​BBK, Bahrain’s pioneer in retail and commercial banking, announced the appointment of seven Bahraini women as board members of the Group’s various companies. This reflects BBK’s keenness to increase the number of Bahraini women in senior management positions and boost their participation in the Group’s present and future strategies.

BBK appointed Dr. Aisha Bushager, Ms. Mai Al Hamar, and Ms. Dalal Buheji to the CrediMax Board; Dr. Fai Al Khalifa and Ms. Najwa Al Ahmed to the Invita Board; Ms. Batool S.Sharaf to the GPS Board; and Ms. Latifa AL Sadeh to the Family Bank Board.

Mr. Murad Ali Murad, Chairman of BBK, congratulated the appointed women, expressing BBK board’s confidence in their ability to enhance the group’s success, productivity, and effectiveness, as well as to support the progression of Bahraini women on the one hand, and the bank’s shareholders and customers’ aspirations on the other. 

“We are pleased that these new appointments coincide with BBK’s 50^th Anniversary celebrations, reaffirming our commitment to promote equal opportunities and gender balance in our workplace, to invest women’s energies as effectively as possible, and to ensure their participation in the Bank’s and its subsidiaries’ various decisions and strategies to boost and maintain BBK’s leadership,” Mr. Murad said. 

On his part, Dr. Abdulrahman Ali Saif, BBK Group Chief Executive, explained that this appointment is the culmination of the Bank’s women empowerment efforts, which began many years ago to enhance women’s talents and allow them to advance professionally. He applauded the Bahraini women who work at BBK for their attributes of leadership, devotion, and dedication, as well as their capacity to stay up with and lead the developments in the financial and banking industries via creativity and innovation.

Dr. Saif said that these appointments are an opportunity to reflect on BBK’s long history of supporting women which includes winning first place, among private sector institutions, in the HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Award for the Advancement of Bahraini Women’s fifth session in 2017. In addition to that, the Bank launched numerous initiatives that support women, such as the training course “Digital Skills Training for Bahraini Women,” the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Committee in 2015, and the launch of the CEO Award for Women Empowerment to encourage departments to use a gender-balanced methodology.

Dr. Aisha Bushager has been appointed recently as an Executive Senior Manager responsible for Data Analytics at BBK. Dr. Bushager was the Chairperson of the Computer Engineering Department at the College of Information Technology at University of Bahrain since 2018.

Dr. Bushager has been appointed the Project Leader of the Blockcerts Project at the University of Bahrain in 2019, taking the lead to become one of the first universities globally to issue digital diplomas anchored to the blockchain, where she was then appointed as an Ambassador of Education at the Global Blockchain Business Council. Dr. Bushager has been selected as a representative of Scientific Bahraini Women by the US Embassy in Bahrain and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program on “WISE-Women’s Innovations in Science and Engineering” in the USA. She has around 20 years of banking experience.

Ms. Mai AlHamer is the Head of the Alternative Banking Channels Department in BBK, managing and acting as the primary business custodian for all retail electronic channels and services and leading a team towards achieving the Bank’s digital strategy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Information Systems from the University of Bahrain and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from New York University of Applied Sciences and has around 20 years of banking experience.

Ms. Dalal Buhiji is the Executive Director of Investment Origination at the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB). She has strong leadership experience in heading EDB’s 12 international offices abroad and working closely with global firms. Before assuming this position, Ms. Buhiji was the Director of the Financial Services Business Development sector at the EDB. She was charged with growing Bahrain’s financial services sector with a particular focus on international outreach to attract new inward investment opportunities to the Kingdom and developing the local financial industry.

Dr. Fai Al Khalifa is a transformational leader with extensive experience in leading organizational change. She holds a BSc from the University of Bahrain and a Master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield. She is an expert in digital transformation, smart sustainability and its applications in cities. She has a proven track record of achieving excellence while guiding sizable cross-functional teams in developing services and implementing cutting-edge technological solutions to achieve Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) targets.

Ms. Najwa Al Ahmed is the Assistant General Manager in the Human Resources and Administration department in BBK.  She holds a Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from DePaul (2006), and an Executive Master’s degree in Business Management from the University of Bahrain (2005). She joined BBK in 2022 and has over 18 years of experience in the human resources field.

Ms. Batool S.Sharaf has more than 17 years of experience in the banking industry during her work at the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK). She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from the State of Delaware and holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of DePaul. In addition, she holds an advanced diploma in International Taxation and Cross Border Taxation (ADIT). Ms. Batool is the Department Head of Business Planning and Performance Management in Financial Planning and Control in BBK.

Ms. Latifa Al Sadeh joined BBK in 2006 as a management trainee. She gradually progressed to currently hold the position of Department Head in Real Estate, Services and Trading. She holds hold a Master’s degree in Finance from DePaul University (2017) and graduated from the University of Bahrain with an accounting degree.