Lana Othman

Regional Program Operations Advisor

Summary

Lana Othman is an enthusiastic business professional who advocates for a holistic risk management approach in the work environment where risk management is an enabling function that works with stakeholders to achieve organizational goals. With over 19 years of experience in risk, compliance, and fraud management in international and non-governmental organizations, Lana held senior global, regional, and national positions within the Telecom and NGOs’ sectors leading diverse and high-performing teams.

Career History

As a Regional Program Operations Advisor at Save the Children International (SCI), Lana oversees 13 offices in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe to ensure operations are aligned with internal policies and comply with regulatory requirements.

As a Director of Risk and Compliance at SCI, Lana built the risk and compliance function in Syria, which is one of the most difficult contexts risk-wise. She established the Syria risk committee which identified and discussed more than 100 risks a year. She also ensured that all functions complied with sanctions, exports controls, and counter terrorism laws, and that the risk of aid diversion was mitigated. Lana created fraud awareness among 200 staff and partners, which resulted in increased trust towards the internal systems and a 200% increase in the number of reported suspicions in three years.

Being part of SCI’s Global Fraud team, Lana helped formulate the fraud management strategy pillars, and supported many regions like Asia, West and Central Africa, and the Middle East and Eurasia (MEE). Being the first regional fraud specialist in the MEE regional office, Lana built the capacity of 13 countries to spread the awareness of fraud, ensure they have the right reporting channels, respond to reported suspicions, and prevent fraud. The countries were able to respond to a 100% increase in the number of reported suspicions in one year.

As a Fraud Team Leader in the leading mobile operator – Zain, Lana was able to implement a fraud management system to ensure timely detection and prevention of telecom fraud.

Education, Certification and Board Membership

MBA | The German Jordanian University | Madaba, Jordan

BSc Computer Information Systems | The University of Jordan | Amman, Jordan.

Certified Fraud Examiner | Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)

Certified Telecommunication Analyst | Global Systems for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA)