User:Sabsamsal/sandbox

Jorge Arturo Ruiz Montaño also known as Jorge A. Ruiz or Jorge Ruiz (born May 20, 1963,   La Paz, Bolivia) is an American  financial technology expert and the current Global Digital Acceleration head at Citibank. He is notable for initiating the Citi Mobile Challenge, the next-generation accelerator program pioneered by Citibank.

Life and education
Ruiz attended the University of North Texas where he received a Bachelor of Arts in finance in 1987. He lives in Miami, Florida with his family.

New Venture
Jorge Ruiz left Citibank after 18-years to launch Above and Beyond (A&B) a Fintech Company that offers Digital Transformation Services to Financial Institutions around the world.

Early career
From February 1995 to 2000, Ruiz co-founded Daza Software, a company in La Paz, that serves financial institutions in Bolivia, Peru and Panama. He has been Vice-President in charge of investments, marketing, consumer banking and subsidiaries at Banco BISA from February 1997 to November 1998. Earlier, from January 1995 to February 1997, he has been CEO of Bisa Seguros, an insurance company.

Citibank
Ruiz joined Citibank in 1998 where he served at various positions for Latin America including Managing director - business development head (February 2008 – July 2012), credit risk management service head (December 2004–2007), and business head for the Citibank bolivian branch (December 1998 – December 2004). In 2015, he was Managing director and a fintech acceleration global head. Ruiz also holds the position of Managing director for business development and digital banking head for Latin America. During his tenure at Citibank, he initiated the first virtual fintech global accelerator for Citibank. This initiative known as the Citi Mobile Challenge, spearheaded by Ruiz, has reached thousands of developers around the world under the labels Citi Mobile Challenge North America,    Citi Mobile Challenge Latin America (LATAM),     Citi Mobile Challenge Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA),    Citi Mobile Challenge Asia and Pacific (APA).

ChallengeMeNow
Ruiz is a founding member and advisory board member of Challenge Me Now, a social network dedicated to helping charity organizations raise funds through personal achievements.

Honors and awards
In June 2014, Ruiz was named Digital Banker of the Year by American Banker in June 2014 and nominated among the top 6 Digital Bankers of the Year. His work has also received the best Internet Banking award in 2014 for Colombia, Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador by Global Finance. Ruiz's creations have been recognized as best mobile Banking App by PC World Magazine, best mobile solution in the Americas by Mobile Money at the 2013 Mobile Money Global Awards in Dubai.