Faisal Al-Sharif is the director general of the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP), one of the 13 executive programs launched by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) to achieve the objectives of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030.  As director general, Al-Sharif plays a key role in the creation of a diversified and effective financial sector to support the development of the Kingdom’s national economy. He holds a bachelor’s degree in financial management from Long Beach State University in California, US. Al-Sharif is an ACI certificate holder, which a globally recognized certificate that attests to the holder’s mastery of the fundamental instruments and structures of a modern treasury. Before joining the FSDP, Al-Sharif worked at Deutsche Bank. He began his career in the bank as vice president of the Financing and Solutions Group (FSG) and went on to become head of Derivate Solutions. During his tenure at Deutsche Bank, Al-Sharif was responsible for the bank’s structuring and hedging solutions offerings in Saudi Arabia. It was a key part of the bank’s initiative to expand footprint in the Middle East and North Africa for the FSG derivatives offering. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Al-Sharif also worked at MassMutual Financial Group in California and later Saudi British Bank. Recently, he addressed the Financial Sector Conference in Riyadh. Thousands of delegates, including ministers from the finance, economy and strategic ministries, as well as leading policymakers from capital markets and the investment and insurance industries attended the event. During one of the sessions, Al-Sharif spoke about the impact of government-driven savings programs in various emerging markets. He also highlighted the impact of new initiatives taken to encourage savings in Saudi Arabia.