Nick Williams

Nick is a highly respected Executive with extensive experience in leading transformative change in complex organisations, across the public and private sectors. Nick is a member of the WIBF judging panel for this year’s Awards for Achievement.

As Managing Director of the Commercial Transformation at Lloyds Banking Group, he is responsible for Technology, Business Change and Digital channels to transform the banks capability in the Corporate Bank. Prior to this role, Nick ran the Consumer & Commercial Digital businesses across the group spanning across the 13m online users (9m mobile) in Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Scottish Widows.

Nick is also the Group’s Ambassador for the North region, managing relationships with central and local government, MPs and LEPs. As the Chair of the Northern Executive Committee, he brings focus to the region with the objective of helping northern communities and businesses prosper.

We asked him some quick questions to find out more about our judge.

What will you be looking for when you judge the candidates?

I already know it will be really difficult to judge these awards, as there’s always such a high calibre of nominations. However, I think those candidates who have shown real drive and ambition to not only improve themselves but others around them. All candidates are going to have to achieve tremendous results, but those who have created a legacy that has made a sustainable change will stand out for me.

Why do you think awards for women are still so important?

These awards provide a great opportunity to share the success stories of women across our industry, and act as a reminder of the talent available that is sadly still, often overlooked. It gives a platform to celebrate success and provide aspiring young females with role models they can learn from.

You attended the Banking on Diversity in Tech event last year, what stood out for you that afternoon?

I was honoured if not slightly daunted when invited to do the opening welcome at the event. I said at the time that every senior leader should experience presenting to an audience that lacks diversity to understand how it feels. It certainly gave me an appreciation of how different it is, what an opportunity it can be to embrace but also recognise that it is far from easy – a challenge I don’t generally have day to day, but many others do.

How can men be better at understanding the need for championing women in the workplace?

I think it’s important to champion all talented individuals in the workplace regardless of their gender or indeed any other factor which is irrelevant to their ability to do their job to a high standard. Over the years organisations have increasingly recognised the benefits of developing and encouraging female talent. Whilst it’s clear that there is tangible business benefit to this, we should encourage all men to listen to their female colleagues and it’s their diversity in thinking and experience that may differ to theirs that will create an inclusive workplace, more representative to their customer base and society.