Gesa Johannsen is Global Head of Product Strategy for Clearance and Collateral Management Business at BNY Mellon. In addition, she is the EMEA Head of Clearance and Collateral Management Business. She joined BNY Mellon in 2013 as a leader in the product management for the Collateral Management Business.

In her capacity as Global Head of Product Strategy, Gesa leads the business and platform strategy for the triparty collateral management business, with a collateral franchise of more than $4 trillion assets on the platform, as well as the Global Clearance Business of BNY Mellon. Her product strategy team drives the business strategy as well as the product implementation roadmap with technology.

Gesa is a key leader in the Clearance and Collateral Business and was appointed the EMEA Business Head in September 2020. Since then, she is responsible for driving growth in the EMEA region where she leads the sales and relationship management team as well as the governance & controls team. In her role as EMEA Business Lead, Gesa maintains critical oversight of the business’ regional regulatory obligations, operating in BNY Mellon SA/NV and the BNY Mellon London Branch.

Gesa has over 25 years industry experience. Prior to joining BNY Mellon in 2013, she worked at Eurex Clearing, Europe’s largest central counterparty clearing house (CCP), where she was Head of Derivatives Clearing Business Development and with responsibility for the Business and Product Strategy of the clearing house across listed and OTC-Derivatives. Through her role at Eurex Clearing, she has extensive experience in collateral management and segregation solutions for centrally cleared products. Gesa has also previously held senior roles at KPMG and Deutsche Bank.

In addition to her executive leadership roles in the Clearance & Collateral Business, Gesa has joined the Board of ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) in January 2021, taking an active role to support ISDA’s strategic goals to foster safe and efficient derivatives markets.
In Europe, Gesa represents BNY Mellon in the Eurosystem Advisory Group on Market Infrastructures for Securities and Collateral where she is Chair of the Collateral Harmonisation Task Force for Europe. She has happily taken the lead for this mandate as she is passionate about the European Capital Markets Union project and has been actively involved in cross-industry working groups with European regulators for many years.

Gesa is passionate about BNY Mellon’s Diversity and Inclusion agenda and is the Co-Lead for GenEdge Germany as well as a member of the Women’s Initiative Network. Gesa is engaged in mentoring of next generation executives within BNY Mellon and the financial services industry.
Gesa is an economics and business graduate of the University in Cologne, Germany. She is based in Frankfurt, playing a global role in the Clearance and Collateral Management Business. She is mother of two wonderful girls, ages 13 and 16. As time permits, she is passionate about outdoor sports such as Mountain-Biking, Hiking and Skiing.