Julie Essiam is currently the CEO for the Ecobank Foundation, and the Group Executive for Human Resource & Corporate Affairs, for the Ecobank Group. Starting her career on the business side, and then later on to Human Resources, Corporate Affairs, and now development work, the common ethos of all Julie’s work has been her continued passion for transformation and development work; whether it is developing business, developing talent, or developing communities.
With a career spanning North America, Europe, and Africa, Julie started her career in the United States with Chase Manhattan Bank (JP Morgan Chase), and then to Citibank, before relocating to Africa.
At Ecobank, as a trusted advisor to the last four CEOs, Julie has leveraged her role and dedicated herself to repositioning the Ecobank Group, and its Foundation as leading social transformation across the African Continent.
She is also the concept originator, and the founder of A4A (“Africans4Africa”), a private sector led development organization that calls for a collaborative effort across the leadership of Africa and its Private Sector to own the accelerated transformation of the continent to prosperity. Julie is a Board member of the Global Fund Board, and the Chairperson for its Private Sector Constituency. She is a director on the boards of the Ecobank Zambia and Ecobank Foundation.
She serves on various Board committees, including Audit & Compliance, Governance, and Risk. Julie is originally from Ghana, graduated from the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the author of several publications.