Rania Nashar, a former chief executive of Samba Financial Group, was recently appointed head of compliance and governance at the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Saudi Arabia’s $430 billion PIF is one of the world’s largest and most prominent sovereign wealth funds, and the primary driver of the Kingdom’s economic change in line with its Vision 2030 goals, and it has increased its employees from 40 in 2016 to more than 1,100 employees today.

Nashar joined the fund in January as a senior adviser to its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan. She has more than two decades of experience in the banking sector.

She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and information technology from King Saud University in 1997.

Nashar also attended the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business for several finance and risk management programs.

She began her career with Samba Financial Group after obtaining her bachelor’s degree, working as a private bank technology and quality assurance coordinator for nearly four years, before moving to e-consumerism for another four years.

In 2006, Nashar was promoted to anti-money laundering compliance officer, before she became the head of compliance less than three years after that. In October 2014, she became the chief audit executive, until she rose to CEO in 2017.

She was also the chair of the Women in Business Action Council at B20 Saudi Arabia, the voice of the private sector to the G20.

Nashar is also a board member of the National Center for Performance Measurement (Adaa).