Inspiring Female Award Winners

In our list of winners in this issue we have several women leaders who we are highlighting. They are women who go above and beyond and have forged new paths in their countries and companies.

Both women are outstanding in their sectors and have strong proven track-records that showcase their invaluable experience and expertise.

Meet Lamia Boutaleb, cofounder and CEO of Capital Trust, an investment banking group in Morocco and Dr. Tanya McCartney, CEO and Executive Director at the Bahamas Financial Services Board.

Lamia Boutaleb has been awarded CEO Of The Year for Morocco and Dr. Tanya McCartney has been named CEO of the year Bahamas 2023.

Capital Trust, Boutaleb’s firm, is an investment banking group in Morocco with capital markets, advisory, asset management and real estate activities.

Before setting up Capital Trust, Lamia spent two years as a Special Advisor to the CEO of Office Chérifien des Phosphates.

Lamia Boutaleb started her career with the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) where she had spent 5 years before joining Mercer Management Consulting in London as a consultant. Subsequently, in the year 2000, she joined the Wafabank Group, where she was in charge of managing Wafa Bourse, the group’s Brokerage firm. In 2002, she was appointed managing director of Wafa Trust, the investment and corporate finance subsidiary of the group. In 2006, Lamia Boutaleb was appointed as Managing director of Attijari Invest, the private equity subsidiary of the Attijariwafa Bank group. Under her management, Attijari Invest has established and structured several investment funds specializing in infrastructure, agribusiness and tourism for a total investment envelope of $ 400 million.

Mrs.Boutaleb is a graduate from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC) in Lausanne and has an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. She served on the Wharton Executive Board for Europe, Middle East and Africa and was previously a member of the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco as Secretary of State in charge of Tourism.

Dr. Tanya McCartney, Executive Director at the Bahamas Financial Services Board is a UK-trained barrister and chartered banker who since 2016 has served as the CEO and over the past two decades Tanya has distinguished herself as a hardworking professional with expertise in the law, regulatory and gaming compliance, risk management, banking, and international financial services. She holds a Doctor of Business Administration from Edinburgh Napier University (Scotland, U.K.) for a programme of work entitled “Perspectives on Leading change: Exploring Change Readiness Strategies used in the Bahamian Financial Services Sector”. The study focuses on creating more agile organisations and the important role that leadership plays in this process. Tanya completed her Bachelor of Laws degree (Upper Second Class) at the University of Reading (United Kingdom), A Master of Laws degree with Merit from the London School of Economics and Political Science (London, U.K.), an MBA in Leadership from The College of the Bahamas as well as a Chartered Banker MBA from the University of Bangor in Wales (United Kingdom). She holds an International Compliance Association (ICA) special certificate in Money Laundering Risk in Betting and Gaming and is also a Certified Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.

Tanya commenced her legal profession in 1997 as Assistant Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General working in civil litigation representing government ministries, agencies, and departments. She has also served in the criminal prosecution division. In 1999 Tanya moved into the private sector as legal counsel and compliance officer for a local private bank. She has served in various senior positions with several international banking institutions in The Bahamas. Miss McCartney previously worked as Assistant General Counsel in the hospitality sector and served as Managing Director of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), RBC FINCO for six years commencing in 2008. She joined RBC in 2006 as Regional Manager for Compliance for the Bahamas and the Caribbean with responsibility for the Caribbean (The Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Barbados, and the Eastern Caribbean countries).

Tanya currently plays a critical role in facilitating collaboration between the private sector and policy makers in The Bahamas with respect to all the global regulatory initiatives impacting the financial services sector. She serves as an advocate for over 250-member financial services institutions that are members of The Bahamas Financial Board. Since 2016 Tanya has organized and led contingents of Bahamian professionals to promote the Bahamas as an international financial centre in The United States, Canada, Europe, and Latin America. The primary objective is to increase international awareness of the Bahamas value proposition as an international financial centre. She is playing a central role in rebranding the jurisdiction as an international business centre. Tanya is intimately involved in the development of a strategic plan for sustainability of the Bahamian financial services industry. She has presented at conferences in Africa, South America, and the United States.

Tanya was appointed to the Senate of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in 2001 being one of the youngest persons ever appointed to the Upper House where she served for five years. She vied for a seat in parliament in the 2002 general elections. She is a former President and founding member of the Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers. She is the co-chairman of the Bahamas Chapter of the global Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. Tanya is also an adjunct professor in the School of Business at the University of the Bahamas. She has served on several government boards over the years including The Public Hospital’s Authority, The University of The Bahamas and currently serves as Chairman of The Police Complaints Inspectorate and Deputy Chairman on The Airport Authority. Tanya was awarded the Bahamas ICON Award for financial services in 2018. In addition, in 2020 Tanya received The Woman of The Year “Highly Commended” Award from UK based International Investment for her work in financial services. Most recently she won the International Investment award doe Diversity and Inclusion for accelerating the pace of change towards a more diverse and inclusive international financial services industry. She is the author of “Strategies for Success: A Roadmap for the Compliance Professional in Financial Services” which is available at Amazon, iBooks and BookBaby.