Our Leadership

Mr. Barnard’s primary focus is to oversee the responsibilities of the CXI Group of Companies’ Financial and Treasury operations, including regulatory and financial reporting, investor relations, cash management, liquidity and capital resource requirements, business intelligence and planning.

Mr. Barnard worked as a senior finance leader in South Africa in various industries ranging from pathology at Ampath Laboratories to shared services and financial management at Standard Bank of South Africa. He immigrated to Canada in 2007 where he worked as CFO and SVP of Olympia Financial Group Inc. for 15 years.

Mr. Barnard graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Pretoria, an honors degree in accounting from the University of South Africa and a master’s degree in financial management from the University of Johannesburg. He holds the Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation.

Mr. Winkel is the Chief Risk Officer and Chief Privacy Officer of EBC and its parent company, CXI. Mr. Winkel has more than 25 years of risk management experience comprising financial and non-financial risk in a variety of cultural and linguistic contexts: Netherlands, Australia, Spain, Japan and Canada. Mr. Winkel started his career in a Dutch business of ING Group in the Netherlands, followed by roles at the corporate headquarters of ING Group, ING Direct, and ING Direct Australia. Mr. Winkel subsequently worked as market and operational risk manager at the ING Direct Treasury in Spain, and was the head of financial risk management for over two years in Japan during the start-up of ING Direct Japan. In 2009, he continued his career in Canada at ING Direct in financial risk and enterprise risk management. He moved to Scotiabank in 2013 as Vice President of liquidity and interest rate risk. He was the secretary of the Bank ALCO at Scotiabank and recognition ambassador of the global risk management group in 2017 and 2018.

Mr. Winkel earned a master’s degree in financial economics from the Free University in Amsterdam and is a Certified EFFAS Financial Analyst (“RBA”). He is a member of the Canadian Asset and Liability Management Association (CALMA), and the North American Asset and Liability Management Association (NALMA). He has been teaching a banking simulation course for executives at the Advanced Risk Management Program of Wharton University / RMA since 2011.

Ms. Esmail is responsible to oversee the AML/ATF and Compliance program at EBC. Ms. Esmail’s role evolved from the Deputy CAMLO in 2019, to CAMLO in December 2020. In March 2022, her role was as Interim CCO and CAMLO and is now the CCO/CAMLO for EBC. She has over 20 years of experience in regulatory compliance and AML/ATF through several projects within financial industry segments, including mid and large size banks in all three lines of defence.

Prior to joining EBC, Ms. Esmail oversaw the Capital Markets AML at BMO for four years, and was in the AML and Risk advisory services with Deloitte for over 12 years. Ms. Esmail is CAMS certified.

Mr. Devenish is the Managing Director, EBC responsible for leading sales and operations with strategic focus on global distribution of wholesale international banknotes and payments in Canada. He brings over 20 years of experience and extensive knowledge of the financial industry, coupled with strong leadership, talent development, and program delivery. Prior to joining EBC, he held senior leadership positions at Innovation Credit Union, FIRMA Foreign Exchange, Western Union Business Solutions, and HSBC Financial Canada, where his operations and sales skills were honed through both national and international client relationships.

Mr. Devenish has consistently demonstrated his passion for delivering bottom-line results by focusing on the development of high performing teams, sales management, and strategic planning. His success is proven through numerous sales, business growth, and profitability achievements throughout his career. Within his role, Mr. Devenish is focused to drive sales and operations, build a strong team, uncover new business opportunities, and to ensure the EBC continues to provide a best-in-class sales and service experience to all clients.

Mr. Devenish graduated from the Kellogg School of Management, Advanced Management Program.

Mrs. Bezhitashvili is Head of Human Resources, responsible for recruiting, diversity, learning, talent development, benefits, compensation and employee relations. Prior to joining CXI, she worked for Bank of Ireland’s FCE as well as a major Orlando international law office specializing in international business law.

Mrs. Bezhitashvili is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), Society for Human Resource Management Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), and Board Member of ACAMS Central Florida Chapter. She graduated suma cum laude in economics (1999) from the Technical University of Georgia, earned a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from Rollins College in 2005, and attained her MBA from Webster University in 2011.

Mr. Ohm oversees the IT department of CXI and its in-house technology solutions. His long tenure with CXI and his integral role in developing and maintaining the industry-leading web application and company-supporting networks has provided extensive expertise in information technology and information security with a focus on the financial industry.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in information systems technology from the University of Central Florida in 2008.

Ms. Davis is the Treasurer of EBC and CXI, responsible for managing the financial risks across the organization through the development of policy metrics and procedures that reduce exposure to foreign exchange and liquidity risks. Ms. Davis oversees both corporate treasury and trading functions at EBC and CXI, which include liquidity risk management and cash flow forecasting, global banknote inventory hedging and risk management, and trading activities related to the international payments business segment. Ms. Davis is the Chair of the Liquidity Management Committee of EBC and CXI, with oversight responsibility of the organization’s global cash and liquidity position.

Ms. Davis brings to the Group her experience working in investment banking and commercial banking in New York’s money center banks, where she advised corporate treasury teams with best practice risk mitigation strategies. In her role as Treasurer, Ms. Davis applies her risk management-centered experience to enable informed decision-making across the organization.

Ms. Davis has lived in France, Italy and in various locations across the United States. She holds her bachelor’s degree in economics and French from Rutgers University, Douglass College, where she completed her honors thesis in economics.