Simon Paris

Simon Paris takes responsibility for Finastra’s strategic direction and growth. His leadership steers the company as it realises its vision for open finance, encouraging industry-wide collaboration to spark innovation and transform the next generation of financial services.

A firm believer in the principle of doing well by doing good, Simon chairs the World Trade Board and is passionate about how technology and open trade can drive financial inclusion and improve people’s lives. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Everbridge, a critical event management (CEM) software company, and on the Board of Directors for Thomson Reuters.

An inspiring and trusted Fintech thought leader, Simon speaks regularly at large-scale events including the World Trade Symposium, Paris FinTech Forum and Milken Summits. He is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, pioneering refreshing and candid views on equality in the workplace for many years, and since then, gaining accolades such as jointly winning the Vista CEO Award for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG).

Featuring in Bank Innovation’s "Innovators to Watch" list back in 2018, Simon has since been named a top 50 financial technology CEO by The Financial Technology Report for the third year running, as well as a top 20 CEO in Europe by the Software Report 2022. He was also recognised in the CEO Today Awards 2021, and, under his stewardship, the company has received multiple awards, including TechWomen 100’s Company of the Year (2022), joint 13th position in the Open Future World’s Open Finance Global Rankings (2022) and Great Place to Work – India for three consecutive years (2020-2023).

Simon joined Finastra (formerly Misys) as President in 2015, was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer in 2017 and became Chief Executive Officer in June 2018. He brings more than 25 years of sales, management and global leadership expertise to the company, having previously held the role of President, Industry Cloud, at SAP. Prior, he was a senior consultant with McKinsey & Company.

He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the INSEAD Business School in France and a Bachelor’s degree in Business & European languages from the European Business School.

Simon is married to Mariola (a Spaniard), and together, they have 3 children aged 24, 22 and 19. They have a passion for travel, culture, gastronomy and time in Spain, one of the four countries in which Simon has lived and worked during his career.