Marianne Abib-Pech

Marianne Abib-Pech is a finance leader turned deep tech investor and author of the Financial Times Guide to Leadership. After becoming Global CFO of Shell Aviation, a £20 billion business, before age 35, she pioneered M&A in frontier markets including Iran, fundamentally reshaping her approach to risk and uncertainty. Now Managing Partner at Transitions First, an early-stage deep tech venture fund, she reshapes industrial supply chains through capital innovation, backing scalable technologies that redefine 21st-century production. Her sessions equip leaders with the strategic courage and geopolitical insight needed to navigate transformation, drive industrial innovation, and make confident decisions in volatile, high-stakes environments.

Before turning 35, Marianne Abib-Pech had already reached the pinnacle of corporate finance, leading Shell Aviation as Global CFO of a £20 billion business. Her rapid ascent through Arthur Andersen and General Electric equipped her with formidable finance and leadership capabilities, but it was her decision to step away from this dream role that defined her next chapter. Seeking to become the ultimate decision maker, she founded an M&A boutique deploying foreign direct investment in frontier markets, pioneering deals in Iran and other high-barrier regions where volatility and uncertainty became her greatest teachers. This experience fundamentally reshaped her approach to risk, preparing her for the work she leads today as Managing Partner at Transitions First, an early-stage deep tech venture fund focused on reshaping industrial supply chains through capital innovation.

Marianne's credibility extends far beyond her finance pedigree. She authored the Financial Times Guide to Leadership: How to Lead Effectively and Get Results, establishing herself as a thought leader on strategic decision making and organisational transformation. Her investment portfolio spans space industry technologies, advanced materials, and scalable industrial innovations that redefine 21st-century production. Having completed successful transactions across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, and having worked with diverse teams representing more than 88 nationalities across six countries, she combines multicultural fluency with geopolitical insight. Her board positions with venture capital funds and start-ups across Europe and Asia further demonstrate her commitment to backing technologies with substantial technical moats and the capital infrastructure needed to compete at scale.

Marianne's keynote sessions equip audiences with practical frameworks for navigating transformation in volatile, high-stakes environments. She explores how leaders can identify and extend their unique qualities whilst adapting to rapid change, offering tangible strategies for building cognitive diversity and sustainable business value. Her insights on frontier market investment reveal what genuinely works when doing business in challenging regions, helping organisations develop adaptive strategies that align with both commercial goals and complex geopolitical realities. For women navigating male-dominated industries, she provides actionable guidance drawn from her own experience thriving at the highest levels of corporate finance and venture capital. Audiences leave her sessions with the strategic courage to make confident decisions under uncertainty, the tools to unlock human potential within their organisations, and a clear blueprint for driving industrial innovation that creates lasting commercial impact.