Brummell is proud to reveal the fifth annual Ones to Watch list, celebrating the performance and achievement of bright young talent in London’s financial services sector and allied fields. The judging panel, comprising experienced professionals and high achievers from various parts of the industry, applied rigorous criteria to the lengthy list of nominations. Nominees are required to be under 40 years of age, be an out-performer in their market, as well as demonstrate drive, energy and an entrepreneurial spirit. Additionally, the judges looked for evidence of a nominee’s holistic contribution to the organisation for which he or she works, whether internally, as a leader of a networking or advocacy group, or externally, as a champion of a charity, mentoring programme or similar project. The 30 talented individuals selected for the final list are on the rise and, just as importantly, making the world a better place with their inspirational endeavours.

Mark Bishop

Director, Grant Thornton UK LLP

Bishop’s passion for supporting growing, dynamic business during his 13 years with Grant Thornton has enabled him to develop, build and lead key relationships for the firm. He is a key member of the Thames Valley Leadership Team and plays a major role in driving regional strategy, while also leading the office’s markets efforts. He has recently taken part in the Global Leadership Institute’s development programme for future leaders of the global network. He is also trustee of an Oxford charity that helps ambitious school children develop entrepreneurial skills.

Ranajoy Basu

Partner, structured finance, financial industry group, Reed Smith

Basu is widely recognised as one of the leading lawyers in cross-border social impact finance structures, including social and development impact bonds. He has a broad range of experience in international capital markets advising participants, including arrangers, originators, servicers and trustees, and is co-chair of Reed Smith’s India Group. He regularly advises on numerous capital markets and complex structured finance transactions and, among many accolades, he was named as a leading individual by the Legal 500 in 2016.

Shay Doran (pictured above)

Vice president, channel strategy, Barclaycard

Doran joined Barclays in 2007, starting his career in retail banking having just turned 17. He quickly became one of the youngest branch managers for Barclays at the age of 19. Since then, he has held various positions across multiple parts of the Barclays group, including retail banking, business banking, business propositions and, most recently, channel strategy at Barclaycard. Doran has championed both the LGBT and gender-equality agenda, establishing the Male Allies initiative across the UK and organising key LGBT events for Barclays.

Marte Borhaug (pictured above)

Head of European public policy, Aviva

Borhaug leads Aviva’s public policy advocacy across the EU and was seconded into Aviva’s venture capital arm during 2016 to develop their brand and communications strategy. She is a vice chair of the Finance Task Force at the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD and sits on the Confederation of British Industry’s ‘35 under 35’ committee. She mentors technology start-ups at social accelerator Bethnal Green Ventures and at the Future of Work Programme (PwC/SwiftScale) and is a member of Aviva’s London Women’s Committee and a supporter at the Female Founders Accelerator.

Robert Catton

Business Transformation Consultant, Ministry of Defence

Following a career as a business improvement and corporate turnaround consultant, Catton uses business to mitigate global sustainability challenges, such as climate change, social inequality and growing populations. As chairman, he recently returned the Keystone Development Trust from closure and is setting up a £65m fund to improve lending to social start-ups. He supports charities and youth organisations and, after 10 years as a Reservist, is now a Member of the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committees to the Government.

Karen Heaven (pictured above)

Managing director, Investment Consultancy, Redington

Heaven became Redington’s first female managing director in 2016 and has also taken on a leadership role for the Investment Consulting team. Over the past few years she has been responsible for culture and diversity at Redington, leading a number of practical changes that affect all aspects of company life. These include a greater flexibility in working hours and pioneering a ‘return to work’ programme, which has resulted in the hiring of a number of senior women into the firm following periods out of the industry.

Sarah Chapman

Vice president, COO global credit trading team, Deutsche Bank

Chapman has more than a decade’s experience in financial-services accounting, analytics and business management across corporate finance, pension fund and insurance risk management solutions, and credit. Passionate about education as a tool for social mobility, Chapman is on the governing body of the new free Whitehall Park School and chairs its finance and admissions committees. She advises the League of Remembrance and was a trustee of the science-education charity ‘Centre of the Cell’.

Brian Cunningham

Head of capability and professional development, RBS

Cunningham joined RBS as a graduate and has worked in multiple areas of the business, including HR, corporate banking and invoice finance. He now runs the Capability & Professional Development team in commercial banking, works closely with the Early Career programme and mentors numerous people both in house and out. He has worked with Joshua Orphan & Community Care in Malawi, a sustainable development charity helping orphans with HIV and AIDS, vulnerable children and their families.

Jin Chin

HR business partner, BNP Paribas

Chin is a HR Business Partner at BNP Paribas and co-chairs their UK Pride Network, driving LGBT equality at the bank. He is also a listening volunteer and chair of Central London Samaritans, leading a charity team of 450 volunteers who provide emotional support, 24 hours a day, to people who are experiencing feelings of distress. Chin recently took time out of financial services to work as a HR consultant, helping transform a range of social enterprises and charities including Catch22 and London’s Air Ambulance.

Viki Fotopoulou

Vice president, credit risk manager, Barclays

Co-chair of a sub-committee of Barclays gender network Win, and a committee member of Barclays Women in Risk, Fotopoulou is also a board member of Hellenic Bankers Association UK with a focus on partnerships with Economic Affairs departments of Greece, Cyprus and the UK. She is a committee member of the Greek Professional Women’s Network and has mentored at Cass Business School. She raised £20K for charities dedicated to children at risk in Greece in partnership with Hellenic Hope.

Sharon Forder

Digital project manager, RBS

Forder joined RBS in April 2007 and has had a variety of roles in this time. In 2014, she re-launched the Women in Technology employee-led network on a global basis and in 2016 became one of the main leads in the creation of the RBS Women network, bringing together all gender networks under an overarching banner. She is co-chair of RBS Women and, outside work, sits on the executive board of Women in Banking and Finance, where she has been head of operations since April 2016, following on from a role as co-branch president.

Paola Garbini

Marketing manager, Oliver Wyman

Alongside her day job and co-leading Oliver Wyman’s global Women’s Network, Garbini has a passion for women’s empowerment that has led her to support a diverse pipeline within and outside the company, including the recent Women in Financial Services report. In 2015, she founded the NOI Club, a community of more than 1,000 women who regularly meet on and offline to empower each other with personal and professional support, inspiration, tools, workshops and accountability. The club is currently expanding its outreach.

Sophie Horsley

Business recovery advisor and co-chair of DAWN, PWC

As co-chair of DAWN (Disability, Ability, and Wellbeing Network) since 2014, Horsley has been the engine behind the network’s phenomenal growth. It has undergone a major rebrand, increased from 80 members to 800 internal members, gained 160 external members and was named one of The Economist’s Top 10 Global Disability Networks. Horsley has organised large events on mental health, and her ‘Disclosure’ event was recognised at the National Diversity Awards for best collaboration event.

Dara Kirton

Consulting manager, PWC

Kirton is an award-winning consultant with several years’ experience advising multinational companies on complex transformations to accelerate growth and create efficiency. She’s a champion of diversity and inclusion within PWC, and founded and manages the firm’s Diversity Mentoring Scheme to support under-represented students in professional services. She also chairs the Multicultural Business Network, leading the relaunch and focus on ethnic diversity at PWC. Outside the firm she is a founding member of recently formed UK Black Tech.

Hannah Leach

Partnerships manager, 10x Banking

Having started her career in international development, Leach has spent the past five years working with early-stage tech companies, predominantly in the FinTech and Smart Cities sectors. Having successfully run a multi-million pound innovation programme for Canary Wharf Group, she moved to EY’s FinTech team before joining 10x in 2016. Leach mentors student entrepreneurs at LSE and also runs the Give a Damn Dating company, which brings together people with similar values and a social conscience at innovative events in interesting locations across London.

Liam McDermott

Associate director, protection advice, Coutts

McDermott moved to Coutts in 2014, with the ambition of protecting the finances and futures of more families from the risks of untimely death and illness. He became responsible for designing, developing and implementing the first dedicated protection advice service offered by Coutts. Away from the office, he has attended hundreds of incidents at sea in the past 15 years in his role as a volunteer helmsman with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He is also a member of the RNLI National Flood Rescue team.

Nilesh B Dosa (pictured above)

Management consultant, FS Advisory, EY

Dosa’s career as a chartered accountant spans assurance, banking and consulting. He is passionate about diversity and inclusion and created his own grassroots initiative mentoring youths from under-privileged backgrounds. He has also delivered talks called ‘If I can do it, you can do it too’ at schools across London. Dosa played a central role in EY’s inaugural BME event in 2017, bringing together prominent individuals in the banking sector. He has volunteered with Swadhyay for more than a decade and is a committed change maker and diversity champion.

Georgie Morris

Strategy and operations manager, B Lab UK

Following six years at PWC, Morris was selected for the On Purpose leadership programme, where she led the launch of the B Corp certification in the UK. Since the 2015 launch, she has doubled the UK certified B Corp community and has designed a leadership training programme for sustainable businesses that is being rolled out in Europe and Brazil. She is currently developing the data analytics methodology for the UK community and working with market-leading businesses to measure their social and environmental impact.

Emily Nicholson

Managing associate, Mishcon de Reya

Nicholson advises companies, individuals, families and not-for-profit organisations across a wide range of complex commercial disputes and in a variety of forums. She recently represented the lead claimant Gina Miller in the landmark Article 50 legal challenge and during her training contract was seconded to David Miliband’s campaign for leadership of the Labour Party in 2010. She is a trustee of Book Bus, a charity working to improve child literacy rates in Africa, Asia and South America by providing children with books and the skills to read them.

Lakshmi Rao

Product manager, prime services, Barclays

Rao started her career on the Barclays’ graduate programme and has a track record of excellence, building teams from scratch, managing change and delivering regulatory initiatives in cost/time-constrained environments. She capitalises on her multi-tasking ability to deliver on a variety of initiatives in her current role as prime services product manager. In addition, she champions Barclays’ Diversity and Citizenship initiatives, taking leadership roles and giving her time to support those with less fortunate backgrounds.

Nathalie Richards

CEO and co-founder, EduKit

Richards founded EduKit – a free, online smart-directory for schools to find personal and academic development programmes for students – to help young people from less-privileged backgrounds. She has organised many high-profile school conferences hosted by Google (Harris Federation of schools among others), with speakers including Home Office ministers and the Deputy Mayor of London. EduKit has won a Department of Education award for innovation, an UnLtd Big Venture Challenge award and was a finalist in the European Investment Bank Social Innovation Tournament.

Shruti Ajitsaria (pictured above)

ICM counsel, Allen & Overy, and head of Fuse

Since joining Allen & Overy in 2002, Ajitsaria has been instrumental in drafting almost all standard form documentation used in the credit derivatives market. She manages a sector-agnostic portfolio of investments and mentors an early-stage legal tech company through the Barclays Techstars programme. She is head of the firm’s new tech innovation space, Fuse, due to open in September 2017, to provide a collaborative working space for early-stage companies, clients and lawyers. She is also a governor of Haberdashers’ Aske’s School, Elstree.

Dr Adrienne Rivlin

Director, healthcare and life sciences strategy group, KPMG

Drawing on her previous career as an academic medical scientist at Oxford University, Rivlin specialises in advising the Life Sciences industry on future business and operating models. She currently leads a team of 20, providing cutting-edge advice to transform an industry under pressure. She is a member of the Global Strategy Group’s Life Sciences leadership team and was recently nominated one of KPMG’s ‘exceptional leaders’. Rivlin is a school governor and mentors students to increase access to education.

Jake Smith

Corporate derivative sales, global markets, BNP Paribas

Since he joined BNP Paribas as a graduate in 2010, Smith has managed the origination and execution of hedging linked to debt issuance, intercompany financing in regulated markets and liability management. A strong advocate of D&I, Smith founded and co-chairs the firm’s Early Careers Network, which encourages collaboration, career development and inclusiveness.
Key achievements include membership growth of 55% and developing global connections group-wide.

Adam Pike (pictured above)

Founder and CEO, SuperCarers

After his own family’s difficult experiences of the care system, Pike left his career as a management consultant at Deloitte to start SuperCarers with his brother Daniel. It is the leading online care platform helping families find trusted and compassionate carers in their local area. This is Pike’s second social venture after co-founding BeyondMe (beyondme.org), a movement enabling charities to benefit from generous professionals by empowering future leaders to support important causes. Pike was previously a policy advisor at the Cabinet Office and is a trustee of World Jewish Relief.

Omar Saeed

Change lead, UBS

While delivering high-profile optimisation projects across UBS, Saeed also leads the UK Cultural Awareness Network, growing membership over 100 per cent in the past year. He founded the CUBE Network, connecting over 100 firms and 8,000 city professionals in philanthropic endeavours, and has since delivered an ethical leadership course and secured placements for top-performing graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds. He is regularly consulted by corporate diversity boards on strategic direction and has raised over £1.5 million for charitable causes.

Bruce Storey

Account director, Growth 365, Grant Thornton UK LLP

Storey advises leadership teams of some of the UK’s most dynamic mid-market companies. His work includes facilitating the five-year strategic planning process for the UK’s leading food-service equipment provider and advising one of the UK’s most innovative artificial-intelligence companies. He has provided business mentoring to young entrepreneurs in London as well as charities such as the House of St Barnabas, whose innovative programme develops homeless peoples’ skills so they can re-enter the working world.

Cháyya Syal

Broadcast journalist, BBC

A journalist, entrepreneur and schools speaker for Amnesty International, Syal visits London schools and colleges to hold talks and workshops on careers, entrepreneurship and tech, and is also a regular panel member at debates around these topics. Syal began her blog, Avid Scribbler, in 2012  and has used this as a platform for her start-up business providing content for international business’ websites. She currently works on a live radio news programme for the BBC Asian Network and was recognised in the ‘Forbes 30 under 30 Europe: Media’ list 2017.

Joanne Towers

Director, strategy and planning, global liquidity and cash management, HSBC

Prior to leading strategy and planning for global liquidity and cash management at HSBC, Towers was a senior leader in product management, customer experience and business transformation at RBS. A positive, collaborative leader, Towers engenders followership through developing others, including leading the annual business graduate programme and mentoring up-and-coming talent. Out of work, she has trekked 100km for charity in the Costa Rican jungle and this year will be climbing Kilimanjaro for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Natalie Campbell

Co-founder, A Very Good Company

Award-winning businesswoman and HarperCollins author, Campbell has many accolades, including the Community Spirit award at the Women of the Future Awards 2016. She co-founded global social innovation agency A Very Good Company and launched London’s newest wellbeing craze, ‘The Badass Principle – a Workout for the Mind and Soul’. As a non-executive director, she chairs the Nominet Trust and has governance oversight of over £1 billion in public funding through her roles on the board of the Big Lottery Fund, UnLtd and the Mayor’s London economic strategy board.

The panel

Alison Chan

Trustee, Alexandra Rose Charities

Chan spent more than 15 years in the financial services industry as a lawyer advising on multi-jurisdictional banking and finance transactions. She is now a trustee of Alexandra Rose Charities, tackling food poverty and encouraging healthy eating in the UK by helping low-income families access fresh fruit and vegetables in their local markets. She chairs the operations committee – focusing on governance issues and process improvements – and serves on the fundraising committee, developing new sources of revenue to support the charity’s work.

Susanne Chishti

CEO, Fintech Circle

A serial entrepreneur and investorwith extensive fintech expertise, Chishti is CEO of Fintech Circle, Europe’s first angel network focused on industry opportunities, leading a global community of more than 65,000. She is also chairwoman of Fintech Circle Innovate and its Wealth Tech Platform, co-editor of The Fintech Book, and was recognised in the European Digital Financial Services ‘Power 50’ list 2015. She is a judge and coach at events and competitions such as Swift Innotribe and Fintech Startupbootcamp, and is an international conference speaker.

Faisel Rahman OBE

Director, Fair Finance

With a background in international development at the Grameen Bank and the World Bank in Bangladesh, social entrepreneur Rahman created the UK’s first microcredit programme in 2000. He later founded Fair Finance in 2005 to tackle financial exclusion and high-cost lending within low-income British communities. An ocascontributor for The Guardian, writing about exclusion, in 2009 he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and in 2014, made an OBE for services to community finance.

Special thanks to the panel and all those who submitted nominations

Hair, make-up and grooming: Nikki Palmer