DELIVERING FOR WIBF MEMBERS | AWARDS ALUMNI NETWORK | MENTORING UPDATE

DELIVERING FOR WIBF MEMBERS The WIBF Executive Board, Advisory Board and Operations team got together last month to look at how we are delivering WIBF for members.    We confirmed the importance of the WIBF Awards for Achievement in our calendar as a showcase of that year’s best work for women and diversity as well as recognition and celebration of those achievements. It is a showcase for WIBF as a network and for our members.

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DELIVERING FOR WIBF MEMBERS

The WIBF Executive Board, Advisory Board and Operations team got together last month to look at how we are delivering WIBF for members. We confirmed the importance of the WIBF Awards for Achievement in our calendar as a showcase of that year’s best work for women and diversity as well as recognition and celebration of those achievements. It is a showcase for WIBF as a network and for our members. We will look to engage further with the UK Government especially around the Women in Finance Charter to ensure we are all working together as effectively as possible for the same ends. We want to work with the men who support diversity in our workplace too. As you know, we had our first male WIBF Awards winner in 2015 as well as very impressive and committed shortlisted men this year. We need more!

John Dickinson, Diversity and Inclusion Manager for Corporate Member, Tesco Bank, said recently: “WIBF is a genuine network looking to make a difference, not a profit” Exactly. You, our members, are at the centre of everything WIBF does. What could we be doing better? Let me know at #itsmywibf

SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF WIBF AWARDS ALUMNI NETWORK

The first WIBF Awards Alumni Network event was held on the 20th September at a fun and incredibly inspiring evening at The Ned in London. We welcomed over 60 attendees including, Carolanne Minashi, a WIBF Award winner from the first awards event and Anne Watts, one of the co-founders of WIBF, through to award winners from 2017. Noel Harwerth, WIBF Patron, set the tone for the evening – and for the network – with her insights into her impressive career including her current role as Chair of the UK Export Finance (UKEF) Board. We know that every award winner has made an impressive difference to their workplace and business outcomes as well as to the women they work with, and it was tremendous to hear about the different and impactful experiences throughout the evening.

WIBF EXECUTIVE BOARD

WIBF Executive Board member, Martha McKenzie-Minifie, is standing down as Head of Marketing and Communications. Martha has overseen the complete rehaul of our website and established our fabulous branding. Thank you, Martha, for your work and commitment to WIBF and we look forward to staying in touch at future WIBF events. I am delighted that Leigh Smyth, Lloyds Banking Group (and 2016 WIBF Award winner) will join the WIBF Executive Board as Marketing and Communications Lead – welcome Leigh! You can read more about Leigh here.

FT’s HERoes list for 2017

Congratulations to Sarah Carroll from MUFG (shortlisted for the WIBF Team Diversity Award 2017), Elizabeth Raffle from Lloyds Banking Group (shortlisted for the WIBF Award for Achievement 2017) and Heather Melville of RBS (2010 WIBF Champion for Women) who were recognised in the effecting the greatest changes for women in business. We were delighted to see representatives from corporate members KPMG, Credit Suisse, Sky and Lloyds on the list too. Congratulations everyone. Link to FT here

Vivienne Artz

WIBF President

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Support our Edinburgh Branch in raising money for the homeless

The Edinburgh branch of the WIBF board are sleeping out in Princes Street on Saturday 9th December in aid of Social Bite, a local charity who support the homeless in employment, food and housing. We use this charity when we can to cater WIBF events and are keen to further support the causes of this organisation. Please help us in our fundraising by donating through this link

WIBF Corporate Members

We are delighted to announce that Santander has joined us as a Corporate Member. We look forward to working with them.

Mentoring Programme

Thank you so much to those of you who have signed up to join our mentoring programme. We are now in the process of matching mentors with mentees and will be in touch within the next three weeks.

Bristol

Applications for the mentoring programme in Bristol is still open until 13th October. If you are looking for a mentor please complete this form If you would like to become a mentor please complete this form

Volunteers Required

Are you an active Mentor or Sponsor? WIBF are looking for three or four volunteers to assist our speaker and friend, Andy Lopata, at the next Personal Excellence Event in London “How to Find Mentors and Sponsors Without Asking” on 16th October 2017 at 6pm. You will be asked to answer one or two questions based on your experience as a mentor or sponsor at the same time as enjoying a space at this sold out event. Please email [email protected] for further details.

Join the WIBF Team!

We are currently looking for people to look after Corporate Membership Relations within each of our branches. We are also looking for someone to head up Individual Membership Relations. For more information please have a look at our career opportunity page

News from our Birmingham Branch

Following the launch of the Birmingham branch, chaired by Jennie Koo, we are delighted to welcome the following people onto the Birmingham committee to lead each of the regional programmes: Ashley Chalk – Pricing Actuary, Zurich General Insurance Jo Simpson – Executive Coach and Author Tara Zutshi – Leadership Coach Laura Suffolk – Director, RBS Invoice Finance Lisa Phillips – Regional Managing Director, RBS Invoice Finance Baljit Kaur – Diversity & Inclusion Specialist As the Birmingham branch grows, there is still an opportunity to become part of this new regional board. We are seeking a secretariat, marketing lead and communications lead. This is an excellent opportunity to become part of WIBF’s newest branch and help it grow. Please get in touch with [email protected] for more information these roles or for further information about the Birmingham branch.

Event Reports

We’ve had so many fantastic events in September, too many to report on here, but if you’d like to read more then click on the links below to read our event reports.

• Birmingham: Mentoring- What can it do for me?
• Edinburgh PEP: How to Shine in an Interview and Strengthen your CV
• Edinburgh: Sex Talk: Understand Gender Differences and Communicate more Effectively at Work
• Edinburgh: Change and You- How to approach Change at Work and in Life
• London PEP: Personal Branding
• London: Supper Club

Keep an eye on the website for more exciting supper club events, which include the annual WIBF Christmas party, and a Burns Night Special for January 2018. Tickets go on sale soon! If you would like further information, or to register your interest for attending, please email [email protected].

Save the Date

Lloyds Banking Group in association with Digital Leaders and Women in Banking and Finance will be holding an afternoon conference on Thursday 2^nd November at 1.30pm – 4.30pm in County Hall. Only 17% of employees in the UK tech sector are women. This event will bring together thought leaders from across the banking and technology industries and challenge them to look at things differently. All events can be viewed on the website here . The full event listing will be emailed out on the 16th October.

Women Returners in Scotland

Women Returners have been awarded Scottish Government funding to develop and run the Returners to Financial Services Scotland Programme. This programme will enable organisations to pilot a returnship in a highly cost-effective manner, and support 40 women who have been on an extended career break to get back into skilled employment. If your company recognises the benefits of diversity and bringing talented returning professionals into the organisation, please get in touch with [email protected] If you are currently on a career break, have financial services experience and are ready to resume your career, please register your interest with hazel at [email protected]

Join us on Social Media!

Follow us on Twitter @WIBFtweets Join the WIBF LinkedIn group for all our latest news and events Follow us on our brand new Flickr Account for event photos

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