To celebrate International Women's Day 2021, we got an incredible group of women together for a candid and open chat (with chocolate and fizz!) centred around a subject that’s very close to our hearts all year round: the UN’s theme, ‘Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’.
Host Helen Child was joined by Chartered Financial Planner Makala Green, co-founder and CEO of Akoni Felicia Meyerowitz, Global Head of Insurance at Aberdeen Standard Investments Aileen Mathieson, Managing Director at NextWealth Heather Hopkins, UK Intermediary Solutions Director at Schroders Gillian Hepburn, and our very own Samantha Seaton, to discuss the challenges that are facing women in the workplace and beyond today. Get to know the panel a little more below.
They discuss topics such as creating a diverse and inclusive future, how gender balance and diversity creates a richer workplace, and how they tackle the challenge of work/life balance in light of the pandemic and home-schooling - along with enjoying some chocolate and a glass of something fizzy, of course!
We’d love to hear what you think, and also hear stories, anecdotes and thoughts from your own experience too. Please do get in touch with us, or tag us in a comment on social media.
Meet the panel
Aileen Mathieson, Global Head of Insurance, Aberdeen Standard Investments
Aileen is the Global Head of Insurance at Aberdeen Standard Investments (ASI), responsible for ASI’s global insurance remit, working with the wider insurance team at ASI to build upon its strong client base and growth opportunities. With over 15 years’ experience in the finance sector, Aileen joined ASI in April 2019 from Zurich Insurance Group, where she was Chief Investment Officer and UK Head of Wealth Management at Zurich UK.
Felicia Meyerowitz Singh, CEO, Akoni
Felicia conceived of Akoni as a frustrated Lloyd’s insurance market Director managing cash under CASS and the firm’s own cash, and saver with very few market options. Felicia has significant experience in high-growth Financial Services businesses and startups operating in the UK FCA regulated environment including Alexander Forbes, Media Services, Primary Group; Howden, and has launched a number of digital market platforms. Felicia also has senior board-level experience including finance, operations, direct marketing to both SMEs and Retail, and as an FCA Approved Person / Controlled Function. Felicia is a Chartered Accountant (SA), Bcomm InfoSystems with an Executive MBA from London Business School (cum laude).
Gillian Hepburn, Intermediary Solutions Director, Schroders
Gillian has over 30 years experience in financial services. Prior to joining Schroders, she had an extensive career at Standard Life followed by consultancy positions with a range of platform providers, asset managers and financial advisers. She also founded DISCUS, a business which provided research, insight and educational content for financial advisers about the outsourced investment market and which was acquired by the Embark Group in 2017. Gillian is responsible for investment solutions for the UK Intermediary market including model portfolios on platforms and multi-asset funds.
Heather Hopkins, Founder and MD, NextWealth
In a career spanning Toronto, Boston, Tokyo and London, Heather Hopkins is a data and research expert specialising in retail investment distribution. Heather is the Managing Director and Founder of NextWealth. She is also a Director of Clive Waller Consulting Ltd and serves as Vice-Chair of The Investment Network and the Schroders UK Platform Awards.
Helen Child, Co-Founder, Open Banking Excellence
Helen is the founder and former CEO of the UK’s first EMI to be awarded issuing licenses by Mastercard and Visa. Now, she’s the proud co-founder of Open Banking Excellence (OBE), a rapidly growing global community of Fintechs, Big Techs, Regulators and Services Providers. The OBE community brings together thousands and thousands of engaged Open Banking and Open Finance pioneers from around the world, looking to learn from each other, collaborate and shape a new growth trajectory through contribution and exceptional content.
Makala Green, Founder and MD of Green Wealth Planning Ltd
Makala is a financial expert, speaker and podcast host, and was prestigiously recognised as the first black female chartered financial planner in the UK. With over seventeen years of experience in transforming people's lives and businesses, she has partnered with multi-million-pound companies and also worked with a number of actors, artists and athletes. She strongly believes wealth should be access simple to everyone and applies a simple, straightforward, fun approach to help individuals overcome financial fears and manage their wealth with confidence.
Samantha Seaton, CEO, Moneyhub
Sam is CEO of Moneyhub - an award-winning digital financial tool for customer-centric organisations and a leading player in the field of open banking. Most recently, Sam has been appointed as one of the ten industry specialists to be on the panel of the Money & Pensions Service’s Pensions Dashboards Steering Group. Her mission in supporting the development of the Pension Dashboard is to transform the way that people understand and engage with their pensions, utilising technology to steer the process of simplification.