Hollie Haslam | Mercer Limited
Hollie is a senior associate in Mercer’s Wealth business. She is recognised as a strong, talented team member who inspires her colleagues — she has a contagious passion for what she does.
Hollie is a role model to juniors and peers alike in terms of embracing change and being a positive force. She builds strong client relationships very quickly and champions colleagues at all levels. She also demonstrates emotional intelligence and supports her female colleagues as they return from maternity leave. Hollie is a great mentor to her junior female colleagues, helping them build confidence and manage the challenges of working in a male-dominated environment. As an example, she organised two “ask me anything” sessions with an equal gender panel; in the first, juniors asked questions of senior colleagues and in the second, senior colleagues quizzed juniors, reverse mentoring style.
Hollie constantly looks for ways to develop herself and gets involved in various projects outside of her role, always going above and beyond. For example, she recently took a lead role in the re-design a graduate programme demonstrating her ability and understanding of the business and the changing needs of our clients and future talent.
Hollie interacts well with senior leaders and projects a high level of presence and confidence. She recently pitched a new innovative solution to the leadership which Mercer is developing and has already contributed to improve one of Mercer’s existing solutions. A member of the leadership team has also requested reverse mentoring sessions with Hollie.
Hollie is a great asset to Mercer. She is inspiring, driven and passionate about helping her colleagues succeed and realise their full potential. Hollie is running the Manchester 10k in May for cancer research. She is also on the Cherie Blair Foundation Mentoring Women in business programme where she uses her skills to help mentor women in other countries.
Adithi Jagannathan | Aon
Aon was my first job out of business school and having completed ten years now in 2017, I have seen myself evolve as a more confident person and as a respected consultant. I have spent the last decade managing complex projects, integration challenges, cross border assignments and a culturally diverse team. I work as a consultant in the Financial Services practice (McLagan) at Aon. I have worked across geographies in emerging markets like India & UAE and currently work in our London office. As a senior consultant, I work closely with clients and partner with them across areas like reward design, reward benchmarking, benefits, organisation structure and design, job evaluation, bonus pool funding and other HR related aspects. My client portfolio includes large MNC banks, leading local banks, challenger banks, foreign banks in UK and European banks. In my role, I act as a strategic advisor to Heads of C&B, Heads of HR & HR generalists. My key strengths are my in depth understanding of the sector, ability to understand and solve client issues and my trusted long term relationships with my clients. I have also managed teams of consultants and have been a part of mentoring programs and leadership programs in my organization.
Outside work, I recently became a new mother to a lovely baby boy in 2016 and have been working hard to balance my personal & professional commitments. I was born in India and moved to UK in 2014 to challenge myself to explore a new market and a new lifestyle. I have been a national level table tennis player, having represented India at tournaments through my teenage years. Sport has instilled in me the confidence to perform, discipline required to achieve my goals and appreciation of team work & ability to deal with high pressure situations. I am also involved in supporting various charities and community activities in different villages in India. I love to travel and having been to 22 countries already and have more ambitious plans for the coming years.
Umbar Shakir | Gate One
I’m a mother. I’m a management consultant. I’m a fashion photographer. I’m an illustrator. I’m a political activist. Hi, I’m Umbar.
Having grown up on a council estate in Lambeth, and being the daughter of Pakistani / Afghani immigrants, I’m very fortunate to have had parents who instilled in me a social conscience, a fantastic work ethic, and great values. I was taught to rise above my circumstances, the racism, the sexism, and the snobbery – and so I dreamed big, worked hard, and continue to this day to learn on my journey!
After graduating from Imperial College, I worked for Unilever, start-up tech companies, PwC, IBM, PA Consulting, Moorhouse, and presently Gate One. I joined Gate One because I relish a good challenge: the thrill of the journey to solve a good puzzle; the buzz you get when helping a client have a ‘light-bulb’ moment; or the excitement of turning ideas into reality.
I love to combine many of my passions with my professional specialisms: digital / omni-channel strategy and implementation, business modelling in public sector, and international development strategies.
Outside of work, I'm a freelance digital artist/photographer and have been published in major international fashion magazines including Elle and Asiana. I also designs ‘skins’ for 3D virtual reality gaming via Second Life…which makes me a bit of a geek, but my colleagues think I'm a pretty cool one!
Most importantly though, I’m mama to a wonderful 9 year old daughter. We mutually drive each other forward, and to strive to be the best people we can be.
Naomi Jane | A Life Less Ordinary Wanted
Phanella Mayall Fine | The Executive Coaching Consultancy
Phanella Mayall Fine is an Accredited Executive Coach, development consultant and author. She coaches and trains professionals for clients globally including top law firms and investment banks. Her specialist topics include diversity, women’s leadership and advancement, self-presentation, maternity and return to work.
Her first book, Step Up: Confidence, Success and your Stellar Career in 10 Minutes a Day, was published by Ebury (Random House) in 2016. The Step Up Club, of which she is Co-founder, supports women across the industry spectrum to thrive in their careers via events and a popular blog. Reaching a growing following of women (currently c.20k) across Step Up's social media and newsletter, she is working to change the conversation around women at work. Along with co-founder Alice Olins, Phanella is the career columnist for Get The Gloss, has featured in almost all the broadsheets and glossies and works with brand partners including Karen Millen, The Office Group, Smashbox and Hoxton Hotels.
A mother of three, her extensive practical experience is supported by her Masters in Organisational Behaviour awarded with Merit from Birkbeck, University of London.
An Oxford graduate, Phanella began her career as a finance lawyer working on structured transactions in London and New York. She then moved to become the only female fund manager on JPMorgan’s flagship European Equity Fund desk managing in excess of 20 billion Euros. As well as being a qualified solicitor, she has passed all levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification.
Lorna Taylor | RBS
I have been with the bank since 2002, starting in a customer facing role and then realising my dream and passion to help and support others to learn and succeed, by moving to Learning & Development. Firstly in training then in design and then l became an accredited Leadership Coach and Facilitator, facilitating leadership workshops and coaching many.
From 2015 to 2016 I facilitated a Leadership programme to circa 13,000 leaders in over 170 workshops globally, which I am very proud of, being the first truly global leadership programme creating one set of tools and techniques with one language for all
I feel very privileged and determined, as a Performance Consultant, part of the Performance Excellence team, to be able to merge my knowledge of coaching skills and experience, to support leaders to become clear, capable and motivated to be the best of the best, role modelling great leadership, enabling and ensuring we are engaging our people and providing a great service to our customers
Rebecca Mullens | Interserve Construction
I'm a Commercial Manager working within the Infrastructure Sector. I have worked within the Construction industry for 15 years, having joined as a Trainee QS. As I studied part time for a Specialist subcontractor. After getting my degree I moved into Main Contracting and I now enjoy being part of the team that specialise in providing Highways Schemes. Working on site in the Engineering environment is exciting and energetic, working with subcontractors and client teams. As part of my Commercial Manager role I manage teams across diverse work streams namely, Airports, Highways and Marine.
It is my passion to educate and inspire other girls and women to consider a career in Construction and Engineering. To encourage others whatever their gender or (dis)ability to consider a career in one of the many varied Construction careers
Ruth Harker | CCS Group Plc
Since joining Cleshar in 2014, as a Safety, Health, Environment and Quality Manager Ruth Harker has proven herself to be so much more than the confines of her role suggests. Her friendly disposition and drive to help, support and encourage all who she comes in contact with in the discharge of her duties, makes the working day more rewarding. Her infectious personality was noted in 2015 by the company, resulting in Ruth being asked to mentor our welding apprentices. She took on this task with her usual enthusiasm and has proven to be an essential asset; befriending the apprentices and assisting in the early identification and resolution of issues they face. For example one apprentice’s shyness was affecting his performance even though he was an exceptional and promising welder. Ruth was able to assist him in overcoming this; by the end of his apprenticeship achieved a distinction where previously it was predicted he would receive an average pass due to shyness and inability ask for assistance.
In relation to her main role, Ruth excels in the delivery of her responsibilities and is a versatile, self-motivated, health and safety professional, with a proven SHEQ track record, through the effective use of personnel and resources. As she works both day and night shifts, Ruth is able to interact with apprentices during most stages of their training, providing the encouraging and listening ear to help them with any personal and work issues affecting their apprenticeship.
Katie Kelleher | Crossrail - Laing O'Rourke
After a life time of sales positions and more recently working as a Recruitment Consultant Katie Kelleher had a change of career and started a Lifting technician apprenticeship with Select/ Laing O'Rourke in October 2014.
The lifting technician apprenticeship provided her with training and tickets in Slinging, Traffic Marshalling, Pedestrian operate crane, crawler crane, tower crane, mobile crane and IPAF.
Following training in college and in Select plant hire's different yards Katie's first site based job was working at Tottenham Court Road Crossrail site where she has been based in a crawler crane since May 2015.
As well as working 5/6 days a week based on site she believes it is important to make women and school leavers aware of the opportunities within the construction industry and to be a positive roll model for change.
Within her short time working for Crossrail she has spoken with schools, taken part in the parliamentary sub committee into apprenticeships, been filmed for the BBC5 live 100 women series and London Live, Stylist magazine, the metro, construction news, won Crossrail infrastructure apprentice of the year 2016 and has recently been appointed as a board member for the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce.
