We are extremely proud to reveal Brummell’s Ones to Watch in the City listing for 2023. Celebrating the outstanding achievements of rising stars in London’s financial services, law and allied fields, these 30 individuals under the age of 40 have been selected for being outperformers in their markets, as well as making the world a better place by undertaking inspirational endeavours off the side of their desks. The expert judges, Abisola Barber, Margarita Skarkou and Tahir Zafar, applied rigorous criteria to the nominations, looking for candidates’ demonstration of drive, energy and entrepreneurial spirit alongside positive contributions both inside and outside their workplace – from championing charitable initiatives to spearheading sustainability agendas. We thank the judges (bios below) and congratulate those who made the final list.

ABISOL A BARBER
DIRECTOR, CITIBANK; GLOBAL HEAD OF THEMATIC RISK, CITIBANK ICG COMPLIANCE FUNCTION

Leveraging her background as a former Chief Operating Officer within Global Markets, Barber drives cross-departmental collaboration as she leads on Transformational and product risk management to enhance operational effectiveness, while championing strong conduct, culture and colleague development. At only 30 years old, she has been recognised by the likes of the Financial Times, Yahoo Finance and The Black British Business Awards for her trailblazing career and pioneering work in D&I. Barber is an Independent Board Member for the University of York’s governing council, and Advisory Board Member for its School for Business and Society.

MARGARITA SKARKOU
INVESTMENT PRINCIPAL, 2150

Skarkou is a venture capital investor, focusing on ClimateTech investments at 2150. Passionate about technology, sustainability, natural capital, women in business and the transition to net zero, she also serves as a Building a Green Future Advisory Board member at UKRI, non-executive Credit Committee member at UKRI – Innovate UK and committee member at Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction. She was a founder member at Barclays Ventures and inaugural member of the Barclays Green Banking Council and has been recognised by Brummell as a Top 30 Inspirational Women in the City. She is a civil engineer by background, CIMA-certified Business Accountant and Newton Venture Fellow

TAHIR ZAFAR
DIRECTOR, BANKING AND CAPITAL MARKETS ADVISORY, PWC

With over 15 years of Banking and Capital Markets consulting experience working for PwC and Accenture, Zafar has advised a range of top-tier financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, UBS, and the London Stock Exchange, on a range of C-suite topics including Digital Transformation, Data Strategy, Brexit, Blockchain, and EU Regulations. Zafar advocates for raising awareness of culture and religion in the workplace and provides mentoring to students and young professionals through his work with the British Asian Trust, Bright Ideas Trust, British Pakistan Foundation, and University of Oxford. He was also on the development board for RADA and a patron for the National Theatre. Look out for his sustainable fashion brand, Hid’n, launching later this year.

ROSELYN BAAH SARFO
FOUNDER, THE GRC NETWORK; COMPLIANCE OFFICER & MLRO, SEILERN INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Baah Sarfo founded The GRC Network to empower Governance, Risk and Compliance professionals and undergraduates within financial services through knowledge sharing, providing tools for career advancement, and increasing diversity and inclusion. She has developed expertise in building up compliance frameworks for small to medium-sized investment management firms. Baah Sarfo holds the SMF 16 (Compliance Oversight) and SMF 17 (Money Laundering Reporting Officer) roles. She recently won the WeAreTheCity Rising Star Award in the Investment Management category and was named a Highly Commended Rising Star in Compliance by the International Compliance Association (ICA).

LAURA BAMPFYLDE
DIRECTOR, WEALTH, REDINGTON

Following 10 years in Asset & Wealth management at companies including J.P. Morgan International Private Bank and HSBC Asset Management, Bampfylde joined Redington in 2021 as a director in the new Wealth practice, supporting the firm’s mission to make 100m people financially secure. She regularly represents the industry, speaking at PIMFA and FundForum International, and has been published by IFA Magazine. She is on the advisory board of Women in Asset Servicing, leading its Finding Your Voice initiative. She is also a mentor for the social mobility-focused charity, Migrant Leaders. In 2022, she was named by HERoes as a “future leader” in its Global Role Models list and was named as one of 20 “rising stars driving industry change” by Investment Week.

LISA QUEST
HEAD OF UK AND IRELAND, CO-HEAD OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND POLICY PRACTICE EUROPE, OLIVER WYMAN

Quest is Oliver Wyman’s UK and Ireland market head, leading a $250m+ business employing over 750 people. She is also Head of European Public Sector Practice, managing and developing relationships and working with all government agencies in Europe and central banks globally. An executive sponsor of Women of Oliver Wyman (WOW), and a champion of fully flexible working and job shares, she was pivotal in introducing equal maternity and paternity leave at 26 weeks. Beyond Oliver Wyman, she is a member of the Board of The Canada/UK Chamber of Commerce, trustee for Best Beginnings and co-founder of the Green Hat Foundation.

XANTHE BLAIN
STRUCTURED FINANCE ASSOCIATE, NATWEST

Winner of the WeAreTheCity Rising Star Award in the Banking and Capital Markets category, sponsored by the London Stock Exchange, Blain is currently a Structured Finance Associate at NatWest. She founded a competition to give junior colleagues a platform to voice their visions of a better future, endorsed by Alison Rose and the Global Ethical Finance Initiative. She was selected to be part of the bank-wide Talent Academy and has roles as a Sustainability Champion, Women in Business Champion and Future Change Shaper in the bank. She has volunteered for Visually Impaired Sailors’ Week, Lean In and The Prince’s Trust. She recently passed the Admiralty Interview Board and is currently an Officer Cadet.

CHARLES BRECQUE
FOUNDER & CEO, LEGISLATE

Brecque is the founder and CEO of Legislate, a legal tech company that uses patented knowledge graph technology to make contracts machine-readable. The company recently announced a £3m funding round led by Parkwalk Advisors, with participation from Oxford Capital and various angel investors. Before founding Legislate in April 2020, Brecque was a machine learning solutions consultant at Mind Foundry, a spin-out from the University of Oxford. A graduate of École Centrale de Lyon, he is also a director of Downforce Technologies, a company offering novel remote sensing technologies which help bridge the data gap between national policies and the implementation of nature-based decarbonisation solutions.

IONA GALLAGHER
PARALEGAL, COVENT GARDEN FAMILY LAW (CGFL)

Assisting the two directors of CGFL on public law cases involving children and international child abduction matters, Gallagher regularly attends court to support clients and assist barristers in the High Court. She won the Rising Star in Law (The Lynne Freeman Award) 2022 and was a finalist at the Inspirational Women in Law Awards 2022. Outside work, she is passionate about improving social mobility and diversity at the Bar, mentoring with several charities including The Girls’ Network. In 2021 she founded her own mentoring programme to support aspiring solicitors and barristers and received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Volunteering and Pro Bono. She is now organising a Women in Law Day.

ADINA PINTILIE
PROGRAMME MANAGER AND DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION LEAD, RIDGEWAY INFORMATION

Pintilie manages projects at the intersection of international security and vulnerable communities. She led the creation of Navigating Disinformation, an online course for UN Women, empowering girls, women and gender minorities in the face of disinformation and hate speech. She has delivered open-source research for Unesco, the EU’s Agency for Asylum, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, and the UK Civil Service. She also led digital literacy sessions for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine and the World Institute for Nuclear Security. She is a mentor for En Voz Alta and FutureFirst.

YAJUR HARIA
HEAD OF ESG ANALYTICS, REDINGTON

Since entering the Sustainable Investments industry 18 months ago, Haria (CFA) has worked to reshape the ESG landscape, creating the ESG Analytics team at Redington in the process. Working with developers to create a scalable and robust deep-analytics approach, he helps institutional investors identify key areas of climate-related risk within their portfolios. His non-professional endeavours include being a coaching volunteer for icanyoucantoo, a mentoring programme for young people from non-privileged backgrounds, and a speaker at Vichaar Manthan, a non-profit public discussion forum. He co-founded Baby Bhāsha, a venture providing visually inspired language learning materials for young children.

KATIE GRACE
PARTNER, REED SMITH LLP

An expert in debt capital markets, Grace has recently been promoted to Partner at Reed Smith, establishing herself as a leader in traditional and new, innovative asset-class securitisations. She has significant experience in cryptocurrency and blockchain, and was lead counsel on the development and launch of a first-to-market crypto-asset exchange traded product. As an active promoter of diversity, inclusion and gender equality, she was appointed London representative to advocate these issues, starting a mentorship scheme to assist junior lawyers in relation to mental health and issues that affect women in the workplace. She also leads a pro-bono team for a credit union to help vulnerable women establish a financial presence after fleeing home following domestic abuse.

OLIVIA GRANT
ASSOCIATE, REED SMITH LLP

Working in the Structured Finance team at Reed Smith, Grant is co-chair of the firm’s Multicultural Network, responsible for formulating and implementing Reed Smith’s strategic plans relating to recruitment, retention and promotion of Black and ethnic minority talent. She has been instrumental in developing a pilot programme to increase talent retention by sourcing sponsorship, mentoring and coaching opportunities for Reed Smith’s diverse associate pool in London, and leads several pro-bono partnerships. She also serves as the Committee Secretary of NOTICED, the UK’s first inter-law firm diversity network, coordinating its events, focus groups, internal governance and external communications. She was shortlisted for the Burberry British Diversity Awards 2023.

ELIZABETH HART
ASSISTANT INVESTMENT MANAGER, RATHBONES GROUP PLC

Hart has been with Rathbones for seven years, starting on the graduate programme, and now works with a team managing approximately £600m of assets, where she is personally responsible for £110m. Hart also volunteers for Rathbones’ Mental Health First Aider programme and hosts the young person’s financial awareness course three times a year, educating around 300 16-25 year olds on topics such as mortgages, pensions, inflation, bonds, equities, etc. She recently took up a key role in Rathbones’ Investment Managers Network, and won the 2022 Gold award for Assistant Investment Manager of the Year from Citywealth Future Leaders Awards. She has also passed levels 1 & 2 of the Chartered Financial Analyst qualification.

KARAMJOT JASWAL
SENIOR STRATEGY CONSULTANT, IBM

A Senior Strategy Consultant at IBM since November 2019, Jaswal is now a Scrum Master leading multiple teams for a public- sector client, delivering a new benefit helping citizens keep homes warm during winter. Alongside her day job, she is co-lead for the Pan-Asian Business Resource Group for IBM UK, helping attract more diverse talent to IBM and identifying ways her current project can successfully increase inclusivity. She has led and organised multiple learning sessions for the team of over 300 people – promoting IBM’s initiatives and creating an internal webpage around Diversity & Inclusion. She also received D&I Superstar in her practice for 2022, and an IBM Associates’ Wellbeing Award in 2021.

MARION LABOURE
SENIOR STRATEGIST, DEUTSCHE BANK; LECTURER, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Laboure’s extensive fintech experience includes working for the JM Barroso cabinet at the European Commission, with Barclays in London and conducting research on fintech at the Central Bank of Luxembourg. During her time as a lecturer at Harvard University, she has published three books on fintech, won the Teaching Excellence awards for seven consecutive years, and won the first prize of the US Society of Actuaries. She also works as a senior strategist specialising in fintech at Deutsche Bank, London. In 2021 she was nominated as one of the 11 cryptocurrency masterminds by Business Insider. In 2022, she was recognised in the Powerlist 2022, Standout 45 as an “Industry & Knowledge Champion” for the second time.

GRACE LE
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, ARTEMIS

Le joined Kames Capital in 2015 and despite being one of the youngest members of a large team, progressed to being co-manager of the firm’s flagship investment-grade bond fund. She then moved to Artemis in 2019 to co-manage the newly launched Artemis Corporate Bond Fund which grew to over £1.25bn in just three years. She has since been recognised in the Women in Investment category Fund Manager of the Year (small-and- medium) 2021, Euro Stars 2022 Top 10 2022, and was highly commended in FTAdviser Diversity Champion of the Year (Small Firm). She is involved in multiple mentoring programmes, workshops, career events and investing competitions targeted at the most disadvantaged young people, showing fund management is open to all.

RYAN MAKUKU
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, BARCLAYS

Makuku is an Assistant Vice President in Treasury Funding & Investments and has worked at Barclays for five years. He co-chairs Inspire UK, Barclays’ first-ever social mobility employee resource group (ERG), leading its growth of over 1,000 members, while also providing strategic oversight over the ERG’s interaction with Barclays’ wider Socio Economic Inclusion Agenda. Within Treasury, he founded the Treasury Ethnic Network and during 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement, curated the SPEAK model designed to help non-Black colleagues know how to support their Black co-workers. Outside work, he sits on Birmingham Business School’s (BBS) Alumni Board where he works closely on BBS’s strategy to cultivate its alumni community, and mentors a number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

MATT MARTIN
SENIOR MANAGER, DELOITTE

Prior to his role as Senior Manager (Technology & Commercial Lawyer) in Financial Services & Insurance at Deloitte, Martin worked at Royal Mail as Senior Legal Counsel where he introduced a legal tech solution badged “Access Legal”, allowing clients to self-serve, supported numerous colleagues as a mental health ambassador and led the company’s drone delivery project. He also won the Rising Star (In-house) Award at the British Legal Awards 2022. Since joining Deloitte in October 2022, he has led contract negotiations with multiple high-profile clients; developed innovative alliances and ecosystems to work collaboratively with clients and third parties; and managed a programme supporting the We Are Beams charity by recording audiobooks for children with disabilities.

CHENELLE ANSAH
INVESTOR, CORNERSTONE PARTNERS

Recognised as one of the UK’s leading female investors in venture capital, Ansah was recently awarded Innovate Finance’s Standout Women in Fintech on Innovate UK’s Fintech Power List for being a Top Female Investor in 2021 and 2022. Investing in climate tech and fintech in Europe and Africa, she holds a number of NED and Board Advisor positions and founded Nell Consulting, a boutique consulting firm specialising in building neo-banks. Her passion for diversity and creating access to capital feeds into her role as Partner at Cornerstone Partners, the UK’s first Black- owned investment firm. She is also Chair of the Investment Committee and Board Advisor at Crisis’ Venture Studio and has been featured in Forbes, The Sunday Times and on BBC Radio 4.

CHU TING NG
COUNSEL, REED SMITH LLP

Ng qualified at Reed Smith LLP in 2015 and is currently Counsel in the banking team. As a specialist in fund finance, she is regarded as a “go to” adviser for her clients and has played a key role in establishing Reed Smith as a leading Tier 1-ranked fund finance practice. Committed to Reed Smith’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, she is a member of the Multicultural Network and was shortlisted as a finalist in the 2021 Asian Women of Achievement Awards. She believes the key to success and true diversity is the exchange of perspectives across demographics, rather than “intra-group” mentoring, and she seeks to share this across her firm and the legal community at large.

MARK NG
ASSOCIATE INVESTMENT CONSULTING, REDINGTON

While Ng’s core role involves helping UK pension schemes (ranging from £50m to £10bn in size) to secure the financial futures of their members, he also runs a variety of Redington’s more entrepreneurial projects. This includes managing a tech project with Ford Motor Company to deliver the first-ever worldwide pensions data analytics platform, enabling seamless analysis and management of its 120+ pension schemes across 36 countries. Passionate about mentorship, he is a peer-mentoring buddy to new joiners at Redington, and is also a member of Redington’s Inclusion & Diversity Committee. Outside work, he is part of the Diversity Project’s Talk About Black workstream, and volunteers as a mentor at upReach, coaching students in career planning.

TOLU OKE
GLOBAL ID&E CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT LEADER, AMAZON WEB SERVICES

Oke joined Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2020, growing the EMEA Inclusion Ambassador programme (+235%) and EMEA D&I learning programme (+177%). She established the first EMEA ID&E practitioners support group, and since 2022, has partnered on the launch of a tech skills summer camp in Ghana for 100+ youths and on Tarjimly, a language translation app for refugees. She also partnered with GTA Black Women In Tech to inspire 135 women at AWS’s first UK Black talent attraction event, and is a member of the Black Employee Network (BEN) and Women’s Network at AWS. She mentors five AWS colleagues, has served as mentoring group manager for the UK BEN mentoring circle, and was a reverse mentor to an Amazon director.

IANCU DARAMUS
DIRECTOR, CLIMATE-ALIGNED INVESTING, FULCRUM ASSET MANAGEMENT

Since working in asset management, Daramus’s shareholder activism has influenced the strategies of some of the world’s largest energy companies, notably BP’s industry-leading emissions targets following engagements he co-led as part of the Climate Action 100+ investor network. He has helped design and launch multiple sustainable investment funds. He has also collaborated with NGOs such as the Environmental Defense Fund on methane regulation and ClientEarth on coal phase-outs, and was recognised by Investment Week as “a committed sustainability advocate with strong credentials”. He is also a lead author of the CFA Institute’s Certificate in ESG Investing.

CAROLINE ESCOTT
TRUSTEE DIRECTOR, STANDARD LIFE MASTER TRUST; SENIOR INVESTMENT MANAGER, RAILPEN

Escott sits on the Standard Life Master Trust as one of the UK’s youngest-ever accredited professional pension trustees, as well as leading the global stewardship programme across £37bn AUM for Railpen, the manager of one of the UK’s largest pension schemes. Outside work, she is Chair of NextGen, an organisation creating a more diverse and inclusive pensions sector, and a Board Director of the Social Market Foundation, a Westminster thinktank. Her industry accolades include the 2022 Investment Manager of the Year award at both the Women in Pensions and Rising Star Awards and the 2019 Investment Woman of the Year at the Women in Investment Awards.

AKUA OPONG
SENIOR ANALYST, LSEG

An experienced Chartered IT professional, beyond her main role, Opong is a neurodiversity advocate (she self identifies as dyslexic and has ADHD), UK Accessibility Lead, Community Lead for LSEG’s Women’s Inspired Network and a UN Women UK Delegate CSW67. She is involved in raising awareness on mental health, women’s health, gender equality, economic empowerment and raised over £100k last year for charity. She is passionate about increasing the profile of Black women in STEM as a Cajigo Mentor and a STEM Ambassador. Her accolades include the LSEG CEO Inspiration Award 2019, Tech100Women 2021, Rising Star Technology 2022 (WeAreTheCity), Baton Stem Trailblazer 2022, GTA Black women in Tech – The Voices in the Shadow book and Women in FinTech Powerlist (Innovate Finance).

LISSELE PRATT
CO-FOUNDER, CAPITALIXE

A visionary leader transforming the financial technology landscape on a global scale, Pratt has built a seven-figure consultancy within three years, earning a coveted spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Finance list in 2021 and TechRound 29 Under 29 in 2022. Her other prestigious accolades include featuring in this year’s Women In FinTech Powerlist in the Senior Leaders category, and achieving finalist positions in the Great British Businesswoman Awards, and the European and the UK Women In Finance Awards. A driving force, helping international companies access cutting-edge financial technology, payments, and banking services worldwide, she is a true champion for women in tech, using her platform to inspire and empower women to shatter the glass ceiling.

NATALIE SALUNKE
GENERAL COUNSEL, ZILCH

Salunke began her legal career at Taylor Wessing before moving to Travelex upon qualification and secured her first Head of Legal role at Venda, aged 27. Now GC at Zilch, she is a role model for aspiring young lawyers from diverse backgrounds, as a passionate coach, mentor and sponsor. During her time at NetSuite, she implemented a summer internship programme, resulting in all her interns securing training contracts. Joining RVU, she partnered with SEO London, helping those from disadvantaged backgrounds get into professional roles, and developed RVU’s legal internship programme – used as the blueprint for other departments to take on interns. She acts as a trustee to a number of charities and teaches trainee solicitors at the University of Law.

HARSHITHA SHIVAKUMAR
SENIOR TECHNICAL CONSULTANT, IBM

The youngest person to take the role of Quality Assurance (QA) Lead on a project for a prestigious client in the public sector, Harshitha Shivakumar is enthusiastic about technology and has won multiple awards for being a role model in tech at such an early stage of her career. She is a strong advocate for encouraging women to take up careers in technology, and is also passionate about sharing her knowledge through mentoring and using her own leadership and coaching skills to develop junior technical consultants and peers, as well as being a Diversity Champion. She actively leverages her technical eminence and passion for technology to inspire individuals to pursue and grow in their technical careers both within IBM and beyond.

LEE CHAMBERS
DIRECTOR, ESSENTIALISE

A Black, autistic businessman, Chambers founded Essentialise, a consulting professional services firm with bespoke wellbeing and inclusion initiatives. He also supports FTSE 100 firms to create impactful, sustainable ERGs and networks. Formerly, he worked at the Co-operative Bank, and after illness in 2014, he learned to walk again. He founded Black STEM Futures and was recently the first Black British scientist to receive the Kavli Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences, USA. His many other accolades include a place in the Black Cultural Archives Future Leaders 40; winning the Great British Entrepreneur Award in 2021; being a trustee of Age Concern and a Marie Claire Future Shaper in 2022.

ETHEL TAMBUDZAI
PARTNER, PRACTICAL GOVERNANCE & CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, DECARB.EARTH

Tambudzai manages a portfolio career, being a Partner at Practical Governance, and the CCO at Decarb.earth. She has over 10 years’ experience in strategic planning, multi-stakeholder management and ecosystem development, having begun by introducing investments in renewable energy across emerging markets. She is also a trustee at the Africa Centre and advises multiple organisations, including The Institute of Neurodiversity, The Vavengers, and The Liliesleaf Trust. Recognition of Tambudzai’s work includes being a winner of the Recent Graduate Award; and the London Mayor’s Entrepreneur (Smart Cities Award) semi-finalist.

SARAH WOODARD
ANALYST, H.I.G. CAPITAL

Woodard works with European and Middle Eastern clients to raise funds across H.I.G.’s private markets platform. She is collaborating to launch diversity, equity and inclusion training for employees and to establish a Women’s Network. Formerly at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) on the UK and Ireland Institutional team, she launched a Future Leaders call series during Covid, which was rolled out globally and awarded the GSAM Differentiated Client Engagement Award. She volunteers as co-chair of the Future Leaders Shadow Board (FLSB) of the Women in Banking & Finance Organisation (WIBF) and is now working on a Graduate Engagement Strategy to widen female talent applying for finance. She was awarded the WeAreTheCity Rising Star Award 2022 in the Investment Management category.

LEAH WORRALL
DEPUTY HEAD OF ESG INSIGHT, ISIO

Sustainability has always been Worrall’s passion, and she is responsible for driving environmental and social IP as Deputy Head of ESG Insight at Isio, a firm providing investment consulting advice to pension schemes and other long-term investors. Her current focus is on developing recommendations for environmental and social impact and moving beyond climate tunnel vision. At Isio, she leads the research agenda on global systemic issues, from nature degradation to social inequality, to promote action with her clients and the wider industry. She has won the Women in Pensions Best Newcomer Award and led Isio’s research to be recognised by Pensions for Purpose (Best Environmental Impact Thought Leadership Award). She also works with the Isio internal sustainability group.