The purpose of Treasury Today’s award-winning Women in Treasury & Finance platform which spans forums and workshops, the Within Awards and our annual Global Equity Study, is to celebrate women in treasury alongside providing role models and sources of inspiration to others. Working in partnership with our bank and fintech sponsors, the programme seeks to raise awareness about the importance of diversity and inclusion in treasury, create a sense of community and belonging for women in the field and inspire progressive employers to support women in the workplace and implement supportive policies.
“Treasury Today Group is female-founded and female-led, so in many ways the establishment and evolution of our Women in Treasury & Finance programme over the last 12 years has come naturally,” says Sophie Jackson, CEO of Treasury Today, who oversees the programme and has been involved in shaping it since its 2013 launch.
The evolution of the programme
One of the key characteristics of the programme is its constant evolution. For example, the early forums were really the first of a kind, recalls Jackson. “At that time there were very few platforms for women to talk on a public stage. It was one of the first places to celebrate female representation and for us to come together and lift each other up,” she says.
Today our forums in London, Singapore and New York, attract around 450 attendees. They are the beating heart of the programme and an annual opportunity to gather our community and learn from leading women in treasury and finance.
We also host smaller workshops and have travelled to destinations including Sydney, Silicon Valley and Amsterdam; earlier this year we hosted our first roundtable in Mumbai for our growing female treasury community in India. Highlights include a workshop at Microsoft’s headquarters in Seattle hosted by CFO Amy Hood, who memorably referred to treasury as a hotbed of talent, and urged more companies to see their treasury functions as a training ground for strong finance leaders.
Our profiles (we’ve written over 100) of senior women in corporate finance celebrate their successes and inspire others and remain some of our most popular content. One of the first, back in 2013, featured Ping Chen, Director, International Treasury at Pfizer at the time. She had moved into corporate treasury from engineering, and shared advice that is just as relevant today. “Find your passion, strengths and unique skill set at an early stage in your career. Once you have established your career, then build up your networks, share knowledge with your peers and benchmark your performance against the best in the industry,” she said.
Fast forward, and our latest profile features Daria Severina, Director Treasury, at chip manufacturing equipment maker ASML, who explains that most career growth happens outside our comfort zone. “I encourage professionals, especially women, to voice their ambitions early, seek mentorship and take on cross-functional projects that build visibility and influence,” she says.
Over the years the platform has expanded to encompass diversity in all its forms, including gender, ethnicity and age. We recently incorporated an award element into the programme, launching the Within Awards in 2023 and moving our Woman of the Year award from the Adam Smith Awards programme. We now recognise female leaders across EMEA, APAC and The Americas in three exciting categories: Woman of the Year, Champion of Change and new for 2025, Leading Light. Our recent workshop in Mumbai was also a chance to celebrate our first APAC Leading Light award winner, Akanksha Sindwani, Deputy Vice President of RBL Bank in India.
And in 2024 we won our own award, scooping Best Corporate Initiative by the Women of the Future programme. Our programme has also been included in Global Diversity List’s Top Ten Women’s Network, and we were part of the official celebration of Fearless Girl’s unveiling on Wall Street.
Looking to the future, the programme will increasingly focus on equity, says Jackson who hopes that women who are now in senior roles will increasingly think about their privilege and their access. “Gender is just one part,” she reflects. “In order to effect change we must acknowledge our privilege; think about what that means and what we can do to open up access to those that are not as fortunate.” The programme will also expand to increasingly recognise more women in finance, not just treasury, in a nod to our evolving community and the growing number of women in treasury who go on to become CFOs.
Forum focus
Our forums provide an opportunity to hear senior industry panellists debate progress on diversity and inclusion, share their own career journey and strategies for career progression. They are a safe space for open dialogue with question-and-answer sessions.
Typical conversations include strategies for navigating salary negotiations and promotions, panellists’ biggest mistakes and lessons learnt, the value of a network and how to build one and how to navigate the impact of age on our careers. Flexibility, stretching oneself and experiencing failure are recurrent themes as well as the role of leaders nurturing inclusion – such as not always assigning the same tasks to the same, safe, pair of hands.
Last year at our New York event Brandy Newhof, Senior Director of Treasury, Walmart, spoke about the role of treasury leaders encouraging younger people to speak up in meetings. “I see them on the outskirts, I see them not speaking up, and then after the meeting I get these amazing emails saying, ‘I think we should do this.’ And I think, ‘Where were you in the meeting?’”
Speaking at our EMEA Forum in London’s Plaisterers’ Hall in 2023, Kemi Bolarin, Head of Treasury – Europe, GXO Logistics, shared the purpose that has propelled her career and the importance of equity. “Equity is about understanding the human in front of me, who is the person in my team and how can I encourage them to flourish,” she said.
Singapore is a particularly special place to host events focused on diversity and gender because of the fantastic representation of women at senior levels in corporate treasury and finance. In one heart-warming panel, Marie Hong, Asia Head of Treasury at Manulife Financial Asia, said no one has a straightforward path to a successful career, and that there will be times when things seem bleak.
“The most important thing is how quickly we recover and move forward,” she said. “In my family I was the first to study and work overseas. I didn’t have their support because they didn’t understand my situation. I had to leave jobs involuntarily twice in my career. And at the time, I thought the world had collapsed. But you know what? It wasn’t the end of the world. So now I have learned to cherish the problems in life.”
Global Equity Study
Our annual Global Equity Study is another example of the programme’s evolution and chance for you to have your say. The breadth of the survey as well as the number of respondents and their diversity, has grown every year since 2014. Our most recent survey asked respondents to detail their access to menopause support and take-up of male parental leave, for example.
“As advocates of gender equity, we are pleased to continue supporting this study which is offering valuable insights on the developments and progress that our industry is making in this space,” said Michael Spiegel, Global Head of Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered, proud sponsors of the study.
Survey responses provide a valuable lens on areas of exclusion and inequality in the workplace, and we use these insights to shape our advocacy and forums. For example, the study repeatedly highlights the gender pay gap, informing our advocacy for greater pay transparency and panel sessions on strategies for speaking up and being heard by our managers.
Positively, the annual survey also provides a window into change. None more so than the transformative effect of the COVID pandemic on flexible working. Every year since the pandemic our respondents have voiced their enthusiasm for this systemic change and their determination to hold onto its benefits. Through the years we have also captured steady progress on corporate DEI policies and the increase in the number of women in senior positions.
Above all, our Women in Treasury & Finance programme is a community which regularly gathers in-person and is supported by a newsletter and LinkedIn page. It is not a competitive space but one where women at a country, regional and global level can share career challenges and triumphs and find help, recognition, warmth and support. Together we achieve more. Join our community and be part of something extraordinary.
“For me, our single biggest success is when women are inspired because of our connections. It could be seeking out a pay rise or promotion or accepting a job opportunity abroad – this is our success. Community is more important than ever, and it is formed by the bravery and candour, support and help of our members,” concludes Jackson.
