Women in Treasury

Woman of the Year awards 2023 nominations now open

Nominations are now open and close 31st May 2023

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Woman of the Year Awards

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Below is a list of the winners of Woman of the Year awards in the Adam Smith Awards and the Adam Smith Awards Asia.

Adam Smith Awards Asia 2022

OVERALL WINNER: Jyotsna Sharma, Bridgestone

Pune is a city in India that is built upon the automobile industry leading Jyotsna Sharma, to refer to it as many do as ‘The Detroit of India’. The automobile industry has faced many challenges in trying to diversify its workforce and to have better representation for women, namely the legacy of low representation of women in technical fields and with the automobile plants and factories being largely located in remote, industrial regions. Therefore for Jyotsna growing up in a city with ingrained traditions and cultural norms certainly presented its challenges for a young and ambitious woman.

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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2022

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Anne Kow, Mercedes Benz

Anne Kow is Head of Treasury for South East Asia at Mercedes-Benz, based in Singapore. Her role includes coverage of Australia, New Zealand and Korea. Her professional experience has given her a wealth of knowledge in areas ranging across foreign exchange, cash, liquidity and risk management. This experience was gained during an extensive career at Daimler Group before the company’s evolution culminating in a spin-off of the truck group.

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Adam Smith Awards 2022

OVERALL WINNER: Lisa Chan, Airbnb

Lisa Chan is the Director of Global Treasury for Airbnb and Treasury Today’s 2022 Woman of the Year recipient. Based on the US West Coast Lisa works for an organisation that, doubtlessly, most of us will be familiar with and that specialises in offering home stays and lodging through a technology platform that connects hosts with guests across the world.

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Adam Smith Awards 2022

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Jayna Bundy, Microsoft

Jayna Bundy’s career spans 22 years across banking, insurance, software and devices industries. Diversity, inclusion, belonging and giving back to the community are core to everything Jayna does. Her passion for diversity and inclusion is second to none. Currently working as General Manager at Microsoft, Jayna leads over 900 vendors and the FTE global organisation financial programmes and analytics, focused on worldwide accounts receivable, and delivering innovative credit and payment solutions to global customers, partners and vendors to support their digital transformation journey.

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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2021

OVERALL WINNER: Preet Dhupar, IKEA

From her early years growing up with her family, Preet Dhupar had a keen sense of subverting conventional gender roles in the workplace. Studying finance through to a Masters level degree set her on the path to her current senior corporate finance role at IKEA.

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Adam Smith Awards 2021

OVERALL WINNER: Phung Ngo-Burns, NexTier Completion Solutions

Phung Ngo-Burns is the 2021 Overall Winner of Treasury Today’s Woman of the Year award. Phung is an outstanding example of a treasury professional who is also a committed member and leader within and outside of her organisations. She is an accomplished financial professional with a proven track record across accounting, finance, control, tax, treasury, audit and SOX activities. Phung has demonstrated success in delivering financial and operating solutions, leading to commercial business development and crisis management in a highly competitive industry. She is a dedicated and consummate professional who is accomplished in building collaborative relationships between finance and operations, whose insights and acumen have delivered significant development projects and in implementing financial strategy.

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Adam Smith Awards 2021

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Nandini Mongia, Prudential Financial, Inc

Within the insurance field, a largely male dominated space where women represent less than a quarter of senior leadership, Nandini Mongia stands out. In her current role, she is the first woman to hold the role of Treasurer at Prudential and is also the sole female executive on Prudential Global Finance Community’s senior leadership team.

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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2020

OVERALL WINNER: Tricia Ho-Hudson, Woolworths Group Limited

Sydney-based Tricia Ho-Hudson, Group Treasurer at grocery and everyday needs chain Woolworths Group, has overseen the company’s treasury strategy and operations across Australia, New Zealand and Asia since 2017. Her team is responsible for managing the global cash and funding position of the company alongside all interest rate, currency and insurance risk. She also oversees employees’ compensation and public liability provisioning and leads Woolworths’ balance sheet strategy; her team also executes all equity and debt-raising transactions for the group.

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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2020

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Jiao Jiao, DiDi

Jiao Jiao is Treasury Director of International Business of DiDi, the mobile transportation and life service platform across Asia Pacific, Latin America and Russia.

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Adam Smith Awards 2020

OVERALL WINNER: Deepa Palamuttam, Intel

With her treasury career spanning over 20 years, to say that Deepa Palamuttam has a wealth of experience would be an understatement. Her title of Director Treasury, Cash Operations at Intel only hints at the enormous impact that her innovative and forward-thinking approach has brought to the business and to her colleagues.

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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2019

OVERALL WINNER: Rashmi Joshi, Castrol

Rashmi Joshi has more than 25 years of experience in the finance departments of FMCG, pharmaceutical, consumer durable and lubricants industries. Her expertise has seen her play a key role in creating and implementing a five-year growth strategy and vision for India and South Asia for Castrol India, whilst leading the India finance team and working to develop talent for India and the wider BP company, of which Castrol is a subsidiary.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2019

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Latifah Mohamed Yusof, Astro

Latifah Mohamed Yusof has been with Astro for over 20 years, with a two-year secondment to the position of CFO of Astro GS Shop Sdn Bhd (AGSB), a joint-venture company between Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad and GS Home Shopping Inc. of Korea. Prior to this she held roles as the Group Finance Assistant Manager at UMW Corporation Sdn Bhd, a Finance Executive at UMW Toyota Motor Sdn Bhd, and an Audit Assistant at Coopers & Lybrand. To say she has spent her career dedicated to finance is an understatement.
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Adam Smith Awards 2019

OVERALL WINNER: Catherine Portman, Uber

Catherine Portman is the Overall Winner in the Adam Smith Awards Woman of the Year category. The recently appointed Head of Global Treasury at Uber has spent the majority of her fantastic career in treasury at Juniper Networks, an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks headquartered in California. During her tenure at Juniper, Catherine’s role evolved with the growing business and she quickly became known for her visionary leadership in treasury and for driving change across the organisation. She is now in a new role at Uber, a testament to a professional whose career has been marked by a commitment to best practices in leadership and a strong work ethic.
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Adam Smith Awards 2019

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Anita Bubna, Flex

Anita Bubna is Senior Director of Treasury at Flex, a multinational technological manufacturer and a leader in hi-tech manufacturing supply chains. She has been with the company for eight years. A large part of her experience in treasury has been focused on global cash management and developing innovative global working capital solutions. In addition to her experience as a treasury professional, she has also held roles in software project management, FP&A, credit and operations finance.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2018

OVERALL WINNER: Catherine Yu, Herbalife Nutrition

Catherine Yu has a strong track record of delivering strategic and significant commercial results. Her experience and expertise in finance, tax, treasury and business transformation makes her a natural contender for an award but it is her sheer leadership talent and unswerving professionalism that edges her beyond the competition. A deserved winner for 2018!

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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2018

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Lay Perk Toh, Kulicke & Soffa Pte Ltd

Lay Perk Toh is a highly dedicated professional with wide ranging treasury experience gained over a fantastic career spanning 20 years. She is greatly admired as a dynamic team leader by colleagues.

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Adam Smith Awards 2018

OVERALL WINNER: Elena P. LaFrance, Alkermes

Elena P. LaFrance is Treasurer at Alkermes Inc. Her primary responsibilities are to establish, maintain and improve domestic and international treasury processes, as well as ensure processes are efficient and welldocumented. Elena has a degree in Accounting and an MBA in Strategic Management from Sacred Heart University. She previously worked in treasury roles at Haemonetics Corporation, Suffolk Construction and RR Donnelley.
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Adam Smith Awards 2018

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Amanda Schreiber, ICU Medical

Amanda Schreiber is the Head of Treasury at ICU Medical, Inc. in San Clemente, CA. She is responsible for all aspects of treasury. Prior to her role at ICU Medical, Amanda held a variety of roles at Broadcom Corporation. Amanda holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2017

OVERALL WINNER: Samantha Ng, WME IMG

Samantha Ng is APAC Treasurer of Endeavor, a global leader in sports, entertainment and fashion. Endeavor’s network of companies includes WME, IMG and UFC. She has over 15 years’ experience in treasury operations, risk management and corporate finance. She holds a bachelor degree from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and is a CFA charter holder.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2017

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Florence Tan, M+W Group

Florence Tan, Head, Treasury, APAC at M+W Group has experience handling the full scope of treasury activities ranging from cash management, financial risk management, corporate finance, investments, trade finance and banking relationship management. Florence has previously headed the Asia Pacific treasury functions for various MNCs including Schenker, Apple and Toshiba.
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Adam Smith Awards 2017

OVERALL WINNER: Janet M Gibbons, PepsiCo Inc

With a stellar career in corporate treasury and a host of external charitable work completed, Janet Gibbons, Senior Director, International Treasury – Asia, Middle East and North Africa at PepsiCo, without question meets the criteria to be the 2017 Treasury Today Adam Smith Awards Woman of the Year.
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Adam Smith Awards 2017

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Christy Barwick, Intellectual Ventures Management LLC

As Senior Director, Treasurer at Intellectual Ventures, Christy Barwick is responsible for global cash and liquidity, treasury investments, financial risk management, structured finance, and commercial insurances. Prior to joining Intellectual Ventures, Christy worked at Microsoft in treasury capital management where her responsibilities included worldwide cash operations, cash flow forecasting, corporate finance, and Microsoft’s debt portfolio.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2016

OVERALL WINNER: Sonam Donkar, PepsiCo India

Sonam Donkar was in the top 10% of students who graduated from the University of Delhi with a Bachelor of Business Studies and Masters in Finance and Control. She completed a Post Graduate programme at the Institute of Management in Bangalore in 2007. Her career in the world of finance has seen her employed in positions varying from a summer intern at Toyota Tsusho and BNP Paribas, to the M&A team at Deloitte Inc., across Ballarpur Industries Ltd., Unilever and Standard Chartered Bank, Global Markets. More recently Sonam was employed at Dell as India Treasury Controller prior to moving to PepsiCo India in May 2013.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2016

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Angeline Yeo, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Angeline Yeo is the Regional Treasurer of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, with more than 15 years of treasury experience. Based in Singapore, she is responsible for treasury cash and consulting operations, strategy planning, and stakeholder engagement to deliver value and support for the Asia Pacific and Japan region.
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Adam Smith Awards 2016

OVERALL WINNER: Rana Fayez El-Hajjar, Qatargas

Rana El-Hajjar leads the treasury organisation, managing the Financial Risk, Cash Management, Insurance, Treasury Operations and Compliance functions for all the companies operated by Qatargas. Rana started her career in the accounting profession in 1994 and transitioned into a career in Treasury in 2007 when she was tasked with establishing the Cash Management function at Qatargas.
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Adam Smith Awards 2016

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Kate Oddo, Toyota Financial Services

Kate Oddo is the Director, Debt Capital Markets at Toyota Financial Services, responsible for term funding programmes and investor relations, helping to develop and expand both unsecured and secured platforms. She received an MBA from USC’s Marshall School of Business and a BS from the University of Richmond.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2015

OVERALL WINNER: Vivian Peng, Flex Groups

Vivian Peng is a graduate of China’s prestigious Fu Dan University, School of Economics. She has over 20 years’ experience in financial and treasury management gained during her work in China, Hong Kong and Australia with organisations such as Bank of China, Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet, Duke Energy and Walmart. Vivian joined Flextronics International in 2005 and is currently its Vice President and Asia Treasurer.
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Adam Smith Awards 2015

OVERALL WINNER: Christine McCarthy, The Walt Disney Company

Christine M. McCarthy is Senior EVP and Chief Financial Officer of The Walt Disney Company. As CFO, she oversees the worldwide entertainment company’s investor relations, corporate planning and control, tax, corporate treasury, corporate real estate, facilities, integrated supply chain management and corporate citizenship. Prior to Disney, Ms. McCarthy was Chief Financial Officer of Imperial Bancorp, and EVP of Finance for First Interstate Bancorp.
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Adam Smith Awards 2015

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Dana Laidhold, The Carlisle Group

Dana Laidhold is the Treasurer of The Carlyle Group (CG). Prior to joining The Carlyle Group in 2003, Mrs. Laidhold was a Division Controller for US Airways, Inc. Before that, she was an auditor with Pricewaterhouse Coopers. She is a CPA, received her MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and her undergraduate degree from the Pennsylvania State University.
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Adam Smith Awards Asia 2014

OVERALL WINNER: Shirley Hiew, DuPont

Shirley Hiew’s career started in Singapore as Financial Analyst at ICI, thereafter assuming Finance & IT lead for the Chemical business unit. In 1999, Shirley joined DuPont regional treasury team in Singapore before taking a regional Finance lead role in Shanghai. She now leads the treasury centre in Singapore, with accountability for Global Subsidiary Financing and Global Cash Management. Responsible for consolidating worldwide cash for a multi-billion dollar acquisition, she is leading a new banking architecture project and setting up a new liquidity structure and cash management for a proposed spinoff. Shirley holds a qualification in Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).


“As a treasury leader within the organisation, Shirley is an advocate of challenging the status quo and putting in place the best practices for cash operations processes for DuPont” – Alan Lai, DuPont

Shirley was a keynote speaker at our Women in Treasury Forum at Raffles Hotel, Singapore on 12th March.

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Adam Smith Awards 2014

OVERALL WINNER: Anita Prasad, Microsoft

Anita Prasad is responsible for corporate finance, capital structure, share buybacks and dividend policy, structured investments, global cash and liquidity, treasury operations, and credit services for MS online businesses. Previously Anita was Vice President of Treasury and Tax at LSI Logic Corporation. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and holds a Bachelors and Masters in Economics, an MBA in MIS, and a PhD in Finance and International Business.


“Six years ago, I took a role as a sales leader and we work as closely as ever. Unexpected, isn’t it, that treasury would work with sales. But this is the sort of leader and team player she is. She is the type of peer and partner that we all hope to get to work with in our careers.” – Colleen Healy, Microsoft

Anita was presented with her award at the Adam Smith Awards lunch on Thursday 19th June at Plaisterers’ Hall in the City of London.


Anita was a keynote speaker at our Women in Treasury Forum on 18th September 2014 held at Plaisterers’ Hall in the City of London.

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Adam Smith Awards 2013

OVERALL WINNER: Maeve Robinson, Omnicom Group

Maeve C. Robinson is Assistant Treasurer of Omnicom Group Inc. and the Treasurer of its wholly owned subsidiary Omnicom Capital Inc. She is responsible for all treasury operations in North America, as well as providing direction for treasury processes and systems across Omnicom’s global footprint. Additionally, Maeve plays a lead role in Omnicom’s credit risk management, credit insurance programmes, working capital programme, and treasury accounting and systems.


“Maeve is someone who always and continuously challenges herself and others to grow and improve and who is greatly liked and respected by everyone in the organisation.” – Stephen Medhurst, Director of Treasury – Europe and Asia, Omnicom Finance plc
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Adam Smith Awards 2013

HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER: Marie-Astrid Dubois, Honeywell

Marie-Astrid Dubois joined Honeywell in 2002 as Director Europe Treasury. She was appointed Assistant Treasurer EMEA and Asia in 2006. In this role, she leads all operational and strategic treasury activities, spanning from cash and liquidity management, trade finance, euro commercial paper (ECP) and risk management to strategic projects for these two regions, in which Honeywell is present in about 60 countries.


“Marie-Astrid is passionate about treasury and the responsibilities that come with her role, and she is a reliable person. With her high level of excellence, she is an example for and role model to the team. Marie-Astrid demonstrated great leadership skills: she recognises the work accomplished by the team and knows how to thank people.” – Isabelle Chastagner, Relationship Manager, Deutsche Bank


Both Maeve Robinson and Marie-Astrid Dubois were keynote speakers at our Women in Treasury Forum on 31st October 2013 held at The Four Seasons Hotel in London’s Canary Wharf.

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