Kareem Saleh Email & Phone Number

I'm a financial technology executive with a record of scaling AI-powered software, lending and payments businesses. I have over a decade of experience working to implement inclusive and fair artificial intelligence solutions in lending.I am the founder of FairPlay, the world’s first fairness-as-a-service company. FairPlay automates fair lending testing and reporting and helps lenders run second look programs designed to increase positive outcomes for historically underserved groups. Previously, I served as Executive Vice President at Zest.ai, where I led go-to-market strategy for the company’s AI-powered b2b SaaS underwriting platform and negotiated software licensing, partnership, financing and other commercial deals with Fortune 500 firms, credit bureaus and financial infrastructure providers. I was also a senior member of the team managing Zest’s $100m installment loan business, which achieved default and customer acquisition rates that were half the industry average.Prior to Zest.ai, I served as an executive at SoftCard, a mobile payments startup founded by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon that was acquired by Google. While at SoftCard, I negotiated commercial partnerships and software deals with retailers, financial institutions and technology companies like Coca-Cola, American Express and Samsung.I also served in senior roles in the Obama Administration, first as Chief of Staff to the State Department’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, where I managed the 50-person team that negotiated the Paris Climate Agreement. I then worked as Senior Advisor to the CEO of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) where I oversaw transaction teams that invested $3.5B in project finance deals across the globe and helped direct the U.S. Government’s $18B portfolio of emerging market investments.At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, I served as an economic policy staffer on the Obama-Biden Presidential Campaign. I also served on the Presidential Transition Team, where I helped shape the incoming administration’s economic crisis response plans for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. I am a Forbes contributor and a frequent speaker on the application of artificial intelligence to financial services, including consumer loan underwriting, loan servicing, model risk management and fair lending analysis. I'm a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and an honors graduate of the University of Chicago, and am fluent in French and Arabic.

Listed skills include Policy Analysis, Public Policy, International Relations, Politics, and 5 others.