Shiva Dustdar currently serves as the Head and Director of the EIB Institute, which brings the values and mission of the EIB Group closer to society through non-commercial activities supporting its climate, innovation and development priorities. Shiva has over 28 years of experience in the financial industry working for large private and public institutions in New York, London and Luxembourg. Since joining the EIB in 2003, she has worked in risk management, lending, investing and advising in innovative companies. Until June 2022, Shiva headed the EIB’s Innovation Finance Advisory (IFA) Division, which she built and scaled up into a successful innovation financing advisory programme covering green, digital, gender-smart and health-related sectors. Shiva started her career in investment banking at J.P. Morgan New York in 1993. She worked in mergers and acquisitions, project finance and emerging markets before joining Fitch Rating Agency in 1999 to set up its European high yield rating business. She holds a BA (magna cum laude) in Economics from Columbia University in New York and an Executive MBA from London Business School (LBS). Shiva is an innovation finance expert and regular speaker on innovation and impact financing, gender-smart investing, and digital and green financing. She is actively engaged in networks that promote sustainable and mission-oriented financing.