Top 50 Rising Stars presented with trophies in House of Commons ceremony
WeAreTheCity presented the winners of the Top 50 Rising Stars awards with their trophies last night, in a ceremony at the House of Commons.
The rising star awards were introduced to showcase the pipeline of female talent in the UK and to create role models across 10 different industries and professions. The awards focused on celebrating the achievements of women under a management level regardless of age.
In a ceremony sponsored by RBS and attended by over 150 professional women Vanessa Vallely, Managing Director of WeAreTheCity, said: “For us at WeAreTheCity, creating these awards has been an amazing journey. Both our judges and my team have had the privilege of getting to know over 340 women throughout the awards process.
“It is fair to say that all of the women who entered were truly amazing and deserve recognition for their achievements.”
Last month Bloomberg hosted an evening event for the 100 shortlisted finalists which Vallely touched upon during her speech: “As mentioned at our shortlist event at Bloomberg, the dream was to create some form of initiative that would recognise women and their achievements below a management level. Why? Because it is clear that the focus on women on boards, over the past five years, has achieved great success, however the question must now be ‘how do we build a robust pipeline of women who will one day assume senior positions within our organisations?’”
Vallely addressed the room as being an “amazing array of future role models. Paving the way for women who will follow in your footsteps. Shining your light brightly as beacons for your industries and professions. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate every single one of you.”
The event was hosted at Portcullis House by the Government Equalities Office. Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, Minister Equalities and Family Justice, Caroline Dinenage was present and said: “When I was elected to Parliament only a year ago, 22% of women were in Parliament so it is nice to be in a room filled with so many women tonight. We now have the highest number of women in Parliament in history and I am proud to be a part of that to encourage more women and girls across the country. We have finally realised that we don’t need quotas and that change is starting to happen.
“It is fantastic to see an event and awards that focuses on success at every level. It is important to continue to identify female talent and to help them to fulfil their true talent in the workplace.”
She continued: “The pay gap is at the lowest in history and we have eliminated it for women under 40. Businesses are now realising that they can’t miss out on the talent offered from half of the population. We must also remember to support senior women and we are stamping out age discrimination. There are no limits to age, so I’m pleased these awards are for women at the start of their careers.
“This is a kickass room of top notch role models. We need to continue to encourage women to be the best they can be, to overcome challenges and to reach management or the level they desire to be at.”
Heather Melville, Director for Strategic Partnerships at RBS, said: “This has been one of the most challenging awards I have ever judged, because they were all so fabulous in terms of what they do in their roles, what they do for other people and how they help others in their communities. Going through them I thought ‘wow this is what tomorrow's future looks like.’”
“A huge congratulations to those who made the top 100 and to the final 50. That’s another 50 to add to the pipeline, to continue on the journey towards a balanced boardroom.”
The winners of each category can be found in alphabetical order below. Full details of each winner can be found here.
Images from the Award ceremony can be found here.
Rising Stars - EA/PA’s – Sponsored by Barclays
- Debbie Grimshaw, Brother UK
- Donna Evans, Barclays
- Donna Olliver, KPMG
- Sue Stoner, PWC
- Vicki Ghiotte – Sodexo
Mark McLane, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Barclays, said: “A famous quote already mentioned this evening was ‘If you want something said ask a man; if you want some done ask a woman’. EAs and PAs need to understand the competition and help me in being successful and I’d like to congratulate all of our winners for being exactly that.”
Rising Stars – Media & Journalism – Sponsored by Guardian Women in Leadership
- Emma Al-Munshi, Kruger Crowne
- Gemma Guise, Journolink
- Jessica Gioglio, Sprinklr
- Tamara Leigh, IRIN
- Victoria Smith, My Little Black Book
Harriet Minter, Editor of Guardian Women in Leadership, said: “I am excited to sponsor this awards as women in leadership is not just about senior women.
“The winners in this category are a true reflection of what journalism needs today and it makes me feel like my industry, that is sometimes considered to be on its last legs, actually has a very bright future.”
Rising Stars in Law, The Lynne Freeman award – Sponsored by Reed Smith
- Alicia Millar, Reed Smith
- Caroline Andrews, Giles Wilson
- Gemma Lodge, DLA Piper
- Rashida Abdulai, Hogan Lovells
- Sascha Grimm, Cooley
Tamara Box, Chair Financial Industry Group at Reed Smith, said: “The women we are celebrating tonight are our future leaders.”
Discussing Lynne Freeman who the award is dedicated to Box said: “Lynne was a shining beacon on how to be an inspiring role model. She was a true hero, generous and a very devoted and true friend. May she inspire you as she has always us.”
Rising Stars in Insurance - Sponsored by Lloyd’s
- Caroline Renouf, Rossborough Guernsey
- Diane Kennedy, Lloyd’s
- Dominique Liberto, Aon UK Ltd
- Nathalie Majlis, Barclays
- Sarah Gerken, Willis
Pauline Miller, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Lloyd's, said: “Only 1% of school leavers are interested in insurance whereas 15% say finance and banking and 22% are interested in professional services such as law and banking.
“The pipeline is showing us that they have amazing skills, can start networks, and volunteer and are doing this really well. We recognise up and coming talent at Lloyds and this awards is absolutely amazing.”
Rising Stars in Banking - Sponsored by Societe Generale
- Emma Couper, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Joy Adams, Deutsche Bank
- Layla Mullins, HSBC
- Lucy Brooker, RBS
- Nicola Ruane, EY
Ben Higgins, Human Resources Director at Societe Generale, said: “The banking and finance has seen considerable change. To continue to drive change we need to continue to promote diversity overall.”
Rising Stars in Consulting - Sponsored by EY
- Dara Kirton, PwC UK
- Emily Thorpe, Happy Working Mum
- Jo Sweetland, Green Park Interim & Executive Resourcing
- Julia McColl, Capco
- Sarah Smith, CGI
Tracey Bowen-Lowe, Partner at EY, said: “This is a passionate room of women. We have children, home lives and complexities but we can become partners in consultancies too.
“This is a formative group that will make a drive not just in gender but in our businesses too.”
Rising Stars in HR & Recruitment - Sponsored by Twenty Recruitment
- Angela Cooke, PwC UK
- Becky Rogers, C&C Search
- Mel Aston, Merlin Entertainments PLC
- Mitra Janes, DLA Piper
- Rosa Goncalves, Kidbrooke Community Enterprises
Ak Kaur, Director at Twenty Recruitment, said: “Awards like these put diversity and gender at the tip of our tongues.”
Rising Stars in Technology - Sponsored by Morgan Stanley
- Isla Kennedy, Accenture
- Melanie Ogden, Transport for London
- Memona Mohammad, BT
- Polina Zabelina, BP
- Rashada Harry, Vodafone
Gerard Hester, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, said: “We are extremely challenged in the technology world at the moment in finding talent. We’re looking to improve our diversity further at Morgan Stanley, because of this, so we run a number of programmes to support the pipeline.
“Congratulations to all and we look forward to following you in your careers.”
Rising Stars in Sport - Sponsored by Ladbrokes
- Alice Powell, Alice Powell Racing
- Amy Hughes, The 53 Foundation,
- Annie Zaidi, Leicester City Football Club, Centre of Excellence
- Emma Mason, Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP
- Liv Cooke, Liv Cook Freestyle
Kate McLennan, CRM Director, Retail at Ladbrokes, said: “There has been a huge amount of change around the enthusiasm for women in sport now and we also have many women out in the field working for Ladbrokes.
“It has been so great working with WeAreTheCity to promote women in sport.”
Rising Stars in Investment Management - Sponsored by BNY Mellon & Newton
- Ashley Smith, British Gas Venture Capital
- Gemma Stanbridge, Westminster Wealth Management
- Sarah Brakebill, BNY Mellon
- Stephanie Niven, Tesco Pension Investment
- Vinita Ramtri, Barclays
Joanna Symes, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, EMEA at BNY Mellon, referred to the winners as “relentless” “courageous” and “energetic”. “Congratulations to all of the winners,” she added.
The winners of each category can be found in alphabetical order below. Full details of each winner can be found here.
Images from the Award ceremony can be found here.
WeAreTheCity Top 50 Rising Star Winners | Announcement
WeAreTheCity are proud to announce the winners of their Top 50 Rising Star awards. The Rising Star awards were introduced to showcase the UK pipeline of female talent below management and to create female 50 role models across 10 different industries and professions.
The awards were entered by 340 individuals were judged by a panel of 14 independent judges. Over 15,000 public votes were received for the 100 shortlisted nominees from across 112 countries. The awards were kindly sponsored and supported by Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale, BNY Mellon, Newton Investments, Reed Smith, Twenty Recruitment, Ladbrokes, Guardian Women in Leadership, EY, Barclays, Bloomberg, RBS and the Government Equalities Office.
Vanessa Vallely, MD of WeAreTheCity said “It has been a total honour to run this years awards and highlight the achievements of so many amazing women, the calibre of entries was truly phenomenal. WeAreTheCity is very much about supporting the female pipeline and introducing these awards was a perfect opportunity to showcase the amazing talent of women across the UK. We are exceptionally proud of our winners and look forward to following their future success. We wouldn't have been able to launch these awards without the support of so many organisations who took no convincing to support these women and recognise their achievements. Both myself, my team, our sponsors, judges and supporters are very much looking forward to celebrating with all of our winners at the House of Lords in September”.
Once again, we would like to congratulate all our winners and extend a sincere thanks to our shortlist, judges, sponsors and to everyone who supported Rising Stars 2015.
The winners of each category can be found here
Proudly sponsored by:
WATC Top 50 Rising Star Awards | RBS & the Government Equalities Office to host winners celebrations at the House Of Commons
We are proud to announce that the Government Equalities Office & RBS will be hosting the celebration event for winners of WeAreTheCity’s Top 50 Rising Stars awards.
The event will be held on 8th of September 2015 at the House of Commons and will be attended by our 50 winners, judges & sponsors.
Minister for Women, Equalities and Family Justice Caroline Dinenage said: “I am delighted to be supporting these awards, which really celebrate successful women and show us that there is no limit to what women can achieve in business. That’s why we’re working hard in Government to remove the barriers that can stand in the way and really encourage companies to focus on supporting women so that talent can be developed, nurtured and recognised at every level. Congratulations to all of the winners – you’re truly an inspiration to all young women and girls around the country.”
Marjorie Strachan, RBS Head of Inclusion said “RBS is delighted to sponsor WeAreTheCity’s Top 50 Rising Stars awards. Gender equality is a crucially important issue for us at RBS, and improving and recognising our talent pipeline is fundamental to achieving the level of change required. We believe that these awards are a great way to raise awareness of the up and coming female talent that already exists and will help to create the cultural shift that we need to encourage true gender equality in the future”.
Winners of the awards will be announced via WeAreTheCity on the 1st of September 2015.
For more detail about the Rising Stars awards, please visit here.
Rising Star Awards 2015 Shortlist event at Bloomberg
Last night WeAreTheCity celebrated the individuals who were shortlisted for our 2015 Rising Star awards at Bloomberg. The awards were created to celebrate the achievements of individuals below a management level.
The celebration was attended by 140 guests, including judges and representatives from the awards sponsors Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale, EY, Barclays, Twenty Recruitment, RBS and BNY Mellon.
Guests had the opportunity to network and hear from keynote speakers such as Nicola Brown, Global Installations Manager, Bloomberg; Chuck Stephens, Head of Gender at Barclays; Catherine Spencer, Ex-England Women’s Rugby Captain and MD of Inspiring Women; Birgit Neu, MD of Neu Change and Richard Swinburne, London Partner at Reed Smith.
Some of our speaker’s top tips included:
It’s OK to be successful and it’s OK to be proud of it – Catherine Spencer, Inspiring Women
Connect with each other and be role models for those following behind you – Birgit Neu, Neu Change
Claim your success and be bold - Chuck Stephens, Barclays
Be proud of what you have achieved, you are all the leaders of tomorrow – Richard Swinburne, Reed Smith
During the event, guests were also treated to a free professional headshot from leading photographer, John Cassidy, The Headshot Guy.
All shortlisted nominees had the opportunity to make new connections and connect with the judges and sponsors. A number of attendees stated how inspirational they felt the evening was and how they felt motivated and inspired to continue to drive their careers forward.
Vanessa Vallely, founder of the awards said, “What a truly amazing and inspirational evening. All of us at WeAreTheCity were immensely proud to be able to bring such a wonderful group of individuals together to celebrate the achievements of our shortlisted nominees. These ladies really are the future of organisations, they are the pipeline and they need our support. I am really excited for the next part of the process whereby we announce the top 50 winners of our awards and to see them celebrate at the House of Commons in September”
Click here to view the Twitter feed from last night’s event
WeAreTheCity would like to take this opportunity to thank Bloomberg, John Cassidy, the award sponsors, our judges, speakers, supporters, guests and nominees for making the WATC Top 50 shortlisted event such a resounding success.
Trending on Rising Stars #WATCTop50
Twitter has been going wild over the last few weeks for our Rising Stars Awards 2015.
With nominees, nominators and supporters all getting behind the awards to celebrate the pipeline of talented women using the Hashtag #WATCTop50. With voting coming into its second week and over 12,000 votes, the Top 50 places are still up for grabs, share your thoughts on Twitter and get behind your Rising Stars!
Why not join in on the conversation!
- Trouble viewing? Try our mobile version
WeAreTheCity's Top 50 Rising Star Awards: Shortlist Announcement
We are extremely proud to announce our shortlist for WeAreTheCity’s top 50 Rising Star Awards.
The caliber of entries across all categories was extremely high this year. We received over 300 nominations spanning 149 companies from across the UK.
To view the shortlist, please visit here
“Reviewing the hundreds of submissions to WeAreTheCity’s Top 50 Rising Star Awards has been such an encouraging experience - it is clear that the pipeline of talented women is incredibly strong which set the bar for the shortlist very high. Congratulations to all of the shortlisted nominees, and best of luck in the next round of judging!” commented Birgit Neu, MD, Neuchange, one of the shortlist judging panel.
We would like to personally thank everyone who submitted a nomination and extend our sincere thanks to all our sponsors, supporters and shortlist judges who gave their valuable time to recognise the fantastic achievements of all of our amazing female nominees.
Shortlisted nominees will have the opportunity to celebrate their achievements at an event kindly sponsored by Bloomberg on the 13th August 2015.
The next stage in the process is a public vote to help narrow the shortlist down to the Top 50. Please visit here to cast your vote. The public vote count will be taken into consideration by our finalist judging panel alongside the original submissions for our shortlisted nominees.
We would like to wish our shortlisted nominees the very best of luck in the next round.
For more detail about the awards, please visit here
Memona Mohammad | BT
I value being an ambassador for the technology community, demonstrating female contribution and innovation to the industry. I started my career as an apprentice in BT Technology, Service & Operations, helping to build the virtual network connections for business end-users and even for the Olympics!
Now aged 22, I recently moved to BT Global Services, working as part of a team on contracts to deliver communications and IT services to organisations, providing the best possible solutions for our customers. It’s exciting being part of a diverse workforce and at the heart of telecoms and technology.
As well as studying part time for a degree in Information and Communication Technology, I have achieved professional registration as an Engineering Technician and ICT Technician through the Institute of Engineering and Technology. I have also attended the 2014 One Young World summit, collaborating with representatives from over 180 countries and leading multinationals, working on building global partnerships for the future.
Through participation in the Inspiring Women Campaign I have volunteered at local schools, career fairs and mentoring events, educating females of all backgrounds on the opportunities and careers in STEM. I have also hosted students for work experience at BT to provide true insight and encouragement. Spreading the message of women in technology, I have taken part in live TV discussions and been featured in publications.
My aspiration is to continually be a positive role model for current and future generations of young people, supporting them to confidently enter the world of work and to explore and build on my own journey within the industry.
Sarah Smith (née Ryland) ǀ CGI
Sarah is a highly flexible and outcome focused Business Consultant at CGI (formally Logica), where she joined as a graduate five years ago. She is extremely dependable and organised, with the determination to deliver value as quickly as she can to her clients.
The majority of Sarah’s experience is from the Banking sector where she recently managed the design and delivery of a national communications campaign for the Current Account Switch Service. Facing off to all the major current account providers in the industry, this was a high profile role in a complex stakeholder environment, one which gave Sarah the opportunity to flourish.
Sarah is motivated by not only exceeding expectations, but also creating an enjoyable environment for the people around her. She is open, honest and supportive of colleagues; she enjoys giving her time to help others. Sarah is looking forward to mentoring the 2015 graduate intake.
Sarah was part of a small team who founded the CGI’s women’s network. She proactively took the lead in establishing a communications strategy and plan, and led a team of volunteers to deliver it. She believes her success in this role is attributable to providing clear direction, delineation of responsibilities, motivating the team when they were up against their day jobs and setting the mantra for quality outputs.
She has a structured approach to her development, actively seeking feedback, taking one competence at a time to focus on, learning, and seeking opportunities to practise outside her comfort zone. During her time at CGI she has achieved an Exceeds Expectations performance rating every year, been promoted twice, and this year she has been nominated for the CGI Emerging Talent and Leadership Programme.
Sarah is recently married and she likes nothing more than indulging her enthusiasm for travel, food and fitness.
Sakeena Lalljee | Aquis Exchange Limited
Having cut her teeth in European trading technology with initial experience at agency broker Instinet, Sakeena spent the subsequent few years honing her industry knowledge at Chi-X Europe, which became the largest pan-European equities trading venue before being bought by BATS Global Markets. She played a key part in technology initiatives including Sponsored Access and the Chi-Delta non-displayed order book (now CXE Dark, Europe’s largest non-display equities book).
Since moving to Aquis Exchange, the subscriptions-based equities exchange, Sakeena was promoted to the role of Client Relationship Manager and has built valuable relationships with trading firms and technology providers alike. She is a key point of liaison within Aquis and played a vital part in its timely launch. She also oversaw the creation of the Company’s internal management information system, working with Aquis’ development team to create a suite of reports, allowing better client service and enhancing the Company’s technology sales package.
An English graduate from Queen Mary, University of London, she also holds a Certificate in Investment from the CISI, for which she received the ‘Outstanding Achievement award’ for scoring the national joint highest result.
Outside work, Sakeena chairs the Women’s Network at the British Pakistan Foundation (BPF), promoting the development of British Pakistani women via its Inspirational Women Speaker Series, workshops and networking opportunities.
Sakeena is a Level 1 qualified football coach and has played for Tower Hamlets Ladies. She has previously volunteered to deliver coaching sessions for local schoolgirls and the Queen Mary Women’s Football Club, where she played whilst at University. Most recently, she participated on the refereeing team at a football match in aid of Cancer Research UK, organised by the Rotary Club of Harrow.
She aspires to reach management and board level in the financial services, and continue making a positive difference to the industry.
Chloe Apps | Lloyd's
Chloe Apps is a highly skilled Personal Assistant with extensive experience in the fields of administration, diary management and office management. She joined Lloyd’s in February 2012 and believes that behind every great leader, there is a PA typing furiously on their smart phone…
Chloe is passionate about people, teams and charity, and aspires to raise the profile of the support staff across the industry, who ensure that those on the frontline are able to succeed. Chloe oils the wheels of the Operations team at Lloyd’s – she anticipates what they need before they even know they need it and juggles diaries and tasks whilst maintaining zen-like levels of outward calm.
When she isn’t busy pulling all the strings behind the scenes, Chloe is working to coordinate social responsibility activities for her team, such as building a partnership between Lloyd’s Operations staff and the Clara Grant School, and organising volunteering days at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.
Prior to her employment at Lloyd’s, Chloe worked for 3 years in the demanding world of Fashion Buying, which she will assure you is just as glamorous as Insurance.
Chloe holds a BA Hons degree in English Language & Communication and lives in Essex with her partner and their two house rabbits.