Building Safer Financial Futures

Sharon Coyle has over 15 years’ experience working across the violence against women and girls sector. She is passionate about systems change improving how institutions respond to abuse, rather than placing the burden on victim-survivors.

Sharon is currently Training and Partnerships Manager at Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA), the only UK charity dedicated solely to ending economic abuse. Her work focuses on raising awareness, influencing policy and legislation, and equipping professionals across the coordinated community response  to domestic abuse including financial services, police, local authorities, and family support and healthcare sevices with the tools to identify and respond safely to economic abuse. She is particularly committed to driving legislative change in Northern Ireland to ensure economic abuse is explicitly recognised in domestic abuse legislation.

Claire Towe is a passionate advocate for women’s homeownership. In 2022, she co-founded Meet Margo, a multi-award-winning, tech-first mortgage and protection start-up built to make expert mortgage advice more accessible for women.

Claire’s work is rooted in addressing the very real barriers that prevent women from owning homes - from the gender pay gap and career breaks, to lack of financial confidence, poor access to advice, and the often-overlooked impact of economic abuse. Through Meet Margo, she is helping to reshape how women navigate the homebuying journey, ensuring they are informed, protected, and empowered to make decisions on their own terms.

With over 15 years’ experience in brand communications, Claire has represented some of the UK’s biggest consumer brands, developing a deep understanding of how to connect with people in a clear, relatable way. She brings that same approach to Meet Margo, ensuring women feel supported, informed, and confident when making big financial decisions.

Nichola is a Legal Director with Mills Selig’s Banking & Finance team – she specialises in real estate (investment and development) finance, corporate finance, and corporate and business banking.

Nichola is regularly instructed by commercial and investment banks, alternative funding providers, developers and business owners.

Nichola has acted on both borrower and lender sides throughout her career. This well-rounded practice has given Nichola a solid understanding of all parties’ perspectives on a finance transaction and allows her to pre-empt legal issues before they arise.

Having previously specialised in Indian banking work, Nichola also has extensive international experience, allowing her to manage large numbers of stakeholders whilst bringing multi-jurisdictional transactions to swift and efficient conclusions.

Hannah recently joined Mills Selig’s Banking & Finance team as a solicitor, having qualified in September 2025 after completing her training contract with another Belfast-based firm. She supports financial institutions and businesses on a wide range of funding transactions, helping structure deals and progress projects and investments efficiently and securely.

Siobhan is currently a Corporate Account Manager with HSBC and has been working in financial services for 19 years. Siobhan was awarded with the Leader Business Development Manager of the Year at the 2021 British Mortgage Awards and most recently featured on the 2025 Best Women Mortgage Leaders in the UK Elite Women List.  She is the Co-Chair of Women in Banking & Finance (WIBF) in Northern Ireland and has also been leading WIBF’s UK Personal Excellence Programme for the last 3 years.

Cathy serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Arkk.   Arkk, has established itself as a leader in delivering a distinctively fresh approach to tax automation, regulatory reporting, and digital tagging.

In addition to her role as Co-Chair for WIBF NI, Cathy is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion. She actively supports these values as an Ambassador for Women in Business Northern Ireland, and is a Mentor for both networks.