Maria Ramos

Maria da Conceição das Neves Calha Ramos (born 1959) is a South African businesswoman and former civil servant.

She was the chief executive officer of the Absa Group from March 2009 to February 2019, during which time she oversaw the company's unbundling from Barclays.

[2] After high school she worked at a Barclays branch in Vereeniging as a waste clerk, saving money for her university tuition.

[4] In May 1995, Ramos joined the post-apartheid South African government as deputy director-general for financial planning in the National Treasury.

[8] However, in September 2003, Ramos announced that she would leave the treasury in January 2004 to succeed Mafika Mkwanazi as group chief executive officer of Transnet.

[13][14] Ramos also pursued the privatisation of various Transnet property interests, including the V & A Waterfront,[15] and announced a rebranding strategy for the utility in 2007.

[16] Because of her role at Transnet, Empowerdex labelled Ramos the second most economically influential woman in South Africa, after Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, in 2005.

[19] In March 2009, Ramos succeeded Steve Booysen as chief executive of Absa Group, one of South Africa's largest banking conglomerates.

[40] Appointed by António Guterres, Ramos and Achim Steiner co-chaired the United Nations Task Force on Digital Financing of Sustainable Development Goals from 2018 to 2020.

[41] In 2021, she was appointed to the World Bank–International Monetary Fund High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth, co-chaired by Mari Pangestu, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, and Nicholas Stern.

Ramos at the World Economic Forum in January 2009
Ramos at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town in June 2009