Lubna Qassim is a member of the executive leadership team of Emirates NBD, the largest banking group in the Middle East, focused on retail and corporate banking. Ms Qassim is passionate about helping the UAE achieve its global ambitions through her work at Emirates NBD; supporting economic growth of the UAE government; mentoring and encouraging more women to senior positions; fostering UK/UAE business relationships. She qualified as a lawyer in London with global magic circle firm, Clifford Chance, working in their London/Dubai offices for 8 years. In 2012 Sultan Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, asked her to oversee the legal passage of some of the country’s most significant economic legislative reforms, based on international best practice and tailoring to the UAE’s specific needs. These included company, start-up and bankruptcy laws to encourage private sector growth. In 2015 Ms Qassim was elected by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, to the Dubai Women’s Establishment to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the UAE. She is founding chair of the 30% Club GCC Chapter. Ms Qassim speaks five languages; she is the first UAE national to have worked at the World Bank, as the public sector consultant; and at the House of Lords in the UK parliament, as a law graduate. She is a fellow at Dubai School of Government and sits on the Global Economic Symposium Fellows advisory committee of Kiel University. In 2013 she was selected by William Hague, the UK’s First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for her leadership skills to participate in the Future International Leadership Programme which took place in London. She sits on the boards of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI) and Injaz UAE Foundation and was the first national to sit on the committee of the British Business Group in Dubai and Northern Emirates; and as the UAE Alliances Director for the British Business Group of Abu Dhabi. She helped launch and is an ambassador for the UK Alumni Network in the UAE, led by the British Council for Emiratis who graduated in the UK. Ms Qassim is an international speaker on governance, education, female leadership and youth.