Highlights from the panel discussion

Following the awards ceremony, Sophie hosted a panel discussion with two of the winners, Sandra Ramos-Alves, SVP & Treasurer, Bristol Myers Squibb and Nicola Bates, President & CEO, Siemens Capital Company, as well as BNY’s Anjali Shah, Managing Director, Chief Commercial Offices; Head of America Sales, Treasury Services and J.P. Morgan Payments’s Gayathri Vasudev, Global Head of Core Payment Rails.

Journeys into banking

Anjali described her unique journey from software into finance. “I was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and started my career at Price Waterhouse as an IT consultant,” she said. “I then got my MBA and took that MBA to work in enterprise software.

“I worked in mergers and acquisitions for a software company that was eventually acquired by Hewlett Packard, and I stayed there for a decade. My husband then had the opportunity to build a semiconductor factory in Morocco, and that company took us to Charlotte. If you’re in Charlotte long enough, you end up in banking!”

Gayathri’s career began in Mumbai, where she specialised in mortgage loans. Her journey then took her to the US, where she joined a venture capital firm, an experience that ended unexpectedly when the firm failed. “When I first heard about cash management, I was curious. This was a whole new world to me. That moment of openness led me to an incredible path I hadn’t imagined.”

“I’ve had the privilege to work across product management, operations and sales – each role shaping my perspective and skills. The payments space has transformed dramatically over the past decade, and today, I truly believe we’re standing at an inflection point for innovation and opportunity.”

Learning curve

Sandra explained that she started her career at AT&T in a rotational programme which included a couple of international assignments. “I spent a couple of years in internal audit, which is a great place to learn the business. Then I had an opportunity to join the treasury organisation. And here I am 24 years later!”

Describing her focus on career progression at an earlier stage, she said “I find myself in a place that I just want to smell the roses a little bit. I’m incredibly blessed with the team I’ve been able to assemble – we laugh a lot, because there are a lot of challenges and sometimes you have to enjoy life.”

Nicola explained that she has worked for Siemens for over 30 years, after originally joining the company as an intern. She spoke about some of the key moments that have shaped her journey. “I’ve never been particularly strategic, but the one constant is that I’ve always tried to put myself in situations where I can learn and grow and do new things.

“When I put myself in new positions, I pretty much always regret it in the beginning, because I find myself in situations where I’m outside of my comfort zone and faced with a steep learning curve. But that’s exactly where I grow.”

Supporting talent

The conversation turned to how organisations can make workplaces more flexible and comfortable for neurodivergent people. Sandra highlighted the importance of talking about this topic in order to normalise it: “There’s an element of education that is really critical for everyone to understand.”

She also discussed the shortcomings in terms of how corporations currently approach including neurodivergent individuals in the workplace. “We’re not creating jobs that would highlight the strengths that these individuals would bring to the table,” she said. “If we did a better job of incorporating that into our teams, we would be able to be much more innovative and creative in our daily work life.”

Looking more broadly at talent management, Anjali emphasised the importance of supporting employees at every stage of their career journey. “For early-career talent, I make it a priority to speak at BNY early talent cohorts called Future Leaders Program to attract sales talent. We’ve been able to build a strong milestone-based development track for junior sales professionals.”

For mid-career colleagues, initiatives like these provide a great forum for sharing ideas, she said. “We also have other resources available at BNY – for example, our leader Jennifer Barker serves as Global Chair of the 30% Club, which is a strong advocate for gender diversity at the C-suite and board levels.”

On another note, Anjali discussed the importance of flexibility and the potential of leveraging AI productivity tools to enhance collaboration and efficiency.

Leadership qualities

The panellists discussed different leadership styles and the need for flexibility. Sandra spoke about the importance of empowering her team. “I delegate, and I rely on my team to do their best, because they don’t need me to micromanage them,” she said. “It’s also important for me to hear every voice in the room. I’m not a master of every role, so I need to hear from every person at every level to understand how we can make things better.”

Sophie asked Gayathri about strategies for avoiding burnout while remaining an effective leader. “One of the best tips I’ve received is to intentionally block out time in your calendar, an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon, just for yourself. Use that time to read, reflect and process, instead of jumping from meeting to meeting. Do I always manage to carve out those hours? Not every day, but it’s a goal I strive for.”

“Keeping perspective is essential. For me, having young children helps! When I walk through the door at home, their needs and energy naturally shift my focus away from work. A manager once told me, ‘Your kids always need you, no matter how old they are.’ That’s stayed with me. Whether it’s family or other passions, it’s vital to find ways to switch off and recharge outside of work.”

Collaborative strength

Finally, Nicola highlighted the importance of bringing women’s collaborative strengths into an environment that is inherently very competitive. “I think it’s important that we take a step back a little and ask, ‘what are the qualities we value in leaders?’”

She added, “I think we tend to over-reward charisma, whereas very often it’s the quiet leader that makes the big difference. So are we judging women too harshly? Are we over-valuing the loud confident types, and undervaluing quiet strength in our leaders?

“Once we start to show up in a different way, where we really proactively support one another, we speak up for one another, we sponsor each other, and we take care of each other – that’s where we start to change the narrative.”