We all need inspiring role models and they don’t come any more inspiring than Helena Morrissey, CBE, CEO of Newton Investment Management, mother of nine children and founder of the 30 Per Cent Club which aims to increase the number of women on company boards. She was also named ‘Most Influential Woman in European Asset Management’ so she is well placed to convince career-minded female students to follow her path right to the top.
Helena was the keynote speaker at Women in Investment Management, from TARGETjobs Events, which brought 90 ambitious female undergraduates to London for a day to listen to presentations, take part in exercises and network with successful women to promote career opportunities in what is a traditionally male-dominated business. It took place on 2 November in partnership with seven leading international investment management firms: Baillie Gifford, BNY Mellon, Fidelity Worldwide Investment, Henderson Global Investors, M&G Investments, Martin Currie and Schroders – all of whom actively want to see more female applicants.
And Helena’s message, reinforced by the seven firms involved, certainly struck home. She believes that one of the differences between men and women is that women sometimes question and over-analyse decisions, so her best advice when an opportunity comes up is to leap first and look later.
After the event, students felt empowered and confident and learnt the following from the day: “women have an extra skill called emotional intelligence and can communicate better with clients”, “women take more calculated risks” and “women are more resilient and open to different opinions”.
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Women in Investment Management is the only event of its kind, focused exclusively on female students who want to learn more about what investment management is and specifically what special contribution women do make, and can make, to its success.
Richard Barry, Human Resources Manager at Baillie Gifford, said: “Investment management is a vital industry to the UK which has historically attracted a majority of male graduates. As an industry, we need to promote the range of roles in our sector much more actively to women undergrad and postgrad students”.
