As a mother of nine, Dame Helena Morrissey is no stranger to a busy life! She is also a financier, campaigner and author. Truly and inspirational woman and leader in many aspects including business, family life and leadership.
Helena’s career started in New York and then came to the city of London only to be met with diversity. As the only female in a team of 16 hedge fund managers, she actually missed out on a promotion because of ‘doubt over her commitment with a baby’.
Helena strived to prove everyone wrong, she then joined Newton Investment Management and found herself under the wings of its founder, Stuart Newton, who guided her and taught her the power of diversity of thought. This helped her take control of her own career, and seven years later, she was positioned as the firm’s CEO trebling profits and growing assets from £20bn to £50bn.
Described as one of the world’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine, in 2010 she launched the 30% club, with the goal to improve the gender balance on UK corporate boards. Nine years later over 30 % FTSE350 are represented by women (up from less than 10%)
With fourteen 30% clubs throughout the world, the initiative has paved the career paths from school to boardroom stages, it is the worlds largest cross-company mentoring scheme. The UK is the only country to have achieved such progress without legislation.
Helena was the Financial Times Person of the year in 2017, she is a sought-after speaker who stimulates, encourages and offers exciting yet practical solutions for both businesses and diverse talent.