Hala has 10 years of experience in the financial industry, leading in a number of diverse roles in MENA and the US. Before joining Arab Bank, Hala, was a founding team member and Vice President of Operations at liwwa, the first P2P lending startup in MENA, building the foundations to move it from startup to scale-up. Hala also worked on a number of multi-million dollar deals as an investment banker in Jordan and the GCC. Hala is an experienced researcher, holding positions in a number of economic policy thinktanks, such as Columbia University Global Centers, and winning fellowships and awards for her contribution to academic societies. Hala is passionate about the future of finance and is driven by curiosity and a love for problem solving. Hala graduated from the United World College of the Adriatic (Duino, Italy), the American University in Cairo, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all with the highest honors