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Did you enjoy school?

I enjoyed lycée (in Germany) but even more Uni across the UK and France.

What qualifications do you have?

I have a Master in Financial Economics, a Master in International Relations, an LLM in International Economic Law and a PhD in Finance.

Has your career path been a smooth transition, a rocky road or a combination of both?

Definitely a combination of both, with a healthy portion of serendipity.

What specific challenges do you see women facing in the industry?

I would say that both in the field of technology and in the field of finance and banking women have been able to achieve a position ‘at the table’ but depending on the circumstances of the organisation are often still a minority and can be made to feel inadequate or un-respected. I have certainly come across my fair share of this phenomenon, but I always decided to keep on learning, understanding and building relationships so that it became impossible for seniors to ignore me and what I bring.

What is the best career advice you can give to others?

Be curious and stay curious. Be open to learning from others and share your wisdom and experiences with others. Build relationships founded on respect and compassion.

If you had to pick one mentor that had the biggest influence on you, who would it be?

Charles Bryant, years ago the Secretary General of the European Payments Council (EPC). He was a great speaker and had the ability to coral and create consensus amongst a very diverse group of stakeholders. This learning has enabled me to be many times over a chair in industry groups and expert groups, ranging from the EPC Payment Cyber Security Group, to WGs in BAFT, to the UK Payment Systems Regulator Panel and the Bank of England Digital Pound Privacy WG to name a few.

From where do you draw inspiration?

From inside.

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What is the biggest challenge you have faced to date?

Going through divorce and being a full time mum next to be being full time busy with work. Thank God that work is fun for me!

What qualities do you feel makes a good leader?

A deep sense of responsibility and care, kindness, humour and the ability to communicate effectively.

From a work viewpoint, what has the last 12 months been like?

The last 12 months have been a lot of fun as I re-entered the field of cybersecurity by working with an incredible cybersecurity innovator called Blackwired. This allows me to be yet again on a different learning curve, and it adds to my work life, which over the last few years had been dominated by non-executive board positions and University teaching. It’s great to be involved with a young and growing company that has developed a solution that actually stops cyberattacks altogether – something badly needed in today’s environment.

What would you say are the biggest tech-based challenges we face today?

The rising ubiquity of AI combined with the future of Quantum Computing. The challenges of AI are complex and manyfold, ranging from ethics, to cybersecurity, impacts on human resourcing, risks of repeating same old-same old rather than creating the new, to losing our own knowledge and becoming lazy and complacent.

Once Quantum Computing arrives on the scene – possibly only a few years down the road so I encourage organisations to prepare for this – new amazing possibilities will open up but at the same time fraudsters and adversary nation states are likely to have a field day. Protecting your data and financial assets will be paramount.

I am also fascinated by what the computer of the future will be able to do and how humanity will engage with this in a way that ‘human override and control’ is being maintained.

What can be done to encourage more women into the industry?

In my view it is key to communicate the value that women bring to the industry to make them welcome and valued and to ensure that this understanding is upheld in the workplace and in the way the path to career development for women is enabled.

Give us a fact about you that most other people wouldn’t know.

I paint abstract expressionism (when I have the time) and I am working on a Quantum AI technology thriller (finally moving away from technical/academic book writing).