Volunteer of the Year shortlist
news published date 9 September 2024
Launched in September 2023, the Student Engagement Strategy is part of WIBF’s efforts to increase the current participation rate of undergraduate women within the finance industry. The SES helps ensure young women are given the support, guidance, resources, and opportunities they need to enter the finance sector.
Andriana is passionate about the opportunity to encourage women from all background to join the world of banking and finance and ultimately create a truly diverse financial services industry across all levels and is perfect for this role at WIBF.
In her day job, Andriana works as a researcher in the Financial Services practice at Odgers Berndtson, an international headhunting firm. She works across the full spectrum of financial services including fintech, retail banking, insurance and regulation placing both executive and non-executive directors into senior positions.
Lauren and Lucy said: “Guiding our engagement strategy with precision and passion, Andriana stands as a beacon of dedication. Teaming up with Lizzy, she has forged an exceptional path, setting the stage for unparalleled student involvement in financial services. With a steadfast commitment, she’s cultivated a thriving working group and sparked a vision for the future that promises enduring resonance. We can’t wait to see what the Student Engagement team delivers for the rest of 2024!”
Lizzie Merrell, Andriana’s co-chair of the SES said:
“Andriana has been instrumental in building out and shaping the Student Engagement team and strategy at WIBF. Her strategic insights, unwavering dedication, meticulous planning, and thoughtful execution have all been key to establishing a robust foundation for the strategy. All of this is underpinned by her steadfast commitment to promoting social mobility and supporting students.”
Jennie Koo, executive board member and head of branches, said of Anita, “Having been appointed to lead the Bristol and South West region, Anita has reinvigorated the south west region through widening the scope of reach, acknowledging the change to working practices since Covid whilst recognising need for in person networking.”
“With the support of a strong regional steering group made of a mixture of both senior and early careers individuals, Anita has helped relaunch WIBF in Bristol and Cardiff with a bang, connecting both individuals and organisations through the power of in person events.”
Anita has also recruited volunteers into the regional board to continues with the ongoing growth and development of the South West region and we look forward to seeing the Bristol and South West region grow further.
Emma Graham was a member of the WIBF Scotland Board (Glasgow branch). As well as taking an instrumental role on the WIBF Scotland Board she has been supporting Victoria Pringle on the Mentoring programme. Emma initially joined as individual membership lead and put in place a communications strategy to target new members across Scotland.
She then took over the role as PEP lead and has a number of events in the pipeline, including the #IamRemarkable event. Victoria said, “Emma is a commitment member of WIBF Scotland and ensures her attendance at all our in-person events. It is fantastic to have her as part of our growing team.
Enya joined WIBF in November 2022 to work with Deborah Vickers and became a member of the Future Leaders Shadow Board on the operations team. Enya has been an invaluable asset in her role supporting the onboarding of volunteers at WIBF. Enya’s dedication, professionalism, and exceptional interpersonal skills have significantly contributed to the success of our volunteer programme.
Enya joined the team with a passion for fostering community engagement and a commitment to advancing the mission of Citi and WIBF. From the moment she started, it was evident that she possessed the qualities needed to excel in her role. Her ability to connect with people and make them feel welcome has been instrumental in attracting and retaining a diverse group of volunteers.
Debs Vickers told us: “Enya’s organisational skills are commendable. She has efficiently coordinated the onboarding process, streamlining procedures and ensuring that volunteers receive comprehensive training. Her attention to detail has not only facilitated a smoother integration for new team members but has also enhanced the overall efficiency of our volunteer programme.
Enya’s commitment to our organisation extends beyond her official responsibilities. She has actively sought ways to improve existing processes and has taken the initiative to propose innovative ideas to enhance the volunteer experience. Her proactive approach and creative thinking have been instrumental in shaping the future direction of our volunteer program. Her role is very behind-the-scenes, so we wanted to thank and recognise that.“
Enya has now joined the operations team as an employee, but still volunteers on the Future Leaders Shadow Board.
Gwen’s unwavering commitment and innovative approach with the mentoring programme has fostered a supportive environment where individuals can thrive, gain confidence, and develop essential life skills. Her ability to inspire the mentoring team and guiding both mentors and mentees alike has made a lasting impact on the mentoring community, creating a ripple effect of positive change. As a result, WIBF have been inundated with requests to deliver mentoring programmes both generally and bespoke to our Corporate Partners.
Anna Lane said, “Gwen has been nothing short of instrumental in steering our mentoring programme through a period of considerable change. She hasn’t merely been managing tasks; she’s been leading us through a transformation, overseeing everything from system integrations to membership criteria. Her thoughtfulness in approach and dedication to detail are allowing us not just to transition but to elevate the entire programme. Gwen, your contributions are not only appreciated—they’re making a significant impact.”
Lorna joined WIBF in May 2023 as joint co-Chair for Scotland and Chair for the Glasgow region.
She has been instrumental in driving forward the WIBF Scotland (Glasgow) agenda. Lorna quickly engaged the wider network and looked for those ‘quick wins’ whilst also ensuring we pulled together a more comprehensive strategy to cover our region.
Lorna has taken the lead on a number of events and is comfortable presenting to large groups of people (no easy task!). She is also very supportive and offers her assistance on other events being run across the network. She also liaises with the Edinburgh Board Chair (Jill Henderson) to ensure alignment across Scotland. Lorna is a crucial member of the WIBF Scotland team.
Lauren had recently taken over as co-chair of FLSB when she was nominated in March, but is also still working with Bev across both Alumni and Entrepreneur Communities.
Lauren has worked with Bev on strategy and development for the Entrepreneur and Alumni Communities, helping design the visions for 2024 and beyond. She has effectively identified areas of delegation and successfully sourced highly skilled volunteers to support high quality delivery.
Bev highlighted that Lauren has done an amazing job at building internal and external relationships to leverage efforts and drive successful outcomes. She has identified opportunities within WIBF’s internal communities and external network initiatives to develop the most successful programmes.
Bev said, “I admire the way Lauren has actively engaged with the WIBF Management Board bringing a fresh lens to our discussions and strategy ideas for 2024 whilst threading ideas through from FLSB into WIBF. She is an ambitious, energetic, passionate collaborative team player, who thrives on the stimulation and learning that comes from being both inside and outside her comfort zone.“
Lucy Ellis-Keeler, Lauren’s co-chair of the Future Leaders Network said – “Lauren’s seamless transition into the co-chair role reflects her exceptional leadership acumen and dedication to our collective mission to create a more equitable future within Financial Services. This recognition is a testament to Lauren’s exemplary contributions and the positive impact she continues to make within our organisation”.
Lauren joined the Future Leader Shadow Board as a relationship manager working with Nicky King on corporate partnerships. She then moved roles in May to the Technology team. In her day job, Lauren is a Lead UX Designer focusing on inclusive digital experiences for clients and colleagues across asset management, wealth, and retail.
Lauren is passionate about diversity and inclusion having previously worked with third sector organisations who aim to make spending time in nature accessible to all. She currently has a focus on digital accessibility, working to ensure services meet the needs of vulnerable customer groups. Lauren is an active member of gender equality networks both within her organisation and in the wider industry, as well as championing greater learning and development opportunities to attract, retain and promote female talent in financial services.
Nominated by Nicky and Jess Funke-Maspes, this accolade of Volunteer of the month is for all Lauren’s fantastic work in both creating the new WIBF Corporate Partner web pages and also for supporting the Pipedrive CRM implementation project. Lauren’s expertise and methodical approach helped us navigate the various phases, ensuring the CRM is customised to align with our business processes and needs, including data preparation and rigorous testing. She also provided invaluable support during the rollout and training of the team, ensuring a smooth transition. Nicky said, “Lauren’s structured approach, enthusiasm and collaborative spirit have greatly contributed to the success of the project. She’s an absolute pleasure to work with and we couldn’t have done it without her!”
Lucy Ellis-Keeler, co-chair of the Future Leaders Shadow Board said, “Lauren is incredibly hardworking and ideas driven; she is a true role model for young talent in this sector and we are fortunate to have her on the FLSB.”
Lizzy worked tirelessly to launch the Student Engagement Strategy, aimed to inspire and inform young women considering a career in financial services. Lizzy has been key in curating the in-person “Ask Me Anything” sessions at partner Universities. She produced a fantastic launch event in collaboration with King’s College London’s Women in Business Society.
The second event took place at the University of Bristol with the Women in Finance society, which featured speakers from Citi, TLT, and Tumelo. She has also planned an excellent pipeline of events to engage with different Universities and we think she is thoroughly deserving of this recognition.
Lucy and Sarah said, “Lizzy has done a stellar job of launching our Student Engagement Strategy. We have received excellent feedback, which is testament to Lizzy’s hard work, dedication and vision to encourage more students to consider a career in finance.”
Maryla Wytrazek- Relationship Manager & WIBF Scotland Board Member
Maryla is a relationship manager for the Edinburgh Branch and sits on the WIBF Scotland Board and works very closely with all the Scottish corporate members and has built up strong relationships, ensuring high levels of engagement. Maryla very much ‘leads by example’ and is a highly motivated member of the WIBF Scotland team, responsible for ensuring that we are always considering what we should be delivering for our corporates in Scotland. She is an invaluable asset to the team.
Jill Henderson, co-chair of WIBF Scotland added, “Maryla is a proactive board member who readily supports events as well as her super promotion of WIBF through her Corporate relationships. A team mate we value hugely!”
Nicky King, Head of Corporate Relationships said, “Maryla is a fantastic Relationship Manager volunteer and has been instrumental in fostering and growing our corporate partner memberships in Edinburgh. She is extremely engaged and supportive of WIBF and I am delighted that she has been nominated volunteer of the month.”
Ras has been a key member of the mentoring team since joining more than 2 years ago. Not only is she a key part of the London team, by being the co-lead. She is now the head of curriculum for Mentoring -where she develops the programmes and materials to support the mentoring community. She has now joined the WIBF team permanently as Corporate Partnerships Manager.
She has single-handedly developed the Mentor Curriculum, which is a 6-monthly webinars to support our mentors to discuss the common topics that mentees raise during their mentoring pairing.
In addition, Ras continues to develop the contents for the Group Mentoring Programme (series of 6 workshops)- guiding small group discussions on common challenges the mentoring community face (including How to be heard effectively, How to manage negative feedback, etc). These have been very well received by the community – continuously waitlisted, and are also popular with our corporate partners for their own internal events.
Lastly but not least important, Ras is also a “super” mentor for the programme. She takes on mentees who may have faced challenges with other mentors, or those with very specific requirements.
She also supports other regions when they need additional support, mostly supporting content and facilitation for events.
Siobhan joined the Belfast Branch of WIBF in July 2022 and is the Head of Development/ Personal Excellence Programme as well as sitting on the Belfast Board.
Siobhan has been hosting many of the PEP events over the past year, not just for Belfast and it’s been a joy to watch her become more confident in her presenter/host role. She has bought the regional PEP leads together with regular meetings and has ensured that we have a full calendar of virtual events from all regions across the UK.
Nicky King, nominated Siobhan saying – “Siobhan has worked so hard over the last few months on pulling together all the PEP speakers for the first half of next year, their bios, securing the dates and regions to host and ultimately creating a PEP brochure for us to send out to our corporate partners in order for them to secure a hosting slot. All of this whilst juggling 2 other day jobs!”
Victoria is responsible for running events and all Treasury related activities. Victoria has delivered many events over the past year centred around educating and supporting individuals to access opportunities within financial services. These events range from mentoring circles, career development workshops to connecting women via networking events. By arranging these events across the central belt Victoria is giving women the opportunity to seek advice, connect with others across the industry and hopefully result in these individuals improving their positions within the sector.
She also helped deliver a financial wellbeing event at the Mound in Edinburgh, which centred on ensuring women have access to the right information to make the best financial decisions for the long term.
Victoria is responsible for matching over 300 females to mentors in 2024 alone, with the hope that these individuals will then capitalise on their mentoring experience to secure access to improved opportunities within the sector. Victoria can evidence an abundance of feedback from mentees all of whom have advised that their lives have been turned around due to having a great mentor, securing new roles within the industry.