The theme for 2022’s International Women’s Day is “Breaking the Bias” - asking people to picture a world free from discrimination and stereotypes.
The financial industry is often portrayed as male dominated, and according to figures in the latest “Women in Finance annual review (2021) - HM Treasury”, the average female representation in senior management within the finance sector is only 32%. However, following the UK Government’s launch of the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter in 2016, figures are increasing and moving to tip the balance.
As a way of celebrating #InternationalWomensDay, FDC would like to showcase our growing team of extraordinary women, who have helped shape the business into the National Fund Manager it is today, and commemorate the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women's empowerment (From left to right):
- Sue Summers - has held CEO posts in regulated businesses for almost two decades including running Europe’s largest IFA trading exchange and as Deputy Managing Director of an FTSE 250 FinTech business. She is now CEO at FDC, an Alternative Fund Manager with circa £0.5bn under management.
- Pauline Watson has worked in the financial services industry for more than 20 years and has a wealth of experience in running operations across multiple teams and locations. She is now Operations Director at FDC, responsible for financial controls, reporting, technology, HR and office policies.
- Melissa Churchill joined as Operations Support at FDC over three years ago, and as a skilled administrator, supports the entire team with the day-to-day running of the office as well as assisting with ESG reporting.
- Amy Westwood has been with FDC for over five years and heads up the Marketing and Communications team. Planning and managing FDC’s campaign resources, she is responsible for developing and executing FDC’s marketing plan as well as creating innovative design solutions to communication briefs.
- Chrissy McKenzie has over 15 years’ experience of working in a variety of business management roles for professional services companies and has recently become Head of Operations for Help to Own.
- Sophia Levell is a chartered accountant with previous experience within a property management background. She has recently joined the team as Head of Finance for Help to Own.
- Lindsay Bevan joined FDC this year, having worked in the financial service industry from the age of 16 years old. Lindsay is now Portfolio Manager for FDC’s ever growing Property deals, supporting the Property Finance team with monitoring and reporting.
- Hattie Maxfield is the youngest and most recent addition to the FDC team. She joins to support the Marketing function, responsible for FDC’s digital platforms while undertaking a Marketing Apprenticeship.
- Marie Kelly has over 30 years’ experience of banking and financial services industry and holds the CIOBS diploma in Advanced Specialist Lending. She now manages the National Tooling Loan Fund for FDC responsible for deal origination and monitoring of the Tooling portfolio.
- Dianne Watt has worked in the financial service industry for over 30 years and continues this experience at FDC supporting the Capital Programmes team with the delivery of AMSCI programme funds.
- Annmarie Buffery is FDC’s Project Monitoring Officer for the AMSCI programme funds and provides administration support to the Capital Programmes team, monitoring portfolio as well as fund reporting.
- Kathryn Hoverd has worked at FDC for over five years and has recently become a fully qualified ICAEW Chartered Accountant. With her wealth of knowledge, Kathryn has held roles in both the Operations and Portfolio teams at FDC and is now Investment Manager, supporting deal origination for the Growth Capital team.
- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/969905/HM_TREASURY_WOMEN_IN_FINANCE_ANNUAL_REVIEW_2020.pdf
