EnCircle Mentors
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Marisa Hall, Co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute, Willis Towers Watson
Marisa is co-head of the Thinking Ahead Institute, a global not-for-profit investment research network focussed on mobilising capital for a sustainable future. The Institute’s membership includes more than 40 of the world’s largest asset owners and asset managers with combined responsibility for over USD$12 trillion. Marisa spends much of her time working on sustainability; value creation; culture and leadership; and diversity, inclusion & identity. Prior to joining the Institute, Marisa was a Senior Investment Consultant in Willis Towers Watson’s investment advisory business.
Marisa is on the standing committee of Investment 20/20 which focuses on attracting young diverse talent into the industry and is also on the steering committee of #talkaboutblack, a powerful movement that aims to improve the conversation on ethnic diversity. This falls under the UK wide industry initiative, The Diversity Project.
Marisa is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (FIA) and holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC). She has a MSc (Distinction) from CASS Business School, London and a first-class degree in Mathematics from the University of the West Indies. She has also been shortlisted for ‘Woman of the Year’ in the 2020 Women in Finance Summit & Awards Series.
Hannah Smith, UK Institutional Sales Team for the SPDR ETF business
Hannah is part of the UK Institutional Sales Team for the SPDR ETF business. She is responsible for
UK Pension Fund clients, leading business development and strategy for the segment. Hannah is also
focused on growing SPDR’s wider UK institutional client base including asset managers, insurers and
hedge funds. Hannah’s responsibilities include providing sales coverage and relationship management for existing clients as well as prospecting new relationships and collaborating with colleagues in investment strategy and research to identify emerging trends and investment opportunities for clients. She is responsible for the UK’s largest client with assets under management of $37.6 billion.
Hannah has received widespread industry recognition for her leadership and strong achievements in her career having been named in the Financial News’ Rising Star List for 2021 and the Black Women in Asset Management ’40 under 40’ List. She is also a spokesperson for State Street Global Advisors, having recently appeared on Bloomberg TV. Hannah was recently promoted to lead the SPDR ETF business for the Nordics. As part of this role, she will relocate to the Netherlands and become a member of the SPDR Senior Leadership Team.
Hannah previously worked on the Credit Sales desk at Mitsubishi UFJ International, focused on growing the firms UK Institutional client base. Prior to this, she spent five years at Goldman Sachs International where she was responsible for advising family offices and ultra-high net worth clients on how to gain access to investment themes through the mutual fund and ETF universe. Hannah holds a Mathematics Degree from the University of Bristol.
Dr Yvette Arthur, Chartered Clinical Psychologist
Dr Yvette Arthur is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, currently working in a Psychosis service and privately, within a Children’s home. Within these roles, she particularly enjoys sharing a psychological understanding of mental illness within teams and contributing to the journey of recovery for those who are experiencing severe and enduring mental health difficulties. She is passionate about community psychology, mental health amongst people from minority ethnic communities, and highlighting the positive relationship between faith and mental health. She has conducted various pieces of research in the area of faith and mental health, including her doctoral thesis entitled 'Narratives of Christian and Muslim qualified and trainee clinical psychologists working in the NHS'. Her interest in the relationship between faith and mental health continues within her role as a trustee and secretary for the National Spirituality and Mental Health Forum.
Dr Arthur is passionate about sharing skills from psychological theories in a way that is accessible to everyone. She has facilitated various presentations, workshops, and webinars focusing on racial trauma for Black and Asian staff working in the Foreign Office, self-care for medical professionals, mental health awareness in places of worship, and Tree of Life narrative methodology. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of East London and King’s College London, focusing on working with religion and spirituality in therapy, and social inequalities in Psychosis presentations
Alex Holmes, London-based writer, Podcaster and Producer
Alex is a London-based writer, podcaster and producer in the UK, writing across print and audio mediums. His work centres around positive masculinity, mental health awareness and the liberating power of reading and writing. He became a Mental Health First Aider with Mental Health First Aid England in October 2020. His background as a newspaper journalist has seen his writing featured in numerous media publications.
His first essay, ‘What’s In A Name’ was featured in SAFE: 20 Ways To Be A Black Man In Britain Today in 2019, alongside other talented Black British male writers. He is currently working on his debut book, Time To Talk: How Men Feel About Love, Belonging and Connection (Trigger, 2021).
His career in newspapers began after winning a national journalism scholarship in 2015, where he covered news, entertainment and lifestyle for publications such as the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Metro and more, before going freelance in 2019. In addition, he hosts a weekly podcast called Time to Talk with Alex where he interviews interesting people about their stories.
Michael Barrington-Hibbert, Founder and Global Managing Partner, Barrington Hibbert Associates
Recognized as one of the most influential Black British Leaders by the Financial Times, Michael Barrington
Hibbert’s career spans two decades and four continents (Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa).
Michael is the founder and global managing partner for executive search and advisory firm Barrington Hibbert Associates Financial Services Practice. With a global track record in primary and secondary banking appointments covering both the buy and sell sides, he has advised multiple FTSE 100 firms over the
years. Michael also leads the firm’s diversity and inclusion practice. Michael began his career at Morgan Stanley in New York, before moving back to the UK five years later to begin a career in the
executive search industry. He still maintains a strong US presence and splits his time between BHA’s London and New York offices.
Along with his executive search expertise, Michael is passionate about social mobility. He is a founder of the Barrington Hibbert Associates Scholarship awarded annually to assist outstanding 18-21-year-olds and is a mentor for the Amos Bursary which assists academically gifted young Black British men. His passion for social mobility stems from his own experiences. Michael studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Binghamton University where he was offered a full scholarship. He was however, also forced to turn down a place at Yale University as he did not have the financial means that the University asked for. As a result of this, he is determined to support younger generations to ensure that talent and potential are not side-lined due to social and financial situations.
Michael is a national representative for the Government backed REACH programme. Selected as one of 20 from an initial 200 applicants, Michael acts as a role model for the initiative aimed at raising the aspirations and achievements of young black men. He is also a co-Founder of #10,000blackinterns, an initiative to
offer 10,000 internships over five years to help Black Students across 24 sectors involving more than 700 companies.
Jacqueline Taiwo, Principal, Associate General Counsel, Europe, TowerBrook
Jackie is a Principal at TowerBrook Capital Partners, where she is Associate General Counsel, Europe. Prior to joining TowerBrook, Jacqueline was a Senior Associate in the London offices of Kirkland & Ellis LLP where she advised European private equity clients. Jackie holds a B.S. from Columbia University, an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management, and a J.D. from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
Jackie is also the chair and co-founder of Black Women in Asset Management (BWAM), an organisation of professionals in the asset management industry aligned around a common goal to advance and retain black women leaders across all investment strategies. BWAM’s mission is to champion the positive impact of the talented black women who work in asset management and provide the tools that will enable them to thrive.
Sope Agbelusi, Founder MindsetShift
Sope is the founder of MindsetShift a company that specialises in two pillars: leadership development - coaching and building emotionally intelligent and strategic leaders and culture change - focused on working with organisation, startup and local government to develop people-centred cultures that are truly inclusive and psychologically safe as well as running facilitation sessions.
Prior to this Sope has a background in finance working with Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies leading high performing teams in the UK, Europe and Asia.
Rachel Green, Director, Institutional Sales, Nuveen
Rachel is responsible for developing relationships with UK institutional investors across pension funds, insurance firms and charities as well as investment consultants and other advisors. She will play a key role in continuing to grow our investment and distribution capabilities in the U.K. to meet the increased interest from U.K. and European investors. She has more than a decade of experience within institutional sales, working with asset owners and stakeholders on both the liability and asset sides. In addition to her most recent role as Associate Director of Institutional Sales at Aviva Investors, she has held positions at reinsurer Munich Re and Russell Investments.
Whilst at Aviva Investors, Rachel sat on the Aviva Group Board Evolution Council as one of twelve future leaders responsible for advising the Aviva Group Board on strategic issues. Rachel is a co-founder of #talkaboutblack, the ethnicity workstream of the Diversity Project and a Diversity Project Ambassador. She is the founder of The Skills Workshop, a social initiative to build awareness of the asset management industry, increase financial literacy, and increase social capital amongst university aged students across the UK. In June 2020, she was awarded the Freedom of the City of London for her work in campaigning for greater ethnic diversity in the asset management industry.
Gavin Lewis, Managing Director, Head of UK LGPS, Institutional Client Business, Blackrock
Gavin Lewis is Managing Director at BlackRock. He is responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the UK Local Government Pension Scheme segment. Previous to this Gavin held several leadership roles at Vanguard Asset Management including Head of UK Institutional and Wholesale Distribution, Head of UK Retirement and Head of European Consultant Relations. Gavin has also held positions UBS Asset Management and Russell Investments. Gavin hold a BA in History and Politics and from the University of London and holds the CISI Certificate of Investment Management.
Gavin has also been active in highlighting the challenges to increasing ethnic minority representation in the asset management industry and attempted to find solutions. Gavin is a member of the asset management industry's Diversity Project and one of his key initiatives is co-creating the #Talkaboutblack a movement, dedicated to breaking the taboo subject that is race in Britain today. He has worked with asset management firms to create mentoring circles for junior and mid-level ethnic minority professionals, student events to help attract talent to the industry and is an after school program designed to give disadvantaged secondary school pupils with the tools and aspirations to enter the corporate world.
Omotunde Lawal, Head of Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Group, Barings
Omotunde Lawal is the Head of Emerging Markets Corporate Debt Group and the lead portfolio manager for the Emerging Markets Corporate Debt strategy, as well as a member of the Barings EM Investment Committee. Prior to her current role, Tunde was the Head of Barings EM Corporate Credit Research, with research coverage responsibilities for various sectors such as Real Estate, LATAM Energy, and LATAM Infrastructure. Tunde has worked in the industry since 2000.
Prior to joining the firm in 2014, she was a portfolio manager at Cosford Capital Management, focusing on high yield and distressed LATAM and CEEMEA corporates. Prior to this, she was at Standard Bank, where she traded and invested in distressed and stressed emerging markets corporates in LATAM and CEEMEA for the Principal Trading Team. Earlier, Tunde worked at Barclays Capital and Deloitte & Touche/Arthur Andersen.
Tunde holds a B.Sc. in Accounting & Finance from University of Warwick, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Accountants in England and Wales, and is a member of the CFA Institute
Nicolas Janvier, Head the U.S. Equities-EMEA, Columbia Threadneedle
Nicolas leads a team of 6 professionals managing ~$12 billion dollars of client assets across 6 strategies. Nicolas is the lead manager of the Threadneedle American Strategy, the ESG portfolios, as well as a Small-Mid cap strategy. Nicolas is the co-portfolio manager for Columbia Large Cap Growth Opportunity Fund (40 Act Fund). Finally, as head of the desk, he is the regulatory face of the U.S. Equities franchise in EMEA.
Nicolas joined the company in 2006, spending eight years in the New York office of Columbia Management, where he worked as a portfolio manager in the Value Strategies team focusing on US mid and small cap companies. He relocated to London in 2014.
In addition to his Portfolio responsibilities, Nicolas has served as a Trustee-Director of the Columbia Threadneedle Foundation since 2015.
Nicolas was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti where he lived until the age of 11 when his family relocated to the United States.
He holds a BA in Telecommunications-Operations from the University of Florida. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Justine Lutterodt, Founder and Managing Director, Centre for Synchronous Leadership
Justine is recognised as an authority on leadership, ethics and systemic change, with her thought leadership featured at conferences around the world. She brings to her coaching practice twenty years of experience working with senior executives and has led numerous senior teams and entire divisions through cultural transformation. Additionally, her L&D projects relating to race and ethnicity received awards in 2013, 2014, and 2018.
Prior to founding the Centre in 2010, Justine served as Marketing Director at Quality Training Systems, where she reconfigured the customer relationship and pricing strategy to prepare the business for sale. Before this, Justine was at Monitor (Deloitte), a management consultancy founded by strategy guru Michael Porter. Here she gained initial experience leading teams along with exposure to a broad range of sectors and cutting-edge methodologies.
Outside of CSL, Justine serves as NED for the nominations committee of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. She is also Chair of the Diversity Legal Awards, Patron of Bright Stars (a charity supporting young people with autism) and Founder of the Africa Women’s Circle. Justine was recognised in 2016 by BE Mogul as one of Britain’s Most Influential Black Entrepreneurs and in 2017 by Brummell Magazine as one of the City’s 30 Most Influential Female Industry Changemakers.
Justine holds a BA from Yale in Maths and Philosophy and an MSc from LSE in Organisational Psychology, both with distinction.
Earl Lynch, Managing Director, The Kairos Experience
Earl Lynch is an inspirational, informative, and passionate speaker, who shares his heart and energy with audiences worldwide. A former professional musician, with a number one hit single, who now runs his own business in learning and development, with over 20 years’ experience in field of human resource development.
Earl has a very warm, engaging style of delivery, an incredible people connector, speaking to the hearts of minds of Business Executives, Influencers, Policy Makers and Team Leaders; empowering and enabling them to build world class teams, through real life examples and business relevant content that blends deep research with easy to comprehend, commercial and cultural understanding.
At his core, Earl is an educator and entertainer who can wonderfully craft together inspirational keynote speeches, to enable audiences to make a real impact in the performance and realisation of their results.
Earl has worked with many leading brands and is particularly proud of his track record working with Microsoft and their Partners, since 1998, to enable salesforces worldwide to sell software and outstanding solutions.
Unconscious bias has been a topic that has fascinated Earl since 2018. Many of Earl’s early life experiences, career choices and business decisions have impacted him as a result of unconscious bias, Earl realises that this affects everything and everyone we come into contact with. It has been the single most revelatory factor to understanding the way in which we work with people, make decisions, and innovate for exceptional results.
Earl’s keynote “Unlocking Innovation through Diversity and Inclusion” highlights the issues caused by our biases, but goes on to wonderfully illustrate the major benefits of innovation and creativity that diversity of thought brings to every organisation, if only they would choose to embrace that thinking.
Remi Olu-Pitan, Head of Multi-Asset Income and Growth, Schroders
Remi is the Head of Multi-Asset Income & Growth. Since joining Schroders in 2006, Remi has been managing Multi-Asset Income and Diversified Growth mandates. She is the lead fund manager of the Schroder ISF Global Multi-Asset Income fund and of the Schroder Diversified Growth funds. Remi is a member of the Equity risk premium team of the Strategic Investment Group Multi-Asset (SIGMA) and a member of the Global Asset Allocation Committee.
Remi is a CFA charterholder and holds a Masters in Statistics, London School of Economics. Bachelors in Business Finance, Durham University.
Tainia Blake, Senior HR Business Partner, Harry’s International
Tainia is Senior HR Business Partner at Harry’s International, where she is responsible for partnering with the senior leadership team and line managers to develop the HR Strategy and people plans to support the business goals and growth strategy and to build the capability and culture for the future. Before joining Harry’s she spent 9 years in financial services working for the Global AXA Group which includes Architas Investment Management.
As a senior HR professional, Tainia acts as a thought partner to senior leaders and people managers. She has expertise in covering multiple areas of HR including recruitment, organisation design, performance management, learning and development, talent management and employee relations.
Tainia holds a Bachelors Degree in Human Resource Management from Kingston university and is a qualified Executive Coach.
Cyprian Njamma, Director, The Institutional Group at SEI Investment (Europe) Ltd.
Cyprian is responsible for delivering asset allocation advice and implementation to investors across the world.
Cyprian also serves as a Board Director of SEI Master Trust Ltd, in his capacity as a Trustee Director he is responsible for overseeing the retirement assets and savings of workers and has a special interest in encouraging the younger generation to invest for their future.
Cyprian holds a Master of Physics from University of Oxford and MSc in Actuarial Finance from Imperial College London. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.
Tunga Chigovanyika, Director and deputy Head of Corporate Finance in the Investment Trust team at Cenkos Securities.
Tunga is a Director and deputy Head of Corporate Finance in the Investment Trust team at Cenkos Securities. An experienced corporate financier/broker with over 15 years of experience. Tunga has led and advised on numerous equity capital markets transactions which have raised in excess of £8 billion across the Investment Trust and Real estate sectors.
Tunga qualified as a chartered accountant at PwC in the banking and capital markets division where his clients included Goldman Sachs, Barclays and ICAP.
Tunga holds an Bsc(Hons) in Economics from the University of Warwick and an Msc in Management Science and Operational Research from Warwick Business School.
Kasase Kabwe, Executive Recruiter, London Stock Exchange Group
Kas joined the London Stock Exchange Group in May 2020 where he is an Executive Recruiter responsible for Managing Director and Senior Director hiring across all lines of business globally. He has 19 years’ experience working in the City. Prior to joining LSEG Kas spent 2 years at Columbia Threadneedle Investments where he was the lead Executive Recruiter and founder and Chair of the Black Employee Network. Prior to his time at CTI Kas spent 6.5 years at Barclays Bank working as an Executive Recruiter and Senior Resourcing Partner. He has held roles as Executive Search consultant, focussed on the hedge fund industry and as Head of Talent Acquisition at Renaissance Capital. He started his career at JPMorgan where he spent 6 years joining on their as graduate program working in the business before moving into HR to lead Graduate Talent Development.
Kas holds a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Bath and has full international football cap having represented Zambia vs Ghana in 2009.
Jeremy Agorom, Financial Adviser and Managing Director at Whitfield Wealth Management, a Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management
Jeremy is Financial Adviser and Managing Director at Whitfield Wealth Management, a Partner Practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management.
After graduating with Honours in International Business and French, Jeremy has worked within the Wealth Management industry since 2008. With more than 10 years' experience, Jeremy began his career in Luxembourg, he was a Relationship Manager at Julius Baer Private Bank, advising and managing high net worth client portfolios. Latterly, he continued as an International Financial Adviser, with a boutique wealth manager, BFM, with a focus on managing bankers’ pensions. Today, being a partner of SJP, has allowed him to continue delivering the high level of service, with an holistic approach, to all that need it in Manchester and London.
Jeremy holds the IMC and CII Advanced Financial Planning Diploma. He is currently working with Onside Youth Zones in Manchester, to pass on his experiences and mentoring to those with ethnically diverse backgrounds in deprived areas. Jeremy is keen to promote awareness surrounding the lack of Black representation and opportunities within financial services not only in the City of London but in Manchester and his hometown, Liverpool.
Nathan Waldron, Partner, Prudential Financial Planning Ltd.
Nathan joined Prudential Financial Planning Ltd. in 2016 as a Partner responsible for ensuring financial needs for clients are discovered, understood and become achievable. Covering all areas of financial planning from pensions to insurances. Prior to joining Prudential, Nathan worked at Barclays for 5 years in various senior roles as a Personal Banker, Premier Relationship Manager and Strategic Transformation Leader.
Nathan is a creative, entrepreneurial and qualified financial services professional who understands the value of financial advice as a way to improve his clients’ lives.
The key to financial advice is to ensure, you understand and fully listen to all of your clients, you clearly explain how things will work in a clear and understandable manner, and you set goals together - making achievements achievable and also enjoyable.
Nathan studied at The London Institute of Banking & Finance.
Vannessa Whitehead joined Elan Capital Management in August 2023 as Compliance Manager, responsible for providing advice and guidance across a range of compliance topics.
Prior to this, she spent two years as a Vice President at Northern Trust Asset Management and almost a decade at abrdn across several roles including Global Head of Compliance Monitoring, Senior Compliance Manager and most latterly as a Technical Manager covering Investments.
Outside of compliance, Vannessa is a mother of 3 daughters and a passionate inclusion advocate having co-chaired an employee network focussed on race and ethnicity. Vannessa is also a member of the Risk, Audit and Compliance Committee for ‘The Children’s Society’ where she hopes to contribute towards improved outcomes for children and young people.
Daryl Wright, Board Member, Managing Director - Lumyna Investments
As Executive Board Member and Managing Director at Lumyna Investments - Daryl sets the strategic direction of the product range and facilitates the development of new products, to meet the needs of Lumyna's clients.
Daryl also oversees strategic & regulatory change projects for Lumyna, an $18bn boutique asset manager focussed on developing and marketing liquid alternative funds. Not only this, Daryl has worked in financial services for 20 years, designing investment products and innovative solutions for clients. Daryl graduated with a first class in Computer Systems Engineering (MEng) from the University of Warwick.
Dawid Konotey-Ahulu - Co-Founder at Redington, Mallowstreet & 10000 Black Interns
Dawid started his career as a barrister of Lincoln’s Inn, subsequently spending sixteen years as an investment banker. In 2006, he left Merrill Lynch and co-founded Redington, a City firm advising large institutional pension funds and insurance companies.
In 2009, Dawid set up Mallowstreet, which is now the established specialist online community for the UK pensions and savings industry. Most recently he co-founded 10,000 Black Interns, which is placing 10,000 young, talented Black graduates in firms across 24 sectors in the United Kingdom over the next five years.
Rose St Louis - Protection Director at Lloyds Banking Group
Rose joined Lloyds Banking Group in March 2021 as a Protection Director. She is responsible for leading LBGs protection business across the intermediary, retail & digital channels.
Rose has over 20 years experience in the financial services industry in a diverse range of roles. Rose's background as a financial advisor for 10 years has given her real customer insight, and by working with Asset Managers, Intermediaries, Brokers and Insurers. She has great knowledge of the insurance value chain.
Rose is a leading figure in the UK protection market and is recognised for her inclusive approach to customer delivery - winning several industry awards and being instrumental in setting up and launching, Women in Protection Network.
Ishbel Straker - IStraker Consultants
As an expert in the field of addiction and mental health, Ishbel and her team are focused on offering a bespoke service to their patients. They combine clinically evidenced therapies such as, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution Focused Therapy, as well as a prescribing service when appropriate.
Ishbel works with people who are both physically and/or psychologically impacted by mental health issues or addiction. Working together with the patient to set goals through 1:1 therapies within national guidance frameworks. Ishbel additionally has a range of onward referral pathways to ensure continuation of care.
The team work with a number of organisations providing mental health support, either clinically or strategically.
Ishbel writes a monthly mental health column for the Liverpool Echo, The Law Gazette and is a regular contributor for BSA. She is also an experienced Expert Witness for APEX.
David Ziyambi - Partner at Latham & Watkins
David Ziyambi is a Partner at international law firm Latham & Watkins whose practice focuses on a wide range of finance, including project finance, structured and asset finance, investment-grade, real estate and leveraged finance. David has advised a wide range of clients, including sovereigns and parastatals, export credit agencies, commercial banks and numerous corporates, particularly in the energy sector.
He also advises debt and other investment funds (including mezzanine and other alternative debt structures) focusing on energy and infrastructure, primarily in Africa and other emerging markets.
He is currently an Ambassador for the BigKid Foundation, a youth charity dedicated to helping young people in London fulfil their potential.
He was also named as one of Law360’s Rising Stars of 2021 and listed as one of the 30 most Influential black senior executives in the City in finance, law & tech in the 2021 edition of “Power in the City”. In 2020, he was included in EMpower’s Top 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Role Model list of business leaders who are breaking down barriers at work and working hard to smash the ceiling for ethnic minorities in the UK, Ireland, Europe, and people of color in the United States and Canada. David has also previously been honoured as one of 100 Goldman Sachs Global Leaders worldwide and represented the United Kingdom at the Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Institute in New York City.
He is currently the Chair of the Advisory Board for the University of Cambridge Black Alumni Network and retains his status as a Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society, which holds the patronage of, HRH Charles, Prince of Wales.
Ngozi Fasan - Vice President at Morgan Stanley and the EMEA Risk and Control Lead for Investment Management Operations.
Ngozi Fasan is a Vice President at Morgan Stanley and the EMEA Risk and Control Lead for
Investment Management Operations. In her role she is responsible for executing the IM Operations risk and regulatory governance agenda and her role covers a broad range of Operational Risk related programs and activities including support of the Global Operations Risk Management framework.
Ngozi joined Morgan Stanley in January 2018 from the Royal Bank of Scotland. Prior to that she worked at Barclays and Deutsche Bank in operational risk management roles. Ngozi initially trained and practised as an Auditor for over 5 years at Ernst & Young and KPMG and has over 16 years experience in the financial services industry.
Ngozi has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Greenwich in Accounting and Finance and is also a certified Risk Manager and Project Manager.
A champion of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and is an active member of the Diversity Focus Committee, as well as the Morgan Stanley EMEA Firm wide Race to Action Group. Ngozi is also the representative for Morgan Stanley on the Diversity Project Steering committee, which is focused on industry wide best practices within investment management.
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Anji (Anjuman) Kaur Kang-Stewart - Global Head of Marketing of Man Group
Anji is Global Head of Marketing of Man Group. She is responsible for developing and implementing the firm’s marketing strategy to support Man’s global business across all client channels.
She has over 17 years of experience across sales and marketing roles in asset management. Prior to joining Man Group, Anji spent six years at Wellington Management as Managing Director, Head of EMEA Marketing and Global Fund Marketing.
Previously Anji was Marketing Director at Neuberger Berman. Anji holds a BSc and MA in Anthropology from University College London.
Justin Onuekwusi - Chief Investment Officer at St. James's Place and Founder of EnCircle Mentoring.
Justin is the Chief Investment Officer at St. James’s Place (SJP). His role sees him lead the development of SJP’s investment proposition, asset allocation approach and selection of external fund managers. A CFA charterholder, he holds more than two decades' experience across investment management, most recently as Head of Retail Investments, EMEA and head of Retail Multi-Asset Funds at LGIM.
Externally, he sits on the Race Leadership Team at Business in the Community (BITC) and is a panel member of the Premier League’s Equity Diversity and Inclusion Standard (PLEDIS). He has won several awards for his work in driving societal change including the 2020 Portfolio Adviser Wealth Management award for Outstanding Contribution to Inclusivity and the 2021 Investment Week Fund Manager of the Year award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion.
He founded EnCircle which is a monthly mentoring circle initiative and the Black Leaders Programme in conjunction with the Investment Association and Diversity Project. In addition, in 2020 he was awarded the honour of the Freedom of the City of London.
Jerran Whyte - Principal Partner, Belvedere Wealth Management (BWM)
Belvedere Wealth Management (BWM), part of the Belvedere Group, is a black run and owned international wealth management firm who specialises in advising and managing wealth across multiple continents. Located in London, UK and Windhoek, Namibia, BWM is one of the very few black owned businesses to boast Direct Authorisation with the FCA, allowing us to unashamedly target black investment managers, providers, partners as well as black wealth through professionals, SMEs, and families. Led by Jerran Whyte, Principal Partner, and with over 13 years’ worth of experience managing wealth across, UK, US, Europe, Africa, and Asia, BWM markets itself as the premier home of black wealth.
BWM's services include helping SMEs, professionals and families create wealth over the short, medium, and long term. They to help achieve goals such as paying for school fees, property purchases, reaching financial freedom at a young age, retiring early, and creating a legacy for the next generation.
Jerran has worked across a range of different industries, sectors, and positions, all at different stages in life. It is Jerran's belief that no matter who you are, no matter what you earn - if you want to make a difference to your future self, then he wants to help.
Davinia Tomlinson - Founder, rainchq
Davinia is the award-winning founder of rainchq - a company she set up to help women take control of their financial futures. She has over 15 years experience across the investment, management and professional services industries, including roles at Fidelity Investments and PwC. Davinia has a First Class Honours degree from Aston University, an Executive MBA from Cass Business School and also holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).
Outside rainchq, Davinia is a Trustee at The Talawa Theatre company, which was established more than 30 years ago to improve diversity in the arts. She has two young daughters and splits her time between London and the Caribbean.
Tobi Rufus, EMEA Co-Head and UK Region Head of the Private Bank at Goldman Sachs
Tobi is EMEA Co-Head and UK Region Head of the Private Bank (lending and deposits) within Private Wealth Management (“PWM”) at Goldman Sachs. Tobi is a senior lender who leads a team that offers lending and deposit solutions to clients based across EMEA. He structures and originates unsecured and secured lending transactions against range of asset classes (including private stock, alternatives, real estate, aviation, fund interests, fine art and fine wine). He also assists with building out and growing the Private Bank lending franchise globally and platform across EMEA.
Prior to joining PWM in 2021, from 2014, Tobi was Executive Director and Senior Counsel in the Legal Division, where he led the legal teams covering the Private Bank in EMEA and Asia and PWM Transactions (PWM Capital Markets and Equity Structuring) in EMEA.
Prior to joining the Goldman Sachs, Tobi was a Senior Associate at the magic circle law firm Allen & Overy LLP (“A&O”) where he specialised in General Lending & Leverage Finance, over the course of his seven years at A&O in addition to London, he worked in Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Budapest, Lagos and Johannesburg.
Tobi has a MA in Jurisprudence (Law) from Hertford College, University of Oxford, where he sits on the college alumni development board. Tobi is a member of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry) London Council, school governor of Buxton School in East London, company secretary and board member of Belsize Park Rugby Football Club, fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) and a non-practicing solicitor. Tobi was a finalist in the 2022 ‘Financial Services – Senior Leader’ category at the Black British Business Awards.
Darren Johnson - Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at Impax Asset Management
Darren Johnson is Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer at Impax Asset Management and sits on the Executive Committee. Darren is also a board member of Impax’s management company in Ireland and sits on its UCITS board.
Darren joined Impax in 2007 and during his tenure, he has driven operational transformations, built teams and pioneered the company's transition into cloud services to support rapid growth.
In addition to his Impax responsibilities, Darren sits on the board of a number of charities and organisations, including St Mungo’s and the investment advisory board of Comic Relief. Darren is also a prominent advocate of Diversity issues across the financial services, is co-founder of TalkAboutBlack and acts as an ambassador for Investment 20/20, an organisation which provides school leavers and graduates from non-traditional backgrounds with opportunities in asset management.
Obe Ejikeme - Fund Manager within the Cross Asset team at Carmignac
Obe Ejikeme is a Fund Manager within the Cross Asset team. Obe joined Carmignac in 2014 as Quantitative Equity Analyst. He started his career in 2003 at FactSet Research Systems as a Senior Consultant.
Then, he worked for seven years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where he was Head of European Equity and Quantitative Strategy.
Obe holds a Bachelor in Computer Science from the University of Hull.
Marina Ebrubah - Global Head of KYC, COO at Man Group
Marina joined Man Group in 2017, she is the Head of Client Due Diligence within Man Group’s Global Financial Crime Compliance team managing regulatory changes and protecting the firm from Financial Crime risk.
Marina is a committee member of Man Group’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) steering committee, and a founding member of the firm’s Black employees network, BEAM. In these roles, Marina works closely with senior leaders from across the business to set and implement the firm’s DE&I strategy. She contributes her passion to the broader asset management industry, through her contribution as a Diversity Project ambassador and #talkaboutblack committee member.
Prior to Man Group, Marina worked at JP Morgan for 8 years in Private Equity and Real Estate Accounting.
In 2020, Marina featured on EMpower’s 100 Ethnic Minority Future Leaders, and was awarded Unsung Hero at the Women in Investments Awards.
Natalie Gregoire-Skeete, Head of Sustainability, Europe at HSBC
Natalie Gregoire-Skeete, UK Financial Services Sustainable Finance Markets Lead, EY Natalie leade the EY UK Financial Services Sustainable Finance business covering the provision of Sustainable finance solutions for the UK's Banking, Insurance and Asset Management sectors, pulling on the varied talents of our 200 Partners and 4000 EY UK Financial Services professionals.
My particular focus is on the development of sustainability solutions with a social dimension. I led the EY participation in the Sustainable Finance Initiative’s SPSI project aiming to increase global sustainable investment, working with international governments, international development banks as well as the private sector. My career began covering Japanese equities as an investment analyst at Columbia Threadneedle.
I am a CFA Charter holder, at the CFA Institute I represent the UK in the European ESG working group. In the CFA UK Society, I am a member of the Professionalism Steering Committee acting as a gatekeeper in the areas of ESG and Sustainability. I am part of the working group developing practitioner guidance in the area of Sustainability.
I co-founded the CFA UK Black Professionals and Allies Network. I hold the FRM, Financial Risk Managers designation, and have passed the CFA Certificate in ESG investing. Passionate about education I also have a PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Mathematics Education.
I have studied Markets Regulation at the LSE and Mandarin at the Jiao Tong University in Shangha
Elliott Coleman, Executive Director, UK&I Clients & Consultants at AQR Capital Management
Elliott Coleman is an Executive Director within AQR’s Business Development team based in our London office. In this role, he is responsible for strengthening and deepening existing and new relationships with global institutional investment consultants, research professionals, and institutional clients based in the UK & Ireland.
Prior to AQR, Elliott was a Vice President with Blackrock Asset Management in the iShares ETF division. Elliott obtained his B.S. in business and management from Brunel University and his Masters in finance with distinction from London Business School.
Nneka Opara - Senior Content and Communications Professional
Nneka has over a decades worth of experience across journalism, communications, social media and content creation. She has also worked across a range of sectors including financial services, tech and the creative sector.
Over the years she has led several award-winning, high-profile campaigns - working across public, private and third sector clients. She has provided strategic communications, content advice and support for clients from start-ups to several listed companies.
Nneka has experience of creating engaging content for social, digital and non-traditional platforms, and has been responsible for bringing forward several successful social and multimedia campaigns.
Odumade Odutola - Director, Client Partner Group - KKR
Odumade Odutola joined KKR in 2022 and is a Director in the Client and Partner Group, where he is a member of the European Private Wealth Team. Prior to joining KKR, Mr Odutola was a senior vice president at PIMCO, where he was responsible for the growth of PIMCO’s business in London - focusing on wealth managers, multi-managers, and financial advisers.
Previously he worked for BlackRock within the strategic partnership and DC Investment Sales Team. He holds an MBA from The Imperial College and an undergraduate degree from Bristol Business School.
Amaka Ogbonnah, Personal Wealth Advisor at Schroders Personal Wealth
Amaka has over 18 years extensive experience working for several well-known financial/private banking institutions, providing expert holistic financial advice to her clients. Following a successful and enjoyable career at Coutts & Co., She established Amneo Wealth Management Ltd when she accepted an invitation to join St. James's Place Wealth Management in 2018. At Amneo Wealth they are dedicated to building long-term relationships with their clients to ensure, they continually provide quality trusted advice that evolves as life and goals change. She joined Schroders Personal Wealth in 2022 as a Personal Wealth Adviser, where they believe in changing the lives of their clients.
Outside of her career, she runs financial education seminars, enjoys public speaking, supports her local church and is passionate about charities who focus on educating children from disadvantaged homes. She enjoys keeping fit, boxing, travelling the world and spending quality time with her family and friends. She is also a keen supporter of women in business and in the workplace and enjoys engaging and assisting like-minded individuals.
She is regulated and authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority, an associate member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments. She holds various qualifications including a diploma in Financial Planning and Advice, a Bachelors in Banking and Finance and Masters degree in Investment Fund Management.
Tutu Kamara, Head of Risk and Internal Audit, PayPoint plc
Tutu is an accomplished Risk professional with over 20 years of experience in the Financial Services Industry.
She qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the accounting firm PKF in 2002 and is now a Fellow member of the Certified Chartered Accountant (FCCA). Since then, she has worked in management consulting and external audit for a leading City-based firm of accountants. Tutu has gained extensive experience at senior levels in internal audit and operational risk. Her experience has included roles in Banking with the Barclays Banking Group (both retail and commercial), Insurance, and most recently, Asset Management at Legal & General.
She currently works at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), a top 10 firm with over £1trillion of assets under management. There, Tutu has been instrumental in setting up the Assurance department with a firm-wide remit to embed a culture of risk responsibility within process teams.
She has also been active in the cultural and ethnicity network within LGIM’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. Tutu played a leading role in setting up a mentoring network within the firm, which includes a technological platform, supported by a robust committee structure and process.
Tutu lives in London with her partner and two youngest children.
Henry Odogwu, Managing Director at BlackRock
Henry Odogwu, Managing Director, is Head of iShares & Wealth sales for UK Institutional clients, where he and his team are responsible for driving adoption of BlackRock index & active investment solutions for UK asset managers and ETFs for UK asset owners. In addition, he co-leads the Asset Management client segment within EMEA iShares & Wealth sales. He is a member of the EMEA iShares & Wealth Sales Leadership Team as well as the BlackRock UK Executive Committee.
Henry joined BlackRock in 2020 from London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), where he spent 4 years as Head of European Asset Owner & Consultant sales in the FTSE Russell business. In his final year, he was additionally head of the wider continental European sales team. Prior to this, Henry spent 7 years at MSCI where he led teams responsible for selling risk and portfolio management analytics to asset managers & banks. He began his career in banking, working in a variety of roles at firms including Barclays Capital, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. Henry holds a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Brunel University and holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).
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Steve Richards, Co-Founder, Jago Personal Brand Agency
I am an Anthropologist and Emotional Intelligence coach with a passion for storytelling.
After living as a global nomad across 60+ countries, surviving a near death experience and enjoying a successful career as a humanitarian, in 2020 I decided to focus on my business in the UK full time and spend more time with my sons.
I use my skills in Anthropology to facilitate leaders in understanding and developing their identity, to answer that age old question humans ask, 'who am I?".
Emmanuel Asuquo, Senior Financial Adviser at Belvedere Wealth Management
Emmanuel Asuquo is a qualified Financial Adviser and has worked in Financial Services for over 15 years. He is privileged enough to give financial education talks all over the UK and has spoken to over 50,000 people in the last three years. Emmanuel has been featured in The Times, Telegraph, The Sun and Daily Mail newspapers and invited to speak as an expert guest on BBC Radio on multiple occasions. He was one of four experts on the popular Channel 4 finance show “Save Well, Spend Better”.
He was also an expert for the BBC One show “Your Money And Your Life”, helping a family save just under £10,000 on their annual household bills. Emmanuel has featured as a financial expert on BBC 1’s Morning Live, Watchdog, Rip Off Britain, Jeremy Vine and ITV’s “This Morning”, putting him in the home of millions of viewers all over the UK. Emmanuel’s latest project on Channel 4 is called On The Money and is available on YouTube. Emmanuel is a senior partner at Belvedere Wealth Management, an independent UK & International Wealth Manager, that offers a wide range services to individuals, families, and businesses.
Emmanuel recently became an author with the release of his new book "Get Your Money Right" that aims to prove that learning about money doesn’t have to be boring – and it is vital, especially in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. He explains the basics of finance from the UK credit system to generation wealth and setting up a side hustle, as well as guidance on developing a money mindset and building good financial habits. Emmanuel has a passion for helping people, and his vision is to become the financial adviser to the nation
Kofi Kyei, Executive Search Partner at Legal & General
Kofi Kyei is an Executive Search Partner based in London working for Legal & General. He is responsible for senior hiring strategies at Director level and above. Over his 18-year career, he has been instrumental in helping hundreds of individuals progress their careers in blue-chip organisations across multiple sectors, particularly financial services.
He is passionate about helping others unlock their potential and believe in themselves to progress further than they previously imagined. He is currently looking to combine his passion for personal mastery with a professional coaching accreditation which will see him support the under-represented many develop the tools to be “too good to be ignored” and take up their places at the decision-making table of corporations globally.
Fudia Smartt, Expert Employment Lawyer, Public Speaker, NED and Board Member
Fudia Smartt is an expert employment lawyer with almost 20 years’ experience in advising employees and employers on all aspects of employment law in highly regarded firms across the City of London. In particular, she has expertise in advising senior executives in the finance sector on complex discrimination, equal pay, whistleblowing and unfair dismissal claims; regularly securing significant six-figure settlements for her clients. As a result, she has been ranked in Chambers & Partners for the quality of her work, as well as being praised for her strong emotional intelligence.
Additionally, she works as a facilitator for Byrne Dean (which is a workplace consultancy mainly comprised of former employment lawyers), principally working with large professional services firms across the City. Her work in providing training on matters such as diversity, inclusion, unconscious bias, allyship, intersectionality, office politics, and employment law for managers, which complements her skill set as an employment lawyer in acting for individuals and businesses alike.
She is also a sought-after public speaker who regularly gives talks for organisations such as the Westminster Employment Forum, the Bar Association for Commerce, Finance & Industry, MBL Seminars, Employment Lawyers Association and Business Forum International on a range of employment matters such as whistleblowing, religion or belief discrimination, IR35 and diversity matters. Her commentary is also regularly sought by publications such as the Financial Times, The Guardian and TV shows such as Jeremy Vine.
Daniel May, Programme Manager at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM)
Daniel is a Programme Manager at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM). In his role, he leads global programmes and teams to deliver strategic objectives utilising his expertise in strategy, leadership, consulting, change management and problem-solving.
Prior to joining LGIM he worked as a Management Consultant for 9 years where he advised major firms in Financial Services and beyond. He worked in the UK and Europe to solve complex problems for global Investment Managers, Banks and Insurers.
Daniel is committed to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion, health and wellbeing, and socio-economic mobility in Financial Services.
He co-chairs LGIM’s award winning Health & Wellbeing network where he leads strategic initiatives to improve the health and wellbeing of their people. LGIM were awarded Best Physical Wellbeing Initiative 2023 and he was highly commended as Behind the Scenes Champion 2023.
Through EnCircle Mentoring he provides a platform for senior leaders in Financial Services to share their expertise and experience with early- to mid-level professionals to build future leaders.
Daniel holds the Investment Management Certificate, an MA in Project Management from Northumbria University, an MBA from Glyndwr University and McKinsey’s Black Executive Leadership Program Certificate.
Kene Ejikeme, Partner at Goldman Sachs
Kene is head of Multi Asset Platform Sales in EMEA. In this role, he is responsible for driving the multi-asset client coverage model across Equities and FICC, as well as increasing the firm’s client footprint in EMEA.
Prior to this role, Kene was co-head of High Touch execution in Equities. He was also responsible for Global Institutions sales and trading and emerging markets execution. Kene joined Goldman Sachs in 2004 as an analyst in the Listed Derivatives business in London and was named managing director in 2013.
Before joining Goldman Sachs, Kene was a professional rugby player for various clubs in the English premiership and championship. Kene earned an MEng in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London in 2004.