Leadership

Bart Bronselaer

Independent Chairman and Non-Executive Director

Bart Bronselaer has more than 30 years’ experience in European institutional financial services. He started his career with Merrill Lynch International in London, where he held various positions, the last as Head of Debt Capital Markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Throughout his career Bart has held various key roles. These include Board Chairman of Royal Park Investments, Board Director, President of the Risk Committee and member of the Audit Committee at Dexia NV and Dexia Credit Local, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board ad interim of Dexia and director and Chief Executive Officer ad interim of Dexia Crédit Local. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors of United Pensions and a member of the Board of Directors, President of the Risk Committee and Member of the Audit Committee at MeDirect Belgium SA/NV.

Bart Bronselaer holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Sciences, a Master’s degree in Information Sciences and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. He participated in the Risk Management in Banking Programme, held at INSEAD.

John Zarb

Independent Non-Executive Director

John Zarb joined MeDirect’s Board on 17 July 2017 and is the Chairman of the Audit Committee.

With over 40 years of experience with PwC in Malta, he retired from his role as Partner in 2014.

John is a former President of Malta Institute of Accountants and served as Malta’s representative on the EU Accounting Regulatory Committee and on the Accountancy Board for several years.

Dina Quraishi

Independent Non-Executive Director

Dina Quraishi joined MeDirect’s board on 6 July 2023.

She has more than 20 years of experience in risk management covering various sectors including payments, FinTech, engineering and financial services.

Dina formerly served as Chief Risk Officer at SWIFT, Global Head of Enterprise Risk Management at Sandvik and Head of Operational Risk at Zurich Insurance.

Philip C. English

Non-Executive Director

Philip C. English joined MeDirect’s board on 22 August 2023.

He has more than 30 years of experience focusing on portfolio management, security valuation, financial markets and institutions and commercial banking.

Philip formerly served on the Board of Directors of the CFA Society in Washington, DC and served on the Investment Management Committee for Raffa Wealth Management.

He is also a Research Associate Professor of Finance at the Fox School of Business, Temple University and Executive Director of the Fischer-Shain Centre for Financial Services.

Jean-Claude Maher

Group Chief Executive Officer

Jean-Claude Maher has more than 30 years of experience in Banking. He joined Deutsche Bank AG in 1994 where he held various roles in Research, Corporate Banking, Transaction Banking, Private Banking and Country Management.

Throughout his career he held managerial positions on country, regional and global levels, including as Country Chief Operating Officer and Branch Manager of Deutsche Bank in Belgium. Jean Claude joined MeDirect Belgium as Chief Operations Officer in 2023 and was appointed Group CEO in February 2025.

Jean-Claude holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Political Sciences from the University of Cologne, Germany.

Lisa Fergus

Group Chief Risk Officer

Lisa Fergus joined MeDirect’s board on 2 November 2023.

She has more than 30 years of experience in risk management, regulatory compliance and internal audit.

Lisa previously served as Risk Officer at Ashman Finance and Chief Risk Officer at Monzo.

Izabela Banas

Group Chief Financial Officer

Izabela joined MeDirect on 3 June 2024. She has 25 years experience in finance at large corporations and 17 years in financial services. She is a certified Lean Sigma Black Belt.

Previous positions include Chief Financial Officer of Bank of Valletta, Chief Financial Officer of HSBC Private Bank, EMEA, and various senior management roles in finance at Credit Suisse, Willis Towers Watson, and General Electric.

Chris Portelli

Chief Technology Officer

Chris Portelli has been working in the technology industry since 2002, specialising in the financial and iGaming sectors. Chris began his career with CSL Data Centre in Malta, and over the years has worked with several international online gaming companies and financial institutions.

His role was both of an advisor and technical lead, designing and implementing technical architectures together with supporting new business requirements and challenges. Chris was also actively involved in the iGaming start-up community working with several start-ups to assist them setting up their digital channels and integrations with various providers.

Lorraine Bonello Ghio

Chief Administration Officer

Lorraine Bonello Ghio began her career with Mid-Med Bank in 1989. After receiving her basic training across a number of the Bank’s departments, Lorraine was appointed PA to the general manager of MIMBOL (Mid-Med’s offshore subsidiary), a position she held until 1996.

Moving to a Legal and Financial Services practice, Lorraine developed her role as PA to the Managing Partner through assuming responsibility for the broader Administration and Human Resources functions. Attracted to the challenges of a start-up business, Lorraine joined MeDirect in its formative stage in 2006, primarily in the role of PA to the CEO, but with involvement across all the support functions of the bank.

With the purchase and recapitalisation of the bank in 2009, she was appointed Head of Administration and Human Resources and was subsequently appointed as Chief Administrator Officer. Lorraine is CertCIB qualified and holds a diploma in Business Administration and Human Resources.

Emma Camilleri

Chief Administration Officer

Emma joined MeDirect as Chief People Officer in January 2024, bringing her extensive expertise to oversee HR for the bank’s global team. Her responsibilities span the whole employee lifecycle, including recruitment, employee development, engagement, and total rewards & remuneration. Before her tenure at MeDirect, she held the position of Group HR and Operations Support Director at Creditinfo, a provider of credit risk management solutions. In this role, she managed HR functions for a workforce of over 400 across three continents and more than 23 countries.

With over 30 years of executive experience, Emma’s background includes not only HR but also sales, marketing, and account management roles within large corporations and small to medium enterprises. Her strategic focus has enabled her to identify and capitalise on new sales opportunities while leading diverse teams and managing customer relationships globally.

Transitioning from commercial roles to HR has equipped Emma with exceptional leadership, decision-making, and communication skills, complemented by strong business acumen. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business management and languages from the University of Wales in Cardiff. A British native, Emma has made Malta her home for many years.

Caroline Grech

Chief Compliance Officer

Caroline started her career in the Banking Industry at HSBC in 2007 where she gained extensive experience within Retail Banking and Wealth Management.

In 2012, Caroline moved to MeDirect where she held various positions within her area of expertise but also took on new roles in the Compliance Department where she acquired experience within Regulatory Compliance.

Caroline was appointed Head of Regulatory Compliance at MeDirect in 2021 and Chief Compliance Officer in March 2024. Caroline acts as the Compliance Officer in terms of the MFSA Investment Services Rules.

Henry C. Schmeltzer

Director of Commercial Strategy &
Head of Legal

Henry Schmeltzer founded and managed the European ABS and Illiquid Credit structuring and execution businesses at UBS. This included the development of the synthetic ABS and ABS derivatives businesses, non-recourse senior funding structures and asset origination strategies and structures.

Before joining UBS, he ran the credit structuring and origination businesses at Swiss Re London, Merrill Lynch London and Lehman Brothers London and New York. Prior to becoming a banker, Henry was an attorney in New York, leaving the law firm Brown & Wood as a partner.

He holds an MBA (Finance) from New York University, a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts (magna cum laude) from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University. He was awarded CFA designation and is a Member of the Bar of the State of New York.

Job Mantz

Head – Dutch Retail Market

Job Mantz joined MeDirect late 2021 as Head of Dutch Retail and is responsible for the Dutch retail business.

He started his career at BinckBank in the Netherlands (currently: Saxo bank) where he held different positions within the legal, commercial and product departments. In 2014 he continued his career at Ziggo (currently: VodafoneZiggo) where he was responsible for their online customer service. In the six years prior to joining MeDirect, Job worked at ABN AMRO Bank in different roles, primarily within their digital department. In 2018 he was responsible for setting up a new corporate venture for ABN AMRO and in his last role as Head of the Digital Impact Team he was responsible for the customer adoption of their digital capabilities.

Job holds a Master’s in Law (LLM) degree from Leiden University (NL) and a Bachelor’s degree in IT from the Fontys university of Applied Sciences Eindhoven (NL).

Herman Reznev

Head – Corporate Credit

Herman started his career in the finance industry in 2006 after completing seven years in the diplomatic service and earning an MBA degree from the Wharton School.

In the years since, he has occupied a variety of banking-related roles spanning leverage finance, debt advisory and M&A with London-based institutions, such as UBS, Credit Suisse and Bank of America.

He joined MeDirect in early 2021 as a Senior Credit Analyst and in January 2022 was appointed Head of Corporate Credit where he leads the investment team managing the bank’s portfolio of European leveraged loans.

Wayne Crossley

Head of Operations

Wayne has worked within the finance industry for more than 15 years, mainly in the capacity of a CPA accountant. He has worked within a number of international organisations, taking up different roles over the years as his career progressed.

In the recent years, Wayne moved into general management and grew in this area by applying the best practices learnt over the years from various industries.

Wayne obtained his qualification from ACCA in 2015.

Cressida Galea

Head of Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs

Cressida joined MeDirect in 2018.

She has extensive experience gained in the regulatory field, particularly regulatory affairs and regulatory horizon scanning.

Cressida holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Malta.

Chris Breemeersch

Group Chief Internal Audit Officer

Chris Breemeersch started his career in 1995 as a Financial Auditor with KPMG Belgium focusing on insurance and banking institutions. In 1998 he joined the Internal Audit Division of KBC Group where he gained significant international experience as an Internal Auditor, Operational Risk Officer and Project Manager. He then transferred to Dexia Group in 2004 and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (Belgian Branch) in 2013 in a succession of international executive management positions in Internal Audit.

Between 2016 and 2019 Chris coordinated the operational project activities of a major Belgian consultancy firm for its financial services sector clients but eventually returned to the banking world as Head of Internal Audit for Puilaetco Belgium (a Quintet private bank). Chris joined MeDirect Group in July 2021 and was confirmed as Group Chief Audit Executive by the Regulatory Authorities in March 2022.

Alain Moreau

Chief Executive Officer Belgium

Alain Moreau served as Chief Executive Officer of Deutsche Bank Belgium between 2009 and 2019. Between 2012 and 2016, he was also Global Head of Investment Products and Insurances for Deutsche Bank Group. Prior to that he served as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Deutsche Bank Belgium and as a Junior Lecturer in Business Administration for the University of Namur.

Mr Moreau holds a Master of Engineering and a degree in Business Administration from UCLouvain (Belgium).

Marija Fenech

Chief Risk Officer and Executive Director

Marija Fenech has over a decade of banking experience with various senior risk positions within MeDirect Group, gaining extensive knowledge in risk management.

She has a Bachelors Degree in Education & Mathematics from the University of Malta and is a qualified Professional Risk Manager (PRM).