The Importance of addressing Gender Diversity

To coincide with International Women’s Day we will be hosting a live panel discussion in partnership with Women in Banking & Finance to showcase the voices of innovative female figures within the banking sector.  
 
We are delighted to partner with Women in Banking and Finance- UK  for this live webcast. 

Women in Banking and Finance Limited (“WIBF”) is a not for profit membership network that has championed women in financial services for over 40 years. Our vision is a financial services sector which offers women equal opportunities as employees, customers, and entrepreneurs to reach their full potential and to contribute to building better businesses and places to work for all.

Through a series of case studies, and re-telling of first-hand experiences, each of our panellists will share the challenges they have faced in the sector, how the approached this and how gender diversity can be improved for future generations to come.  

The theme of this year's International Women’s Day is “Choose to Challenge” 
“We can choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequity. We can choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements.” 

Join us for this live discussion where all panellists will showcase the changes they've implemented in their organisations and highlight how inclusion will bring advantages to corporations and organisations alike. 

Chair

Joanne Murphy MBA, MCBI, Assoc CIPD
Chief Operating Officer Chartered Banker Institute

Joanne is the Institute's Chief Operating Officer and leads its inclusion programme and research in professional progression and also has executive oversight of all departments including the Learning and Assessment team and the Professional Standards team.  Joanne also leads our Thought Leadership on Future Banker.

In 2014, Joanne became the Institute’s first Operations Director and first female member of the leadership team.

Joanne has over 25 years' experience in financial services, working in a variety of roles in business and retail banking with RBS from 2002, and prior to that with GE Capital. Joanne’s career began working in marketing and research at Scottish Television in London.

She is a member of both the Institute and of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and holds an MBA in Banking and Finance.

Panellists

Stacy Lamb
Financial Services Principal Consultant, PA Consulting

Stacy is one of PA’s senior financial services organisational agility experts. She has extensive experience in shaping and leading some of the most complex and largest transitions to Agile ways of working in the FS industry, where her expertise lies.

Stacy is skilled at re-designing operating models to deliver end to end value, whilst simplifying governance and funding to enable rapid development and adaptation. In her ways of working, she's an advocate of collaboration at all levels within organisations because she believes agility is at the heart of creating market-leading organisations, whilst promoting the right culture and behaviours in place to empower people to thrive in their careers.

Stacy is a Board Director for Women in Banking & Finance, an advocate of She Can Be - a Lord Mayor’s Appeal initiative endeavouring to empower young women to make informed decisions about their careers and was a Chartered Banker Young Banker of the year Finalist.

Helen McKay
Credit Assurance Manager, LendingCrowd

 Having worked for nearly 30 years in banking, during which time she gained invaluable experience in customer service, regulated activities, business credit and anti-money laundering, Helen joined LendingCrowd in 2014 as the fintech lending platform’s first employee.

Helen gained her fellowship of the Institute in 2017 and was appointed as Chairperson of the Edinburgh, Fife & Lothians District Centre and Vice Chair of the Membership Forum in 2019. Innovate Finance named Helen on its Women in FinTech Powerlist 2019.

Marlene Shiels OBE 
Chief Executive, Capital Credit Union

Marlene Shiels, Chief Executive, was one of the founder members of her credit union, which was established in 1989.

 Marlene was on the Board of Directors for 9 years before joining the staff team in 1998 and has held the position of Chief Executive since 2001. 

 Key Career Highlights:

• October 2019 to present, Chair of the FCA Smaller Business Practitioner Panel.  The first woman to hold this position.
• March 2020 Chair of the Money and Pensions Advice Service Nation of Savers Challenge Group
• July 2019 – February 2020 Chair of the Building Societies Workplace Savings Committee
• 2016 awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List for services to financial services and financial inclusion.
• In 2017 received the NCUF Lifetime achievement award from her Peers.
• Founder of the UK DE Programme. 
• In 2013 became Advisor to HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in matters relating to Credit Unions and financial inclusion
• 2012 to 2015 served on the Scottish Stepchange Board   
• In 2009 was elected to serve for a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the World Council of Credit Unions.   She is the only British Person to hold a Board seat on WOCCU. 
• 2009 Council Member of the Chartered Banker Institute, as the first lay member.

Ana Xhemalaj
Business Manager (VP), Lending and Portfolio Management  

Ana is a multi-lingual and high-achieving Business Manager with 7 years of Corporate Banking experience. She works closely with the various Corporate Lending and Portfolio teams and senior management across Europe, Middle East and Asia to ensure implementation of strategic goals, operational and commercial effectiveness of the wider business.  Aside of her day-to-day job, she is an active member of the Citizenship and Sustainability Working Group having previously owned and maintained the Sustainability linked Debt products such as Green Loan and Sustainable Revolver Credit Facility to International Corporate banking clients.

 Gender equality has been an area of passionate focus for her inspired by the inequality witnessed in her home country, Albania. She is committed to using her platform, network and knowledge of the Finance Industry to incentivise more product innovation and cross-collaboration between the private and public sector in order to enhance gender equity through Lending. She was one of the 4 Finalist in the Young Banker 2020 Competition proposing a Lending with Purpose Framework aiming to embed gender lens thinking into mainstream financial products.