commerce (another Govt owned Bank in India).

Earlier Salil was Managing Director of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, the biggest defence & aerospace company of India where he served close to three decades. He was heading a number of manufacturing and R&D units and was instrumental in setting up of a greenfield defence electronics factory. During his tenure as MD, the company did exceedingly well in almost all parameters.Mr. Jha cultivated strategic partnership with Global defence majors. He has worked extensively on project and operation management areas.

Salil has also served as non-official Chairman/Directors of five other aerospace & defence companies. Currently, he is advising companies on merger, acquisition and setting up new facilities in the area of aerospace & defence. Earlier he worked for Engineers India Ltd, a premier engineering consultancy company and NTPC, the biggest power producing company of India.

Mr Jha is a graduate in engineering from National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur and Master of Business Administration from Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University.

Michinobu Kishi has over 30 years of experience in central banking, public policy and commercial banking. He is the General Manager of the Transaction Business Planning Department at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and has served as the Swift National Member Group Chairperson Japan since 2022. His responsibilities include the bank’s ISO 20022 migration, responding to G20/FSB cross border payments roadmaps, and conducting R&D on transaction banking.

Prior to joining SMBC, Mr. Kishi spent 31 years at the Bank of Japan building extensive experience with various parts of the central bank including the Operations, Information System Services, and Personnel Departments; the Chief Representative Office in the Americas; and the General Manager of the Maebashi Branch. As Deputy Director-General of the Financial Stability and Bank Examination Department (2020–2022), he was a member of the G7 Cyber Expert Group and organized the Supervisory College and Crisis Management Group for large Japanese banks. While at the Payments and Settlement Systems Department, Mr. Kishi headed the BoJ team for joint DLT study with the ECB (Project Stella), contributed to publications on central bank digital currencies and wholesale digital tokens, and managed the bank’s business continuity planning. He was seconded to Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan as a Senior Executive Director, where he implemented a new resolution regime applicable to Global Systemically Important Financial Institutions (G-SIFIs). He holds Master of the Science of Law degree from Stanford Law School, and a Bachelor of Laws degree from University of Tokyo.

Kaoru Mochizuki is a finance expert based in Tokyo with over 30 years of experience in various finance domains such as securitization, trade finance, supply chain finance, transaction banking, and business promotion across multiple countries in Asia Oceania region. He spent over three decades with the Mizuho Financial Group, where he held various management positions. Starting as a Manager in the Structured Finance Department, he progressed to become the Head of Asia Oceania Office of Global Transaction Banking Department and then General Manager in charge of planning for settlement infrastructure for Transaction Banking Coordination Department. He has extensive experience in strategy formulation, business planning and execution, managing multicultural teams, and risk management in trade finance. He is a Certified Member Analyst of the Securities Analysts Association in Japan (CMA).

In addition to his professional expertise, Mr. Mochizuki has also served as a member of the Working Committee on Security Settlements and Transaction Banking at the Japanese Bankers Association, as well as the Chairperson for the Japanese National User Group at SWIFT between October 2020 and November 2022. Mr. Mochizuki holds an MBA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Tokyo.

Luis Felipe Monteiro, a Senior Executive with over 24 years of experience in technology, finance, and government digital transformation, is the CEO of Cateno, a leading payments company based in Brazil. As a member of the GLEIF Board of Directors, Mr. Monteiro showcases visionary leadership and expertise in driving innovation within the industry.

Before his role at Cateno, Luis held prominent positions as Brazil's Digital Government Secretary and OECD representative. He successfully led the digital transformation of two hundred public sector bodies, aligning the objectives of senior government executives, parliament, policymakers, and a team of over seven thousand public servants. Under his guidance, two thousand digital services were transformed, leading to the growth of gov.br as one of the world's top five government platforms, serving over 140 million users. The World Bank recognized Brazil as the second most mature country in digital government, a testament to Mr. Monteiro's achievements.

Luis Monteiro has played a significant role in streamlining business registration processes in Brazil by collaborating closely with federal and state agencies to reduce bureaucracy. Through his efforts, the average time for business registration decreased from 5.5 days to less than 23 hours, significantly boosting the country's business ecosystem. His extensive background includes serving as the Chairman of the Board of Serpro, South America's largest IT public company, and holding positions on various other boards of directors. With a strong computer science foundation and advanced information technology degrees, Mr. Monteiro continues to drive innovation and shape the digital landscape.

Nick Pachnev was appointed to the GLEIF Board of Directors in July 2024. With over two decades of experience in the financial, retail, and insurance technology sectors, Nick has a background in founding, developing, and scaling transformative software applications and ecosystems for multinationals, SMEs, and global financial institutions.

In his various executive roles, including CTO and CEO of GlobalTrade Corporation, Nick worked with Global 500 clients in agrifood, oil and gas, construction, automotive, aerospace, marine, industrial machinery, and mining. He also co-founded and served as editor-in-chief of a journal featuring insights from over 40 legal and financial experts on international trade.

Nick was a member of the founding team and a chairman of the board of Digital Vault Services GmbH, the first cross-industry utility for issuing and safekeeping domestic and international bank guarantees and sureties. His expertise includes corporate treasury, trade and supply chain finance, SWIFT, big data, machine learning, generative AI, distributed ledger technology, cloud computing, and information security.

Nick provides market, product, operational and governance advice to startups and established technology companies. He is also a Convenor of the ISO 20022 Trade Finance Standards Evaluation Group, overseeing the development of new messages for digitizing supply chain finance and traditional trade processes. Nick holds a degree in Business Administration from York University.

During decades as a bank employee, Mr Javier Santamaría accumulated a broad and balanced expertise in the intertwined dimensions of payments – business-related, operational, technical – across different client segments and product lines, in the legacy and the innovative spheres. He has been immersed in both cooperative and competitive environments. Besides payments, Javier is interested in other banking fields and continues to be actively engaged in academic matters. Former Head of Operations and Business Services, he was Senior Vice President at Banco Santander until December 2016. Mr Santamaría was a member of the Board of the Euro Banking Association and a Director of the SWIFT Board until the end of 2016.

Javier Santamaría brings a solid experience to the boards of directors and a proven ability to build consensus and balance in complex or uncertain situations. He draws on a long professional career in finance and payments and has a continued dedication to teaching and life-long learning. He aspires to get the best out of creativity and innovation and cherishes a collegial working environment driven by irreproachable ethical conduct, open-mindedness and independence of criteria.

Javier Santamaría is Chair of the European Payments Council (EPC, Brussels), the association in Brussels that manages the SEPA payment schemes, Chair of Iberpay (Madrid), the company in Madrid that manages the Spanish automated clearing house, and Member of the Supervisory Board of Western Union International Bank (WUIB, Vienna).

Ms. Styf Sjöman is a Swedish-Mexican global executive with extensive international business experience in the ICT industry. She has worked in nine countries across three continents for various multinational organizations and held executive positions in the functions of Strategy, Technology, Product Management and Product Development.

Ms. Styf Sjöman is currently a Non-Executive Director of TDC Net A/S, the leading Danish Network Service Provider, and Non-Executive Director of of B1G1 Pte Ltd., a Singaporean company offering Businesses Subscription-as-a-Service for Global Social Impact. She has served as Chief Strategy Officer at Nokia, Deputy Chief Operating Officer and Head of Networks and Technology at Telia Company, Chief Technology Officer and Head of Networks at Telecom Italia, and held numerous executive positions with Ericsson as well as in start-ups.

Ms. Styf Sjöman holds a Master of Business Administration from University of Durham Business School in the UK. Ms. Styf Sjöman is a strong believer in life-long learning, and her interest in the intersection between cyber technology for global impact and new security threats, and holds a Master in International Affairs with specialism in Cybersecurity from King’s College in London, UK.

Dr. Katia Walsh is an award-winning business technologist who helps global organizations launch and scale Digital, Data, and Artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. She has 20+ years of experience in leading Digital and Customer-Centric transformations across multiple industries and countries around the world. Since 2019, she has been the Chief Strategy and Artificial Intelligence Officer at Levi Strass & Company where she pioneered a role that combines strategy and technology in service of the enterprise vision for an iconic brand.

Prior to joining Levi Strauss &Company, Katia was the first Chief Global Data and Analytics Officer at Vodafone Group, responsible for providing a predictive, proactive and personalized experience as part of the company’s digital transformation. She and her teams in 25 countries also contributed to the use of data and artificial intelligence for research innovation and social good. Before that, Katia held strategic data analytics leadership positions and drove customer-centric innovations at Prudential Financial, where she launched data and analytics as part of its digital transformation; Fidelity Investments, where she pioneered a data-driven customer experience; and Forrester Research, Inc., where she helped businesses thrive on technology change.

Katia serves as a Director on the Board of Securian Financial, a North America diversified financial services firm and Fortune 500 company. Before that, she was a founding member of UniCredit’s Transformation and Innovation Advisory Board and Strategy Advisor to Fellowship.ai, a non-profit program that trains people of all backgrounds around the world in machine learning. She holds numerous awards, including the 2021 global AI Mentorship Award by VentureBeat, the 2020 Corinium Business of Data 100 Global Data Innovators, 2019 Top business leaders of UK Artificial Intelligence Industry, and several Data Leader of the Year awards. She is passionate about responsible and ethical use of data and AI, as well as encouraging diversity and mentoring youth. Katia holds a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in Strategic Communication with a specialization in quantitative methodology.

Ms. Weiss is a global digital leader, strategic visionary and an established expert on digital transformation, new technologies and market development. Her roles include Non-Executive and Executive positions in Information Technologies, distribution, e-commerce, and telecommunication companies, as well as strategic partnerships with global big tech companies. Her competencies in strategies for technologies, data governance, executing visionary focus and spearheading ethical operations cultivating trust and authenticity have been recognized in the market.

With over 30 years of professional experience and a successful track record as CEO, COO, CFO, Chair, Board Director and Non-Executive Director, she possesses proven expertise in governance and steering complex organizations. Her expertise in new technologies, global distribution channels, supply chain, and digital platforms, as well as financial markets and regulatory environment, enable her to add real strategic value to the future of companies and organizations.

In previous years, Ms. Weiss was Group CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of ABC Data, one of the biggest IT distribution companies in Europe, representing leading technology companies. Ms. Weiss was also Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board and Group CFO of Sygnity, and Finance Director of Sage Poland, and she held various managerial positions in the telecommunication industry.

Ms. Weiss is a Professional Certified Accountant, and gained ACCA and FCCA certifications in the UK. She graduated with an MSc in Financial Management from the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management at Nicolaus Copernicus University and completed several executive certificates in strategy and new technologies at Harvard University and MIT.

Mr. Zaiyue Xu is the CEO of CIPS Co., Ltd., appointed in December 2018. Before joining CIPS, he served as the Executive Vice President of China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS).

With rich experience in various areas including Fintech and RegTech, IT and data governance, strategic planning, etc., he has played a constructive role in the development of the Interbank Market Electronic Trading Systems in China. Zaiyue took charge of the development of more than ten key inter-bank electronic platforms, such as Foreign Exchange Trading System, Inter-bank RMG Trading System, Gold Trading System, and Shibor (Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate) System. He has also promoted the research of core technical areas of electronic platforms and has led his team to apply for patents and intellectual property based on the work above. As Executive Vice President of CFETS, he has developed overall technical missions and strategies, enhanced the level of IT governance, constructed a team with expertise of construction of inter-bank market and promoted cooperation on research and training with various university and research institutions. As member of China Financial Standardization Technical Committee (CFSTC) and convener of Interbank Technical Standardization Working Group, Mr. Xu has led the work of standard drafting and implementation of China Interbank Market.

In addition, Zaiyue has rich experience of international and cross-cultural engagement. He has taken an active part in the activities of ISO TC68. In November 2018, after serving the role of vice convener of ISO 20022 Foreign Exchange Standard Evaluation Group (FX SEG) for five years, he was elected convener of ISO 20022 FX SEG, with the responsibility of coordinating the work of experts from 11 countries or liaison organizations. In November 2017, he hosted ISO 20022 RMG Shanghai meeting, with 33 delegates from 26 countries and organizations. Mr. Xu initiated the submission and development of eight ISO 20022 messages on FX post-trade trade confirmation and FX trade capture. Since their release in 2016, these eight messages have been well implemented in the post-trade confirmation system of China inter-bank market. He initiated and led the establishment of China financial universal message repository (CUFIR) and a set of supporting tools, which have been shared with the ISO 20022 user community to enhance the efficiency of standard implementation. Zaiyue also organized drafting ISO technical specification “Web Service based APIs in Financial Service”, joined ISO TC68/SC9/WG2, and led the work of UNIFI modeling of Inter-bank Market Information Exchange Protocol (IMIX) in multi-standard semantics portal project of ISO/TC68/SC9/WG1.

Ms. Nicola Dearden was appointed by the GLEIF Board as Corporate Secretary in June 2023.

Nicola is a governance professional with experience in multi-jurisdictional corporate governance across several industries.

Nicola is an Associate of the Corporate Governance Institute UK and Ireland, and holds a LLB in Law from the University of Kent, Canterbury and LPC from the College of Law, London.