Women in Finance: 31-35 revealed!

Women in Finance: 31-35 revealed!

Our second Women in Finance ranking spotlights influential women across various sectors, including government, business, finance and accountancy, who are all leaders, trailblazers and transforming their respective fields

Our first Women in Finance ranking in 2018 spotlighted influential women across various sectors, including government, business, finance and accountancy, who are all leaders, trailblazers and transforming their respective fields.

This year, we had so much interest we decided to extend the list from 20 to 35 women.

Last month, we put forward a longlist of female leaders to an audience vote. This week and next, we’ll be announcing the results of the vote – listing five women each day ahead of the full ranking release of the Top 35 Women in Finance on 30 April.

So, to kick off the rankings, here are the first five women who have been named in positions 31-35 – based entirely on your votes.

31. Sarah Churchman, Chief Inclusion, Community and Wellbeing Officer, PwC

Churchman’s work on gender equality at PwC was recognised with an OBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for services to women in business, equality, diversity and inclusion.

She has 30 years’ human resources experience, including 17 years in the specialist area of diversity and inclusion.  She is often quoted on issues such as women on boards, gender pay gap, social mobility, work-life balance, generational diversity and, more recently, on mental health.

She is leading PwC’s focus on inclusion and wellbeing both within the workplace and across the communities in which PwC operates.

32. Kriti Sharma, VP of Artificial Intelligence, Sage

Sharma is a leader in artificial intelligence and, specifically, chatbots. But there’s nothing artificial about her intelligence.

She is the founder of AI for Good, which is trying to build scalable technology solutions for social good. In 2018, she launched rAInbow, a digital companion for women facing domestic violence in South Africa. This clocked up nearly 200,000 ‘conversations’ within the first 100 days.

In 2019, with the Population Foundation of India, she launched Dr Sneha, a digital doctor that talks to young people about sexual health.

She made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and was appointed a United Nations Young Leader in 2018. She is an adviser to both the United Nations Technology Innovation Labs and to the UK Government’s Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.

33. Helena Morrissey DBE, Head of Personal Investing, Legal & General Investment Management

Before LGIM, Morrissey had 15 years as CEO of Newton before becoming non-executive chairman. There, assets under management grew from £20bn to £50bn and the firm became a key player in absolute return, equity income and global equities.

Morrissey founded the 30% Club in 2010, aimed at achieving better gender-balanced boards through business-led change. The proportion of women on UK company boards more than doubled over the following five years and there are now 11 30% Clubs throughout the world.

She is a member of the Financial Services Trade and Investment Board. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 New Year’s Honours List.

34. Maggie McGhee, Executive Director, Governance, ACCA

McGhee is ACCA’s rising star. Before her elevation in October 2018 she was director, professional insights, joining in 2016. Additionally, she has been covering as interim director, brand and corporate reputation, since May 2018.

McGhee is a chartered accountant with a degree in law. Prior to joining ACCA, she was director general, audit quality at the UK’s National Audit Office.

She has combined both hands-on nitty-gritty research work with the public relations and brand promotion role. She has been involved with the Financial Reporting Council, the European Public Sector Accounting Standards Working Group, HM Treasury’s Financial Reporting Advisory Board, and the Accountancy Europe Public Sector Working Group.

She’s what these days is called an ‘influencer’.

35. Eileen Burbidge MBE, Partner, Passion Capital

An engineer by training, Burbidge has the perfect credentials to be a tech venture capitalist.

It might be quicker to list what she hasn’t done.  She has worked at Yahoo!, Skype and Apple to name just a few. In addition to Passion Capital, Burbige is also the chair of Tech City UK, the government-backed body supporting the UK digital economy.

She is the Treasury’s special envoy for fintech, appointed by the Chancellor; tech ambassador for the Mayor of London’s office; and served on former UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s business advisory group.

She was made an MBE for services to business in June 2015.

 

 

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