<span id="hs_cos_wrapper_name" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_text" style="" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="text" >Olivia Nakkash Demissie</span>

Contact Olivia

Olivia Nakkash Demissie

Director of Operations

  • (301) 951-2642

Olivia Nakkash Demissie

Director of Operations

Why I get up in the morning:
To help make the team more efficient and effective. I strive to make cumbersome projects around the office manageable and attainable. I enjoy integrating new technology to streamline and improve current processes and procedures around the office. 

How I got here:
I believe my view of this industry and servicing our clients can be attributed to my environment growing up. Born of two immigrant parents, I was exposed to a wide variety of cultures and practices. My father was born in Lebanon and moved to the United States in the 1970s to escape the civil war back home. Because of the exchange program with the American University – of Beirut, he was able to finish his Ph.D. program in Statistics here at the American University - of DC. My father worked hard to save as much money as possible to support his family back home and helped to relocate them to a safer, more stable life here in the United States. My mother was born in Uruguay and moved to the DC area when she was in middle school. Although faced with language barriers at first, she eventually became a CPA and ran her own tax business from home. Since the day I was born, I watched my parents work hard and save money to achieve their financial goals. 

My first memory of the stock market was in third grade when my teacher asked us to use any set of data to depict the different graphs we were learning about. My mother encouraged me to track the prices of a stock and plot the changing prices on a line graph. I, like my father, was intrigued by statistics and making sense of random data as I grew older. I chose to study Economics at the University of Maryland, College Park (go Terps!). In college, my favorite class was “Current Issues in American Economic Policy,” which bridged my interest in taking theoretical concepts and translating them into real-world scenarios. Today, I enjoy working with formulas in excel to see how changes in certain variables will impact the overall function. It is not uncommon for me to ask what your favorite excel formula is as an icebreaker upon first meeting me. I joined AFS as an intern in 2008 and rejoined as a full-time employee in 2012.

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Economics with a minor in Business Spanish from the University of Maryland, College Park. I also hold an Associate’s Degree in Accounting. I received my Series 7 (general securities) license in 2014 and currently working toward my Certified Investment Management Analyst certification.   

What I do really well:
I provide internal support and report to multiple advisors, and am responsible for managing workflow throughout the office. I also assist with database support, model management, account maintenance, financial planning, and employee education presentations.

At AFS, I enjoy adding value through investment research and operational aspects of the industry. I work with our team to ensure our client’s investments are in line with their goals, timeframe, and risk. I also work to refine processes as they relate to accounting management, trading, onboarding, and pending client requests.

I am passionate about keeping both the analytical and creative sides of my brain active. I spent all of my childhood involved in dance. I started with ballet, tap, and jazz, but I regularly explored different variations and genres of movement. Dance taught me that there are many different ways to express yourself and your ideas. I strive to always think outside of the box and remember that even hard-coded data can be expressed and interpreted in nonconventional ways.

Who I am really:
I commute from Salisbury, MD after moving to the Eastern Shore in 2019. I am passionate about keeping both the analytical and creative sides of my brain active. I spent all of my childhood involved in dance. I started with ballet, tap, and jazz, but I regularly explored different variations and genres of movement. Dance taught me that there are many different ways to express yourself and your ideas. I strive to always think outside the box and remember that even hard-coded data can be expressed and interpreted in nonconventional ways. I also enjoy incorporating running into my weekly routine and have completed two half marathons and several other road races so far. I really enjoy traveling as much as I can. So far, I have traveled to Argentina, Uruguay, Sweden, Oslo, Helsinki, and the Bahamas. In the future, I hope to continue to travel abroad and incorporate new perspectives into my daily routines. As Henry Miller once said, “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”