Saba Zahid

Saba Zahid is the Managing Director and Head of Operational Risk for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. With over 20 years of experience in financial services, she has led the design and implementation of risk frameworks, governance programs, and control structures across multiple lines of defense.

Throughout her career at Morgan Stanley, Saba has held a range of leadership roles spanning Wealth Management, Enterprise Risk, Legal & Compliance, and Information & Cyber Security. Prior to her current role, she served as Head of the End Users Team in Data Security and Infrastructure Risk, and earlier as Head of the Advisory Business Risk Team, where she partnered with Advisory and Investment Products businesses to establish best practices in proactive risk management.

Saba chairs Women in Risk, a network that fosters mentorship and leadership development among women professionals, and leads a communication caching programs for rising talent within the organization.

She also worked at BNY Mellon as an Information Risk Officer in the Corporate Trust Division, where she developed an information security framework aligned with NIST standards.

Saba is also the founder of Luminary Path, a mentorship and leadership development platform that empowers students and early-career professionals to connect their personal narratives with professional growth.

She holds a Master of Science in Enterprise Risk Management from New York University and a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Economics with a double minor in Business Communication and Clinical Psychology from Baruch College.

Saba has been a lecturer at Columbia University since 2019.