Jennifer Small

In 2023, against a very strong field, Jennifer was nominated for and won the Women in Banking & Finance Inclusive Leader Award. Almost a year on, we caught up with Jennifer to find out more about her, her role at the Bank of England and what she has achieved in the last year.

Jennifer is the Head of Division, Notes Operations at the Bank of England. Her team is responsible for leading the operations that fulfils the Bank’s obligations as the sole issuer of banknotes in England and Wales as well as its statutory responsibility to ensure public confidence in banknotes issued by Scottish and Northern Irish banks. This requires oversight of a multi-disciplined team across several sites with expertise in fields as diverse as economic and quantitative modelling, risk analysis, operations and science to meet a range of challenges from developing high quality, secure new notes, forecasting demand and managing their efficient production and distribution across the UK.

Immediately prior to this and also at the Bank of England, Jennifer was the Head of Division, Data and Statistics and prior to that and for several years, she worked in PRA Supervision where she supervised several of the global, big banks.

Jennifer is passionate about diversity and inclusion. She is the former Co-Chair of two of the Banks’ employee networks: Women in the Bank and the Bank of England Ethnic Minority Network; was a trustee of the Young Barnet Foundation, a non-profit organisation supporting children and youth charities in Barnet; and was also a judge of the Precious Awards which champions ambitious women of colour by shining a light on their achievements. She is currently a trustee of Make Space for Girls, a charity that seeks to have the needs of girls factored into the development of parks and other public spaces.

Throughout her career, Jennifer has been recognised for her achievements and had the honour of being named an EMPower Future Leader, 2017. In 2021, Jennifer was accepted into the Fellowship Programme of the Forward Institute whose purpose is to bring together exceptional leaders from multiple sectors to explore the nature of responsible leadership and practical approaches for tackling complex organisational change.

How did it feel to win the 2023 Inclusive Leader Award and how has it impacted on you as an individual and your career?

The overwhelming feeling was one of shock, followed by joy. It felt wonderful to have been recognised. I will also admit that I felt a strong sense of responsibility to take the platform that the WIBF Inclusive Leader Award gave me to do even more in this space.

What have you been up to over the past year professionally? Anything you are particularly excited about?

From a professional perspective, I have been very focussed on launching the HMK Charles III banknote which I am pleased to say entered circulation on 5 June 2024. As the Head of Notes Operations at the Bank of England, I lead the team that designed and produces sterling banknotes and given that this was the first time that we’ve seen a change of monarch on our notes, I am so proud that it all went so smoothly. Engagement from the public, the industry, the media etc. has been great.

As co-chair of the Women in the Bank network at The Bank of England, what are you most proud of achieving?

Sadly, I stepped down as WIB Co-Chair after having worked flat out to deliver some things of which I am immensely proud. So, if I may, I’ll be cheeky and list a few things that I believe moved the dial on gender equality. First, in 2023, the Bank launched its Menopause Guidance. The guidance was there to provide help and support, not just to women who are experiencing the menopause but to all colleagues. The aim was to normalise conversations about the menopause so that they simply become part of general wellbeing conversations. Second, we did an incredible amount of work on the career development of the most junior scales in the Bank. This was again important from a gender perspective because this cadre typically includes a lot of women. An example of the great things that we achieved was to obtain funding to stand up a career development programme. The pilot for the programme will be drawing to a close soon and I hope that this becomes part of the ongoing Bank offering.

What strategies do you employ to stay motivated and innovative professionally?

I am a very curious person and I love to learn new things. It is this curiosity that helps me to stay motivated. I am also a people person. I enjoy engaging with people and hearing what they have to say, yes about work but also about their lives. I really do believe that we deliver our best work when we work collaboratively with others and as a team. In terms of innovation, I lead a team that is responsible for research and development so I stay close to them. However, I also engage with the industry by reading up on things myself, attending conferences etc.

What advice would you give to young women entering the industry today?

Network, network, network! Sometimes, this can be daunting so in terms of formal networking events and environments, take a friend if it will give you courage. That’s the other bit of advice that I’d give, be brave! Make opportunities for yourself but when they come your way, grab them!

And for the fun question: If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be?

Again, I’m going to be cheeky and name two figures – Harriet Tubman and Audrey Laude.