Women in the City, Woman of Achievement Award Judging Panel

Craig Jones,  MBE

Global Head of Diversity  - Barclays Wealth

Craig Jones joined Barclays Wealth as Global Head of Diversity in May 2008.  His move into financial services follows a 20 year career in the Royal Navy. 

Between 2000 and 2008 he led groundbreaking work to help integrate gay men and women in the Armed Forces and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2006 for service to equality and human rights.  In addition to his role at Barclays he is the principal advisor on equality in the Armed forces to the Equality and Human Rights Commission and has recently been appointed to the Board of Employers Forum on Disability.  He was also a founding member of the Prison Service Race Equality Board. 

Craig was a lead contributor to the Stonewall Equality Compendium ‘The Way We Are Now” and is a well known LGBT figure.  In 2009 he featured in Financial News Top 40 Rising Stars.  Craig is also a key thought leader in the development of Barclays Group Global Diversity Strategy. 

In October 2008 Barclays Wealth was named one of The Times Top 50 Places Where Women Want to Work recognising the development of Barclays Wealth’s Women’s Network whose membership has increased from 70 members to 800.    Barclays Wealth was named diverse employer of the Year in the 2009 Glasgow Business Awards and Barclays PLC is a Stonewall Top 100 Diversity Champion. 

Veronica Burke, BH (Hons) PGCE MA PhD

Director of the Accelerated talent Development Programme and the Cranfield General Management Programme

Veronica has 10 years experience in management development. Prior to joining Cranfield, she has held senior positions in other UK business schools. With a special interest and expertise in the personal development of high potential managers, she has worked on development with a number of major organisations in the UK and abroad, including the BBC, BP and The Home Office.

Her research and publications focus around leadership development, conflict management and transfer of learning. She has recently published in academic and practitioner journals and presented her work at international conferences.

Veronica has also worked extensively as an independent consultant to businesses and as an executive coach with client organisations in the financial services, technology, construction, hospitality and public sectors.

Lt Cmdr Mandy McBain

Royal Navy

Lieutenant Commander Mandy McBain joined the Woman’s Royal Naval Service as a Rating in 1986. She was selected for Officer Training and attended Britannia Royal Naval College in 1989. 

Whilst in the RN she attended Portsmouth University to gain her CIPD qualification; taken part in the Stonewall Leadership Programme at Henley Business School and has been selected to take part and develop the Stonewall Mentoring Programme. 

Qualifying as a Logistics Officer in 1992, she has carried out a variety of appointments, including being a Personnel Selection Officer at the Admiralty Interview Board selecting potential Officers into the Naval Service. Mandy has recently returned from six months in Bosnia where she was the Spokesperson for the European Forces based in Sarajevo. She is now an Assistant Equality & Diversity Policy Officer in the Navy Command HQ. 

Mandy has been active in establishing the first support network for LGBT personnel in the Naval Service. Often interviewed in the media she has also spoken at the Stonewall Annual Conference and been a panel member at an InterLaw Diversity Forum at the Law Society.

Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe

Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe is a director of Ari Consulting, a global diversity consulting practice with offices in London, Madrid and Buenos Aires. Mark is an acknowledged expert on diversity and writes a regular column on the subject for the Guardian.

Prior to establishing Ari Consulting in 2009, Mark was the Global Head of Diversity at Barclays Group where he had responsibility for devising and delivering the Barclays Group Diversity Strategy a role which covered over 130,000 employees worldwide in Barclays Capital, Barclays Wealth, Barclaycard, Retail and Commercial banking.

Mark has a background in Human Resources, having held the position of Head of Reward for Network Rail, Head of Human Resources of Iziko Museums of Cape Town as well as being a Senior Consultant in executive remuneration at Arthur Andersen.

Mark began his career in the City at NatWest where he held a number of positions in the Group Chief Economists Office, including Head of Industry Analysis. Mark has also worked at NatWest Markets as a Credit Rating Analyst.

Guest Judge: Amanda Blanc, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer of Towergate Partnership Limited

2008 Winner of the Women in the City Jaguar Woman of Achievement Award

Amanda joined Towergate Partnership as Chief Executive Officer UK Broking in 2006.  In December 2009 she was appointed as Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer.

Career highlights:  She was formerly Distribution and Customer Services Director of Groupama Insurances. Before joining Groupama, Amanda held senior sales and distribution positions at AXA Insurance and Commercial Union.

Amanda  is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute Broking Faculty board.