LEARN

6 February 2024 | 17.30 | Northern Trust, 11th Floor, 50 Bank St, London E14 5NT.

WiAS was excited to host an in-person event courtesy of Northern Trust, celebrating female trailblazers in financial services. This was an opportunity to hear from leading female voices in an industry which according to research by Deloitte, has over the past decade seen a higher increase in women added to C-suite roles than men. It is also estimated that 55% of the world’s wealth will be in female hands by 2030*. Is there a quiet revolution happening?

All members are welcome, whatever your gender, any teenagers must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

*Source – A book by Mauro F Guillen – 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything

Agenda

• 1730 Registration
• 1800 Welcome and introductions – Chimmy Ngoma
• 1810 Listen to our three trailblazers talk about their stories
• 1840  Panel discussion
• 1900  Closing
• 1910 Networking (NB alcohol will be served)

In The Wise Leader – a practical guide for thinking differently about leadership we will share an alternative perspective on leadership qualities and provide practical tips to harness the diverse experiences of others and your own to get you thinking differently. We have all witnessed varying levels of leadership in organisations but what is it that determines a ‘great’ leader? Experience, self-awareness, relatability, or something else?

This webinar is hosted by Paul Lawrence and Suzi Skinner, authors of ‘The Wise Leader,’ a book which explores the topic of wisdom as a leadership quality and how that relates on a practical level.

Do you aspire to become a great leader and want to unlock your potential? Join us in this breakfast webinar and find answers to these questions and many others you may have.

Agenda

• 8.30am – Welcome and introductions from Kate Webber
• 8.35 – 9.45am – Suzi and Paul to work through the following conversation topics:
  • Commitment to reflective learning – both at an individual and group level
  • Know yourselves – we all react differently depending on the situation
  • Transcend yourselves – reach out for others’ opinions and be curious
  • Think Meta! – we can’t fully control any situation but can influence
  • Do dialogue – learn to listen.
• 9.45am – Questions and discussion
• 10am – Close

Speaker bios

Suzi Skinner

Dr Suzi Skinner (PhD) is a published author, researcher, international leadership practitioner and Managing Director of Roar People – a global leadership consultancy in Sydney and Seattle. Suzi works with organizations internationally to accelerate change toward more inclusive leadership practices and build cultures of leadership at every level.Magui Santos Silva, Software Engineer at Calastone.

Suzi coaches and facilitates at executive and board level in a range of leading international organizations including Cisco; Dell; Expedia; Microsoft; Kimberly Clark; Ernst & Young; BUPA; Lloyds International; AbbVie; Pepsico and many more. She has been a pioneer of executive coaching globally and is one of a small number of executive coaches who is a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with both the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and the Association for Coaching (AC).

Suzi was awarded the Outstanding Women Leaders Award by the World Women Leadership Congress (WWLC) for her work in providing leadership development programs for women in India and internationally.

Paul Lawrence

Paul is a facilitator, coach, change consultant and researcher with more than 30 years’ experience in organisations. He worked for a multinational energy company for 14 years where he performed roles in marketing, operations, finance, and strategy, culminating in the role of GM for a Tokyo-based retail business in the energy industry. During his time working for BP, the company more than doubled in size, engaging in multiple joint ventures and acquisitions. This period of complex change grounded Paul in change management and formed his approach to helping leaders navigate the challenges of working in a volatile and ambiguous environment.

Paul is a thought-leader in leadership and leadership development. He has written extensively about leadership and has been running leadership programs for more than 20 years, including small company, regional and global interventions.

To coincide with National Inclusion Week, WiAS was pleased to host its first event discussing visible and invisible differences, disability and neurodiversity and barriers people face in the workplace.

The theme of disability is not a new one but has seen an increased focus in recent years. This is thanks in part to the adoption of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies within firms and through social media influencers’ content – creating awareness of how people are seen in the workplace.

Our own research suggests that individuals wish to be defined less by their perceived differences and more by what their strengths are. This moves the focus onto people’s abilities rather than others’ perceptions.

This webinar was hosted by Paul Wilden, an experienced NED, and disability campaigner.

Agenda

• 12.30pm – Welcome from Paul Wilden
• 12.40pm – Paul and Magui Santos Silva have a fireside chat about hidden differences and their individual experiences and how micro-labelling doesn’t necessarily help in the way it was intended.
• 1pm – Ross Hovey will discuss how he has used his experiences to make positive change through his role at Lloyds Banking Group and explains how we can all be better allies to the disabled community.
• 1.15pm – Questions and discussion
• 1.30pm – Close

The conversation topics:

• Disability employment gap is worse for men than women
• Around 5m disabled people are in employment*
• Disabled people are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people*
• The disability employment gap is 30%**
• According to the Disability Perception Gap Report by Scope, a third of people believe disabled people are less productive than non-disabled
• Disabled men in the UK are more likely to be unemployed than non-disabled men, disabled women and non-disabled women (based on data from ONS in 2022)
• Around 15-20% of the population is considered to be neurodivergent***
• Neurodiverse people are more likely to be unemployed than people with any other disability***

Sources: * Scope.org.uk, **Labour Force Survey 2022, ***Mydisabilityjobs.com

Speaker bios

Paul Wilden – host

Accomplished NED and Trustee combining charitable interests with global business leadership and acumen. Proficient and experienced in balancing and maintaining business profitability whilst ensuring strong governance and oversight of risk management in rapidly changing environments in EMEA and APAC. Broad international experience, culturally aware and a proven track record of delivering growth and bottom-line results whilst expanding product and geographic focus. Deep understanding of global, regional, and local Capital Markets across bond, loan, and fund products.

Magui Santos Silva, Software Engineer at Calastone

Magui is a Software Engineer for the Order Routing and Share Class Conversion products within Transaction Services at Calastone. She fully embraces the mission of finding innovative ways to automate and streamline the global funds marketplace with the intention of reducing frictional costs for the entire industry and investors.

Before joining Calastone in 2021, Magui spent 15 years working in management and policy roles within the higher education and the charity sectors. In 2023 she was the joint winner of the Women in Asset Servicing Finding Your Voice workshop.

Ross Hovey, Accessibility Manager, Lloyds Banking Group

During a career of 22 years Ross has delivered in a variety of roles within Lloyds Banking Group but is now an established thought leader and subject matter expert on Disability in the Workplace with extensive expertise in implementing and managing a workplace adjustment process. He has a great understanding of Accessibility requirements in both the built and technology environments. He has experience in chairing disability networks, panel speaking and panel moderation.

His work in the field of Disability has gained significant respect and alongside his career job he leads Changing Places International mission to set the Global standard for full accessible toilets and is a member of Gatwick Airports Independent Accessibility Panel.

Women in Asset Servicing, thanks to support from Schroders, were delighted to announce the Summer networking event on the 12 June. This was particularly special this year as we were celebrating WiAS 5th birthday! This event was a perfect opportunity for us to celebrate our successes during the past year, including the explosion in our membership numbers and the continued support from the Embark Group.

Doug Abbott, Head of UK Intermediary at Schroders and Jackie Leiper, CEO of Embark Group, joined us at the event as well as many other women from our network. We were also delighted to be joined by some of the successful young women, who took part in our recent Finding Your Voice event in April as well as many of the networks we have partnered with during the last 12 months.

Agenda

• Welcome – a short introduction from our sponsors, the Embark Group and our hosts, Schroders. Welcoming everyone to the event will be Jackie Leiper, CEO Embark Group, who is looking forward to meeting and hearing from our members.
• Thank you – a brief thank you from founder of WiAS, Kate Webber, for the continued support from its members and sponsors the Embark Group.
• Networking – We hope this event will give you a chance to catch up with other like-minded individuals who are equally concerned about social demographics in the workplace. Our two-hour networking session will give you a chance to see some friendly faces and meet the new members of our network.

For many people, having children is simply a natural part of life. But what happens when you struggle to conceive or need to look at alternative options? More importantly – how do we deal with the impact on our wellbeing in the workplace?

To coincide with Women’s Health month, WiAS invited its members to ‘Navigating the route to parenthood: wellbeing at work’ on 23 May 12-30-1.30pm, to hear about three different journeys to parenthood and how it has impacted them individually. One of whom changed her career, following her own experience after having two children via surrogacy, to promote fertility inclusion in the workplace. We then heard about the journey for a same sex couple wanting to start their own family. And lastly, we discussed the difficult topic of what happens when your endeavours don’t result in the outcome you hoped for.

Agenda

• Introduction from Kate Webber
• Fiona Skinner – hear her personal fertility journey and how she is now supporting employees in the workplace. (20 mins)
• What does a modern family look like? Seamus Kearney-Martone talks about his journey to start a family as a same sex couple. (20 mins)
• A fireside chat with Jo Roddan, who, after three failed rounds of IVF and an adoption attempt made the most difficult decision of her life, to stop treatment. (10 mins)
• Questions. (10 mins)

Bios

Fiona Skinner
Founder and CEO – The Fertility Coaching Company

Fiona founded the Fertility Coaching Company with one goal, to improve fertility support in the workplace. This passion to change things came out of a 15-year journey where she experienced almost all fertility treatments, and her two wonderful daughters were finally born out of surrogacy arrangements abroad in 2018 and 2022. Fiona retrained as a Life Coach and NLP practitioner. Fiona and her business partner Bryony are very proud to have developed the first UK CPD accredited Fertility Awareness e-learning training which they hope will educate and drive a positive culture shift around fertility and family building in the workplace. They were delighted to have been awarded the UK Small Business Diversity and Inclusion Champions for their training offering this year.

Séamus Kearney Martone
Project Manager within Alternatives / Hedge Fund Services group – Northern Trust

Seamus has over 15+ years industry experience in various roles across the Financial Services. Within his company, Séamus proudly chaired the Northern Trust Pride Ireland network for three years (2017-2019) and represented his company as co-Chair of FuSIoN Ireland.

External to his role, Séamus and his husband adopted a baby girl from the USA in August 2021 and is a much loved and fun filled toddler. His work has led him to become representative and advisory lead with within various LGBTQ+ parenting committees. Séamus is an openly gay man and values all areas of diversity and inclusion. Having grown up in rural Ireland and relocated to Dublin for university and work, Séamus has seen attitudes change in Ireland, specifically with regard to LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Jo Roddan
Investment Lead – Hargreaves Lansdown

Jo is an asset management and platform specialist. Her area of expertise is managing the commercial aspects of third-party relationships to include upfront fee negotiations, onboarding, and ongoing relationship management.

She spent most of her career at Fidelity International where she held a variety of team leadership and senior relationship roles in their retail, institutional and workplace investing platforms and prior to that the asset management business. The roles involved managing fund partners, key accounts, third party relationships client services and corporate communications.

Jo is passionate about people and bringing your true self to work. At Hargreaves Lansdown she has been voted the Colleague representative for the Client and Commercial team and represents their views at the Colleague Forum.

Jo is married to Sean and has a dog called Maddie. She loves entertaining, interior design, sailing, keeping fit and shoes!

On April 20 we hosted our showcase event in association with IMpower incorporating FundForum where we heard from one of last year’s runners up for the Finding Your Voice event, Chimmy Ngoma from Calastone, to hear how taking part in the event has had a profound effect on her confidence and opportunities since last April.

Jenny Adams, Global Executive Producer. Impower FundForum also talked about the inequality of voice being one of the most powerful elements of inequality of all kinds.

Alison Campbell, a public speaking training expert, then helped us discover the secrets of professional public speakers and how you, too, can improve your presentation skills and ‘own the room’.

The final part of the evening featured a showcase of six speakers from the WiAS network, LGBT Great and Black Women in Asset Management.  Using the skills they have learnt in a separate workshop with Alison Campbell, they will deliver a two minute presentation about a subject of their own choosing.

Two winners were then chosen from the candidates: Megan Pope from First Wealth and Margarida Santos Silva from Calastone received the prize of a free place at FundForum International 2023 in Monaco (worth c.£4k). This was an invaluable opportunity to listen to and network with leaders across the Asset and Wealth Management industry.

There was also time after the presentations for networking with fellow WiAS.

Agenda

• 5.30pm Registration
• 6.15pm Opening keynote: The challenge around ‘Voice Equity’ in business and society
  Jenny Adams, Global Executive Producer. IMpower FundForum
  Inequality of voice is one of the most powerful elements of inequality of all kinds
• 6.20pm Keynote: ‘The positive effect of participating in Finding Your Voice’
  Chimmy Ngoma, Sales Enablement Associate, Calastone (10 mins)
• • Facing your discomfort zone
  • What opportunities could lie ahead
  • How finding my own voice has increased my confidence
• 6.30pm Training: ‘Own the room: Take control and step into a world of confidence!’
  Alison Campbell, IFF Training (the professional training division of Informa): Discover the secrets of great Public Speakers through learning an easy and effective process that can be followed and executed by anyone.
• 7.00pm Showcase: ‘Finding Your Voice’-
  The six participants of the afternoon’s workshop have two minutes to own the room and tell us about something they are passionate about. How convincing or charismatic are they and do they inspire us to take action and to think differently?  Who will win the prize of a free ticket to FundForum?
• 7.30pm – 7.50pm – Judging and winner announced
• 8.00pm – 8:30pm Networking and close

Are you planning your next job move and feeling concerned or anxious about the interview process? Has it been years since your last interview? Do you need an interview refresh? Is your interview technique letting you down?

We know how daunting it can be to go to a job interview, particularly if you are a bit out of practice and not sure what to expect. The right preparation will make all the difference and give you the confidence to answer those tricky questions. We are here to help.

We were excited to welcome back Victoria McLean, CEO of City CV, an award winning CV writing and interview coaching consultancy. Victoria is no stranger to WiAS and has previously delivered sessions on ‘The perfect CV’, ‘How to harness the power of LinkedIn ‘and most recently ‘Understanding your imposter’. In this session, we learn interview tips and strategies from Victoria who has coached clients at all levels from a wide range of industries to help them secure their dream job.

Agenda

• 12.30 Introduction – Kate Webber (5 mins)
• 12.35 Victoria will cover:
  • Get into the mind of recruiters and hirers from the get-go
  • The simple technique to answer any and every question
  • Use the FAB system to demonstrate your value
  • Avoid interview clichés
  • Show don’t tell in behavioural interviews
  • Be smart: the critical prep you must do for an interview
  • Interview pitfalls: the three mistakes that 95% of interviewers will reject on
  • How to frame your career break and return to work, including ‘flexibility’
• 1.25 Q&A
• 1.30 Close

Considering where to start and who to approach to be a mentor, can appear daunting, but the benefits of finding the right one can be huge. Forging a successful mentor/mentee relationship can help you to grow your skills, make better decisions, give you new perspective on your abilities and even offer potential new career paths.

Have you ever thought about finding a mentor? Wondered what coaching is all about or heard colleagues talk about their sponsor? WiAS, Simplify Consulting and The Mentor Standard hosted an insightful webinar where they tried to demystify mentoring and help  identify options to help unlock your future potential.

Agenda

• 12.30 Welcome and overview – Kate Monserrate (Simplify Consulting)
• 12.35 Introduction to mentoring and the difference between mentoring, coaching and sponsoring – Amira Norris & Julie Goddard (The Mentor Standard)
• 12.55 Listen to two real life case studies about short sharp mentoring and longer term coaching
• 1.15 Amira and Julie will give you tips about connections; power of the network
• 1.25 Launch of the mentoring scheme – Kate Webber
• 1.30 Close

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Imposter syndrome comes in many forms – not just self-doubt. Imposter syndrome can affect anyone of any gender, at any age and stage of their careers. It’s also been identified as a key symptom during perimenopause.

We hope you left this session with an understanding of your own imposter, what type of imposter you are, and a toolkit to help you love your imposter as a friend not a foe.

We walked you through the realities of imposter syndrome with some real-life case studies and then uncovered ways to harness the fear, reframe it and overcome any feelings of being an imposter in the workplace.

We were delighted to welcome back Victoria McLean, CEO of City CV to deliver this interactive session. Passionate about DE&I, Victoria is an international keynote speaker at female-focused events. Her original insights address topics including imposter syndrome, the art of personal branding, the impact of menopause on business success, setting boundaries at work, and staying visible in a hybrid world.

Today WiAS were joined for a conversation with Mark Freed from Men for Inclusion’s to discover how his experiences led him to set up a network to bring together men who want to accelerate towards a more inclusive world and workplace. He will talk about the view from the other side of the table and how men want to be allies, plus the benefits of living and working in an inclusive society.

WiAS founder, Kate Webber chatted to Mark about how gender equality in the workplace still needs everyone’s effort and, how men can support under-represented groups to improve balance at work.

We hope you left this webinar with some ideas to make a change in your own firm and understand why our partners in the gender battle are male allies.

Agenda

• Introduction – Kate Webber (5 mins)
• Gender balance – moving the needle together – Mark Freed (25 mins)
• Kate will then interview Mark followed by a Q&A from the audience (30 mins)

Speaker Bio

Mark Freed, CEO of E2W

I am English, born in Birmingham I moved to London at the age of 5. I am dyslexic and with little support or understanding from schools I failed miserably academically and left education as soon as I could with no qualifications.

After a successful city career in the early 2000’s my journey took a very different path when I co-founded E2W and organisation that is focused on supporting and helping women in their financial services careers and helping financial institutions to attract, recruit and retain them. This year E2W will make a real difference to the careers and lives of over 800 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.

Frustrated at the pace of change on the journey to an inclusive and diverse industry in 2021 I launched Men for Inclusion, with my partners. Men for Inclusion is the go-to solution where organisations can unlock the competitive advantage of an inclusive workplace. We help men in the majority groups to become true advocates for inclusion. I am doing this because I’m passionate about the economic and social benefits. More men need to get on board with the agenda. Today, we have the opportunity to drive lasting change.

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn or find out more about Men for Inclusion on his website.

The UK Government published results of the *‘Women’s Health – let’s talk about it’ survey in April this year and the top 5 topics respondents want the Department of Health and Social Care to prioritise are:

• Gynaecological conditions
• Fertility, pregnancy, pregnancy loss and postnatal support
• The menopause
• Menstrual health
• Mental health

*Source – Gov.uk

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These topics affect virtually all women at some stage of their life and with half of the working population made up of women, most are dealing with them and the long-term effects during the working day. What can we do to make their experience in the workplace more positive?
We were excited to welcome Dr Katie Armstrong, a GP specialising in Women’s Health and the menopause and Kate Rowe-Ham, a Women’s Health Coach, with a specialist interest in menopause fitness and founder of ‘Owning Your Menopause’ app to discuss Women’s Health and its effect on women in the workplace and to take your questions about this important topic.

Agenda

• 12.30 Introduction – 5 mins
• 12.35 Dr Katie Armstrong will take explain how our hormones change during a woman’s lifetime 20 mins
• 12.55 Kate Rowe–Ham will share her personal journey, how hormones affected her and why her experience led her to set up her own business – 20 mins
• 1.15 Q&A – 15 mins

Speaker Bios

Dr Katie Armstrong

Katie founded Clinic51 to offer a holistic approach to women’s health. Being a NHS GP with 20 years’ experience and a busy working mum in her 40s, she understands the impact hormones can have on a woman’s life. She firmly believe that we should not have to be at the mercy of our hormones; that women should continue to be happy and healthy, throughout their reproductive life, through the menopause, and beyond.

Katie studied medicine at St Mary’s Medical School, Imperial College and has been a GP partner and chief officer of the local Clinical Commissioning Group. Whilst going through her own perimenopause and practising as a NHS GP in Pulborough, she developed a particular interest and specialism in the menopause, and went onto train with The British Menopause Society and The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

She has extensive experience of women’s health issues including women suffering with the symptoms of menopause over 60, under the age of 45 and women with a history of breast cancer.

Kate Rowe–Ham

Qualifying as a level 3 Personal Trainer later in life, alongside raising her three children and experiencing her own issues with peri menopause has given Kate a unique insight into how midlife women’s needs often fall by the wayside. Kate knows first-hand how hard it can be to regain body confidence especially after children and how many of the symptoms of menopause can leave women feeling overwhelmed, invisible, and anxious.

As a trusted expert in her field, Kate has become to ‘go-to’ Personal Trainer known for her specialised approach in making sure women are getting the correct evidence-based information on how to train effectively and nourish their bodies through menopause. She believes that so many women miss out on optimising their midlife and menopause experience due to not understanding how to adapt their lifestyle during this phase.

Women in Asset Servicing and Women in Platforms were delighted to host a joint in-person speed mentoring event on 29 September, hosted by Bravura Solutions. This event provided the opportunity for attendees to meet and talk to high-profile executives from across our industry about skills that matter to you. Our mentors were from a cross-section of functions within financial services, and focused on a range of popular topics, including finding your way into sales, how to make social media work for you and finding your voice to enable you to elevate your profile.

Why speed mentoring?

Speed mentoring has the power to help you think creatively and expansively about your career and your own aspirations and hear about key aspects of your development from the people who are in the know. We’ve listened to what you’ve said and know that mentoring is a hot topic. The purpose of the evening was for everyone to be brave and ask those questions you’ve been afraid to ask and stimulate lively discussions.

With over 830 million users in 200 countries, LinkedIn is the #1 social media site for hiring professionals. An incredible 97% of headhunters use LinkedIn as their primary candidate source, even more so for senior hires. However you may feel about social media, you can’t afford to neglect your LinkedIn profile.

Following the success of ‘The perfect CV’ webinar earlier in the year, WiAS were delighted to welcome back Victoria McLean from City CV, part of the Hanover Group, for a one-hour masterclass on how to write a compelling LinkedIn profile that could drive your career forward. Victoria provided workable tips to refine attendees professional brand, move up the LinkedIn rankings and expand their network in a competitive market!

In June thanks to support from Schroders, members were invited to our first in person event. The event was a perfect opportunity for us to celebrate our successes during covid lockdown and our support from The Embark Group which has considerably extended our reach and created our wonderfully vibrant website.

Jackie Leiper, CEO of The Embark Group, joined us at the event as well as many other women from our network. We were also delighted to be joined by some of the successful young women, who following a coaching session delivered by WiAS, found their voice, and took part in Fund Forum in May.

In May members were invited to a one-hour masterclass, where they could learn CV writing tips and strategies from Victoria McLean, CEO of City CV – formerly at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch – and a career industry expert, award winning CV writer and coach, who has helped over 20,000 candidates secure their dream role. Victoria has developed a nuanced and strategic approach, which fuses market knowledge with a deep understanding of recruitment techniques to help build your personal brand and create a compelling CV story.

Your CV is the passport to your professional future. The right one will bypass the technology and the initial 5-second human scan to earmark you for your target role. Isn’t that what a great CV is all about?

Writing your own CV doesn’t come naturally. Everyone benefits from fresh eyes, perspective and industry insight. Your CV must articulate your distinctive skills and attributes in a way that shows the value you bring to your future employer. With fewer open roles in the market, it’s never been more important to understand what recruiters look for in a CV, overhaul your CV and have your burning questions answered.

In April we held our showcase event in association with IMpower incorporating FundForum where we heard from the Global Executive Producer for FundForum International, Jenny Adams, to understand why curating diverse speakers at a conference is critical for both the future of events, and the talent pipeline in our industry.

Alison Campbell, a public speaking training expert, then helped us discover the secrets of professional public speakers and how you, too, can improve your presentation skills and ‘own the room’.

The final part of the evening featured a showcase of 6-8 speakers from the WiAS network and LGBT Great. Using the skills they learnt in a separate workshop with Alison Campbell to deliver two minutes presentations about a subject of their own choosing.

Regardless of whether you are looking for your next role today or have plans for your future career, then this is the event for you. It takes bravery to reach for the next step and this is a great place to start your research and thinking. Paul Chapman of HornbyChapman (specialists in post-trade recruitment), discussed the current Asset Servicing market, provided a broad overview of how to search for and what to look for in a role. He also shared some do’s and dont’s of modern interview techniques.

We also heard from Terri Van Praagh, COO of GFS UK at Northern Trust about skills she values and what she looks for from candidates and Giulia Iannucci from KnowThyBrand about developing your own personal brand. Take a look at the top tips from Paul and further details on personal branding.

Read more on personal branding.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have become an increasingly important consideration for investors and the recent IPCC report on Climate Change highlighted the need for policymakers and consumers to act now.

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Think of a board and a stereotype naturally springs to mind. But the world of business is changing fast and boards need to rapidly adapt to offer value and ethical best practice not only to shareholders but to the customers, communities and employees they serve. Achieving cognitive and behavioural diversity in the boardroom needs inclusive board recruitment processes that directly address the lack of gender, ethnic and often generational representation around the table.

The role of a board NED is often poorly understood and so at this event, Emma Berwick and her experienced panel demystifyed the board and explained the opportunities that exist for the many.

Further reading.

On Wednesday 23 June Dominic King, Senior Principal, from Accenture Research, shared his insights on gender parity within the technology sector, which was followed by a lively discussion with our experienced panellists: Naomi Masterston (panel chair), Discovery Lead and Trade SME Transaction service, Northern Trust, Dominic King, Alison Pain, Chief Technology Officer, Northern Trust and Adam Belding, Chief Technology Officer, Calastone.

Watch the recorded event.

We were delighted to hear from Connie Lindsey from Northern Trust and Chimmy Ngoma from Calastone, who shared their stories with us on what it is like to be black women in our industry.  Connie gave us a wonderful overview and history, including the key things that we could take responsibility for ourselves to help change the dial.  Chimmy talked to her own personal and work experiences and her hopes for the future.  Chimmy also shared a range of resources with us here.

WiAS and Northern Trust came together at the height of the COVID19 pandemic to discuss how to keep up your profile whilst working from home.  Gone are the days of face to face networking and we moved to the world of the virtual meeting and daily video calls.  Spontaneity has gone out of the window, but it doesn’t mean that you cannot keep up your relationships and drive forward your career.  Catherine Duffy from Northern Trust in interview with Kate Webber discussed how our members could help themselves during this time, to put their best foot forward and not to forget about their careers, including tips from regular virtual meetings to increase your network, to preparing for meetings and presenting your best self.

Maggie Craig, John Cowan, Penny Biggs and Michael Akinwotu all shared their career stories with us, the highs and the not so highs and what they have learnt along the way.  The stories helped us to consider how careers are not linear but full of twists and turns which are exciting and sometimes challenging.

View event invite.

In our webinar, hosted by Laura Mann, WiAS member, Richard Jones from The Gap Partnership talked to us about how to maximise negotiations when working from home.

This two day workshop for a small number of WiAS members was a huge success with the participants learning a huge amount from Richard to take into their working and personal lives.

Hosted by Laura Mann from WiAS and SEI, this event continued our theme of helping members to build confidence in their daily and working lives by understanding how to develop their negotiation skills through key tips and practical application.  The event was followed up by a two day workshop held in Northern Trust offices in December.

Supported by Jenny Adams, the Global Executive Producer of Fund Forum International and Alison Campbell, a small number of delegates were given presentation training in the afternoon of 13 June, with Alison, to prepare them for a 2 minute pitch in front of the WiAS audience.  The participants benefited hugely from the training and got a rapturous response from the audience that evening.  Sponsored by Bravura at their offices in Broadgate, this event really helped the participants to find their voice.  Jenny provided them with complementary tickets to Funds Forum later that month where they spoke again, talking of their experiences.

Further reading.

Our keynote speaker, Ann Roughead was joined by our panel, including Rose St Louise, Karen Zachary and Fiona Murden to discuss how to nurture female talent and share their own experiences.

Further reading.