Maria Ramos
Chief Executive of Africa, Barclays & Chief Executive of Absa Group, South Africa
Co-Chair of The Growth Net Inaugural Meeting

Mrs. Maria Ramos is Group Chief Executive of Absa Group since 2009 and a member of the Barclays PLC Executive Committee. She was previously the Director-General of the National Treasury and was appointed Group Chief Executive of Transnet Limited in Jan. 2004. Mrs. Ramos is also a Non-Executive Director of Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA. She serves on numerous boards including the International Business Council Executive Committee, the World Bank Chief Economist Advisory Panel, the Business Leadership South Africa, the Banking Association of South Africa and the Concentration Risk Committee (CoRC). Maria graduated from Institute of Bankers Diploma (CAIB), Univ. of Witwatersrand (1983) and holds a BCom (Hons), Economics (1987) and MSc, Economics (1992) from Univ. of London. Maria Ramos was ranked in Fortune magazine’s top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for past five years (11th in 2012). She was also the recipient of the Management Excellence Award, Wits Business School (2010) and CNBC Africa Business Women of the Year (2011).