India Gary-Martin - President

 

India Gary-Martin’s career in the financial services sector spans nearly twenty years. She is currently Head of the non core Disposal Programme at RBS, having previously led RBS’s Asset Protection Scheme for Global Banking and Markets.

Prior to joining RBS, India held both global COO and CIO management roles in Technology at Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers, where she held postings in New York, London, Frankfurt and Tokyo. During her time in Japan, India taught Practical Performance Management and Corporate Strategy at Temple University’s Corporate Education Department. India began her career at Morgan Stanley’s graduate training programme, where she specialised in Telecoms and latterly moved into Commodities Trading.

In May 2007, India was awarded Women in Banking and Finance’s ‘Outstanding Contribution to Diversity’ and in December of the same year she was also awarded Best Female Technologist by European Banking Technology Magazine. In addition to her native English, India also speaks French and Japanese and is a published writer.

Julia Bond - Vice President

 

Julia has a 27 year background in Financial Services - the past 22 years as a Managing Director of Credit Suisse where she had primary responsibility as a global Senior Relationship Manager in Capital Markets driving revenues in excess of $300m annually. She has operated at a senior level with a broad international brief and a strong background in Public Sector clients globally. A member of the EMEA Divisional Operating Committee, European Diversity Steering Committee, Business Development Committee and Senior Regional Management sponsor of the Securities Women’s Network.

 

In addition, Julia has led numerous bank-wide strategies around human capital, diversity, governance and most recently successfully ran Bank-wide cross-divisional client strategies with Asset Management and Private Banking. Julia is a trustee of Womankind Worldwide and Non-Executive Director of Central London Community Healthcare.

Clare Dobie - Immediate Past President

 

Clare Dobie is a director of Braxted Marketing Measures, which works with asset managers and other City firms to measure and improve their marketing and client service. She is a Non-Executive Director of Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. She is a trustee of Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust and a volunteer for Pilotlight, a charity that helps small charities to grow.

Until 2005, Clare was Group Head of Marketing at GAM and before that she was Head of Clients at Barclays Global Investors. Until 1993 she was a financial journalist, working at the BBC, Investors Chronicle, Times and Independent, where she was City Editor.

Erica Gut - Secretary

 

Erica Gut is a Managing Director in the Global Tax Department at Merrill Lynch, now part of Bank of America. She is a US lawyer by training and has had a varied career in the tax field, including stints at a petrochemical company, a law firm and a variety of financial institutions, both on the front office and the back office sides. Currently she runs the product function in the tax department for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She is also a member of the Women’s Leadership Council at Merrill Lynch.

Bee Lean Chew - Treasurer

 

Bee is a partner with West End chartered accountants Wilder Coe, where she currently heads up the audit department. She specialises in audit and financial reporting for the retail and wholesale sectors as well as regular involvement in forensic accounting.

Apart from her professional qualifications, Bee also holds degrees in Law and Finance. She is also a non-executive director of the Bromley NHS Trust.

 

Ellen Cantor - Communications Director, Editor of 'Connections'

 

Ellen Cantor is a consultant in internal communications, working with medium and large international companies on a variety of projects to engage employees. Her special interest is writing and editing corporate communications. Before turning to communications, her portfolio career ranged from international banking to organisational development to event management.

She is also a board member of the Europe and Middle East region of the International Association of Business Communicators. Leisure interests include opera and theatre, holidays in France and ‘gymming and swimming’.

Santa Orlovska - Technology/Administration Director

 

Santa is a member of the RSA Group Strategy Team working with the Executive board as well as RSA businesses across the world. Prior to this, she worked as a freelance consultant for companies like The Trainline, Fairtrade and Chapman Black. After university she started her career with OC&C Strategy Consultants where she spent 2.5 years working with many of the FTSE 100 companies and PE Funds on their strategic, operational and due diligence requirements.

Santa is an LSE graduate with BSc in Management Sciences / Operational
Research. While at university, she was the president of Women in Business”
society.

Natalie WinterFrost - Business Committee

 

Natalie WinterFrost is a Client Director in Aberdeen Asset Management's UK business development team. Natalie started her career in actuarial and investment consulting roles, working in both insurance and pension consultancy companies. Prior to joining Aberdeen Natalie managed PwC's London Investment Consulting Practice.

Natalie graduated with a BSc in Mathematics and Economics from Bristol University, is a qualified actuary and a CFA Charterholder. She is a member of Council of the Society of Pension Consultants and Chair of their Investment Committee and sits on the Membership Committee of the CFA UK. She has just been nominated for the CFA UK board. She is also a member of the Argonauts - a dining club for Actuaries working outside the traditional fields of pension valuation and insurance. An active industry participant, Natalie has coauthored papers on pension scheme funding and investment and is a regular conference speaker.

Outside of work Natalie spends much of her time on or under the water. She is a qualified Trimix diver, diving wrecks up to 70 metres deep, and she is currently learning to sail and windsurf.

Jane Keir - Marketing Committee

 

Jane Keir is a leading divorce lawyer and managing partner at City law firm, Kingsley Napley. She was admitted to practice in 1987 after training with Henmans in Oxford. She joined Kingsley Napley in 1989 and advises on financial settlements and awards and on child custody issues.

She became a Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in 2006 and is described by her peers in the 2007 edition of the Chambers Guide to the UK Legal Profession as 'a likeable and approachable character in an area of law that can easily become confrontational and over-wrought '.

Jane has a life-long love of horses and she is a member of the Winning Post Ball Committee for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust which raises funds to support research into prostrate cancer.

Ariana Bradford -  Membership Committee

 

Ariana is director of global outreach for the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management with a mandate to build profile for the business school in Europe. Prior to her move to the UK, she was director of strategic marketing and business development, for Executive Programs at Rotman. She has also run the communications division of the Canada-China Business Council; and has held a variety of management positions at Boston University’s Department for International Health.

Ariana holds degrees in politics, East Asian studies and journalism from the University of Toronto and the University of Western Ontario. Personal and professional interests include: cross-cultural communication and travel, South Asian literature, choral singing, hiking and cross-country skiing.

Susannah Nicklin - Personal Development Committee

 

Susannah has worked in financial services internationally for almost 20 years. In her current role as Vice President, Global Wealth Management, at AllianceBernstein she advises and manages the investments of UK and international individuals, families and charitable organisations.  She was formerly an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in Global Investment Research.

 

She is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a student member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, and holds the Certificate in Financial Planning and the IMC. She is also a published author and translator.

 

Susannah received a BA from Stanford University in Slavic Languages and Literatures. She is married with two children, and enjoys reading and writing, long distance running, skiing, and playing football with her children.

 

Simona Composto - Social Activities Committee 

 

Simona Composto is an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs where she has been working since the beginning of her career, over 11 years ago. Having held different roles and responsibilities, including co-heading the futures client service team and managing equity clients, she is now part of the sales and relationship management team on the Futures and Options business, responsible for global asset managers and in charge of business development in the Italian region.

 

Aside from professional qualifications, Simona holds a first class degree in Languages, Economics and Politics, spent a year in the University of Konstanz and is fluent in four languages including her mother tongue Italian.

 

Outside of work Simona practises yoga and has an avid interest in socio-linguistics.