Verena Ross

Verena Ross is the Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). She took up the role on 1 November 2021 and is responsible for representing the Authority as well as preparing the work of ESMA’s Board of Supervisors (BOS) and chairing the BOS and the Management Board.

Between 2011 and 2021 Verena Ross served as ESMA’s first Executive Director where she was in charge of the day-to-day running of the organisation. Prior to this, Verena held a number of senior posts in the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA), with her final position being Director of the International Division from October 2009 to May 2011. She was also a member of the FSA's Executive Committee and the Policy and Risk Committees.

Verena joined the FSA in 1998 to run the Executive Chairman’s office during the regulator’s start-up phase, and was briefly a seconded advisor to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 2000. She subsequently held various positions in the Markets Division and was Director of Strategy & Risk Division before becoming Director of the International Division.

Verena is a German national. Following studies in Hamburg, Taipei and London (SOAS) she began her career at the Bank of England in 1994, where she worked as an economist and then banking supervisor.