Abu Dhabi headquartered international brokerage ADSS as appointed Sophia Salim as its newest chief product and innovation officer.
In this role, Sophia will lead ADSS’ product development efforts globally as the latest addition to the company’s growing executive management team. She will be tasked with researching a plethora of new products while expanding the existing product suite. Moreover, she will use her skill set to focus on business opportunities by identifying demand from both retail and institutional investors.
Sophia brings broad industry expertise and a robust track record of developing successful financial services and technology businesses in Dubai and the US. She joined ADSS with 17 years of experience to enhance its offering in the markets where the group is eyeing a broader focus on growth.
Prior to landing at the middle-east focused broker, Sophia was the Dubai-based chief product officer at Bykea, a ride-hailing start-up in Pakistan. She also co-founded Ropazi, a San Francisco-based commerce platform. Earlier in her career, Sophia spent more than four years at Microsoft, where she was a software engineer.
Commenting on her appointment, Sophia Salim said: “I am excited to be joining ADSS amid its rapid and transformational growth. As we continue to differentiate ourselves in a competitive marketplace, we will seek ways to bring our clients innovative and best-in-class experiences and propositions that meet their evolving needs. I look forward to working with the highly capable executive team to further enhance the business’s product line up as we strive to deliver greater value to our institutional and retail clients.”
ADSS’s recent additions to executive committee
Theo Papathanasiou, Chief Client Officer, added: “ADSS is at an exciting point of its journey as we build upon our leading position in the Middle East and expand our operations in key global markets. We are driving our new growth strategy forward at an accelerated pace and welcome Sophia to the team as we continue to embed key principles of innovation into our organisation.”
ADSS has had its sights on growing its business in the aftermath of recent industry changes, and the brokerage has already opted to diversify its product range and clientele. The past year has seen ADSS consistently focus on new markets as well, culminating in an emphasis on retail, new cryptocurrencies on offer, as well as subsidiaries.
The new hires complement a series of key senior executive additions that ADSS has made over the past 12 months. Most recently, the broker hired Rocco Paduano, formerly Head of Global Market Risk Management at Saxo Bank, as Chief Risk Officer. Completing the Leadership team are long standing ADSS executives Marios Kampouridis as Chief Technology Officer and Khaldoun Sharaiha as Global Head of Sales.
