Future Leaders Award Winners 2010 and 2011

Leire Jimenez, Managing Director, Mapfre Assistance China

I am delighted to receive this award that recognises and promotes female talent within the City. These awards are hugely important for encouraging women to strive to reach their career potential and become leaders in their respective industries.

The other finalists are all incredibly talented so it’s a real honour to get through this selection process which has been demanding but also very rewarding and inspiring.

I am very fortunate to work in an organisation as forward-thinking as MAPFRE ASSISTANCE and it is testament to the support I have received from everyone within the company that I am still so motivated to develop my leadership potential and promote positive change within the insurance industry. I’m sure this award and the Cranfield programme will be a great help in enabling me to do that

After joining MAPFRE in 2005, Leire led key projects including, new sector entry strategies, acquisitions and joint ventures that have transformed the profile of the company in the UK. She has also worked to change operational procedures, network management and cost control to increase quality of service and profitability.

Leire now heads the Travel Insurance commercial division of MAPFRE and is responsible for sales, account management and profitability of this business line. In this role she supervises the integration of a newly acquired company and its existing clients, supports the cultural change required to fulfil the company's vision, negotiates contracts and develops pioneering insurance products.

Beyond her work in the UK, Leire is involved in business acquisition internationally, generating opportunities across the EMEA region, leading pan-european tenders, delivering training programmes for senior managers and representing the company in industry events and conferences as a speaker.

Felicia Trewin - Director, Deloitte

I am honoured to be selected as one of the first ever Women in the City Future Leaders Award finalists alongside four extremely talented and successful women. To be nominated, supported and recognised in this way by individuals who I most admire and aspire to emulate is both humbling and of great encouragement. As someone who has always been content to stay out of the spotlight and let my work speak for itself, I am flattered to be considered for an award which celebrates qualities such as self awareness, mentoring, and personal development, as well as future leadership potential. This is a fantastic way to encourage women to stay true to their values and what makes them uniquely female - especially in industries such as technology where we still represent the minority - whilst increasing our exposure to a network of inspirational women in the process.

Felicia is a technologist, an outsourcing specialist, and a management consultant. Since late 2006, she has worked in Deloitte's Technology Integration Consulting practice, focussing on outsourcing, off-shoring and procurement advisory for a cross-industry client base. Prior to joining Deloitte, Felicia spent five years working for Microsoft's Global Outsourcing Team in both the UK and US, and five years working for Andersen Consulting's Communications and High Tech practice in the US and her home country of Australia. During this time she received a patent award for co-developing the original Xbox supply chain system, managed a global supplier base delivering services exceeding USD$30 million/year, oversaw the restructuring and renegotiation of dozens of contracts to deliver significant cost savings for her clients, and developed an incurable passion for community service and mentoring. Felicia has since harnessed her desire to give back and develop talent, and translated this into influential and impactful roles - from sitting on the board of the American Cancer Society in Washington state and co-leading Deloitte's Consulting Community Investment programme, to running pro bono consulting engagements for Help for Heroes and The Prince's Trust, and guest lecturing at Cambridge University for Deloitte's graduate recruitment programme. Felicia holds an Economics Degree from the Australian National University.

A Senior Manager at the time of Wining this award, Felicia was made Partner within 6 months.

Kate Birchall, Director, KPMG’s Advisory practice

I am delighted to have been shortlisted in the Women in the City Future Leader Awards. Women remain under-represented in business, both in number and in status. Awards such as Women in the City are invaluable in promoting and celebrating women’s leadership skills and contribution. Additionally, the promotion of emerging women leaders provides valuable role models for junior colleagues, the absence of role models often being a barrier to a woman’s professional development.

Kate Birchall is a Director in KPMG’s Advisory practice. Kate is a member of KPMG’s Credit Portfolio Management team, where she works with financial institution clients to improve their portfolio management strategy and techniques.

Prior to joining KPMG, Kate has held a range of senior roles at leading global financial institutions, in the UK and Australia. Kate has authored a range of articles in both books and industry publications, has been quoted in the Asian Wall St Journal and Asia Risk and speaks regularly at industry conferences.

Kate holds a Mathematics degree from the University of Queensland, Australia and is currently studying for her MBA at the London Business School.

 

Katerina Tzanidou, Google

I am delighted to have been nominated for the Women in the City Future Leaders Award. Winning the award would mean great recognition and the opportunity to enhance visibility and hopefully inspire more women to make the most out of the opportunities that we encounter in our careers.

Katerina joined Google in 2012 having worked at PayPal, an EBay Inc since 2010 where she was Senior User Experience Manager for Europe. Her background is in both the world of technology and social sciences. In her current role as Regional Senior User Experience Manager for EMEA she is working across Product, Marketing and Business Development. She is part of the Global Design team and is leading a team of designers, researchers and content experts in EMEA.

Her role is to put the customer in the heart of PayPal’s website. Through research around customer behaviour and understanding of the competition Katerina aims to bring along customer insight that will enhance the design solution.

Katerina retains strong relationships with the academic world, she is an active member of leading Human Computer Interaction Conferences where she often publishes and presents her research. Her professional affiliations include membership of the UK Usability Professionals Association and the British HCI group.

She holds a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Wales, Swansea and an MSc in Applied Psychology and Human Factors from Cranfield University along with a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction.

Rebecca Scott, Partner, Mazars

I am delighted to be one of the Finalists for this award - especially having been part of such a strong field representing the best of future leadership in the City. This year has been, personally, very important, with the birth of my daughter - and the award is a recognition that women play important roles in many spheres, both inside and outside the workplace, and that this often enables us to lead others through difficult circumstances and give us the experience and the empathy to make tough decisions with integrity. This award is a launchpad for many of us who entered and I am extremely proud to have been a part of it. The calibre of all the applicants bodes extremely well for the City in the future.

After growing up in Derbyshire, Rebecca joined Mazars from Aberdeen University in 2001, from where she obtained an LLB (Hons). Her work has included placements as Head of Risk and Head of Internal Audit at a number of large Lloyd's Syndicates and General Insurance Companies.

Internally, Rebecca leads a number of teams at Mazars, including Risk Management, Sarbanes-Oxley and Service Organisation attestation teams. Rebecca also retains large work winning responsibilities, leading proposals and presentations in the UK and working with the wider firm both throughout Europe and internationally.

Rebecca recently returned from Maternity leave, after giving birth to a sister for her two stepsons. Rebecca sits on the ICAEW NED Special Interest Group, is a Non Executive Director of a leading 92 Group University and is heavily involved in the Citizens' Advice Bureau, of which she is a Trustee.

Victoria Spencer, CIB Learning Manager, RBS

I am honoured and proud to be recognised as one of the five finalists for Women in the City's Future Leaders Award. For aspiring leaders this highlights that irrespective of your age, gender or industry, success is possible for anyone who is determined enough to seek out opportunities and make the most of them.

Victoria was appointed as the RBS Learning Manager for Corporate & Institutional Banking in 2009, responsible for the learning strategy for c.2000 people across the UK and parts of Europe. Having joined RBS in 2001 Victoria has worked across several roles including Strategic Marketing for Business & Commercial Banking. p>

Victoria is the Deputy Chair for the RBS Focused Women's Network dedicated to supporting the Group in attracting, retaining and developing female talent. Her role includes expanding the network globally and managing an effective framework to support the development of volunteers. Over the last three years Victoria has raised directly or through volunteers over £50,000 for a variety of charities.

In addition to this Victoria is a trustee to a small north London charity dedicated to supporting people with MS to live their life to their full potential.

In recognition of Victoria's personal dedication and her contribution to RBS she was recently selected for inclusion in the RBS 'Little Book of Inspiration' which contains details of inspirational role models across the Group.

Shelley White, Barrister-at-Law

I am both delighted and privileged to be included in the list of finalists for the Barclays Wealth, Women in the City Future Leader's Award. It is an honour to be considered for this prize alongside such brilliant and talented women. Thank you both to Women in the City and Barclays Wealth for recognising the work and achievements of women in London.

Shelley White is a chancery commercial barrister and was called to the Bar in 2003 after reading Jurisprudence and then taking a Distinction on the BCL at St Peter's College, Oxford. Shelley specialises in general commercial, chancery and insolvency litigation. She has recently returned from a four month trip to the Cayman Islands where she was representing, amongst others, the Trustee in Bankruptcy of Bernard L Madoff Securities LLC. Shelley was included in The Times and Management Today's 2008-2009 list of the 35 women under 35, the definitive list of Britain's female business talent. She is an elected member of the Bar Council and an Enterprise UK Ambassador. In her spare time Shelley has played pool for England ladies' international squad since 2003, winning World and European titles. Praise for Shelley in Chambers UK 2010 includes "a very bright spark", "will always go the extra mile for her clients" and "a good fighter in court"..

Claire Warnes, Director, KPMG

I was delighted to have been nominated for the inaugural Women in the City Future Leaders Award and so I feel very honoured to be one of the Award's finalists.

Initiatives like Women in the City and KPMG´s own women´s network (KNOW) are having a real impact in raising the profile of senior women who lead by example. I am keen to play my part, on behalf of KPMG and Women in the City, in ensuring that diversity of thought, approach and talent is valued and recognised in all organisations..

Claire joined KPMG in 2001 and has been a Director since 2008. She is a leading adviser in KPMG´s Public Sector practice, working with clients on designing, developing and implementing change. She has extensive experience in healthcare, professional regulation, higher and further education, defence and criminal justice.

Currently Claire is on a two year strategic secondment as the Executive Assistant to the Joint Chairman of KPMG Europe LLP. Based in Frankfurt, but with weekly visits to London, she has the opportunity to work with the European Board and Executive of KPMG, providing her with a fantastic breadth of experience.

Prior to joining KPMG, Claire spent 8 years working in the public sector, first for the European Commission, then as the European Officer for the University of Wales, Newport and lastly as an advisor at the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

She holds a BSc Econ (Hons) in European Studies and French from Cardiff University and an MBA from the University of Wales. She is a Fellow of the University of Worcester, having led a KPMG feasibility study for the University´s expansion.

A keen sportswoman, Claire was a Welsh International 400m runner at junior and senior levels and now enjoys mountain biking, trekking and skiing in her spare time.