Maria Ramos

Ms Ramos serves as chair of the board of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. She joined AngloGold Ashanti Ltd as an independent non-executive director in 2019. In January 2021 she was appointed independent non-executive director of Standard Chartered PLC. She also serves on the board of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. Until December 2020 she served as independent non-executive director on the boards of the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) and Saudi British Bank (SABB). She co-chaired, the United Nations Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Between March 2009 and February 2019, Ms Ramos served as chief executive officer of Absa Group leading the group through a number of significant milestones including the acquisition of the Barclays Africa subsidiary banks; the sell-down by Barclays PLC and setting a new strategy and refreshed brand for the bank. Before joining Absa (previously Barclays Africa Group Limited) as group chief executive in March 2009, Ms Ramos served as the chief executive of Transnet Limited for five years. This followed an eight-year tenure as director general of South Africa’s National Treasury (formerly the Department of Finance) during which time she played a crucial role in transforming the Treasury into one of the most effective and efficient state departments in the post-apartheid administration.

Ms Ramos has in the past served as a non-executive and independent director on the boards of Sanlam Ltd, Remgro Ltd and SABMiller PLC. She was a member of the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council and member of its executive Committee for 12 years and its chairman between 2017 and 2019.

She is a member of the Group of Thirty and serves on the International Advisory Board of the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. She is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee Advisory Council.