Lara Tassan Zanin is a senior advisor at the European Investment Bank (EIB) with a lead in Space and Cybersecurity. Previously she has headed the EIB Group Representation in Romania for five years, one of the largest offices with some 40 EIB experts providing technical assistance to Romanian authorities to prepare and implement EU-funded projects.
She was a senior loan officer for corporates in Czech Republic and Slovakia and the first EIB Resident Representative in Ankara/Turkey. In 2011-2014, Lara was in London representing the EIB at the Executive Board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She had joined the EIB in 2006 as transport engineer in charge of appraising road and rail projects in several countries around the world. Prior to the EIB, she gained experience in the Central European Initiative (CEI), a regional organisation supporting candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe in their path to the EU Accession. In 2007 she has received the Medal Award of the Central European Initiative for her remarkable results. Lara holds a PhD in applied engineering and an Executive MBA from London Business School. She is a passionate diversity advocate and actively promotes gender equality: Lara is Advisory Board Member of Women in Tech - Romania chapter.