PIMFA
Sneha is an Executive Vice President at SEI and Head of New Business Ventures, responsible for new business and platform identification and incubation; engaging clients, accelerators and the entrepreneurial community to invest and accelerate new ideas and solutions; and cultivating innovation that drives top-line growth.
With more than 25 years of experience in business leadership, strategy, and execution globally, Sneha most recently served as Managing Director and Group Head of the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) Business Accelerator, where she created and scaled new businesses at the intersection of data, artificial intelligence, and technology. Prior to LSEG, her roles as Managing Director, Global Head of Risk Managed Services at Refinitiv and Managing Director in Africa for Thomson Reuters included leveraging emerging technologies, innovation, and strategic partnerships to drive profitable growth. She has also held senior leadership roles across finance and risk, operations, sales, and client service.
A global citizen with a passion for purpose-led initiatives, Sneha currently serves as a Board Trustee for the African Leadership Foundation, the Education Development Center, and the Harambeans Alliance. She is also Board Chair for the Young Presidents Organization’s New York Polaris Chapter. Sneha was selected for Innovate Finance’s “Women in Fintech Power List” and was a two-time winner of the Gender Mainstreaming award by Business Engage.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in politics with international studies from the University of Warwick in the U.K. and completed the Harvard Business School’s YPO Presidents’ Program.
After 20 years in a relationship that limited and stifled her, former advertising professional, turned fitness pioneer and award-winning entrepreneur, Vicki Anstey became (age 41) one of the first ever women to participate in Channel 4’s ‘SAS Who Dares Wins’, reaching the final stages after 11 days in extreme conditions at an altitude of 3,000ft in Chile.
In 2021, she and 2 other women, the Girls Who Dare, set a new World Record for rowing unaided across the Pacific Ocean, confronting her fear of deep, open water to do so. It took 60 days, 17 hours and 6 minutes.
Her latest endeavor was a 5 day race in one of the northernmost, remote parts of the world, The Arctic. Covering a distance of over 230km in temperatures of -35 degrees, carrying everything she needed to survive.
In 2023, she plans to participate in the World’s Toughest Bike Race, the Race Across America (RAAM), covering 3,000 miles.
Sarah has 39 years’ experience in investment and wealth management having previously worked for Seymour Pierce Butterfield, Brewin Dolphin and JM Finn. She has held roles ranging from Investment Manager, Head of Office, Regional Managing Director, National Director, Business Development Director and Head of Investment Management.
She was the first woman to be appointed to the board of Brewin Dolphin Holdings PLC, a FTSE 250 company. Sarah is now Chief Executive of Hawksmoor and she currently sits on the board of PIMFA, the trade body of the wealth management industry, and is Chair of its Nomination Committee.
Michele is the MD for Aviva’s Wealth and Advice businesses, supporting its adviser and workplace customers.
Together, these businesses help more than five million people manage their long-term savings. In addition, she has responsibility for Aviva’s subsidiary businesses of Succession Wealth and Sesame Bankhall Group, for whom she was CEO prior to re-joining Aviva in July 2022.
Michele has over 25 years’ experience in financial services having historically worked in Prudential, Paternoster, Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) and Friends Life.
At the age of 17, Breda McCague became one of the first girls in Irish history to join the Irish Reserve Infantry Defence Forces. She subsequently served as her unit’s first Female Lieutenant for 20 years. She has continued in positions of leadership ever since.
Breda also worked across Global Financial Institutions running Transformation programmes since 2000 and continues into hold a part time Director role with an International Financial Consultancy as a Director of Emotional Excellence. In 2016 Breda decided to co-found Lean In Ireland, a Global foundation that helps women achieve ambitious goals.
In 2017, Breda’s interest began to concentrate more in Emotional Intelligent Leadership. She became an Accredited Coach. She began to deliver talks across Corporates on Leadership, Decision Making, Unconscious Bias, Emotional Intelligence, Vision, Strategy and Growth. She has since been flown to many countries to deliver her lively keynotes. Out of curiosity, she studied some of the drivers behind why, in the corporate world, we do not have enough women involved in decision making Senior Boards and why gender pay gaps continue to prove so troublesome to close.
In 2022, Breda did a TED x talk which was promoted to the Global Professional TED.com channel. Breda’s material can be found on most of the popular social media channels. In her Director for Emotional Excellence role, she builds and delivers unique Senior Leadership Programmes laced with a mix of Emotional Intelligence and some outdoor rough terrain exercises. Breda also often runs hackathons, bootcamps and workshops for other large European & US Institutions.
Breda is a very driven energetic individual who enjoys educating, inspiring and entertaining others so that they can become the best emotionally regulated Leaders across their societies, communities and work environments. Breda was awarded the Women of the Year title in the Women in Finance Ireland Awards for 2021 and has chaired and hosted panels at many Global Finance & Inclusion Events. She has only recently been announced as a Finalist in the STEM Mentor of the Year Awards in Ireland.
Helen is CEO of Rothschild Co’s UK Wealth Management business, a global partner and also sits on the Group’s Executive Committee and Supervisory Board. Helen has spent her entire career working with a wide variety of private clients including tech entrepreneurs, business owners, film makers, academic institutions, as well as families that made their wealth in previous generations. Her years spent as a portfolio manager and senior client adviser, have provided her with an unusually deep understanding of private clients’ investment needs.
Helen is passionate about improving gender and social diversity in the Wealth Management industry and leads a number of initiatives in this area, most notably as co-chair of Rothschild Co’s Diversity, Inclusion Balance Steering Committee. Rothschild Co won two of PIMFA’s Diversity Inclusion Awards in 2022.
Helen regularly comments in the media on the Wealth Management industry and has been featured in the Financial Times and on The Economist’s MoneyTalks podcast, as well as winning and being nominated for a large number of prestigious awards over the years.
Helen joined Rothschild Co in 2010 having worked for almost 20 years in Morgan Stanley’s UK Private Wealth Management business and was appointed CEO of Rothschild Co’s UK Wealth Management business in 2015. Outside of work, she sits on the Investment Committee of Winchester College.
Kat coaches Executives and senior leaders at high stakes moments where the organisation or leader is navigating change like a merger, expanding role or new strategy. She works with them 1-1 or as a team and facilitates leadership offsites. Combined with her prior experience as a leader in Financial Services, Kat’s clients find her to be commercially minded, quick to understand context and positively challenging.
As well as her frontline banking experience, as a former Head of Coaching for the London & South East region of a FTSE 100 organisation, Kat is well versed in leadership development. She is an accredited Professional Executive Coach and a Master NLP Practitioner. Contact her via www.katthecoach.com or LinkedIn.
Leanne joined M&G Wealth Advice in May 2023, and is responsible for strategic enablement and driving optimal efficiency and productivity across the business. Key to this role is working closely with the Executive leadership team to collate insight, assimilate and compile reports and manage delivery. She is also importantly responsible for linking the leadership team and the broader business through a programme of regular formal and informal communications
Most recently she spent two years as Executive Business Manager with Sesame Bankhall Group working directly with the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman.
Prior to this Leanne enjoyed a rewarding 18-year career with Standard Life Aberdeen where she held several key roles including Advice Paraplanner and National Platform Support Manager. It was during this time that she attained her Regulated Diploma in Financial Planning.
Leanne is passionate about creating a sector that is fair and inclusive for all as well as attracting new talent into the world of advice. She continues to work with PIMFA and other key industry bodies to champion our industry and the rewarding careers it has to offer.
Stacey has spent 25+ years in UK financial services, exclusively supporting trading and liquidity in fixed income for Retail and Wealth Intermediaries. Her previous roles included Head of Fixed Income Trading and Strategy at Winterflood Securities before moving to PrimaryBid, as Managing Director of Fixed Income, in 2023.
Stacey is the founder and Chair of the influential industry working group Investor Access to Regulated Bonds (IARB) and played a significant role in delivering the celebrations to mark the 50th Anniversary of LSE Women Members, in 2023.
David’s primary role is to collate, simplify, regularly update and share technical knowledge, in a user friendly and practical way, within the Quilter group and with the adviser community.
This is to assist with maximising financial planning post-tax investment returns given the complexity and fast changing legislation impacting wealth management
Henny joined TIME in January 2014 as the Business Development Director for London. Over the last nine years Henny has worked exclusively with financial advisers, wealth managers and private banks helping planners add value to their client bank and their professional connections.
She spent nearly six years at Octopus Investments before joining TIME and is a regular speaker at industry events. Henny works closely with Jonathan Wright-Premachandra and Harriet Warren and together they make up ‘Team London’.
Rebecca is a Managing Director at Global Counsel, and leads the financial services practice. Rebecca has worked in both law and public policy advising financial services firms on global politics, policy and regulation. She previously served as Managing Director of corporate affairs for UK Finance, and as a member of the Executive Committee for the European Banking Federation. Prior to this, Rebecca worked as a solicitor advising investors and asset managers.
Rebecca Owers has extensive UK-wide experience in wealth management and mortgages. She is a qualified financial adviser and stays close to her distribution roots in her current role as Head of Investments Wealth Solutions & Insurance (IWS&I) for HSBC UK where she sets the strategy owns the customer propositions and has P&L responsibility for the UK Wealth business.
Prior to her current role, Rebecca led the Specialist Services part of the business which included Wealth and Tax Technical Consultants, a Retirement Advice Centre of Excellence, and a SIPP/SSAS division. As part of the Wealth and Personal Banking ExCo she plays a key role in setting the UK strategy with her team of c230 FTE. Rebecca sits on the board of HSBC Trust Company managing £1.8bn AUM and oversees the Trust Services business as well as being director of several subsidiaries.
Growing up in a typical working-class family, Rebecca inherited a strong sense of fairness from her parents. Her life experiences have led to her being deeply involved in Diversity Equity & Inclusion resulting in numerous awards over recent years. Rebecca is the Executive Sponsor for the Pride Employee Resource Group and Menopause Group as well as an ambassador for several other Employee Resource Groups and charities. She created and chairs the Belonging in IWS&I Committee and launched the Step Forward Programme which has supported the careers of over 380 black and ethnically diverse colleagues. Passionate about supporting change across the industry, Rebecca sits on PIMFA’s DEI & Talent Committee and is a Judge for their D&I awards. An active mentor, Rebecca leads coaching circles and continues to support the individual careers of several colleagues across HSBC.
Rebecca is married to Tim, and mum to 9-year-old Emily. Working flexibly allows her to enjoy a successful career as well as being a present mum.
Hortense Bioy, CFA, is global director of sustainability research for Morningstar UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. Based in London, Bioy leads Morningstar’s environmental, social, and governance research efforts globally, with the objective of educating investors and providing them with the tools they need to evaluate funds through an ESG lens. Prior to assuming this role in February 2021, she was responsible for Morningstar’s sustainability research in EMEA for three years.
Before transitioning to a dedicated ESG focus, Bioy was European director of passive strategies research. She led an award-winning team that provides research on exchange-traded funds and index funds. Bioy joined Morningstar as an ETF analyst in 2010 from Bloomberg, where she was a financial journalist. She began her career as a mergers and acquisitions analyst at Société Générale in Hong Kong.
Bioy holds a master’s degree in finance from Paris Dauphine University and a postgraduate degree in finance from Paris-Sorbonne University. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.
As Director of Income and Employer Partnerships, Kathryn sits on the Leadership Team at the EY Foundation, a social mobility charity committed to enhancing the employability and earnings potential of young people from low-income backgrounds.
Kathryn works with business leaders to design social impact partnerships that support young people, while also aligning with the longer term business objectives around talent, DEI and future skills. Kathryn hosts the EY Foundation’s podcast (Careers Unlocked), which brings industry experts and youth voice together to discuss a range of topics. She began her career in political consultancy, working across the transport, energy and infrastructure sectors.
After a brief stint living in Rio de Janeiro, she moved into education, firstly as a History teacher in a state school, and then leading on partnerships and fundraising for the innovative School 21 in Stratford. Outside of work you can find Kathryn boxing, enjoying live music or travelling at any opportunity!
Fiona is the CEO of Women on Boards UK alongside advising a number of different boards and organisations. Currently she is an Advisory Panel Member for the FRC (Financial Reporting Council), advisor to Peel Hunt (mid-cap stockbroker) and Chair of Hanx‘s Nominations Committee (FMCG start-up). She is an expert in the areas of Governance, Regulation and Talent Management who has sat on both marketing and audit & finance committees.
Fiona was formerly a director for Hill Samuel Asset Management. She has advised the board of the Thai Euro Fund and is a Judge for the Non Executive Director Awards, sponsored by The Sunday Times. In 2020 Fiona joined King’s College London’s ‘Global Institute for Women’s Leadership‘ Advisory Board.
Deborah is the CEO of Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace, founder of Henpicked.net and author of Menopause: the change for the better. Her team have been working with UK-wide and international organisations for over 7 years to make it easier for them to introduce the right awareness, education and support of this critical area. In 2022 she launched Menopause Friendly Australia and established the first team in the US.
In 2021, she launched Menopause Friendly Membership and Accreditation. The membership is now supporting leading employers to achieve Menopause Friendly Accreditation. With hundreds of members, and over 100 who’ve achieved the award including Accenture, Boots, HSBC UK, BAE Systems and Leicestershire County Council.
In September 2023 the industry-recognised Menopause Friendly Employer Awards took place to highlight and celebrate best practice, and to recognise those employers who are leading the way in supporting their colleagues. Also raising vital funds for menopause charities and research.
Wendy is a burnout and sleep expert in the UK, as well as a Senior HR Professional and Coaching Psychologist in Nedbank Private Wealth International.
Wendy has had a successful HR career in large corporations like Accenture, Cisco, and Barclays before retraining as a psychologist to improve her HR and change management skills.
Wendy has been conducting research on sleep, nutrition, and anxiety (all key elements of burnout) for over 5 years and understands what causes it and how to prevent it.
Despite having high levels of grit and resilience, people have tried to bully or play psychological games with Wendy, and she has found a way to prevent this. Wendy has sometimes played along with the psychological games that people play to learn every element of the game so she can show you how to stop burnout.
Faye joined the Raymond James Hitchin office in the picturesque Hertfordshire town nearly two decades ago and has never looked back. Initially involved in a back-office position in 2004, while her children were young, she made the bold move to become an advisor in 2016. As she recounts, at 44, the thought of retraining felt like an impossible task – but soon wished she had made the move years earlier.
Fast forward seven busy, but fulfilling years to 2023, Faye now employing a team of nine, as co-owner of her renowned office in North Herts. Faye and her team help clients and business owners with their investment needs, and she especially enjoys helping female clients, who may have had limited exposure to investing, gain confidence and understanding of the investment process.
Faye jointly won the prestigious Best Business Women Award for Financial Services, 2019. Faye was recognised not only for the work she does with her clients, but within the local community through her work with fundraising and networking events. As a founding member of the Raymond James Women’s Wealth Management Networks advisory council Faye is passionate about the promotion of diversity into the wealth management industry. Faye also works with local schools promoting the industry at career fairs and has recently taken on the role as mentor to a group of female students through GAINs ‘Girls Are INvestors’ charity. Faye is also a long-term member of the Women in Business Network and hosts Hitchin Business Buzz.
Faye’s inspirations are her daughters’ Evie and Mia – and hopes their lives will be full of endless possibilities, thanks to all the amazing women and allies that are working so hard to change the world. She lives in Hitchin, with her partner Layth, her two daughters, Saroo the Cockapoo and Cosmo the cat. Faye is happiest when surrounded by her family and friends and is currently enjoying a new obsession with crochet.
Claire is an accomplished sales and marketing director with a proven record of delivering outstanding results by both improving performance in established ventures and launching new initiatives.
She has extensive experience of people leadership on a large scale having consistently lead and developed high performance teams, and has a built a reputation for turning around performance in challenging conditions through a solid strategy and plan, focus, energy and experience.
Claire has an ingrained and infectious positive attitude and has consistently demonstrated resilience through work and personal successes.
Charlie is a Senior HR & Reward Manager at LGT Wealth Management and has worked within financial services for 10 years. Sitting on LGT’s #included (D&I) committee, many of Charlie’s key focuses is to enhance the Firm’s culture, specifically in relation to diversity and inclusion, employer brand and social impact. Charlie leads on the firms Gender workstream, expanding our diversity data reporting capabilities and driving strategic change from a cultural and inclusion position.
Kameka is Head of Human Resources (“HR”) at Walker Crips Group and founder of Let’s Talk Diversity and Inclusion (“LTDI”). She has extensive HR experience, particularly in diversity, equity and inclusion (“DE&I”), recruitment, conflict resolution, change management, employee relations, learning development, and employer of choice initiatives. Kameka is commercially savvy and has experience of collaborating with senior management to conduct strategic HR planning to boost corporate goals and reaffirm HR best practices within DE&I initiatives.
Kameka has a proven track record of successfully implementing DE&I strategies, ensuring better representation from various groups within organisations. This achievement stems from addressing strategic plans for talent acquisition, retention, succession planning, as well as learning and development initiatives. Additionally, Kameka has led projects spanning organisational transformation and programme design to company acquisitions, from due diligence to ‘TUPE’ transfer. This showcases her exceptional communication skills, adept analysis and the ability to establish trust-based working relationships.
Outside of work, Kameka is actively involved and passionate about supporting youths and those suffering from mental health, through her role as a committee member of the YMCA. Kameka is involved in speaking at seminars to promote DE&I initiatives and to also empower women who are vulnerable within society. She mentors them in developing interview techniques and assists with CV writing to help gain employment.
Mark Freed has dedicated twenty years to his work at E2W, supporting women and helping them to flourish and succeed in their financial services careers. Four years ago frustrated at the slow pace of change, Mark recognized the imperative to get more men to drive diversity and inclusion by helping them to fully understand the issues and the opportunities at hand and formed Men for Inclusion. Today Mark works with a number of firms across the industry helping them to get more men involved in, and supportive of, inclusion initiatives.
Caroline is passionate about helping professional women achieve their career and personal aspirations. Through her company, Attitude Coach, they learn how to balance their personal and professional priorities, develop their resilience and personal authority and get support for their choices both at home and at work.
After a successful corporate career and co-founding a global innovation agency, Caroline now works with female executives to identify and transform the attitudinal and behavioural blocks limiting their progress through the leadership pipeline. Through her development programmes, women learn how to step up with confidence, find meaning and purpose in their professional and personal lives and inspire and influence others – so they can fully embrace and enjoy success.
David’s role is to create and deliver the distribution strategy for our Regional Development Managers who work with our key introducers. David works alongside our Heads of Office in ensuring that our supporting advisers across the country receive the highest possible care and attention.
David joined Quilter Cheviot in 2012 as a Business Development Director and became the Head of Strategic Accounts in 2016, responsible for the Head Office Relationships with National, Networks and Platforms, until moving into his current role in April 2020.
As an experienced business development manager, Helen’s role is to grow the footprint of Quilter Cheviot by interacting closely with professional intermediaries in the North London area. Helen aims to develop the relationships between the professional intermediaries and our investment managers by creating an awareness of the added value that Quilter Cheviot provide to both their business and clients.
Charlotte has been involved in capital markets, fintech and technology throughout her career – as CEO, Chair, Board Advisor and Non-Executive Director.
Prior to CFIT, Charlotte was Chair and Trustee of Open Banking and was also CEO of the fintech industry body, Innovate Finance. In this role, she supported the work of Sir Ron Kalifa in delivering the strategic fintech review (“The Kalifa Review”). She works closely with entrepreneurs, financial services firms, academia, government and regulators on fintech advocacy and strategy.
Charlotte received an OBE for her contribution to financial services in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021. She believes firmly in a diversity and innovation-first approach.
Rhian-Mari is Chief Executive of the Green Finance Institute, an independent, commercially focused organisation seed funded by the UK Government.
Rhian spent 20 years in investment banking and corporate finance and was the first person to be awarded an OBE for services to green banking. She is an emeritus member of TCFD and co-chaired the launch of the TNFD, to which she remains an advisor.
Rhian sits on numerous advisory groups across UK Government, as well as the World Economic Forum’s Clean Energy Financing steering committee and co-chairs the leadership council for Snowball Impact Investments. Rhian is also a Trustee of the World Wildlife Fund UK.
A fluent Welsh speaker, Rhian holds a PhD in Physics from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Julia has specialised in sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) for nearly three decades. She is a passionate advocate of the need for investors to pay far more attention to sustainability – believing that it is not only necessary, but financially sound and what many clients want.
Julia has run her own business, SRI Services, since 2010. SRI Services is primarily focused on helping retail financial services professionals to build sustainable investment into their businesses. Their focus is the open to all, ‘whole of SRI market’, Fund EcoMarket database tool – which is free to use thanks to fund partner support.
Julia is on the FCA’s Disclosure and Labels Advisory Group (DLAG) – helping shape the SDR. She is also the technical author of the British Standards Institution’s Fund PAS (BSI PAS 7342) which is due to publish in late 2023. Julia is also the lead author of the PIMFA ESG Academy.
Awarded ‘Best Sustainable & ESG Support Provider’ by Investment Week in 2021 their work is specialised but diverse, inducing working closely with B2B and D2C fund platforms and portfolio providers. Julia is also a regular conference speaker, media commentator and award judge.
Julia previously ran the sustainable investment area in Friends Provident (1996-2008), having first become involved in sustainable investment at NPI in 1991 (now respectively part of Aviva and Janus Henderson). She has previously served three (non-consecutive) terms as a director at industry not-for-profit UKSIF.
Megan is co-portfolio manager on the Sarasin Tomorrow’s World Multi-Asset Fund. She is also deputy fund manager of the Sarasin Responsible Global Equity Fund, Sarasin Thematic Global Equity Fund and Sarasin IE Global Equity Opportunities Fund.
Prior to joining Sarasin, Megan spent 4 years at Coutts & Co working as an Assistant Fund Manager for the Coutts Multi Asset Funds. Megan is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin with a degree in Business, Economics & Social Studies. Megan also holds the Private Client Investment Advice and Management certificate (PCIAM) as well as the Investment Advice Diploma (IAD) and is a CFA® charterholder.
Carly works in the Fund Research team and is responsible for the selection and ongoing due diligence of Asian and emerging market equity funds. Her main responsibilities include identifying new investment opportunities and monitoring current investments, which includes analysing the risks associated with the portfolio, process and team.
Carly works with both the investment managers at Quilter Cheviot and portfolio managers in the Quilter Investors multi-asset team, providing best ideas within Asia and emerging markets.
Starting a career with InterContinental Hotels as part of the opening team of the InterContinental Sydney, Karen worked across the Asia/Pac and then EMEA territories for the Group as Sales & Marketing VP, returning to the UK head office as part of the executive team in the early 90’s.
During her tenure at IHG she managed large, diverse and multi-cultural teams. This gave her early insight into understanding difference and inclusion. Leaving the group in 1999 when she couldn’t find a way to balance new motherhood with an international corporate career, she recognised the need to change this. And with co-founder Maxine Benson, everywoman was born – to create a business community that could effect change in the workplace for women all over the world.
Today everywoman is a leading learning and development organisation that works with over 100+ corporate partners, on and offline platforms and networks, to create greater gender balance in the global business community. Karen was awarded the MBE for services to women’s enterprise in 2009.
Tish is a barrister and Founder and Joint Chairman of the Society of Later life Advisers.
She has worked extensively in the areas of policy development, financial, legal training and advice delivery in relation to older people, and is involved in the delivery of national standard setting and accreditation for financial and legal advisers in the older client sector.
Her areas of expertise encompass the retirement market and how policy impacts on retirement and care.
Tish has worked with government departments and a variety of third sector and private organisations in developing and supporting good practice in relation to older and vulnerable clients. She was particularly involved with the implementation and delivery of the Care Act 2014 and sat on two working parties at the Department of Health which contributed to drafting parts of the legislation.
She is Vice Chair of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) in her home county of Kent and a Founder Member of Solicitors for the Elderly for which she is Head of Business Development.
Nike Trost heads the Asset Management and Pensions policy department. As Head of Department Nike is responsible for delivering the FCA’s policy strategy in relation to the asset management sector and FCA regulated pensions.
Nike has 15 years regulatory experience gained from working across the FCA, including in asset management supervision, oversight of primary capital markets transactions and heading the FCA’s prospectus approval function.
Prior to holding this role Nike was the senior manager of the FCA’s Markets Policy department. In that capacity, she gained extensive policy making experience and oversaw several teams delivering a broad policy portfolio, including in relation to the UK’s primary markets and market abuse regimes, derivatives and securitisation regulations as well as wholesale market conduct, audit and accounting and sustainability/ESG policy.
Rachel is Head of Policy Development helping financial advisers and planners understand the changing pensions and savings environment, as well as how new legislation and regulation affects them and their clients. She’s well known within the pensions and savings industry, and regularly speaks at AJ Bell events, alongside writing content and articles for their website.
Liz joined PIMFA (then known as the Wealth Management Association) as Chief Executive in 2014.
She has 30 years financial services experience, 19 of which as a Chief Executive. She successfully transformed and advised several businesses through redefining strategy, re-branding, change management and inspirational leadership, creating profitable businesses.
She has substantive experience of people and corporate culture risk, regulatory knowhow across the industry – banking, insurance and wealth management and providing good practice guidelines for the industry to adopt.
She is an accredited coach and industry leader encouraging collaborative participation of diverse groups of industry experts to address sector challenges and to leverage industry resources for collective benefit.
Liz holds a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Occupational Psychology from Birkbeck.
Sam joined Raymond James in 2016 and works as a Relationship Manager supporting the Firm’s Wealth Managers across all business models. She is also a Co-Chair of the RJIS Women Wealth Manager Network and has a keen focus on growing the Firm’s DE&I initiatives to encompass all diversity pillars.
Simon joined PIMFA in November 2017 as a Senior Policy Adviser with a focus on public policy and long term savings. He has previously worked at the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) and the Treasury in a variety of roles working on a number of issues including automatic enrolment, pension freedoms and the UK’s response to the financial crisis.
Simon has a strong interest in long term savings issues with a particular focus on overcoming behavioural barriers and the support structures that can be put in place in order to help and encourage a thriving savings culture in the UK.
Allison Barnes, the Scotland Manager at the Money and Pensions Service, leading on the UK Strategy for Financial Wellbeing in Scotland, working closely with Scottish Government and key stakeholders. A passionate advocate for financial education for children and young people and convenes the Scottish Financial Education Forum.
One the nation’s leading experts on and proponents of financial capability Allison moved in 2006, from a successful career in the Financial Service industry, to the Financial Service Authority (FSA) as their financial capability lead. She has since continued this critical work with the Consumer Finance Education Body (CFEB), the Money Advice Service and now the Money and Pensions Service.
Allison is also a volunteer for the MCR Pathways Programme mentoring a young person in school, was previously a volunteer with Edinburgh Children’s Panel and a volunteer advisor at Haddington Citizens Advice Bureaux.
Sam joined Raymond James in 2016 and works as a Relationship Manager supporting the Firm’s Wealth Managers across all business models. She is also a Co-Chair of the RJIS Women Wealth Manager Network and has a keen focus on growing the Firm’s DE&I initiatives to encompass all diversity pillars.
Pippa is responsible for partnerships with Investment Banks within the Debt Capital Markets. Her career in banking has meant she has been required to navigate her identity both in the work place and working overseas. This has lead her to drive forward the conversation of inclusion, ‘authentic self’ and is inspirational in sharing her experience to help individuals and organisations recognise diversity is a strength and how that can have meaningful impact on your colleagues, clients and ultimately building companies which are resilient and fit for the future. Pippa delivers these attributes through clear thinking and practical advice. Her skills in speaking about leadership, team management and diversity is delivered with humour and intelligent common sense. Whilst a strong focus on the financial sector.
Annie is the Co-Manager of Raymond James Investment Services’ Relationship Management team and has been with the Firm for 12 years. Annie is privileged to Co-Chair RJIS’ Women Wealth Manager Network with Sam Pocock as well as representing or UK business on our Global Women’s Council. She is passionate about Diversity, Equity & Inclusion work within our industry and our wider communities.
Alex joined PIMFA in June 2017 as a Policy Adviser, where she works on a wide range of regulatory matters, engaging with policy makers and the regulator to promote members’ interests.
She previously worked for the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) in the same capacity. APFA merged with the Wealth Management Association (WMA) to form PIMFA.
Alex has a legal background, having studied law at Cambridge University and was called to the Bar in 1997. She was a tenant at Lamb Chambers, Temple where she specialised in personal injury claims, contractual disputes and professional negligence. Alex has experience of advisory, drafting and court work including appearances in the Court of Appeal, the High Court and county courts.
Susan is a Workplace Savings Specialist at Scottish Widows leading a business development team for workplace pensions. She is a Chartered Financial Planner with over 30 years’ experience. Her particular passions are salary exchange and the gender pension gap, as part of wider employee engagement on the benefits of workplace savings.
Laura is an Investment Manager and a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI). She graduated with a 2:1 in History from Lancaster University before joining JM Finn in 2017. She assists with the management of approximately £400 million of Private Client Wealth, building and managing portfolios to meet clients’ short, medium and long term financial goals. Laura sits on the Diversity & Inclusion Committee and is passionate about promoting the Finance sector as a career option for women, delivering talks to schools and universities and driving initiatives within the firm and sector for obtaining and retaining female talent. She is responsible for monitoring and maintaining the recommended buy list for US Collectives, sits on JM Finn’s Asset Allocation Committee and Stock Selection Committee and also runs an internal investment book club.
Outside of work, Laura recently rowed across the Atlantic ocean with three team mates, completing the World’s Toughest Row challenge to raise a significant amount of money for some fantastic charities: Macmillan Cancer, the Outward Bound Trust, the Charlie Waller Trust and Prostate Cymru. Alongside the charitable fundraising, Laura also used the challenge to promote normalising women taking a career “break” for something other than having children, demonstrating that the investment industry does support women pursuing challenges outside of their careers.
Laura is a mentor for GAIN (Girls Are Investors) and sits on the CISI Young Professional Network Committee and the NextGEN Editorial Board at CityWealth. Laura was also recognised in the Citywire Top 30 under 30 Wealth Professionals in 2023.
I started in the Insurance Industry in 1993 while funding my university degree. It was an easy choice of job as my grandparents used the services of a brilliant financial adviser and I was fascinated with what he did. Having lost both parents by the age of 10, our financial adviser worked with our solicitor and helped my grandparents plan for the future and I shall be eternally grateful for all the brilliant financial advice that he gave. Having had a successful career working for several Life and Pension companies, I had grown tired of working in sales driven companies and established Equanimity IFA, a Chartered Financial Planning Firm, in 2004 with the aim of being a new style IFA. I am both a Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the Personal Finance Society.
In November 2023, Equanimity was acquired by atomos. I pride our business ethos of putting clients first and speaking in a language that they understand. Many people are scared of their money and have never given a second thought as to their financial goals. We help clients take control of their money by designing a financial plan based on their personal life and ambitions – do they want to fund children’s education, do they want to retire at 65, do they want to buy a yacht and sail around the world….the list is endless. I work with clients going through divorce which can vary from completion of the dreaded Form E, tax planning, and modelling financial settlements and implementing pension sharing orders. I regularly give talks to Family Lawyers on Pensions and Divorce.
Sheena has worked within the financial services industry for over 15 years. She is knowledgeable in driving positive change through the creation and implementation of effective strategy and leadership, and is experienced in organisational re-branding and M&A activity.
She holds a combined honours BSc in Psychology and Sociology and an Executive MSc in International Marketing from King’s College, London which she studied for while working full time at PIMFA. She also recently achieved MCIM status at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
Sheena joined PIMFA (formerly the Wealth Management Association) in November 2010. Over the last 10 years her team has implemented major organisational restructuring – including three new websites, the introduction of content management and client relationship management tools, e-marketing capabilities, e-commerce and CPD event modules. Sheena oversaw all the communication elements related to the organisation’s re-brand in 2013 and the merger with APFA in 2017. She is currently responsible for PIMFA’s media relations, brand management, projects, content creation, social media, database and website management, marketing and publications.
Her last role was at the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) where she worked in marketing, communications and event management. Prior to this she worked at Euroclear SA/NV UK & Ireland (EUI) and National Savings and Investments (NS&I) with roles in similar areas.
David Ostojitsch, Director of Government Relations and Policy, PIMFA
David joined PIMFA in November 2022 as Government Relations and Policy Director. He is responsible for PIMFA’s relationships with governments and regulators and regulatory and supervisory policy.
Before joining PIMFA, David spent 16 years working across financial services change and policy, including four years as the Director of Technology and Operations at the Association of Financial Markets Europe (AFME). Earlier in his career, David worked at PwC in investment management and technology advisory.
Isabelle joined Titan Private Wealth in July 2023, after spending 4 years in the charity sector as Head of Philanthropy & Development. She has previously worked in Corporate Finance in CSFB, and was on the management team at UBS Private Wealth in London. Isabelle is passionate about establishing new relationships and strengthening current relationships.
Henrietta leads the team responsible for communicating Brooks Macdonald’s macroeconomic views, investment strategy and portfolio management services to clients, intermediaries and prospects.
Prior to joining Brooks Macdonald, Henrietta spent six years as an Investment Director at M&G investments, with responsibility for both equity and property funds. Before joining M&G, she was head of the International Fund Selection team at JPMorgan Private Bank. Henrietta joined Brooks Macdonald from Sarasin and Partners, where she was deputy manager of the Model Portfolio Service and Chair of the External Funds Committee.
Philippa Ponniah is a former investment manager now in Strategy and Consulting at Accenture. She specialises in digital strategy and improving client and advisor experience within Wealth Managers. She is passionate about closing the gender investing gap and improving women’s financial wellbeing, training as a financial coach during her second maternity leave. She has been featured in Stylist, FT Adviser, Marie Claire and multiple national media outlets.
Jacqui Hobbs is Lead Training Consultant at Suzy Lamplugh Trust. She supports organisations and individuals to create targeted and practical training solutions and resources that are designed to create lasting behaviour change where it matters – in safety, security, health and wellbeing.
Jacqui has worked with private and public sector companies (tier 1 – 3) in the UK and internationally, with over 30 years’ experience of working directly with sector skills councils, national bodies and training providers. She routinely project manages teams of trainers and has a proven track record in maintaining an exceptional level of compliance and performance.
Jacqui contributes to the roll out of international ‘train the trainer’ programmes qualifications in UK, India and UAE and was part of the working group in formulating the National Occupational Standards in Personal Safety.
She has been a consultant with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust since its conception, responsible for producing bespoke learning and teaching programmes and internally quality assures international education and learning programmes.
Jacqui has been an advisor to UK Adult Education sector and UK Higher Education Universities since 2002. She has a BA (First Class Hons) Degree in Adult Education and Training from Greenwich University, and holds industry vocational qualifications; Assessor Award (D32/33), Internal Quality Assurer (D34) Award and External Quality Assurer Award (D35) and is a qualified and certified Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner. She is currently working towards an MSc Applied Neuroscience at King’s College, London.
Kevin started his career as an economist at the Bank of England. He worked at several investment banks and at Barclays Wealth Management (as Chief Investment Officer for Europe) before joining Rothschild & Co in 2014.
He is chair of the Cardiff Capital Region Economic Growth Board, and a member of the MS Amlin investment advisory panel.
Kevin studied at Glan Ely Comprehensive, UWC Atlantic College, the London School of Economics, and Cambridge University. For nine years he was a member of the UWC Atlantic College governing board, chairing its finance committee.
Kevin is an external speaker at Cambridge Business School’s MFin programme, and has been a retained speaker for the CFA Institute.
In 1994, at Morgan Stanley, he wrote the “Celtic Tiger” report on the Irish economy, still the fastest-growing – and most misunderstood – in Western Europe. His book “Making Sense of Markets” was published in 2015. He is a fellow of the Institute of Welsh Affairs, and a Trustee of the London Music Fund.
