Elissar Farah Antonios is founder and CEO of investment management company Soul Ventures Holding and the former Chief Executive Officer of City UAE and Head of MENA Cluster at Citi.She is a member of Aurora50’s Advisory Council as well as being: chairperson of youth education non-profit INJAZ UAE; a board member of Dubai Chambers; advisory board member of loyalty network Cosmopoints; member of the board of trustees and chairperson of the investment committee at Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon (CCCL); and co-vice president of Women Execs on Boards (WEOB).
She is ranked by Forbes Middle East among the top 100 most powerful and influential Arab businesswomen.
A seasoned international banker with 29 years’ experience in the financial industry and the region, Ms Antonios led Citi’s largest and most diverse franchise in the Middle East and Africa.
She joined Citi in 2005 as Head of Private Banking in Abu Dhabi and later served as CEO for Citibank Lebanon.
In December 2015 she was appointed as CEO of Citibank UAE, and her responsibilities then expanded to becoming the Cluster Head for UAE, Levant & Iraq.
Ms Antonios’ banking career started in 1990 in the London office of Republic National Bank of New York as a Management Associate covering the Wealth Management Middle East Desk.
She then spent several years with Credit Agricole Indosuez (CALYON) in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and with ABN AMRO Private Bank covering both Abu Dhabi and Egypt.
Ms Antonios’ MBA is from Imperial College in London, where her thesis dealt with predicting turning points in foreign exchange.
She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from American University in Beirut and is fluent in Arabic, English and French.
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