Rebecca O'Dwyer | M&G Investments
A keen student of the Humanities, after completing A-Levels in History, Politics, English Literature, Biology and PE, I went on to read History at The University of York.
Graduating with a first-class honours degree in 2012, I was also awarded ‘The York Award’ for my commitment to a wide programme of cross-disciplinary activities during my degree tenure. An enthusiastic sportswoman, I captained the 1st Team netball and served on a variety of student committees during my University years.
Thanks to my successful completion of a summer internship with The Royal Bank of Scotland over the summer of 2011, I graduated from York with an offer to join RBS’ 18-month Corporate Banking Graduate scheme in London, which I took up in earnest, spending three six-month placements with diverse Bank departments spanning Change Management, Relationship Management and Leveraged Finance. Despite coming from a non-finance background, my time on the scheme sparked my love of structured finance; a discipline that combined the qualitative skills gleaned from my humanities background, with more quantative analytic methodology that my naturally logical brain demanded.
After nearly 2 years after accepting a permanent position with the Leveraged Finance team at RBS, which served as a great training ground in credit analysis, I made the move to Investment Management at M&G Investments, where I have been a member of their Direct Lending team since 2016. Promoted after less than a year to Associate Director, I focus on originating and executing assets and loans on behalf of our pension fund and institutional clients. I have extremely high standards for myself, and routinely seek to push boundaries with my contribution to my team and the wider institution. Negotiation and stakeholder management form a key part of my day job, and I thrive in a corporate culture where I am able to operate with a high degree of autonomy and responsibility, alongside colleagues I find inspiring, with mutually beneficial learning opportunities. I take this approach externally into my extracurricular role as a committee member for 100 Women in Finance’s Gala committee.
When I am not at work, I continue to play netball (in the Regional England Netball league) and am a keen sportswoman. I love to travel regularly – with a strong focus around good food and good wine! – and spend quality downtime with family and friends.
Alexandra Jackson | Rathbones
Alexandra manages the Rathbone UK Opportunities Fund (previously called Rathbone Recovery Fund). She was appointed as co-manager in June 2014 and took over as sole manager in August 2017, and has spent over 12 years at Rathbones.
Alexandra joined Rathbone Unit Trust Management in 2007 as an equity analyst, and then became assistant fund manager on the Rathbone Global Opportunities Fund.
Alexandra is a CFA charter-holder, holds the IMC and has a BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Durham. She is a member of the Rathbone Investment Management Stock Selection Committee, and co-founded Rathbones Included, our internal engagement and diversity network.
Jenny Qian Qi Quan | Smith & Williamson
I was born in Beijing and moved to the UK when I was 13. I quickly found I had a passion for finance while studying for my Master’s degree in Chemistry at Cambridge.
I realised although I loved the analytical and numerical aspects of scientific research, the career wouldn’t provide the daily interaction with people that I was looking for in a role. So after graduating, I set out to look for a career that would allow me to combine these two aspects.
After internships ranging from luxury jewellery marketing to financial PR, it became clear that the investment management trainee role offered a perfect blend of traits I was looking for in a career. These days, as an investment manager at Smith & Williamson, I work on a team managing assets for a range of private clients, offshore accounts and charities. At Smith & Williamson, we don’t separate the roles of relationship manager and investment personnel, so I am able to speak to clients myself and take the time to understand their needs and build a direct relationship with them.
I am also actively involved in our in-house research process as the lead sector specialist for the healthcare sector. I conduct general research on the sector and put forward stock specific recommendations for the division. My academic experience has allowed me to bring a new perspective and truly add value to these tasks as I am able to offer a deeper, more analytical understanding of these companies and the sector as a whole.
Finally, I sit on the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion working group, working towards increasing female and ethnic minority representation within the firm, especially focused on the trainee level.
Natalia Zurowski | Synechron
I was born in Germany to middle class Polish parents, grew up in Canada, went to university in Singapore, lived in China and moved to the UK two years ago.
I guess you could say I am a global citizen. My previous role was heading up marketing for a premium finance company where I helped create and execute marketing plans and strategies that led to multiple award nominations (including one win!), generated leads to the sales team worth over £200M, as well as helping to establish and position the brand as the most innovative company in the premium finance and insurance industries.
I also spearheaded the Company's Diversity & Inclusion initiative and initiated external partnerships with the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network ("iCAN") and Insurtech UK, to promote insurance innovation within the UK.
In roughly two years time, I made it from the bottom of the career ladder as a Marketing Assistant at a 40-odd person firm (solely based out of the UK) working my way up to become the Marketing Lead for Synechron, one of the leading, digital, business consulting, and technology firms in the world with 8000 people worldwide in 18 global locations.
As the Marketing Lead for Synechron, I have also been tasked with opening up our insurance channel to market into the UK (delighted is an understatement).
Two years prior to all this, I was travelling as a fashion model and would not have been able to tell you what premium finance was or how insurance worked, let alone explain to you how robotic processing automation (RPA) can benefit your business. I believe it's not about your background that makes you a success: It's your aptitude, attitude and willingness to learn that will help determine your path.
Jasmine Shell | r10 Consulting
After graduating from the University of Kent, where she studied International Business and Italian, Jasmine accidentally discovered the London insurance market joining as a marketing professional in 2013.
She very quickly found herself falling in love with the industry – a market ready for change, she realised there were many opportunities to make a difference.
Jasmine has a passion for people and change, and believes that for change to be successful, people need to be at the centre of the journey. For that reason, she joined r10 Consultancy as a consultant, an organisation that is committed to transforming the insurance industry. As a consultant, Jasmine is committedd to delivering value for her clients and building trust and relationships.
As part of her interest in change, she joined DXC Digital Minds as a delegate in 2017; a cross-market programme that drives positive change in the insurance market. Jasmine is now part of the team that runs the 2019 programme with over 75 delegates, from more than 50 organisations, all working together make a difference in the London market.
Jasmine enjoys volunteering and is the Brand Officer for the Next Generation Insurance Network (NGIN), a young professional group that aims to empower young professionals to shape the world they live in. She also mentors university students who aspire to join the insurance industry and graduates.
Diversity has long been a challenge in the insurance industry and Jasmine volunteers with the LMG acting as a London Is a London Insurance Life ambassador, regularly speaking about and showcasing the insurance industry as an exciting and rewarding career at schools, universities and exhibitions. She is passionate about sharing the often-misunderstood industry with the next generation.
Outside of work, Jasmine is passionate about providing opportunities to young girls. She runs a Brownie unit in her local area for girls aged seven to ten helping girls to build their confidence and skills, inspire them to try new things and support them as they discover who they want to be.
Emma Thomson | British Friendly
I've worked in the Protection Insurance market for over twenty years and am a passionate advocate for the social good our industry does.
I began my career within the underwriting team at Unum, before moving to LifeSearch in 2000 which at the time was a small protection advisory firm. For eighteen years I helped LifeSearch grow and become the leading protection specialist distributor in the UK. For over ten years I managed our insurer relationships, working with insurers to improve our market for the benefit of consumers; helping all the leading protection insurers develop their systems and processes, in addition to providing consultancy on new product developments and providing insight to assist four insurers launch into the market.
I've been a long-time member of industry lobby groups such as the Income Protection Task Force and the Finance & Technology Research Centre's Protection Forum. I've written regular articles on protection for trade publications such as Money Marketing for many years, helping to raise awareness of the value of protection and campaign for change. I work with journalists to help them write features on protection, and have been quoted many times on protection related matters such as product changes, access to insurance and consumer financial resilience. I've also been a speaker at several industry conferences.
In 2016 I became the inaugural Chair of the consumer-focused Protection Distributors Group, a role I held until October 2018. During that time I led our group in launching our successful Funeral Payment Pledge and Claims Charter campaigns, initiatives which have improved outcomes for consumers at time of claim.
I'm Chair of the Women in Protection Network which I founded in 2017. I was concerned about the lack of female representation in senior roles and as influencers, so wanted to create a group whereby women in our profession could work together to provide not only a support framework for themselves, but help to improve the gender balance and encourage female career development. I also wanted the group to focus on how we can encourage more women to buy insurers as too few women have the insurance they need. We have members from across the industry including reinsurers, insurers, distributors, the CII and portals, working together to help improve outcomes for women, and raise awareness of the need for our industry to be more inclusive across all social groups to better represent the society we serve.
In October 2018 I joined British Friendly as Product Strategist, expanding our award winning proposition even further. British Friendly has a very consumer-focused culture with a clear purpose to put its members first, and it's exciting to be part of the team.
Emilia Gibson | Marsh
Emilia moved to London from British Columbia, Canada in 2013 to complete a BA in International Relations at King's College London.
During her studies, Emilia specialised in the South Asia region, as well as spending two years as President of the Women's Football Club.
She joined the Marsh Graduate Program from university in 2016, where she was placed in Marsh Risk Consulting as a Junior Consultant.
In the two and a half years working in risk consulting, Emilia has been promoted to Senior Consultant which is her current role. She currently specialises in cyber risk, project management, strategic insurance alignment, and financial advisory services with a focus on energy claims.
Emily Lewis | Finlay James
After a fixed term contract in HR for a Charity protecting Young Women and Girls in London; I joined Finlay James as a Talent Consultant, recruiting Salespeople into Technology Sales sector.
I earned one of the fasted first promotions in my companies history, through perseverance and self-educating, and guidance from my peers. Shortly after joining, I realised that there was a huge lack of Women both in the Recruitment sector and, primarily, in the Tech sector. Less that 20% of our current database were Women, and the majority of clients & candidates that we engaged with were Male.
I decided to focus my time on headhunting, building relationships with, and networking with Women, to raise more awareness and promote the conversation, and ensure there were more Women being introduced to our clients.
I actively encouraged Women to join my network, and grew my connections from 20 to over 3k in around a year, mostly with inspiring, hard-working and, unfortunately, under-recognised Women. through speaking with Women, I noticed that they all shared the same fear within the industry - firstly that their jobs were at risk from their Male counter-parts, but also that they were being underpaid in comparison to their Male colleagues, sometimes by only a few percent, but sometimes as substantially as 10-20% less.
Knowing this, I knew I had to do something, so I actively started working with clients who were committed to increasing diversity, who were looking for talented female salespeople. I made it very clearly when working with Women that I was completely aware of the gender pay gap, that my primary focus was to ensure more Women had access to opportunities and that they were getting the recognition they deserved.
On the side, I began researching the gender splits, writing blogs, posts and making videos about the benefits of having a diverse workforce (please see my blogs on LinkedIn), and working on a consultancy basis around their hiring strategies, including looking at job descriptions, advertisements, hiring processes and on-boarding. I found that many companies who had an all-male leadership team, hadn't taken into account the possibility that they may experience unconscious bias within their processes.
On top of this, I average 17%-19% pay-rises in 2018 for my Female candidates, ensuring they were getting the pay they deserved. In 2017/18 - 66% of my placements were Women, way above industry standard, which is only 9%!!
I don't refuse to work with Men, especially if someone is referred to me, or if they are the right match for a specific need of a client, because I am firm believer that in any case, the client deserves the best person for the job; my ethos works on the principle that a Woman is less likely to directly apply, or to move roles, unless she feels she meets 95% of the criteria, so what I like to do is to encourage that Woman that she CAN do it, she CAN get a pay-rise, and she CAN be more successful in a new position.
More than anything, I find my job much more fulfilling on a day to day basis. I enjoy having my personal and professional lives running concurrently, to bring my values and ethos to my job, so it's so much more than a typical sales/recruitment role, but I genuinely believe that I'm raising awareness, celebrating Women's successes and increasing diversity within the Tech Sector every day. This isn't just a job for me, it's my life. I appreciate I'm not changing the world in a larger sense, through working in the 3rd Sector or saving lives in the NHS, and I'm lucky enough to receive commission for my work,but when a person spends 45 years at employment age, and 35% of that is at work, I want to make sure that people love the job that they do as much as I do - and that's a blessing to be able to do.
I know I'm a very small fish, in a very big pond, but I love what I do, and I'm very committed to the the Championing of Women in the Tech Sector.
Mikahla Chapman | Accenture
I am passionate about using psychology to understand and benefit the modern workplace.
In 2017 I was 1 of 4 individuals to land a place on Accenture’s HR Talent Accelerator Programme, a leadership development programme aimed at accelerating high potential talent. Since joining I have rotated around the company to fill my backpack with experiences across a variety of positions in HR Supply Chain, Recruitment, Inclusion & Diversity, and Technology Consulting.
During my placement on the Inclusion & Diversity team, I primarily worked on driving the mental health agenda. Under my administration, the Mental Health Allies network grew by nearly 500 people. Through a range of culture change initiatives such as Time to Talk Day, World Mental Health Day, Mental Health Awareness Week and educational webcasts, my contribution helped gain the programme company wide recognition for its success at raising awareness and understanding around mental health in the workplace. As a result, the UK Mental Health Programme won the particularly competitive category of ‘Best People Programme’ in Accenture’s global recognition awards, as voted for by the company’s 450K employees.
After leaving I&D I have continued to co-represent the UK in the Global Mental Health Network which is aimed at supporting other Accenture countries in the development of their own local mental health programmes. Since 2017, the global network has grown from 3 countries to 17 with more in the pipeline to launch this year. It has also been my honour to speak about the programme internally and externally at events such as The Lord Mayor Appeal’s Power of Diversity panel on ‘Creating Mentally Healthy Workplaces’.
On Early Talent Recruitment, I worked on attracting and hiring a target of 50%+ females and 38% BAME candidates into our entry level programmes. I further solidified my interest in diversifying the future generation of talent by supporting the design and implementation of Accenture’s first HR Apprenticeship; a programme aimed at supporting individuals with unique backgrounds through an unconventional route into the company.
Originally from Toronto, Canada, I fell in love with the UK while completing a MA(Hons) in Philosophy & Psychology from the University of Edinburgh. I then moved to London to complete a MSc in Occupational Psychology from London Metropolitan University.
I am grateful to work in an empowering environment and hope to continue to make a positive impact through my work in Human Resources!
Millie Smyth | Accenture
I’m fiercely passionate about enabling people to bring their best selves to work every day, and I feel very lucky to focus on that as my day job.
After an HR internship at an energy company and a stint teaching English as a Foreign Language, I joined Accenture as a graduate in 2015 within the Management Consulting business – driven by a curiosity to learn about different businesses quickly! From here, I soon found my way into world of Talent and Organisation, specialising in the people-side of our client transformation projects, and developing an interest in behavioural science, innovative communications, cultural change and future workforce trends.
Meanwhile outside of my client work, I became very involved in the wider engagement agenda at Accenture and took great joy in mobilising initiatives across project teams and business areas: from fundraising for charity to shaping wellbeing initiatives, to establishing bottom-up feedback processes, to leading an employee interest group for gender parity. Six months ago, I followed my heart and transferred internally to our Human Capital & Diversity team to make this my day job – where I partner with the business, our HR teams and our people to co-create and embed solutions that make a meaningful difference.
As someone with ‘neurodiversity’ (both dyslexia and bipolar disorder), I have experienced first-hand the difference the right support can make, and I’m deeply invested in designing a workplace that allows everyone to thrive.