On the shortlist: Shannon Oleson & Rachel Mann

Huge congratulations to Rachel Mann and Shannon Oleson, jointly shortlisted for Volunteer of the Year 2025 in recognition of their exceptional leadership of WIBF’s Future Leaders Network (FLN). Since becoming Co-Chairs in 2024, they have transformed the FLN into WIBF’s largest and most active community – tripling membership, expanding partnerships, and launching creative initiatives such as the Future Me Mentoring Programme, Monthly Mystery Meet-Ups, and the Future Leaders Book Club.

Their dynamic partnership embodies collaboration in action. Balancing demanding careers with their volunteer commitments, they dedicate over 50 hours a month to empowering early-career women and building a thriving community of future leaders across the UK. Under their stewardship, the network has achieved record engagement, corporate partnerships with firms including Citi, IG, and Wells Fargo, and a 400+ strong online community.

Together, Shannon and Rachel exemplify WIBF’s values of connection, leadership, and action — a true force to be reckoned with.

How does it feel to described as one of WIBF’s ‘most successful co-chair pairings’ and see both of your contributions recognised together?

We are absolutely delighted to be shortlisted together for WIBF Volunteer of the Year. It’s been a pleasure volunteering together and leading Women in Banking Finance’s flagship community – the Future Leaders Network!

It’s incredibly rewarding to see the Future Leaders Network thriving as the outcome of a years’ worth of work as Co-Chairs so we are delighted to take this moment to pause, reflect and celebrate success together.

We are an excellent partnership – we are very fortune as our skillsets match perfectly! We play to our strengths and lift each other to up to be the best Co-Chairs for the Future Leaders Network.

Our partnership is a testament to the power of WIBF’s core values of engagement and connection as we met through the network.  We were introduced at a WIBF event in February 2024, became Future Leader Co-Chairs in July 2024 and grew the network to WIBF’s flagship community by July 2025!

Since becoming Co Chairs, you have transformed the Future Leaders Network into WIBF’s largest and most active community. What are you most proud of achieving as a team? 

First and foremost, we are most proud of the exponential growth of the Future Leaders Network because this has had a direct impact championing young professionals and building connections in financial services industry in the UK. Over the last year, we have added value to hundreds of WIBF members through the 300% network growth and launched several new initiatives such as the Future Leaders LinkedIn Group, Future Leaders Book Club, Future Me Mentoring Programme, Monthly Mystery Meet Up Programme and Speed Networking sessions! Our quarterly FLN Corporate Partners events at Citi (Q1), IG (Q2), Symphony (Q3) and Wells Fargo (Q4) had record attendance which highlights the engagement of our members.

Many of our Future Leaders have secured new promotions, new roles, new mentors and even new friendships through the Women in Banking and Finance Future Leaders Network and we are extremely proud to be part of that success.

Secondly, we are incredibly proud of hiring and building a high-performance Future Leaders Team – the Future Leaders Network Working Group – who have driven the strategy and execution for the network.

We have four talented team members who work exceptionally hard to make sure the Future Leaders Network is delivering excellent value for our members:

• Megan Ellis, Head of the Future Leaders Content and Book Club
• Leonie Russell, Head of Future Leaders Social Media
• Doris Baus, Future Leaders Network Secretary
• Jessica Parrish, Head of Future Leaders Events

It’s a pleasure to work with together to drive positive change in financial services for women. We have had such a successful year as a Future Leaders Network team that we are excited to announce – we will be hiring for Regional Future Leader Reps in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland!

 You have introduced creative initiatives like the Future Leaders Book Club, Monthly Mystery Meet Up, Speed Networking and the Future Me Mentoring Programme. How do you decide which ideas to run with, and what has been the impact so far?

We listen to our members and appreciate that connection and collaboration is the ultimate goal for WIBF Future Leaders Network, in order to develop an industry network that is independent of an internal work network, so our strategies are designed to provide opportunities to learn and network.

Our aim is always to provide a platform to build bonds and strengthen partnerships with innovative and new ideas. Our Book Club is especially popular, and we are fortunate to have inspirational female industry leading authors lined up to host at our meeting spot, the Book Bar!

Leading the FLN requires a huge personal commitment in terms of time and energy. What keeps you motivated to dedicate so much to WIBF alongside your day jobs? 

We are both exceptionally passionate about striving for equal opportunities for women in financial services and making the industry a better place for those coming up behind us as it is still difficult industry to break into, and navigate, for young women in the first 10 years of their career.

Leading the Future Leaders Network is the perfect role for us as we are very motivated to create a positive impact and make a real difference so that keeps us energised and engaged! It is so rewarding to see live connections being made, exciting new ideas discussed and the energy in the room during our networking events, panel sessions, workshops and book clubs!

We volunteer outside of working hours so that is often very early in morning, late at night and at weekends alongside our day jobs so that definitely requires extra energy.

The busiest (and best!) month of our volunteering year is March as it is International Women’s Day/Month and there are many inspiring women’s events so we have an exceptionally busy schedule! One of the highlights of our IWD calendar is ringing the closing bell on International Women’s Day at the London Stock Exchange! It is a very special way to celebrate the progress of all the female trailblazers in the industry.

Your partnership has been described as a ‘force to be reckoned with.’ What have you learned about collaboration and co leadership that might inspire other women to take on leadership roles together? 

 The secret to our success is that we are both strategic, driven and action orientated so we implement strategies and drive progress quickly. We believe that progress isn’t about intention — it’s about action! We love impact measurement and data management so we can track progress and hit our goals.

In addition, the natural skills from our day jobs are a critical success factor and significant value driver– we are both saleswomen and relationship managers at heart – so that is a very helpful skill when strategizing and negotiating on the network’s behalf!

Shannon’s critical thinking, communication skills and adaptability in partnership with Rachel’s innovative solutions to complex problems have result in an exponential growth trajectory for the network.

We are always happy to lead from the front on the Future Leaders Shadow Board, share our successful strategies and identify opportunities for cross pillar so we can work together to maximise impact across fellow WIBF communities such as Student Engagement, Mentors, Female Advisors, Female Entrepreneurs, Alumni etc – the FLN/SES Mentorship Programme is a great example of this teamwork.

 Finally, what would you say to someone considering volunteering with WIBF about the benefits it brings – not just for the wider community, but also for personal growth and career development?

 Our partnership and leadership of the WIBF Future Leaders Network has been one of the highlights of our careers so far! We have gained so much from the experience personally and professionally, from leadership and teamwork to entrepreneurialism and negotiation. It has been an exciting opportunity to grow a community into WIBF’s largest and most successful network. The experience has strengthened our corporate skillset for our sales roles and positioned us well for future leadership opportunities.

The mentorship from the Management Board and Executive Board is incredible and we are very fortunate to have such experienced industry leaders to learn from.

Our advice to Future Leaders:

• Connect -> Look at the current shadow board pillars on the WIBF website and contact the FLSB member that runs the pillar you are most interested in. There are often Working Groups you can join to volunteer before you apply for a formal FLSB role.
• Apply -> Keep a look out for the right FLSB role for you, as each term is two years long, and new roles always come up in the cycle.
• Attend -> Attend as many of the WIBF events as possible – everyone is so lovely and it’s always great to see familiar, friendly faces each time you go. Hopefully you’ll see us there too!

If you’re a member and would like to join the Future Leaders Network, you can sign up here.