Isabelle Adams | Transport for London
Isabelle is originally from Belgium.
She started her career as an architect and town planner in Brussels.
Isabelle joined Transport for London in 2000 as a line extensions and stations planner and over the years has worked on a variety of large scale and complex transport programmes such as the East London Line extension and Crossrail 1, the future Elizabeth Line. Isabelle is currently the Head of Scheme Development for Crossrail 2, the proposed new railway serving London and the wider South East connecting the National Rail networks in Surrey and Hertfordshire via 37 km of new twin bore tunnels and 11 new stations between Wimbledon, Tottenham Hale and New Southgate. In her current role, she is accountable for the engineering, operations, environmental, land acquisition and architectural elements of the railway in the central tunnelled section and the delivery of a design for that section of the scheme.
Isabelle holds a degree in Architecture and Town Planning from ULB Brussels and a Masters in Architectural Design from University College London.
Outside of work, Isabelle is Vice President of the Roger Adams Foundation, a family run charity working in partnership with FUNDEA and FUNDAP, micro-financing institutions guaranteeing small funds for people without access to the formal banking system in Guatemala and heads the Teaching and Learning committee as a Science Link School Governor at Jubilee primary school, Hackney.
Fiona Barry | London Underground
I joined the Transport for London Project Management Graduate Scheme in September 2013 because I was keen to experience the challenges and opportunities of implementing the organisation's largest capital investment programme in over 80 years. Having studied project management during my undergraduate degree, I had gained a passion for this subject and was keen to undertake the vital role of project manager to ensure the delivery of quality improvements across the network to meet ever increasing demand.
Working as a Graduate Project Manager, my role involved working on a variety of different construction projects to gain experience of management from design through to handover. During the scheme, I was able to develop my competency by supporting the delivery of some of the organisation’s largest and most high profile projects. My first placement was on the Northern Line Extension, supporting the drafting of the Contract and managing the ground investigation works ahead of the delivery of two new underground stations which underpin the redevelopment of Vauxhall and Battersea.
During the following rotations, I was able to work on a variety of projects, from operational change programmes to the optimisation of design proposals for road improvements. On my final placement, I worked on Victoria Station Upgrade, contributing to the delivery of a new Northern ticket hall, enlargement of the existing Southern ticket hall and step free interchanges.
Since rolling off the scheme in 2015, I have worked on the £89m construction of a new Underground Station at Nine Elms. I am now acting Project Manager accountable for the delivery of several key work packages as well as managing the delivery of key work packages to corporate standards and programme requirements, in addition to supporting and assuring the main Design and Build works undertaken by the Principle Contractor, to deliver the new station.
Helen Gregory | Transport for London
Loretta Lipworth | Balfour Beatty
I am a new entrant to the construction industry and with over 10 years’ experience working in Design and Education, I aim to progress from my current Administrator role into Design Management.
Through my time working, living and travelling across the globe, I have gained a keen appreciation for the necessity of diversity and access to development pathways in the workplace. Furthermore, first-hand experience of the highs and lows of making a major career path change sparked an interest in how the construction industry attracts new talent, from school-leavers to those with many years of transferable skills and knowledge. These issues in particular inspired me through the process of co-founding and launching NAWIC NW (the National Association of Women in Construction for the North-West region) for which I currently volunteer as Treasurer and Deputy Chair alongside a committee of likeminded women.
To support my work with Balfour Beatty and NAWIC, I regularly undertake training and have also started studying on a CIOB Graduate Conversion Certificate course. This will provide me with a solid theoretical foundation of knowledge on a range of aspects in Construction Management and assist in eventual application for chartered membership to CIOB. In addition, I am a mentee on the brilliant Fluid Diversity Mentoring scheme, and aspire to assist others as a mentor in the coming years. Continual learning and development for myself and encouraging those around me is always key in whatever I do.
In my personal life, I enjoy all things design, architecture and music related. For fitness and relaxation I practise yoga and mindfulness techniques, as well as karate, for which I have competed regionally. I aim to travel and experience diverse cultures to better understand the world around me.
Sharon Slinger | Carillion plc
I am a Chartered Quantity Surveyor who has worked on many high profile projects in both Yorkshire and Australia. I am currently Sector Commercial Lead within the growing Carillion Services Projects division. I founded and am now Global Co-Chair of the Carillion LGBT support network – Connect, and am Chair of Directors of a social enterprise called STEER, which provides mentors for built environment students.
My career started by gaining industry sponsorship for my Quantity Surveying degree, winning a final year prize, then completing my Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). I have delivered a number of high value, high profile projects, commercially leading these at an early stage of my career, and being successful on every project I have been involved with. This was recognised on the HSBC data centre project by the client awarding me the “outstanding contribution to the project” award. I moved to Australia with Bovis Lend Lease to work at their head office for two years, which broadened my experiences both within my career and personally. The success within my roles has meant selection for a number of leadership programmes which have given me the self-knowledge to propel my career further. I have always been keen on bringing less experienced people on with their careers. I am a STEM Ambassador, and have mentored university students, and junior members of Women in Property. I have recruited and trained a number of graduates and acted as supervisor and counsellor for the RICS APC, most recently through being part of the Carillion Commercial Entry Level Talent steering group. Last year I helped form an industry social enterprise, STEER, to provide mentors on a larger scale to local university students, of which I am the Chair of Directors.
Vicci Jarvis | Interserve Developments
I am an only child, encouraged and supported to be independent and to challenge. I attended an all-girls school and achieved 11 GCSE, and Politics and Sports Studies A-Level, after leaving school I went straight into employment, beginning my career as an Accounts Assistant working my way up to Assistant Accountant. In 2006 (aged 25) I secured an Asset Manager role within Interserve, where I have worked for over 10 years. I decided to further my formal education to support my career development and I am currently working towards a BSc in Estate Management, having taken a short break when I had my children. Working towards this qualification, alongside my volunteering and Ambassador roles has enabled me to build a large network of contacts within my own organisation and also externally (across multiple sectors). This enables me to think ‘outside of the box’ and to support other female colleagues to strive for success.
A self-starting individual, I’ve always pushed the boundaries, I’m a mum, step-mum, partner, career woman, Charity Ambassador, Trustee and volunteer PR manager who is passionate about equality. I am also an active member of my local churches PCC (parochial church council). I enjoy working with others to make big things happen from organising large corporate community days for local charities (600+ volunteer days) to Charity Balls. I always encourage others to strive to make a difference.
Throughout my career I’ve looked for (and found) innovative new ways of working, I pride myself on my ability to streamline processes and systems to improve business operations e.g. redesigning folder structures to maximise productivity, reducing unnecessary work when searching for information on a system that was fragmented and unintuitive, and implementing collaborative working platforms.
I was recently promoted to Information Security Manager within Interserve and have relished this new challenge.
Elizabeth Renshaw | City University London
Hello, I’m Liz. I’m 30, I live at the end of the Metropolitan line, I’m really in to mini eggs and crime dramas and I’m completely thrilled to be nominated for a WATC Rising Star award! I’ve recently landed a real dream job and this has been the perfect opportunity to reflect on how I got there.
I’ve worked in and around the charity sector for my whole career and I’m such a fan of it; it’s truly full of incredible people doing life changing work. Starting off, I dabbled with fundraising and volunteer management but my real interest lay in people development. Soon after, I had a lightbulb moment; mentoring is my passion! (These moments are few and far between so I pay attention when they happen).
My 20s were a real journey through the working world; I didn’t find it easy and it took me a long time to work out what my strengths were and what I felt good at. Looking back, the thing that really helped me was learning from people around me with experience and who had a story to share. But I know not everyone has access to good role models and that’s why I’m determined to pour my energy in to changing this.
With encouragement from my own role models, I now work as part of the Ethics and Social Responsibility team, at Cass Business School, managing a mentoring programme for schools. It’s a really forward thinking project; the only one of it’s kind in the UK. We introduce a group of undergraduates to the concept of community volunteering, train them up in mentoring skills and then match them to a student from a local school to mentor for 8 weeks. It combines a lot of my passions and I can’t wait to see how it progresses.
Mentoring is such a joy to do I’ve tried to find ways to do it in my spare time too. I volunteer for a few mentoring schemes, including Aspire - a programme for women in the charity sector. I mentor an amazing woman, with a different background to me. We talk often and I get as much from her as she’s hopefully getting from me.
My other big love is helping to raise awareness and money for a couple of breast cancer charities. I can sometimes be found standing at the top of escalators in train stations asking sleepy commuters to pop a pound in the bucket. My biggest challenge is coming up in November - trekking through Oman for CoppaFeel!
Yasmine Davies | Autistica
I’m a highly motivated, proactive and experienced fundraiser, always working to expand my horizons and try new things. I am proud to have worked in the charity sector since leaving university, primarily in roles covering corporate and major donor fundraising, but also collaborating with colleagues and managing junior staff across multiple forms of fundraising.
I started my career at the Woodland Trust, where I gained an incredible grounding in top-quality account management and business development as part of a highly successful corporate fundraising team.
Since moving to London, I have worked at Autistica, the UK’s leading autism research charity, for over four years, leading both major donor and corporate fundraising. I have secured gifts from donors ranging from a few thousand pounds up to a million (Autistica’s first ever corporate donation at that level) and led corporate partnerships across financial services, retail and media. I created the charity’s first gala dinner which smashed its fundraising target and brought in many new donors.
My passion is creating those breakthrough moments with supporters and prospective supporters: working with major donors one-to-one often for years to find just the right project for them to fund or delivering large-scale events which inspire and enthral a crowd. I feel so lucky to be working for Autistica - it’s a fantastic, fast-growing organisation with an incredibly tightly knit, energetic team and I have the opportunity daily to meet truly inspiring people using the power of science to ensure people with autism can live longer, happier, healthier lives.
Tonia Ashikodi | Mumtrepreneur Club
Bukola Adisa | Career Masterclass
Bukola Adisa is a senior Compliance and Financial Crime expert with extensive experience in the Financial Services Industry. She is currently the Head of Europe Regulatory Compliance Monitoring and Testing at HSBC where she leads a team of 110 professionals in executing compliance reviews across all lines of business in the region.
Until recently, she was the Global Head of Financial Crime Assurance at The Royal Bank of Scotland. In this role, she led a global team of professionals based in 3 regions who were responsible for ensuring that the bank complied with relevant Anti Money Laundering regulations across all lines of business. In her time at RBS, Bukola was promoted three times in 18 months and was one of the most senior black female leader within RBS in the UK.
Bukola has also worked at Tier one investment bank JP Morgan Chase where she was responsible for the EMEA Financial Crime Audit team. She also spent time at Deloitte LLP where she advised top tier banking clients such as Goldman Sachs, Barclays,and BGC partners on regulatory matters.
She has authored several industry wide papers on AML and Compliance trends and her ACAMS white paper on AML De-risking was voted as one of the top five papers for 2014.
Bukola is also the Founder/CEO of Career Masterclass which is a not-for-profit Organisation focused on imparting women and BME professionals with practical skills that they can use to build and enjoy a successful career.