Engineer by degree, Financial Services expert by profession, Innovation enthusiast by nature, Maria Leontiou heads Eurobank Next – Digital Growth & Future Competitiveness within Eurobank with the aim to ensure the Bank’s future relevance. Maria holds a M.Eng. degree in Civil Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and has over 24 years of experience in the “Fin” part of FinTech. She joined Eurobank in 2002 and has over 17 years of managerial experience with a track record in corporate innovation, business development, project management and operations. Before that Maria was a stock broker in the Athens Stock Exchange Market and a certified Derivatives' Market Maker. Her curiosity for everything new makes her love and passionately seek innovation, a trait that grew through her participation in the organizing team of TEDxAthens and was then put in practice within her role as the head of Eurobank’s Innovation Center. She is very close to the startup community which she supports in her capacity as mentor or judge in various initiatives & programs. She firmly believes in the power of community, is actively pushing the gender equality agenda and is a strong advocate of "sharing means caring". Maria enjoys both creating and sharing content on digital media to engage with like-minded professionals and initiate meaningful conversations.