Ahmed Issa has on Saturday been appointed as Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities following a major Cabinet reshuffle that included 13 ministerial portfolios.
Prior to this, Issa was Chief Executive Officer of the Retail Banking at the Commercial International Bank (CIB Egypt). He was responsible for strategy formulation and execution across CIB’s consumer banking and business banking, and is a member of the Management Committee.
Issa commenced his banking career in 1993 in CIB branches, and was later promoted through the ranks within CIB corporate banking and investment banking divisions between 1995 and 2001. In 2001, he took a two-year study break to obtain an MBA degree at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.
During his career, Issa took on notable positions such as Head of Research at CIBC, Managing Director at CI Capital Investment Banking, Head of Strategic Planning at CIB, Head of Financial Institutions Group at CIB Corporate Banking, Group CFO at CIB, Chairman of the Board of Director at CORPLEASE- The leading lease finance company in Egypt, and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Falcon Group.
Moreover, Issa was the chairman of the Banking Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, where he was an elected Non-Executive Board Director. He was appointed by Egyptian Prime Minister in 2017 to sit on the Board of Egypt’s Trade Development Authority. He was also an independent Non-Executive Director at Egypt Air Holding Company, ITIDA ‘Egypt’s ICT Industries Development Agency’, and a Member of MasterCard MENA Leadership council.
