Dominika Chrastilova | Project Analyst | NatWest
I was born in Czechia and since young age trained to be a professional violinist; this led me to earning my first degree in violin performance.
I left that path and decided to go chase my dreams in the UK. I graduated in Sociology and then MSc in International HRM. I became interested in technology and data, and during the lockdowns learned some coding and FinTech fundamentals. I decided to apply for the NatWest CBS graduate scheme as it takes you through four different areas of the bank and covers a wide variety of work. I wanted to keep learning fast after my formal studies and I knew this will be a way how to continue learning while honing my professional skills. Before that I completed internships at the UNICEF, UN Global Compact, and finally at the Glasgow City Council Health and Social Care Partnership. Apart from that I took on many volunteering roles as a TEDx conference co-founder and co-organiser; HR Lead for the Glasgow Economic Conference, and President of the UNICEF at Glasgow University, amongst others. These experiences allowed me to start building professional skills. After joining NatWest I worked on the bank's Climate Hub, a new colleague journey through our agile framework and currently in the Bank of APIs working on the VRPs. Apart from that, I consulted a FinTech start-up in the NatWest Accelerator to help them change the way people donate to charities around the world. I am a mentor at Yoda Mentorship.
Claudia Hill | Threat Intelligence Analyst | Morgan Stanley
Claudia is a GCTI certified threat intelligence analyst in the Mission Management Cell at Morgan Stanley, working to bridge the gap between tactical cyber defense teams and senior management by providing awareness of new and ongoing cyber threats to the Firm.
She has a Master of Arts in Security and Terrorism from the University of Kent and, prior to joining the Firm, worked for a private security company delivering intelligence products to multiple clients and conducting online investigations.
Claudia grew up in Zimbabwe, Africa moving to the UK at the age of 18, an upbringing which she believes has shaped her resilience and "make a plan" attitude when it comes to problem solving. This attitude, creativity, and drive have resulted in continued opportunities, sponsors and achievements, which have accelerated her career exponentially.
Claudia is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in her sector, participating in and leading initiatives within networks. This includes promoting women in technology, representing the associate population in technology management decision making, sitting on panels to encourage careers in cyber security, and, outside of the Firm, mentoring a high potential school student.
Claudia has an infectious positive attitude and her pursuit for knowledge of the cyber threat landscape, tooling, teams, and people has influenced her network, creating greater collaboration and teamwork to produce outstanding results. She continues to drive forward, learn and advocate for others in a career that is only just beginning.
Catherine Wright | Senior Vice President | SVB UK
Catherine Wright is a Senior Vice President in the Corporate Finance team at SVB UK where she is involved in the origination & execution of innovative debt funding for both listed and private mid-market transactions in the Technology sector, spanning across multiple sub-sectors including: Enterprise Software, FinTech, Life Sciences, e-Commerce & Digital Media.
Catherine is Co-Chair & Founding Member of the SVB UK Gender Employee Resource Group, also partnering with The Gender Index, engaging and leading over 650 colleagues to drive systematic change towards a gender-balanced, inclusive and equitable workplace.
Prior to joining SVB UK, Catherine was a VP in the TMT Corporate Banking team at Bank of Ireland. She successfully completed several rotations in Consumer Finance, Industrials Finance & TMT Finance. Whilst in this role, she created and led the UK Gender Balance network where she managed & coordinated initiatives across EMEA, working with key stakeholders to champion I&D across the bank.
Catherine has been recognised for three years running in the Top 100 Future Female Leader HERoes List by Yahoo Finance (2022, 2021 & 2020), she was named as a winner in WeAreTheCity’s TechWomen100 in 2022 and was also shortlisted for the Women in Finance Award 2022. In 2020, Catherine founded The Women in Business Society, a global professional community serving over 1000 women, supporting the professional development of members by way of masterclasses, workshops and a quarterly magazine. As a keynote speaker and accredited life and career coach, Catherine individually coaches and mentors highly motivated and ambitious women across the UK and internationally.
Avni Dave | Project Manager | RBC
Having graduated with a degree in International Business with French and Spanish, my early career was defined by a stint in New York working for Liquidnet, a dark pool liquidity trading firm.
Upon returning to the UK I worked at HSBC within the Global Markets Operations team. The role provided a strong foundation in Banking and allowing me to work in Manila to transition key activities and train a team of five. It was an invaluable opportunity and helped focus my next career move to Deutsche Bank.
At Deutsche Bank I worked as a Project Manager in the Treasury Change team on a number of projects. Notably, executing upon Group Treasury's Brexit strategy, where I led delivery for the Issuance and HQLA desks.
Determined to expand the breadth of my Capital Markets knowledge, I took a role at RBC in 2019 within the Business Transformation Group. As Vice President, my key remit is to deliver and execute multiple cross-functional projects concurrently, covering varied and complex topics such as Brexit, Consumer Duty to strategic initiatives for Capital Markets.
I am a collaborative and trusted partner who works closely with diverse individuals of all levels to effectively solve multifaceted problems in a structured manner.
Keen to channel my personal circumstances and create a more inclusive RBC, in 2022, I became chairperson of an Employee Resource Group, iCare - focused on enhancing the lives and effectiveness of employees by promoting the wellbeing of individuals and the challenges they may be facing in life.
Anya Van Den Berg | Vice President - Data and Analytics | Deutsche Börse
Anya has worked in the data and technology space within the financial sector for 15 years and was recently promoted to lead the Analytics Sales team globally at Deutsche Börse.
She dedicates her time to being a mentor to other women in the industry through the “Women in Banking and Finance” (WIBF) programme and was recently recognised for the Rising Star award at the “European Women in Finance 2022” awards.
Anisha Kochar | Leveraged Finance Associate | NatWest
Anisha is a caring, determined, hardworking individual who approaches all aspects of life with enthusiasm and drive and is always seeking out opportunities to help others.
After discovering a love for mathematics at school, Anisha went on to achieve a first-class BSc Hons degree in MORSE (mathematics, operational research, statistics and economics) at the University of Warwick. In her first year of university, she completed a female insight week in Structured Finance at NatWest, leading to her being offered a summer internship with them. After successfully completing the summer internship, Anisha joined NatWest on the Structured Finance graduate scheme where she did 4 rotations in Rating & ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) Advisory, CFILM (Corporates, Financial Institutions & Loan Markets), Mid Cap Leveraged Finance and Infrastructure & Project Finance. Anisha completed the graduate scheme in 2022 and joined the Mid Cap Leveraged Finance team as a permanent associate.
Anisha has always been passionate about helping underrepresented groups of people and creating more diversity and inclusion in society. This led her to become a strategy committee member on the Gender Network, leading the 50 Ways to Fight Bias initiative, and joining the People & Inclusion Hub for Corporate Banking & Structure Finance (CBSF) at NatWest.
Amber Sidney | Vice President, eFX Distribution | Morgan Stanley
North London born and raised, innately ambitious, perfectionist and a dangerous love of shopping - at least half the recipe of your typical Banking candidate.
Like many, I grafted my way into the Finance world through the classic concoction of an Economics-based degree, a Sales & Trading Summer Internship and various industry work experience. Combined with a focus on networking, hard work and a little helping of luck, 5 years later I now sit on the electronic FX Distribution team as a Vice President at Morgan Stanley.
Whilst my route into the industry was conventional, the path to my current role was not - after a spontaneous coffee with a mutual connection at Morgan Stanley and several interviews later, I made the somewhat risky decision to leave my Graduate Scheme at HSBC and undertake a new Sales role in a financial product I had no prior experience with. A steep learning curve initially, I now enjoy my day-to-day, which involves client relationship management and pitching for new business.
As a female in the industry, I feel deeply passionate about ensuring there is a sense of belonging for all individuals. I am an active member of various Diversity and Inclusion initiatives and work hard to challenge the status quo. On the other hand, I also recognise my place of privilege and prioritise working closely with colleagues to give back to external communities in need (most recently fundraising £29,000 for The Felix Project).
My life motto is that tough times don’t last, tough people do.
Synergised Solutions Ltd
Synergised Solutions Ltd provides aligned and meaningful business solutions, empowering and motivating your workforce towards organisational success.
We are a team of HR and D&I specialists with over 25 years combined experience working with multinationals, top tier consultancies, developing and progressive government and public sector agencies.
Throughout our careers, we have worked across the UK, Europe, USA, Caribbean, UAE and Australia delivering consultancy interventions and keynote presentations in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Paris and USA.
We are a values based organisation with integrity and passion as our foundation stone in delivering solution-focused results. Using our knowledge and experience in emotional intelligence, authentic leadership and mindfulness; we create a holistic approach in our Diversity and Inclusion programme, which allows organisations to create an equitable platform that promotes honest and open dialogue during the implementation of culturally sensitive change initiatives.
We believe, organisations should aim for synergy across their infrastructure, ensuring progression and organisational growth.
EMPOWER: We believe empowering all individuals to understand and navigate sensitive subjects within the workplace, by increasing the capacity of individuals and groups: enabling them to make informed choices and to transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes.
ALIGN: We seek to illuminate the gaps between personal values and organisational practices in a way that supports effective and harmonious working relationships.
TRANSFORM: We seek to transform difficult workplaces, and by engaging with individuals, we can evoke and raise a higher motivation and value-led leadership style, encouraging them to make desired changes, to improve their current outcomes.
Atos IT Services Ltd
Atos are a global leader in digital transformation with over 107,000 employees in 71 countries and an annual revenue of over € 11 billion.
As European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, we provide end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions.
Rethinking the way, we live and work, we believe we can take care of each other and the planet through making positive changes in business and society. The purpose of our business is to help design the future of the information space. Its expertise and services support the development of knowledge, education and research in a multicultural approach and contribute to the development of scientific and technological excellence. Across the world, the Group enables its customers and employees, and members of societies at large to live, work and develop sustainably, in a safe and secure information space.
Decarbonization is the new crucial topic associated with digitalization. Digital increases the consumption of IT but also revolutionizes operation models, with the opportunity to redesign business models more respectful to the environment.
Starling Bank
Starling Bank is an award-winning, fully-licensed and regulated bank built to give people a fairer, smarter and more human alternative to the banks of the past.
It offers personal, business, joint, euro and dollar current accounts alongside a children’s card. Starling also provides a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) proposition through its subsidiary Engine, using the proprietary technology platform that it uses to power its own bank. Headquartered in London, the bank has offices in Southampton, Dublin and Cardiff.