Our 25th Awards for Achievement

2023's awards

Now marking their milestone 25th anniversary, our Awards for Achievement continue to showcase the extraordinary individual talent and reformist corporate initiatives that progress diversity, equity and inclusion in the UK financial services industry. And, as with all WIBF activities, gender equity is of particular importance.

National lunchtime awards

Tuesday 10 October saw the digital ceremony take place - a packed 90 minutes of conversations and keynote speakers - with the winners of the 2023 Awards for Achievement being announced live on the broadcast.Hosted by Kate Thornton, journalist and television broadcaster, and Anna Lane, President of WIBF, head heard from Amanda Blanc, Group CEO of Aviva, and Jackie Leiper, CEO of Embark Group. We also heard the conversations with Jennie Koo, Head of Regional Branches at WIBF, and Dr. Grace Lordan, Founding Director of the Inclusion Initiative at LSE. And announcing our amazing winners, we have David Holton and Lorna Hinds-Sotomey, both members of WIBF's Advisory Board.

The Awards for Achievement virtual event was made possible by Cynergy Bank, Deutsche Bank, Succession Wealth and Wells Fargo. We are also grateful to Lloyds Banking Group, Moody's and Santander for their support.

Edinburgh & London Celebrations

These awards were not just events. They were also a testament to unyielding progress and the indomitable spirit of women in finance. As we lifted our glasses to the 25th anniversary of these seminal awards, we were delighted to be able to host events in both Edinburgh on Tuesday 10 October and London on Thursday 12 October.

The first of these two evenings was one brought together the very best of WIBF’s supporters in the Scottish capital. And for those that attended the evening reception, we hope the photos linked here are a reminder of the lovely evening and inspiring speeches by Jackie Leiper, CEO Embark; Anna Lane, President & CEO of WIBF; Dr. Grace Lordan, Founding Director of the Inclusion Initiative, LSE; and Jennie Koo, WIBF’s Regional Head of Branches.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere for the London evening was electric! And we were delighted to once again welcome the brilliant Anna Lane and Kate Thornton to host this London award winners party, which welcomed onto the stage our newly crowned 2023 Awards for Achievement winners. Here, we welcomed our own WIBF Patron Dr. Heather Melville OBE to the stage. Edwina Dunn OBE, founder of The Female Lead and Anna Jones, the cofounder of AllBright, also gave inspiration to those attending. Taking place at the Museum of London Docklands, we wanted to thank everyone who supported the event and who were able to join us on the evening. Photos from the press wall can be viewed via the link here. The fantastic evening saw a champagne reception, flash speeches, street food and all drinks, live music and dancing!