Jayne Anne Gadhia was Chief Executive of Virgin Money from 2007 - 2018.
A Chartered Accountant, she spent six years at Norwich Union (now Aviva) before becoming one of the founders of Virgin Direct in 1995. Three years later, she set up the Virgin One account, which was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2001.She subsequently spent five years at RBS as part of its Retail Executive Committee, before returning to Virgin as the CEO of Virgin Money. In 2012, Virgin Money acquired Northern Rock, and in 2014 it successfully listed on the London Stock Exchange.
In November 2016, she was appointed as the UK Government’s Women in Finance Champion, and in July 2017, she became a founder member of its Business Diversity and Inclusion Group.
She sits on the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Council and Scottish Business Taskforce as well as being on the Scottish Government’s Financial Services and Scottish Policy Foundation’s Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board and the Financial Conduct Authority’s Practitioner Panel.
Jayne-Anne is a firm believer in the importance of businesses making a positive contribution to society. She won Leader of The Year at the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards in 2018 in recognition of her personal impact on the culture and success of Virgin Money as a force for good in the banking industry.
A committed supporter of The Prince’s Charities, she is a Trustee of the Tate, Chairs the Prince’s Foundation and has previously served as Chair of Scottish Business in the Community.
Jayne-Anne is married with one teenage daughter.
As deputy chair of KPMG, Melanie Richards works with her fellow board members to drive the Big Four firm’s strategic direction as well as policy positions around the big topics. She leads KPMG’s Vice-Chairs who represent KPMG’s external voice in the market and works alongside our highest-profile clients and key stakeholders, including regulators, industry bodies and the public sector.
She joined KPMG in 2000 to develop the Debt Advisory practice and has more than 30 years of banking experience in bank lending, debt restructuring and capital markets’ instruments.
Melanie has personally driven a wide range of programmes designed to advance inclusion in the workplace. She has campaigned for the progression of women and underrepresented minority groups to senior positions for over a decade. She is a founding member of the 30% Club Steering Committee, which is focused on increasing female representation in FTSE Boards and Leadership, and in September 2017 she was named #1 in the Financial Times’ Female Champions of Women in Business list. She also sits on the Steering Committee of the Hampton Alexander Review.
Throughout her career, Melanie has become an influential voice on diversity, inclusion and social mobility. Working with her colleagues she has played a significant role in the recognition of KPMG as the leading employer in the 2018 Social Mobility Employer Index. Melanie has been driving initiatives that create opportunities and upskill people across the country, helping them to achieve their potential and for their life chances not to be determined solely by the circumstances into which they were born for which she has been awarded the inaugural UK Social Mobility Awards 2018 ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award.
Joanna was appointed Chief Operating Officer on 27 July 2017. Previous roles at the Bank include Executive Director of HR, Head of Customer Banking Division (playing a key role in the financial crisis), Head of Monetary and Financial Statistics Division; and Director of Regulatory Operations, Prudential Regulation Authority. Joanna also had a secondment to the Border Agency (2004-2007). Joanna has a BA (Hons) in Economics from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge University.
Leanne Cutts is the Group Chief Marketing Officer for HSBC Holdings plc and was appointed Group General Manager in March 2018.
In her current role, Leanne is accountable for the transformation of the Global Marketing Function as well as launching HSBC’s multi-year global rebrand programme, focused on modernising all Marketing Communications, Digital and Physical assets.
Leanne has extensive international experience. Prior to joining HSBC in April 2017, she was a Category President for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa for MondelÄ“z International (previously known as Kraft Foods), and led the region’s marketing services division across all snacking categories, including media and agency partnerships. Prior to MondelÄ“z, Leanne worked in global and regional leadership roles with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare.
Leanne began her career at Unilever in Australia, has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management, University of NSW and a Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University. Leanne is also an Advisory Board Member of the Ehrenberg Bass Institute.
Married with a daughter, Leanne has lived in Sydney, London, New Delhi, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.
Tracy Watkinson has worked across the City for the past 18 years delivering change programs at Credit Suisse, UBS, RBS, Barclays and Deutsche Bank after starting her career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as a Management Consultant. She is also an experienced Non-Executive Director, and mum of a two year old boy and seven year old girl.
Tracy’s current role is a Strategic Change Program Manager & COO for the UK Service Company entity at Credit Suisse, where she has carried out detailed work aimed at identifying the potential risk of unconscious gender bias in internal employee processes. Her conclusions have been fully endorsed by the UK Senior Executive team, the UK Board and Group Board members.
Consequently, senior management has approved changes in processes, aimed at eliminating the possibility of any such unconscious bias. Tracy was winner of the 2018 Women in Banking & Finance Champion for Women award.
Lawrence Shaw has been with Deutsche Bank since 1998 and as CAO is responsibility for the divisions HR, control, conduct, administration and transformation agenda.
An accountant by training, Lawrence has had a number of roles at Deutsche Bank, including global COO of the Global Markets and Equities businesses and the Finance function.
Lawrence is a qualified Executive Coach and an active supporter of the various employee resource groups promoting and supporting the inclusion agenda.
Saadia leads four global risk management teams at NatWest Markets, specialising in Hedge Funds, Mutual Funds, Pension Funds, Prime Brokerage and Counterparty Clearing Houses.
Before joining NatWest Markets in 2010, Saadia worked at Citi, Bank of America and Barclays Capital in Risk, Sales, Strategy and Project Management, based in London, New York and Dubai.
Investing in others is a passion for Saadia who co-chairs the RBS Women Policy & Advocacy Committee. She has worked with Fitch to design training and is currently a Tutor and Mentor on the Henley Business School Executive Hedge Fund Programme.
As well as founding and co-chairing the 100 Women in Finance Peer Risk Advisory Group in London, Saadia serves on the Steering Committee of the Professional Risk Managers' International Association. Saadia is a member of Women on Boards and the Ernst & Young Future FTSE Women's Network. She’s also held Non-Executive Director roles for a charitable trust and was Chair of the Audit Committee. In 2018, Saadia was a finalist in the Banker of the Year category - Women in Finance Awards.
Saadia holds an MBA from London Business School, a Post-Graduate Diploma in E-Commerce from Birkbeck, University of London and a BSc (Hons) Banking & International Finance from Cass Business School.
Carolanne joined UBS in February 2016 as the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, for UBS. Prior to joining UBS she spent 29 years at Citi and has an extensive background in senior HR leadership positions including Leadership Development, Employee Engagement, Talent Management and Employee Relations.
Carolanne is an experienced Coach and qualified Mediator. Passionate about working with leaders to drive real change on the Inclusion agenda she is focused on fixing the 'system' rather than fixing the 'women' (or any other under-represented group!) She has a proven track record of creating impact.
At UBS, Carolanne has been driving a cultural change agenda to support the Boards objectives to have a greater number of Women in Senior Leadership roles. With a pragmatic approach underpinned by metrics, UBS is seeing genuine change that is delivering positive outcomes for employees, clients, investors and other stakeholders. Her body of work has been broad but 3 highlights; a) embedded management accountability for progress in every line of business, b) launched a global returner programme Career Comeback that brings people back into the industry after a period of career break, c) lead and authored a Global Study looking at the root causes leading to senior Female Attrition producing some myth-busting findings that are helping UBS rethink retention strategies.
She is a member of the Women’s Leadership Board at the Women and Public Policy unit at Harvard Kennedy School, a Chartered Fellow of the British Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development and has been recognised by Women in Banking and Finance with Award for Outstanding Achievement
Outside of work, Carolanne and her Husband Mark live in Hertfordshire and have 4 children aged between 14 and 23, she is a member and student of the Royal School of Needlework based at Hampton Court Palace.
Dawn Miller is SVP, Head of Middle Market/ SME, Industry Practices & Distribution, Continental Europe at Chubb insurance. She was the president and CEO of AXA Insurance Company, the AXA Group’s property and casualty commercial insurance company based in NY.
Prior to joining AXA in 2015 as Global Head of Business Development for AXA P&C, Dawn held a variety of market-facing leadership roles at AIG in Europe, the Gulf region, and the US, and spent several years in the Central/Eastern European energy sector. She began her career as a political risks/insurance analyst at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
Marie-Jeanne (MJ) Deverdun is Chief Operating Officer for Fixed Income and Currencies (FIC) at Deutsche Bank, based in London.
Prior to her current role, MJ worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers as an auditor and subsequently joined their consulting division, focusing on risk management.
MJ joined Deutsche Bank in 2010 and has held a number of positions since, starting in Risk running Credit Operations then moving to Portfolio Risk Management.
MJ holds an MBA from Audencia Business School and is an active supporter of DB’s Women’s Network and People Strategy initiatives.
Vivienne is the Chief Privacy Officer of Refinitiv (formed from the Financial and Risk business of Thomson Reuters) since November 2017, based in London, leading the global Privacy Team and overseeing global privacy strategy and practice.
Previously, Vivienne was a Managing Director and Global Head of Privacy Legal and Head of International for the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Group at Citi in the General Counsel’s Office in London. Prior to joining Citi in 2000, Vivienne worked in private practice in London.
Vivienne chairs the International Regulatory Strategy Group Data Working Group and is on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), having previously served on IAPP European Advisory Board and been co-chair of the IAPP Knowledge Net for the UK. Until recently, Vivienne was the chair of the AFME Data Protection Working Group, and participated in the UK Finance Data Protection Working Group. Vivienne is also on the Business and Law Advisory Board of St Mary’s University in the UK.
Vivienne is the current President of Women in Banking and Finance, having been awarded the “Champion for Women” Award at the Women in Banking and Finance Awards for Achievement 2016. Vivienne has many years of experience leading a broad range of diversity initiatives and groups both within firms and across sectors.
Karen has spent over 25 years in blue chip customer facing service businesses, working in the UK and internationally. She is currently the Vice President of Payment Products for Western Union Business Solutions in the UK, where she leads a team focused on international payments, supporting companies across various industries including NGO, Education, Pensions and Payroll. Since taking up this position in the middle of 2018 Karen has established herself as a respected leader with a commercial and customer centric approach and a desire to develop her people.
Karen was General Manager for the American Express UK Corporate business from 2012 to 2018 and was responsible for driving significant growth from a mature business through a focus on small businesses, international payments and working capital optimisation. Leading a team of 300 her key responsibilities covered all customer facing activity including direct sales, engaging existing customers and developing new value propositions & revenue streams, alongside managing the P&L. She also sat on the European Risk committee and was a director of the American Express insurance subsidiary.
Karen previously held a number of increasingly senior roles within American Express including successfully growing and retaining the relationships with the top 150 clients globally; creating new integrated teams to drive an improved customer experience while ensuring full regulatory compliance; transforming mid market account management from a servicing and retention culture to a successful sales culture; launching an offshore management information team to drive increased customer engagement and loyalty in a cost effective way; and converting customers to a digital servicing experience.
Prior to joining American Express, Karen spent five years with AIR MILES, a subsidiary of British Airways in a variety of commercial roles, following a five-year stint with Citibank Diners Club in sales and account management positions in the UK. Karen began her career on the NatWest graduate training programme and honed her analytical skills at Bankers Trust.
Karen is very interested in the subject of mental health and well being at work and is a keen advocate for women in the workplace.
Filmmaker, Millennial Engagement Specialist, the Founder of Smart Cookie Media and Co-Founder of Career Drive.
Somi’s multi-award winning documentary “The Millennial Disruption" was featured on BBC5Live where it was referred to as “disruptive in its very approach”. The film includes interviews with industry leaders from The Economist, Marie Claire, JLR, Bentley and Gary Vaynerchuk.
Somi has been invited to speak regarding both marketing and workforce training at AdWeek, Morgan Stanley, Meltwater, Adoreum, Vogue House, the French Chamber of Commerce, The Club at The Ivy, among others.
Somi is also a LinkedIn Top Voice and her experience has included producing content for Steinway, Bentley, Savile Row, Funding Circle and JP Morgan, to name but a few, providing her with a cross-industry perspective on the business landscape.
James is a Partner in the Corporate team in London. He advises both private and public listed companies on a wide range of domestic and international transactions, including AIM and Main Market listings, mergers and acquisitions, disposals, venture capital and private equity investments, joint ventures and reorganisations.
James has a particular focus on the technology sector and advises clients across the full breadth of their lifecycle, from start-up to exit.
Being a fluent Spanish speaker, James is also well-disposed to Iberian clients doing business in the UK.
Nishi is head of the Private Capital business in the European Special Situations Group (ESSG), which invests and lends to middle market companies through debt and equity. She is a member of the Specialty Lending Group Capital Committee, Global Diversity Committee and EMEA Inclusion & Diversity Council. Nishi is also a lead investor for Launch With GS, the firm’s first for-profit investing initiative with a gender lens.
Nishi joined Goldman Sachs in 2001 as an analyst on the Leveraged Finance team in London. She moved to the Distressed Debt Trading desk in 2002 and was subsequently a founding member of ESSG in 2003. Nishi was named managing director in 2011 and partner in 2016.
Nishi serves on the board of SEO London, a nonprofit that provides access, training and mentoring for talented young people from underrepresented and underserved communities.
Nishi earned a BA in Politics, Philosophy & Economics from the University of Oxford, Queen’s College, in 2001. She is a CFA charterholder.
Mariza Fotiou is the Digital Chief Operating Officer for HSBC Private Banking. With over 12 years of experience in financial services, Mariza has worked in client facing roles and on global change programmes in New York and London. Mariza joined HSBC Private Banking in 2010 as relationship officer and since then has held a number of senior positions in Transformation. Mariza holds a Masters in Finance from Baruch College in New York, is an active member of the HSBC Diversity and Inclusion Network and passionate about improving Wellbeing and Mental Health in the workplace.
Nathalie joined Kantar as CMO of the Insights Division in 2018. Prior to this Nathalie was Head of Marketing and Brand Strategy at NEX Group Plc (formerly ICAP), where she developed, launched and built the NEX brand globally. Nathalie worked previously for Fundtech, a Global Transaction Banking Solutions Business, as Global Marketing Director. Nathalie also spent 8 years at Thomson Reuters in a variety of marketing and communications roles culminating in her being appointed Head of Marketing where she developed the internal marketing and communication strategy for Thomson Reuters. She started her career working for a start up in London in 1998 and holds a LLM in European and international business law.
Nuala Walsh is a strategic advisor and former consultant with a 25-year track record of globalising businesses, driving revenue and repositioning brands and culture in some of the world's largest asset managers. Some of her recent positions include Chief Marketing Officer for Standard Life Aberdeen; Head of International Marketing at Blackrock; various Corporate Strategy, Sales, Marketing and Fintech roles with Merrill Lynch; and a Business Transformation Consultant at PA Consulting where clients included the World Bank.
She is currently a Board member of UN Women; appointed by Lord Coe to the IAAF Gender Advisory Taskforce. Nuala was also appointed to the Chartered Institute of Securities & Investments' Integrity & Ethics Committee. In 2015, Nuala was named amongst FN’s Top100 Most Influential Women in Finance and more recently in the Top 50 Most Innovative CMOs.
Peter is the Global Chief Operating Officer for Deutsche Bank’s Global Transaction Bank (“GTB”) and the Head of GTB in the UK and Ireland. Pete sits on the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A; the UKI Executive Committee and Deutsche Bank London Branch Board. Pete is also Co-Chair of the Corporate and Investment Bank’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Pete joined Deutsche Bank in 2013 as Chief Executive and Chief Country Officer in South Africa. In 2016 Pete moved to London as Head of Operations for Global Markets. In February 2017 Pete was appointed Global Chief Operating Officer for Deutsche Bank’s Corporate and Investment Bank before moving to GTB at the end of 2018. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, Pete spent 16 years at Standard Bank Group of South Africa in a variety of roles including Director Finance and Operations, Director Group Technology and e-Commerce, Chief Executive Retail Banking, Chairman of Standard Bank Africa Holdings and Standard Bank Offshore Group. Pete sat on the board of Standard Bank as Group Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer.
Pete is a Chartered Accountant (SA) with an Honors Degree in Commerce from University of Witwatersrand.
Pete is married to Sarah and they have two daughters Emily and Beatrice. He is an enthusiastic golfer and has a passion for old cars and travel.
Kamel is an ex banker with 38 years’ experience across financial sectors, a speaker and advocate on diversity issues. She is respected across the industry for her market leading Asian Strategy and improving access to finance and product development. Seen as a trailblazer across CSR campaigns using innovative programmes and raising over £20m with Alzheimer's, BBC Children in Need and Mental Health UK. Kamel was asked to lead Lloyds Banking Group's 250th anniversary encouraging over 80,000 colleagues to use their skills to volunteer.
Kamel is one of the founders of Lloyd's BAME network and chaired the Government Task Force for supplier diversity prior to the London Olympic Games. Now an Advisor and Trustee to Queens Commonwealth Trust, Alzheimer’s Soc, Teenage Cancer Trust and more. She is currently NED to TLC Lions & Sterling Media, supporting UN sustainable goals and major company inclusion challenges.
Kamel Hothi has been recognised for cultural cohesion and leadership of women and received awards including Eastern Eye woman of the Year, Gordon Brown (Prime Minister) top 10 diversity champion, Honorary Doctorate and more recently included in the FT 2017 top 100 diversity leaders list and received an OBE for Diversity in Banking in 2017.
An outspoken advocate for women’s opportunities and success in the workplace, Cecilia Harvey is both the founder of the influential Tech Women Today (www.techwomentoday.com) platform and the Chief Operating Officer of Quant Network, the pioneering technology firm providing cybersecurity and blockchain technology. With over 20 years on Wall Street, and one of the small number of women in leadership within Financial Tech today, Cecilia is an advocate for not only women in FinTech, but also for those aspiring to leadership anywhere.
Graduating from the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, which counts Hillary Clinton as one of its alumnae, Cecilia was soon captivated by the energy of Wall Street and the lure of a career in finance. After working her way up in the FinTech industry, her roles have since included being the COO of Citigroup Markets and Securities Services Technology, and positions with Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital and IBM Consulting.
Through Tech Women Today, Cecilia interviews inspirational female tech entrepreneurs in order to dispel myths and share advice with up and coming women in technology. Cecilia also leads the initiative, Avoiding Career Krakatoa, which offers career and leadership development programming to those seeking to become leaders and increase their influence in the workplace. She is also a regular columnist for Thrive Global and Entrepreneur Magazine.
Cecilia’s recent achievements include being featured in Forbes Magazine in 2019 as a leading lady in technology, a 2018 WeAreTheCity TechWomen100 winner and being interviewed in the Sunday Times, European CEO and Times 2 about the issue of Queen Bee Syndrome, a subject that Cecilia has both experienced and researched. She has since been quoted on the subject - when women undermine each other in the workplace in order to strengthen their own position - in The Independent, Stylist and the New York Post, and has become a voice unafraid to make itself heard.
Cecilia’s experience as an African-American woman within the financial markets has inspired her to become an advocate and spokeswoman for not only women in FinTech, but also diversity and equality of opportunities.
Gurpreet Manku is the BVCA’s Assistant Director General and Director of Policy. She is responsible for leading the BVCA’s response to a wide range of issues and challenges facing the industry from a legal and regulatory perspective, both in the UK and Europe. She is also the executive liaison to the Private Equity Reporting Group, the body responsible for monitoring the industry’s compliance with the Walker Guidelines on Transparency and Disclosure. Before joining the BVCA she worked at Deloitte LLP and specialised in advising private equity funds and their managers. Gurpreet studied at the London School of Economics and is a Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.
Asif is Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging for The Telegraph. Delivering the strategic plan to drive a co-ordinated approach across the business to focus both investment and intent on the broader inclusion agenda. He is a Multi-Award Winning Diversity and Inclusion expert with a proven track record in achieving operational and strategic targets, managing quality, performance, risk and change through promoting equal opportunities and diverse cultures.
He is a passionate and inspirational leader with the ability to empower individuals and create a truly inclusive environment for all. Asif is key in implementing D&I activities and programmes as well as connecting with stakeholders at all levels to build strong and influential relationships with business leaders and influencers. Asif acts as a role model, providing governance across the business on D&I and cultural change and is committed to creating a strong sense of belonging for all.
Asif has received a number of accolades for his professional and volunteering work that include the Mosaic (Prince’s Trust) Award for mentoring and NAMP Multi Faith Award, Police Officer of the Year Award, European, the Civil Servant of the Year Award, the prestigious Asian Professional Award and the highly commended Head of Diversity Award at the European Diversity Awards. Asif was honoured last year in the Queen’s birthday honours list with an MBE for his services to Policing and the Communities and is a member of the HR Guild and is a Freeman of the City.
He is currently the Chair of the London Hate Crime Board, an Ambassador for Remembering Srebrenica, Member of the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on Hate Crime, Special Advisory to the charity Penny Appeal, a trainer for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and a Special Sergeant with the City of London Police.
Jagdeep has worked for Barclays since 1995 having joined its graduate management training programme. Since then, Jagdeep has undertaken a number of wide ranging roles including strategic, client facing and leadership positions with the Retail and Corporate environment.
Jagdeep is currently Head of Corporate Banking, responsible for a team which looks after corporate and business clients in the Heathrow and South West London area.
Jagdeep is passionate about her role and the opportunities it allows her in leading and developing people whilst driving commercial value, and making a positive impact in the local community. She has a particular interest in the diversity agenda; particularly the development of females into more senior positions, as well as the support and growth of female led businesses. In this regard, she regularly contributes as key-note speaker and panellist across a wide variety of internal and external forums. She was previously the 2011 winner of the Asian Who’s Who Leadership in Diversity Award, a finalist in the Business category for the 2012 Asian Women of Achievement Awards, the Professionals category of the 2012 World Sikh Awards and the Accountancy and Finance category of the 2013 and 2015 British Indian Awards. She was also highly commended as a finalist in the 2013 and 2014 Thames Valley Women in Business Awards. In September 2017, she was named as the ‘Woman of the Year’ in the 17th annual Asian Achievers Awards. Most recently, In May 2018 she was listed Number 17 in the EMpower and FT Ethnic Minority role model list.
Anamica Broetz leads the Business Development function for DWS Private Equity, working alongside senior management to develop the team’s business plans, deal origination and marketing strategy. She liaises with DWS’s distribution, product development and legal teams to manage the investment team’s processes for fund offerings (including co-investments) and structuring. She leads all aspects of limited partner due diligence to drive successful conversions during fundraising. Anamica brings over 20 years of experience in equity research, investment banking and PE at Deutsche Bank M&A, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Flemings and Peregrine Capital prior to joining DWS Private Equity in 2010. She speaks German and holds a Masters in Finance from Delhi University and a BA (Honors) degree in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce of Delhi University.
Valeria, FCCA, AMCT, MCISI, ACAMS, joined as Audit Director for M&G in June 2017. She has over 15 years’ experience in senior audit roles, including at Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC and Pioneer Investments.
A Diversity & Inclusion campaigner for many years, Valeria is the founder of The Book Club Mentoring Association, a non-profit initiative to break down barriers and give individuals the confidence of bringing their own self to work.
In her spare time Valeria volunteers for The Guild of the Royal Hospital of St Bartholomew, where she may be found walking the wards and talking to the patients.
Joshua Bright made national headlines after becoming Britain’s youngest person to pass six GCSEs, including French, at the age of ten. Remarkably, he sat his first GCSE at the age of five, before even starting primary school. He is the youngest ever to graduate with a degree from Queen Mary University of London with a First class degree in Mathematics with Business Management and Finance at the age of 17 and a Masters in Banking and Finance at 19.
Among other achievements, he received the best A Level mathematics student award, and the high flyer achievement award, from Brooke House Sixth Form college in Hackney, in June 2007. He was also named as a top 10 out of a hundred university graduates in the 2010 future leaders magazine. Josh is a keen volunteer, helping out at a free maths club in Romford, Essex and has provided free business plan advice to a number of local start ups.
In August 2014, he co-founded Capital Moments which aims to promote commercial awareness for students, graduates and young professionals in order to maximise their personal development. He is also the co-author of the 'Capital Moments Guide to Graduate interviews and Internships' book, published in December 2016. Capital Moments has grown from strength to strength, with a current network of over 15,000 millennials engaging in their content daily across their social media streams.
Josh entered the corporate world at the age of 18, starting as an operations analyst at Goldman Sachs. He then moved into Capital Markets at Lloyds Banking Group in 2015 as an Associate, working on a diverse range of complex debt based transactions in both the Debt Capital Markets and Interest Rate Financing teams. Josh is now a Private Wealth Manager at UBS.
Heather J. McGregor is the Executive Dean of the Edinburgh Business School, the graduate school of business of Heriot Watt University in the UK. Professor McGregor is also the principal shareholder and non-executive chairman of the executive search firm Taylor Bennett. She is also the founder of the Taylor Bennett Foundation, which works to promote diversity in the communications industry. In addition, Professor McGregor is a non-executive director of two public companies.
Professor McGregor has a Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong in Structured Finance and is an experienced writer and broadcaster, including writing for the Financial Times for 17 years. She is also the founder of the Taylor Bennett Foundation, which works to promote diversity in the communications industry, and a founding member of the steering committee of the 30% Club, which is working to raise the representation of women at senior levels within the UK’s publicly listed companies. In June 2015, Professor McGregor was made a CBE for her services to diversity and employment. In February 2017, she was appointed by the UK Government to be a member of the Honours Committee for the Economy.
Rukasana is a Diversity and Inclusion (“D&I”) Senior Manager at EY. Rukasana has delivered organisational change programmes at EY to advance outcomes for diverse groups and is now supporting organisations to achieve their D&I ambitions.
Rukasana joined EY in March 2015 and has had a specialist focus on the Gender, Race & Disability and Social Mobility agenda’s. Rukasana managed the sponsorship programme and co-developed a leadership programme for BAME talent.
Her previous D&I role was at Queen Mary University London, focusing on Gender Diversity to increase the number of women progressing in academia, specifically in STEM subjects.
Ana Draskovic is Director, Head of Business Development in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), overlooking business development across 38 countries in Central Asia, CEE and Northern Africa. Previously Ana was Partner, Head of Markets at KPMG, where she joined from CEO role at Serbian Export Credit and Insurance Agency.
Ana was also Head of the Representative Office and Vice President for Citibank in Western Balkans, and she also worked at The World Bank, JP Morgan in London, and at the National Bank of Serbia where she was Chief of the Cabinet to the Governor. Ana holds an MA in International Relations from the University of Westminster, and BSc in Economics from Belgrade University.
A purpose driven non-executive, Di is focussed on futureproofing businesses for long term sustainability, with a particular focus on technological, societal and environmental ethics. Di’s career spans over 30 years of accomplishment across technology, finance and green energy, during which she established and built several high-growth, global businesses.
Currently, Di focuses her attention on serving on boards, developing new thinking about the impact of technology on society, while championing dialog on ESG-related corporate governance. She has recently established Creating Future Us, a not-for-profit exploring the role of investor and shareholder stewardship in society's structural transition from the industrial age to the digital one.
Throughout her career, Lynn has developed a set of values which underpin her business and approach to life: passion, trust, enquiry, curiosity, listening, reflecting, caring, integrity, role-modelling and inclusion.
By developing a deep understanding of the culture in which women and men operate, WDI Consulting work with teams and individuals to achieve their full potential and with organisations to create inclusive cultures where everybody can give of their best.
Lynn and Clare have developed a unique approach, WDI’s Women’s Leadership Coaching which “works dynamically” with a model of the heroine’s journey. At the heart of the model are tools and techniques which enable women to reconnect with aspects of themselves that historically have not been valued within traditional, masculine models of leadership.
Clare has over 15 years' experience supporting individuals and groups at key points of growth. She has a particular strength in helping her clients utilise widely underdeveloped capabilities in the mindful, systemic, and transpersonal aspects of leadership. Clare specialises in women’s leadership and creating inclusive organisational cultures.
Clare is a consultant at WDI Consulting Limited, a consultancy that partners with key individuals within organisations who want to create personal, team or cultural change. WDI works alongside clients to create pragmatic and bespoke solutions that achieve sustainable change. They have a strong expertise in developing inclusive cultures where everyone can thrive.
I co-founded E2W 20 years ago to address a critical issue in the financial services sector and society – equality. I still run this business that dedicates itself to supporting the financial services careers of women and helping Banks collect the gender dividend.
This year E2W will make a real difference to the careers and lives of over 400 women. Through the support we give them via our membership programme and by partnering with Financial Institutions who want to recruit, retain and help them flourish.
I am doing this because I'm passionate about the economic and social benefits of gender equality. More men need to get on board with the agenda.
Annabel joined Julius Baer in 2015 and made an immediate impact, becoming Head of Relationship Management after just six months on board. Her positivity and wealth of experience, developed over an impressive career at Deutsche Bank, Citigroup and Barclays Private Bank, have been instrumental in bringing the team together under a common goal and culture.
Annabel is a champion for diversity and an advocate for female empowerment. Representing Julius Baer, Annabel has played an integral role in the build of The WealthiHer Network, an initiative that has brought together leading financial institutions to celebrate and support female wealth.
Annabel has an MA (Hons) in Modern Languages from Oriel College, University of Oxford and is a member of the CFA UK.
Tamara Gillan is an experienced entrepreneur and Chief Executive, having founded and run two independent, successful and award-winning marketing agencies over the past 15 years. She is a champion of diversity, female empowerment and a natural born collaborator.
This year, Tamara co-founded with Lauren von Stackelberg (ex-JP Morgan) The WealthiHer Network, which brings together the UK’s leading financial institutions, to work in partnership for the first time to celebrate and support female wealth. As a single mother and non-UK national (arriving on her own from New Zealand at the age of 24) Tamara has had to fight for her own success and passionately believes women deserve to be recognized and championed by the financial sector. WealthiHer intends to do this; inspiring and empowering women to grow and protect their wealth.
With her team at Cherry London, Tamara has spearheaded the rise of partnership as a growth driver and is responsible for some of Europe’s most high-profile collaborations, including Visa’s London 2012 Olympics campaign and unlocking millions of customer’s passions and loyalty with O2 Priority (a client relationship spanning nearly 10 years). Tamara and her female led team, have driven a positive and diverse representation of women in communications, whether celebrating curvy women for Simply Be, or punky’ mum’s and the LGBTQ community for Superdrug.
Tamara is change-agent whether for the businesses she consults or wider society and her female led initiatives like WealthiHer. She’s been a Make Your Mark ambassador for young women, supporter of mothers2mothers and sits on the advisory committee for Foreign Sisters; a group of high-profile women mobilised to increase awareness and funding for Cancer Research.
Tamara is a highly regarded contributor to the industry and speaker having spoken at many events over the years on the importance of diversity and inclusion, female entrepreneurship and on the unique power of partnerships and collaboration.
Angela’s has raised the profile of market leaders to tech scale ups in the mobile, technology, ecommerce and fintech sectors and she is always looking for new ideas to put B2B tech firms in the spotlight. Before cofounding SkyParlour in 2009, Angela held senior positions at Xerox, Canon, Payzone and Retail Decisions (ReD).
Angela is dedicated to promoting diversity in business and in schools. She is on the Advisory Board of the Emerging Payments Association, Chairs the Awards at the European Women in Payments Network, is a Governor at Wilmslow High School and plays an role on the Taskforce at the IMRG.
Angela is a Chartered Marketer holding a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
Bio coming soon…
Erica graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MA in Economics in 2009, before working for 8 years in business, marketing and sales strategy. Erica was introduced to cryptocurrency and blockchain in early 2017, and has since been researching and investing in the space, working with a team of researchers and investors to find trends in blockchain and emerging tech. Since 2018 Erica has been working on several blockchain platforms and projects - focused on micropayments, digital rights management, donation tracking and especially focused on proving and providing sustainability within supply chain. She also works with blockchain and emerging tech startups on business strategy and mainstream growth, as well as helping companies with blockchain adoption. Erica is the founder of the Crypto Curry Club- a highly sought-after series of fun networking lunches and educational events for leaders in blockchain, crypto and emerging tech. www.cryptocurryclub.com co-founder of SWcircle.com- a consulting firm focused on Blockchain and Emerging Technologies. She has been regularly featured in the press about cryptocurrency and blockchain trends and speaks internationally about blockchain use-cases and adoption of emerging technologies.
Leslie is a Partner at Willow Brook Capital, which introduces Pan-Chinese investment capital to UK university spinout companies, primarily in biotech. She was herself a VC-backed pioneer in online matchmaking and sex education in Pan-China & did the first collaboration between a Chinese government healthcare agency and a private internet company. Leslie is also Senior Adviser to the Investment Committee of University College, Oxford, and a Facilitator to the Harvard Business School Alumnae Circles in London. Harvard MBA.
Joanna is a Corporate Image and Personal Brand Coach plus she draws upon on her 20 years experience in Directorship roles in Banking and Wealth Management from the ‘Square Mile’, the financial hub in the City of London.
She is dedicated to helping women use their professional presence as a tool to reach the top of their careers and close the gender pay gap. In her practice, Imagetalks, she helps both women and men decode the messages they receive from non-verbal communications and use them to optimise their professional presence.
Joanna delivers challenging and motivating workshops and seminars, as well one-to-one sessions with individuals to help them develop their personal impact into executive presence.
Monica Summerville is Director, FinTech Research, TABB Group and Head of TABB UK. Monica is a seasoned financial services industry executive with more than 20 years of experience in senior positions on both the buy- and sell-side, including working for leading consulting firms and as a US retail broker. Her past positions include broker services at J&W Seligman Investment Management; Senior Consultant in the financial services division at PWC Consulting; Vice President of front office systems at ABN Amro; Publisher & Executive Editor at RiskWaters Group; and Director at Jordan & Jordan.
Louisa has over 21 years communications, business and brand experience working with high performing teams for some of the world’s best companies including P&G, BNP Paribas, Nestlé, Sara Lee, CBRE, and Nissan.
Louisa is an experienced facilitator & qualified business coach with an outstanding new business track record and genuine competitive spirit. Louisa spearheads Caffeine’s business growth transformation division in the areas of: prospecting, pitching and client retention, brand positioning, leadership coaching, presenting with impact, negotiation, cross-selling and employee engagement.
As a former Great Britain junior international rower and current veteran rower, Louisa brings a competitive track record to motivate people under pressure and understands the power of teamwork and what’s required to win.
The Caffeine Partnership is a unique business consultancy which helps leaders to work with purpose and pace. Sophie is an experienced business leader, entrepreneur brand specialist and author. An ‘acceleration addict’ she is constantly curious about how to speed up success, hates wasting time and believes impatience is usually a virtue. She applies the principles of Caffeine (a psychoactive stimulant) to her approach to work and writing; stimulating business.
Sophie’s book, Superfast – Lead at Speed provides easily-digestible inspiration and ideas about how to accelerate performance in an agile and thoughtful way and is designed to stimulate debate around responsible and responsive leadership in an accelerating world.
Claudia has spent over 10 years in various product development and market management roles in the financial services sector. Currently she is heading the Client Intelligence & Market Management team for Deutsche Bank’s Digital Cash Solutions team.
Claudia frequently speaks on the topic of FinTech, Blockchain and the digital transformation of organisations and is a passionate ambassador for Social innovation, sustainability and diversity. She is a business mentor and advisor for Hatch, SheCanCode and among other things runs the recently awarded DB CommunITy Hackathons. She is a member of the 2018 Money2020 Rise Up class as well as DB Intrapreneur.
Along with her role as Director and head of Global Markets Technology Core Engineering Integration Components, Pips is co-chair of the firm’s LGBT Ally Program and a member of Credit Suisse's EMEA LGBT committee (which both aim to encourage an inclusive work culture where all are encouraged to bring their whole self to work and to promote authenticity in the workplace regardless of gender identity, gender expression or sexuality.)
Pips identifies as gender fluid and has always been open and out both personally and professionally - she typically spends half of the week as Phil and the other half as Pippa both at home and at work. Pips has been happily married to her wife for over 22 years and they have been blessed with 2 children who are now 20 and 17, all of whom embrace whatever opportunities possible to help promote the acceptance and celebration of diversity and inclusion in all aspects of life.
Prior to Credit Suisse, Pips was an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs for 5 years, worked at UBS for 2 years, IT consultancies for 3 years and a technical officer at British Telecom research for 7 years.
Pips was awarded 4th position in the prestigious Financial Times and OUTstanding LGBT and Ally Executive leader list, featured in the Financial Times Top 50 Women awards list and shortlisted for the top 10 Inspirational leader category as part of the British LGBT Awards.
Ashley Knight is a member of Mercer Alternatives’ investment team in London where she focuses on sourcing, conducting due diligence on and investing across Private Debt and Private Equity investments. Previously, she was a Product Specialist at Credit Suisse in Singapore where she worked with family offices across Southeast Asia on strategic asset allocation across Private Equity, Hedge Fund and managed Real Estate investments. Ashley began her career at State Street Bank in Boston through their premier Professional Development Program where she worked across their Trading and Fund Solution businesses. Ashley is a member of 100 Women in Finance’s London Education Committee and is on Level 20’s Future Leaders Digital Committee. Ashley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wellesley College where she graduated with honours.
Abigail Barnes is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, global speaker, moderator, facilitator, business trainer, qualified coach, and the Founder & CEO of Success by Design Training helping people refine time using the 888 Formula to create the business/career/life they want. www.successbydesigntraining.com
Prior to starting her own business, she worked in the Financial Sector for over 10 years, and has a robust understanding of the demands of the modern workplace. As well as how to manage multiple stakeholders, shareholders, deadlines and use new technology/systems and software to improve productivity, moral and motivation while avoiding burnout and overwhelm.
Dominie established The Return Hub in October 2016. She has 20 years’ experience in the Financial Services sector, 17 of which in Executive Search. The Return Hub is a unique financial services executive search and advisory firm designed to fill a significant gap in the recruitment market, by placing highly qualified, skilled and talented senior professionals back into work after a career break or a career pivot covering a wide range of sectors and roles within Financial Services.
The Return Hub has conducted extensive research on the returner topic, specifically in relation to banking and financial institutions and works with the Women and Work APPG and the Equalities Office to advise on what the government can do to increase the participation of women in the workforce. The Return Hub is involved in lobbying for change and created the campaign #TimetoReturn to promote awareness of women returners to potential employers. Dominie has received extensive coverage in publications such as the FT, Telegraph and on Radio 4’s Today programme, Sky News and C4 and is a regular speaker and thought leader on the topic of Diversity, and Women and work in the City.
After an impressive career in law, as well as sales and marketing in the pharmaceutical industry, Sarah Palmer found her passion in motivational coaching, training and development. She is PowerSpeaking, Inc’s European business affiliate, training and developing leaders, and emerging leaders, in communication skills.
She is passionate about developing women in the workplace so they can voice their ideas and is an active member of TechSheCan, a ground breaking initiative to inspire and empower women in tech careers.
Sarah’s experience includes:
Sarah believes no idea should fail because of a bad pitch. The idea should fail because it was, well…. just a bad idea, or bad timing. Her learning style is fast, fun, and inspirational.
You can discover more here: www.powerspeaking.com
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