Suri Shandilya | Managing Director | HSBC
Suri has been a driving force in championing women inside and outside of HSBC.
Despite males dominating Financial Quantitative Modelling roles, Suri has been able to make a change within his team to involve women who are often reluctant to embark on such careers. Today, while over 40% of his team are women, more importantly they hold leadership positions. This representation has been a great head turner for the industry. Suri assesses team members purely on achievements to ensure that there is no pay review bias against gender or other characteristics. The unmasked pay review saw more females promoted and compensated purely as a result of performance in his team!
Suri is an executive sponsor in D&I and oversees six Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). Suri has helped to setup chair roles equally across genders to benefit the business from diverse talent and gender neutral inclusivity for its 6000 members. Suri has often supported women in helping them balance family or personal needs around work. For one female team member, multiple life events (pregnancy/move to new country) taking place at the same time made her feel that there was no option but to resign, as the easy way out. Instead, Suri worked closely to plan various routes to either return to work or not, with no strings attached. Eventually, since the former was preferred, a new role was arranged and in a new country to show how HSBC goes the extra mile to not only support motherhood but meet the changing needs of the family. Through these examples Suri shows how one can spontaneously thrive from providing equal opportunities to women. As a Managing Director in HSBC, Suri sets an example of why it is can be so easy and natural to champion women for life inside and outside work.
Alice Huang | Business Development Pipeline Manager | PwC
In 2019, I took a bold step and moved from China to the UK for my family.
I joined PwC UK and work as the Business Development Pipeline Manager for PwC’s Deals Line of Services. I am proud to be PwC’s Global Digital Accelerator and BE YOU at PwC award winner for sales and marketing.
Beyond my day-to-day work, I had the honor of serving as the first comm and media lead for PwC's East and South East Asian (ESEA) network. I am proud to have played a key role in promoting the inaugural firmwide Lunar New Year celebration and establishing September as ESEA heritage month in our firmwide D&I calendar.
I was also privileged to be selected as a ColorBrave Committee member, which allowed me to extend our current community engagement program with PwC foundation to ESEA charities. I onboarded Chinese Women in the City as their business mentor.
Together with Yvette's family and friends, I helped start the #SwabforYvette campaign, which aimed to diversify the stem cell registry and save her life. The campaign gained support from Gemma Chan and later became a joint effort endorsed by various different Chinese groups. Through this campaign, we were able to raise awareness and ask for more stem cell donors from ethnic minority groups aiming to create a future where ethnicity does not influence who survives blood cancer. I was shortlisted as Chinese Women of the Year in the volunteering category for my efforts.
Amy Woo | Operations Manager | Sullivan & Stanley
I am a dynamic and accomplished professional with a track record of success across multiple disciplines.
With extensive experience in Business Operations, HR, Finance, People Management, Sales Operations, and Process Optimisation, I have been described as a force to be reckoned with in the business world. My relentless drive to excel and passion for continuous learning have led me to achieve remarkable feats and earn the respect of colleagues and industry leaders alike. Whether I’m leading a team through challenging times or optimising processes to improve efficiency, I’m always pushing myself to reach new heights and make a meaningful impact on the organisations I serve.
As a second generation immigrant, the value of diligence and striving for self-improvement has always been instilled in me. Upon completing my English Literature degree at University, I was determined to find a career that would inspire and engage me in the same way that my studies did. My professional career has spanned across various industries, ranging from Law to the Arts. I developed my understanding of the mechanics of how a successful business runs and the importance of company culture, vision and purpose.
My commitment is to create an impact through my work and motivate those around me. As an Operations Manager in a specialised Change Consultancy, I persistently challenge the limits of what we can achieve and strive to move closer to our company's ultimate goal.
Clay Van Doren | CEO Central Europe. CEO Northern Europe & Asia Pacific. | Atos
Having spent 20+ years in tech, Clay believes there’s never been a more exciting or challenging time to lead & collaborate with diverse teams, individuals & customers across the digital services sector.
Proudly leading two of Atos’ vibrant regional businesses, Clay is a member of the Atos Group’s 10-person Executive Board.
As Chief Executive Officer for Central Europe and Chief Executive Officer for Northern Europe & Asia Pacific (with a presence in 13 and 22 countries respectively), he is focused on delighting the huge variety of customers both regions serve, while ensuring that a highly engaged & diverse workforce lies at the foundation of it all.
With his unique & deep multi-industry expertise combined with the innovative application of technologies (such as multi-cloud, app migrations, high-performance computing, AI, cybersecurity), Clay prioritises the delivery of differentiated digital outcomes that are making a positive contribution to local societies. He considers the “how” to be as important as the “what”, with inclusivity & belonging at the core of his work.
Clay’s tenure as Atos’ Chief Executive Officer in the UK has seen a hands-on approach with clients & employees that has helped improved customer satisfaction to best-in-industry and supported the acceleration in DEI at every level of the UK organisation.
Lily Mortimer | Supervising Associate | Simmons & Simmons LLP
Lily is a Supervising Associate and Solicitor-Advocate in the Disputes and Investigations team at Simmons & Simmons, specialising in complex multi-jurisdictional disputes.
Her recent experience includes defending a high-value dishonest assistance claim in the banking industry and acting on a range of aircraft leasing disputes. She also has experience acting in cross-border arbitrations and advising on contentious regulatory investigations.
Lily has also been secretary of Simmons’ gender network The Number One Club (TNOC) since around 2019, and is a regular contributor to its committee meetings and events. Recently, Lily has led on TNOC’s webinars for International Women’s Day in 2022 with UN Women (exploring what the UN has done to improve gender parity within its organisation) and in 2023 with Joy Burnford (discussing themes from her book “Don’t Fix Women” and, with a panel of her Simmons colleagues, how to drive male engagement in gender equality issues).
Lily holds a law degree from the University of Cambridge, as well as an MA (LPC with Business) from BPP University and Higher Rights of Audience from the University of Law. As part of her MA (LPC) qualification, Lily conducted a research project on gender balance in modern law firms.
Lina Khanom | Associate solicitor | Dawson Cornwell LLP
I am an Associate solicitor at a top tier law firm in the City.
I am a Resolution Accredited Specialist in Child Abduction and Private Children Law. I have been recognised as a “Recommended Lawyer” by The Legal 500 2023.
I have experience dealing with all aspects of family law. However I have dedicated my career to helping the most vulnerable in our society, including domestic violence victims, young females at risk of forced marriage and FGM, and children who have been abducted and alienated from a parent. I help people during the worst moments of their lives to find a path towards rebuilding their lives. For example, I represented a client in a transnational spousal abandonment case, after she was left stranded in Iraq with her two children by her husband without their travel documents. I assisted in securing new Iraqi and British travel documents, and subsequently secured their safe return to England.
Coming from humble beginnings and being the first generation graduate and lawyer in my family, I dedicate my time to mentoring aspiring lawyers to achieve their dreams. I am also a part time lecturer in law at the University of Law and teach law students to achieve their potential. I relish in inspiring the next generation of young people that they too can make their dreams a reality.
Megan Hulme | Associate | Mishcon de Reya
I went to the university of Lincoln (a non-Russell Group University) to study Law.
Neither of my parents went to university and I did not have any contacts in the legal industry so this was a big step for me! After graduating, I went straight on to do my LPC full-time at the University of Law. At this stage, I was also working part-time as a paralegal in a small firm in order to fund the costs of moving to London and the LPC course. I self-funded my entire education due to coming from a socially mobile background.
After completion of the LPC, I landed a paralegal role where I stayed up until I got my Training Contract in September 2020. I am now an Associate in the Insolvency & Restructuring Litigation team at Mishcon de Reya LLP. Since qualifying, I have been involved in very exciting multi-million-pound and complex matters. I usually advise directors, creditors and insolvency practitioners in the context of financial distress and contentious insolvency situations.
Alongside my full-time role, I run an Instagram page called It’s All Hearsay, which was created to offer help, motivation and guidance to all aspiring lawyers (as reported in the Times). It's All Hearsay provides succinct typographic-style posts that include information on training contract applications, assessment centres, networking and rejections, plus more. This platform was nominated for the Best Use of Social Media, last year and listed as the top 20 "lawfluencers" to look out for in 2023 by Legal Cheek.
Rachel Duffy | Principal Associate | Eversheds Sutherland LLP
I joined Eversheds Sutherland on qualification in September 2016, having completed my training contract at Howes Percival LLP.
Since then, I have built a strong reputation amongst colleagues and clients alike, as a commercial, pragmatic, well-respected and well-rounded corporate real estate lawyer. I work across sectors with a particular focus on Industrials, Financial Institutions and Consumer. My day to day role includes portfolio management and work allocation, disposal and acquisition programmes, re-financing, sale and leasebacks. I have developed a reputation as a positive, open and ‘can-do’ member of my team and the wider business - someone who is always willing to drive projects forward whether for clients, colleagues or the firm as a whole. In addition to my 'day job' I have also invested a lot of time in driving forward growth opportunities for my practice area and supporting my firm's Diversity and Inclusion networks, taking a leading role in Eversheds Sutherland's gender network.
In my role within the gender network I am passionate about driving forward change in respect of health and wellbeing with a particular focus on fertility health and baby and pregnancy loss. I have delivered various campaigns and shared stories and information amongst colleagues to try and break the ‘taboo’. My work in this area has led to direct feedback commending me for my “inspiring advocacy for change in the approach to miscarriage and baby loss, the firm’s gender targets and the importance of wellbeing at work”.
Simranjeet Kaur Mann | Junior Associate | Founders Law
Simranjeet is currently a newly qualified solicitor specialising in the General Commercial and Fintech practice area.
She was a trainee solicitor for a UK Top 20 law firm having received three training contract offers after studying Law at the University of Bristol. She has amassed a range of work experience, having completed three vacation schemes, undertaken three paralegal roles and briefly worked at a “Big 4” accounting firm. She is passionate about increasing diversity across, and access to the legal profession, which has led to her offering regular guidance to aspiring solicitors via her Instagram page and her (light-hearted yet informational) YouTube channel. Authenticity and relatability are the key objectives Simranjeet aims for in all the content she creates. Her projects have since evolved to organising networking events alongside like-minded diverse professionals. She also creates content about general careers, productivity, lifestyle and being Panjabi.
In respect of culture, being Sikh and Panjabi is integral to Simranjeet’s identity. Since getting married in August 2022 (from which several viral content was created), Simranjeet has increasingly shown more cultural-related content on all of her platforms (TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube). From promoting Asian-owned businesses to showcasing the latest in South Asian fashion, Simranjeet has diversified her content in this manner. Simranjeet is continuing to engage in projects that aim to increase inclusivity in professional spheres.
Taryn Walker | Trainee Solicitor & Implementation Manager | Summize
As a Trainee Solicitor at Summize, a legal tech company, I have made significant contributions to the overall experience of our clients, internal processes, and the wider social impact of the organisation.
I have successfully led the implementation of our software for over 50 in-house legal teams, laying the foundations for a number of positive online reviews and case studies by my clients on their experience working with myself and the business.
Alongside this, I also co-chair our Corporate Social Responsibility team. Through our CSR initiatives, we have made positive contributions to our community, such as providing ethical legal resources, donating toys to children’s charities, and creating food parcels for Manchester Central Foodbank.
Additionally, I founded ‘Women @ Summize’, a group dedicated to promoting gender equality and creating an empowering space for the women working at Summize. I organise monthly events and host inspirational external speakers to lead discussions with the team.