Jacqui Quigley | LinkedIn Emea
I am a Senior Administrative Assistant for 3 Directors at LinkedIn EMEA Head Quarters in Dublin, delighted to be diving headfirst into my new role and meeting new people. My years of experience varies from roles such as Executive Assistant to Event/Project management. I am also an executive committee member the newly established Association of Professional Administrators in Ireland. I won the pa-assist’s 2014 All-Ireland PA of the Year. Since winning the award, I have been involved in public speaking engagements in Ireland and UK, blog writing and being runner up in some other awards. I moved to Dublin, from a small town, in 2001 for college and haven't looked back since, apart from a short stint in the UK where I completed my degree in Media and Communication. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world, Dublin is an amazingly vibrant energetic city, where you meet new friends on a daily basis. I have a keen (if not unnatural) interest in all things social media and hope to develop my role in this area going forward. Outside of work, I love reading and movies. I used to do some boxing but I found exercise was just too good for me even though I find it really enjoyable.
Debbie Grimshaw ǀ Brother UK
My name is Debbie Grimshaw and I am Executive Assistant to Phil Jones, Managing Director of Brother UK, the Information, Communication and Technology Company.
During a 25-year career with the business, I have provided EA and PA support to the senior leadership team at Brother UK and Brother International Europe. In my current role, I manage the complex and demanding diary of Phil Jones, one of the North West’s prominent business leaders.
Alongside my day-to-day duties, I also have a leading role in Brother UK’s corporate responsibility and community engagement projects. These include a role in a Year 10 student mentoring programme at Copley Academy in Tameside and involvement with the Hallé Impresarios Project, a scheme which introduces students at Denton Community College, near Manchester, to classical music and how to run a business.
I continually invest in my own personal development and expand my horizons by flexing myself in all areas of the business to ensure I have a thorough knowledge of the organisation, including the induction of new people. This gives me an insight of how it feels to be new to the business and allows me to demonstrate our company values.
I am an active member of the Manchester PA Network and the CityCo PA Network as I love to promote our profession. I also encourage colleagues to attend, to grow their network and confidence.
My attendance of Office Show is a key event in my diary each year and in 2014 I was proud to be announced as a runner-up in the PA Contributor of the Year award on National PA Day.
My passion to promote the role drives me to coach and mentor key colleagues in my peer group, creating a strong sense of togetherness amongst the team. I share best practice and strive to be the best possible role model I can be. Recently I acquired an assistant who came to us as an apprentice. Sharing all my experience and knowledge with her and watching her grow has brought great mutual benefit.
Outside of work, I volunteer as Charity Secretary for the Convoy of Happiness Children’s Charity, which provides day trips to sick, disabled and terminally ill children and their families. I also manage the charity’s social media channels.
I have two daughters, two dogs and I live in Tameside.
Alicia Millar ǀ Reed Smith LLP
Alicia Millar is the EME Learning and Development Manager based in the Reed Smith London office. She joined the firm in April 2014 from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer where she was a manager in the global L&D team. Prior to this she worked as a Training Officer for Christie’s, the international auction house.
Alicia’s responsibilities in the London office include designing and delivering the firm’s Management Development Programme and Senior Associate Business Development programme; working as a business partner with practice group leaders to deliver bespoke development initiatives; and driving the firms programme of coaching. She also has responsibility for learning and people development in the Paris and Munich offices. Outside of L&D, Alicia is co-chair of PRISM, the Reed Smith LGBT forum, and she works closely with the leadership team of WINRS - the firm's women’s initiative.
Alicia has a BA Hons in Marketing and a diploma in International Business Management from Staffordshire University. She is a qualified MBTI® step I and II practitioner, and Firo-B®, she is also an EMCC certified coach.
Joy Adams | Deutsche Bank
Joy works across the Compliance and Legal divisions of DB and focuses on issues related to culture, communication, and conduct. Prior to this, she worked in the Government and Regulatory Affairs Department as well as the Group Finance Communications and Engagement team, where she was responsible for the global launch of a Group Finance culture change project. This began the strategic communications campaign for the Group Financial culture initiative.
She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS) where she focused on political and economic development. During this time she was also the recipient of a Cultural Bridge Fellowship, which saw her travel to Sudan for research, and participated in the Harvard Square to Oval Office program to train future political leaders. Prior to her role at Deutsche Bank, Joy was based in a local council economic development office in San Francisco where she was responsible for a multimillion dollar grant fund and launched a local Green Job Corps project. Joy is the co-chair of the HKS Alumni Club in London and has volunteered with the club for three years. She also cares deeply about the arts and is a young patron for the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts, a charity that provides arts programmes in low income schools and for children who are in hospice care.
Kate Richardson-Walsh | EY
Kate Richardson-Walsh is a triple Olympian and 2012 Olympic Bronze medal winning hockey player. Kate has captained both England and Great Britain women’s hockey team for over 12 years and has amassed over 330 international caps over her 17 year international career. Kate has won silver medals at the Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games along with a World Cup bronze medal and 7 other bronze medals from international competitions. Kate is currently training full-time along with completing a Business Development internship at EY in the build up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Kate is also a member of the BOA Athlete’s Commission and is the secretary of the EOC Athletes’ Commission. Kate serves as an ambassador for the Women’s Sport Trust and Access Sport. Kate was awarded an MBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List for her services to hockey.
Isla Kennedy | Accenture
I am a technology consultant, working within Accenture's Digital Practice and specialising in Mobility, with expertise in corporate mobile device services and operations, as well as Digital project management. I have experience in enterprise readiness and project management within the telecoms, energy and financial services industries, including requirements gathering, process and technology design, multi-supplier project management, stakeholder management and engagement, and mobility strategy. I have completed training in Mobility, presentation skills, app development and more, and I am a certified Scrum Master (PSM I).
I graduated from Christ Church, Oxford university with a 2.1 in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and was very involved in the Officers' Training Corps, including leadership training, field exercises and being promoted to Assistant Adventurous Training Officer. I was also college Freshers Rep and in the committee for Oxford Women in Politics, as well as doing some college rowing.
I am passionate about women's progression in business and getting more women into technology careers. I am involved in my company's women's network and now lead our Digital group. I set up a schools programme for Year 7 and 8 girls, and am now the key point of contact for all girls/women in STEM initiatives across our UKI business.
I am an assistant Girlguiding leader (senior section, age 14-18) in East London, a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers and a journeyman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. I have also recently completed my training with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) and am now an active member. I enjoy travel, spending my free time on active and cultural holidays, and I also love property. I renovated my own house and a flat which I rent out, and am currently in the process of buying another property to let and am hoping to build a new dwelling next year if the planning application is successful.
Please see https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kennedyisla for further information
Rashada Harry | Vodafone Global Enterprise
In a professional capacity Rashada is responsible for driving fixed infrastructure business opportunities at Vodafone Global Enterprise. She possesses a strong track record of new business development, account management and consultative selling into Enterprise client organisations offset against aggressive sales targets.
Prior to joining Vodafone Global Enterprise she spent 9 years with Cisco. Rashada joined as the only black female on the highly competitive Sales academy program which was spanned across Europe. She was selected as one of the top 10 graduates in the UK from over 8,000 applicants.
It was during this program that she believed more needed to be done to bring more diverse talent into the organisation. With this in mind and in her spare time she then helped to form and co-lead the Cisco Black Professional Employee Network EMEAR- (CBP) which focussed on promoting inclusive leadership, inspiring and empowering its members to achieve their potential. Through this work Rashada was asked to sit on the board of the global CBP employee group where she led the community pillar advising on different ways to engage the local communities in technology activities.
Rashada was twice promoted during her 9 years at Cisco and worked as Global Business Development Manager covering the EMEAR (Europe Middle East Africa & Russia) region before leaving Cisco in late 2013.
In a voluntary capacity Rashada is co-founder of the innovative social enterprise Your Future, Your Ambition (YFYA) which inspires children and young adults from diverse backgrounds into studying Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) related subjects and pursuing careers in STEM-based industries.
Through YFYA, Rashada helps to bring together big corporations and provides them with a platform to educate, inform, excite and motivate young people from the age of seven to 23 years into an array of career options. Since its launch in July 2012, over 2000 students have attended the YFYA annual event, and 620 students have also participated in the YFYA mentorship programme. YFYA has raised and invested significant finance into community programs which work with young people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds. This has included charities such as 100 Black Men of London, AbleChildAfrica and Street Child Africa.
During her spare time over the last 2 years Rashada has been a volunteer mentor with the 100 Black Men of London Charity where she meets regularly with young students aged between 10 and 14yrs as part of a community mentoring program. Rashada has also volunteered her time abroad in Africa, working in rural villages helping local school children in both Mpraeso in Ghana and also in Mombasa, Kenya.
Vinita Ramtri ǀ Barclays
Vinita joined Barclays in October 2012 and is the Head of Conduct Risk at Barclays Wealth working with stakeholders globally to ensure the effective management of conduct in the business. Conduct risk focuses on the risk of detriment to customers; either financial or non-financial; and is based on one fundamental principal - it is essential that our clients trust us to put their interests first and do what's right for them.
Prior to joining Barclays, Vinita was a Senior Project Manager at BSkyB, driving strategic change, the most recent one being the creation and delivery of Sky's WiFi proposition through the acquisition of ‘The Cloud'.
Prior to Sky, Vinita was with WNS, India's Leading outsourcing company supporting strategic off-shoring through the transition of significant business processes in the energy sector.
Vinita has also been a senior leadership trainer and has designed and delivered sessions such as Coaching and Emotional Intelligence. Vinita started her career in the hotel industry with The Oberoi Group of Hotels in India.
Vinita is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, PRINCE 2 Practitioner and an accredited trainer. She graduated in Commerce from the Delhi University and has over 15 years of experience spanning across conduct risk, client experience, learning and development, design and delivery of strategic change and continuous improvement (Kaizen). She is passionate about doing what is right and keeping things simple.
In her spare time she likes to blog (wearethecity.in/blogs/vinitaramtri) and is now working on a book.
She is an active participant at city events related to her field, the most recent one being OpRisk Europe 2015 where she was a speaker. She will also be speaking at the Big Data Conference in July 2015.
Jasvinder Devgon | RBS
Jasvinder joined RBS’s Public Sector and Charities Team in July 2007 as Relationship Director for Major Charities and NHS Foundation Trust hospitals, having worked at a senior and strategic level in the Not-for-Profit sector for 10 years. Managing banking relationships with a focus on excellent customer service, Jasvinder is responsible for their transactional banking, treasury and debt solutions, assisting clients to deliver their business strategies by engaging in regular dialogue & partnership with them to understand their needs and identify solutions to enable clients to operate more efficiently and cost effectively. Jasvinder’s previous role was Chief Executive of Dudley Mind, having also worked in the field of Domestic Violence, Mental Health and Homelessness, during which time she gained extensive expertise in the way Charities operate. Jasvinder was also a consultant for major national research on Forced Marriages commissioned by the Home Office. Prior to this, Jasvinder worked with the RBS group accumulating over 10 years of core banking experience, including considerable experience of Corporate Banking.
Jasvinder is a trustee of Womankind Worldwide, an international women’s human rights charity working to help women transform their lives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She is Co-Chair of RBS's Focused Women's Network, London and is also an active member of a number of key networks including City Mothers and Women in Banking and Finance.