Yousef Al-Essa is CEO of Bahrain-based Addax Bank. Addax was founded in 2003 and was the recipient of the "Best New Bank" award from Banker Middle East. Addax provides corporate finance and wealth management services to clients in the Middle East region. Before joining Addax, Al-Essa was a co-founder and a Managing Director of Amwal, a company focused on bringing and developing advanced financial technology solutions to the Middle East region.

Prior to starting Amwal, he worked at the National Bank of Kuwait where he worked in institutional and corporate banking. He serves on a number of corporate Boards including:

• Vice Chairman: Ishraq Gulf Real Estate Company, Bahrain
• Vice Chairman: Jordan Dubai Capital, Jordan
• Board Director: Al Massaleh Investment Company, Kuwait
• Chairman: Mesk Hospitality Holdings, Bahrain
• Board Director: Tatweer Development Company, Qatar
• Board Director: Kuwait Holdings
• Board Director: Saraya MENA Real Estate Fund
• Chairman: Addax Media Bahrain
• Board Director: Addax Education Holdings Dubai

Al-Essa received his Bachelor of Science in International Finance from Georgetown University and his Masters in Business Administration from Harvard.