People

Zeliha Sayar is research assistant at the Yildiz Technical University. Her research fields are History of economics, history of finance, history of banks. She graduated with a thesis on "The role of State Banks in the process of Economic Development in Turkey.

Afke Schaart is the Vice President Europe for GSMA. Before joining GSMA in February 2015 Afke led the EU Institutional Relations Team of Microsoft in Brussels responsible for Microsoft’s engagement with the EU Institutions, Council of Europe and the OECD. Before joining Microsoft Afke served as a Member of Parliament in the Netherlands and was the spokesperson for Economic Affairs and Innovation, Technology and ICT for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Prior to that she was responsible for KPN's policy interests and governmental affairs in Europe. She started her professional life at Shell and has studied Political Sciences with a specialization in International Relations in Amsterdam. Afke Schaart was also a Council Member of the Municipality of Wassenaar (the Netherlands) for the VVD. She has been a board member of ECP-EPN, platform for public-private cooperation in the information society and a board member of the European Internet Foundation (EIF). She is a current board member of the E-Society Platform and a member of the Women in Leadership (WiL) organisation.

Agustín Márquez Dorsch is a Senior Telecommunications Engineer, with a Masters in Economics and Business Management from IESE. He began his professional career at Banco de Bilbao. In 1990 he directed the creation of the Securities Clearing and Settlement Service, of which he was General Manager. He is currently Deputy General Manager of Cecabank, managing payment services, electronic banking, outsourcing, business intelligence and systems. He was President of the European Banking Standardization Committee (ECBS) for 5 years. He is Managing Director of EURO 6000 and MasterCajas, adviser to MasterCard Europe, Trionis, Eufiserv Payments and LICO Corporation.

Aimée Suárez es Senior Advisor para la región de América Latina y el Caribe en el Departamento de Relaciones Internacionales e Institucionales de WSBI. Anteriormente, fue Asesora del Director General de WSBI-ESBG de 2012-2013. Antes de unirse a WSBI, Aimée fue Coordinadora en el Foro Parlamentario Europeo de Servicios Financieros (EPFSF). También fue Legal Adviser Trainee de la Federación Bancaria Europea (FBE). Aimée tiene un Master en Banca Responsable del Instituto de Estudios Bursátiles (España) en colaboración con la London School of Economics (LSE) y WSBI, un LLM en Derecho Internacional con Relaciones Internacionales de la Universidad de Kent, la Escuela de Bruselas de Estudios Internacionales, y una licenciatura en Derecho de la Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM) en República Dominicana.

Economic and Political advisor - AMConseil.

Mr Minc joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 1979, as chief Financial officer. In 1986, he became Vice-Chairman of CIR International (Compagnie Industriali Riunite International) and General Manager of Cerus, which were the non-Italian affiliates of Benedetti Group. In 1991, he founded its own consultancy firm AM Conseil. He has been Board member of numerous companies and the chairman of the supervisory board of Le Monde, the leading French newspaper (19/12/94 to 11/02/2008). He is Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur (France); Commander of the British Empire; Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit (Spain). Alain Minc wrote more than 30 books since 1978.

Albert Morales es responsable de producto en digital money management solutions de Strands. Tras su paso previo por Kantox, desde su fundación hasta su incorporación en Strands, Albert ha sido testigo directo de la evolución tecnológica en la industria financiera donde ha participado de manera directa y actualmente sigue contribuyendo en acercar, desarrollar y promover estas nuevas tecnologías para facilitar el uso de herramientas financieras para que sean accesibles a todos los usuarios.

Alejandro Cosentino is the Founder & CEO of Afluenta. He’s a well-known Latin American Fintech entrepreneur who combines an extensive experience running successful financial services operations across Latin America and creating Fintech innovative products and services. He played a significant role revamping American Express Latin America and Caribbean division during the 1990’s and the successfully transformation of Banco Río (before begin acquired of Banco Santander). His ability to create better customer experiences led him to win several awards from Fintech associations in several Argentina, Peru and Mexico.
Alejandro has become one of the most active Fintech evangelist. His active participation as a speaker took him to keynote in conferences across USA, Europe and Asia. He is also a blogger, Latin newspaper columnist and business mentor of Fintech startups. He is founder member of the Argentine Entrepreneur Association (ASEA), the Argentine Fintech Association and member of the Iberoamericas Fintech Alliance. Alejandro has a Business Administration and CPA degree from Universidad Católica Argentina.

Alejandro Cosentino es el fundador y director ejecutivo de Afluenta. Alejandro es un reconocido empresario latinoamericano en el ámbito de las fintech, que combina una amplia experiencia en el desarrollo y gestión exitosa de las operaciones de servicios financieros en Latinoamérica, y en la creación de productos y servicios innovadores de fintech. Desempeñó un importante papel en la modernización de la división American Express para América Latina y el Caribe, durante la década de 1990 y en la transformación del Banco Río (antes de la adquisición por el Banco Santander). Su habilidad para crear experiencias únicas con el cliente, lo llevó a ganar varios premios de asociaciones de fintech en varios países de Argentina, Perú y México. Alejandro se ha convertido en uno de los evangelizadores más activos de las fintech. Su participación como orador, lo llevó a estar presente educando sobre temas financiero tecnológicos en conferencias del rubro, en los Estados Unidos, Europa y Asia. También es bloguero, ha sido columnista de diversos periódicos en Latinoamérica y mentor de start-ups fintech. Es miembro fundador de la Asociación de Empresarios Argentinos (ASEA), la Asociación Argentina de fintech y la Alianza Fintech Iberoamericana. Alejandro es licenciado en Administración de Empresas y en Contaduría Pública por la Universidad Católica Argentina”.

Aleksandra Maczynska joined the Better Finance Brussels Team as Executive Director in 2017. Aleksandra is from Warsaw, Poland, where she was the Deputy Director of the International Relations and Communication Department of the Polish consumer and competition watchdog. Her responsibilities included external representation and managing professional networks such as the Consumer Policy Network (CPN), the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN) and the European Competition Network (ECN).
She also has a vast experience in the management of international projects such as the EU funded capacity building projects. As a Fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation Programme for the Young Executives from the Public Sector, Aleksandra worked at the Division for World Bank International Monetary Fund, Debt Issues and International Finance Structure at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Aleksandra has provided expert input to various EU Council’s Working Parties such as the Working Party on Financial Services and the Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth; as well as the European Commission’s Advisory Committees. Currently she is a member of Financial Services User Group (FSUG) advising DG Fisma and the JUST in the preparation of legislation and policy initiatives which affect the users of financial services.

Alicia García Herrero is the Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis. She also serves as Senior Fellow at European think-tank BRUEGEL and Research Fellow at Real Instituto Elcano, and is currently Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Finally, Alicia is advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s research arm (HKIMR) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as well as a member of the board of the Hong Kong Forum.
In previous years, Alicia held the following positions: Chief Economist for Emerging Markets at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Member of the Asian Research Program at the
Bank of International Settlements (BIS), Head of the International Economy Division of the Bank of Spain, Member of the Counsel to the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, Head of Emerging Economies at the Research Department at Banco Santander, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. In addition, Alicia has always combines his professional carrier with academia, having served as visiting Professor for John Hopkins
University, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai and Carlos III University in Madrid. Alicia holds a PhD in Economics from George Washington University and has published
extensively in refereed journals and books (see her publications in ResearchGate or Google Scholar. Alicia is also very active in international media (Bloomberg and CNBC among others)
as well as social media (Twitter, LinkedIn and Weibo). As recognition of her leadership thoughts, Alicia has recently been nominated TOP Voices in Economy and Finance by LinkedIn.

Álvaro Naranjo Valencia realizó prácticas empresariales en Lloyds Bank en New York y Bancafé en Miami. En el 2004 realizó un curso de “Intermediate Securities Analisis” en New York University (NYU). Ese mismo año obtuvo un certificado en Bloomberg en instrumentos financieros de Renta Fija, Nueva York-EEUU. En el 2005 realizó una Diplomatura en Operación Bursátil, Bolsa de Valores de Colombia, en la Universidad EAFIT. En mayo del 2007 se trasladó a Panamá, donde reside desde ese momento.
Cuenta con 15 años de experiencia en el mercado bursátil. Actualmente se desempeña como Vicepresidente Senior de Gestión Patrimonial en Geneva Asset Management, es columnista del periódico La Prensa de Panamá y cuenta con un segmento en análisis financiero en el programa de televisión Banca al Día.