The REGIS-TR RoundUp
The REGIS-TR RoundUp is a hub for regulatory reporting news and views from your leading Trade Repository team and industry guests from across the globe.
The REGIS-TR RoundUp
S10:E4 Women in Leadership Special for International Women's Day 2024
In this special feature-length show, we celebrate International Women's Day and Regis-TR's industry-leading roster of women in senior leadership roles with co-hosts Bárbara Ruiz Alonso (Head of Client Services) and Laura Rodriguez (Head of Institutional Relations), plus very special guests Maria Teresa Santos, Berta Ares (Head Program & Innovation Office, Financial Information, SIX), and our new Chief Compliance Officer Dionne Moody.
Together, we discuss our different career paths and experiences, offer advice to women beginning their careers in finance, talk about changing culture, and discuss strategies for leading in organisations that were traditionally considered male domains - or with colleagues who aren't quite sure how to engage with women in senior positions.
Join us for an uplifting hour of positivity, constructive advice and a celebration of the work culture at Regis-TR and SIX.
Hi, I'm Andrew Keith Walker.
Speaker 3:Hello, I'm Barbara E Hi, I'm Laura Rodriguez.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm John Curden, hi, I'm Nick Bruce and this is the number one regulatory reporting podcast in the EU, the UK and around the world. So join us as we go behind the scenes and under the hood to look at the big issues and news stories, companies and personalities who are shaping the world of Rektech, fintech and trade repositories. Welcome to the Registr Roundup.
Speaker 3:And welcome back to a new episode of Registr Roundup. Our favorite podcast is Friday 8th of March and we have a really special episode today. You might be thinking what happened with our master of ceremony, mr Andrew Walker. Well, don't worry about him, because he's right here with us. It's just that he left the micros today to let us, the women of this podcast, to lead this episode to an ornorthy, international women's day. I'm Laura Rodriguez, head of institutional relations at Registr, and I will be co-hosting this episode with the one and only Barbara Ritalonso, head of client services and, as you are all aware, the nicest and most efficient person of this organization. Hi, barbara, thank you for being always by my side of this adventures and firstly, happy International Women's Day to you.
Speaker 1:Thanks a lot, laura. It is always a pleasure to work with the pride of Spain. Happy International Women's Day to you too. I have to confess that I'm currently feeling a great responsibility, not only because the standards of this podcast are very, very high, because Andrew is a genius, but also because we have the honor to interview today three great women of the industry who I believe are an example to our community.
Speaker 3:Indeed, but before we meet our guests, I want to take the opportunity to dedicate this podcast to all women. The International Women's Day is a global day dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of all women, and it also serves as a call to action for accelerating gender parity around the world. There is still a lot of work to do and to achieve it, of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's absolutely right, Laura. So with no further delays, allow me to introduce Maria Santos. She joined BME on the 90s in the Financial Information Company of the Biden Madrid Stock Exchange and she was the PTCO of Infobalsa before joining the post-trading area. In the post-trading area, Maria was in charge of the first initiatives of synergies with other entities, leading the bilateral links between the CSDs of BME and SIX, and she was leading later the Registrier Migration Project to SIX. At the moment she keeps collaborating with us, with Registrier as a key advisor for strategic decisions. So, Maria, welcome to the show. It is a pleasure to have you here.
Speaker 4:It is a pleasure and thank you very much, Barbara and Laura. It is a pleasure to be here with you today, surrounded by such a competent and brilliant woman, and I'm also very excited to collaborate with you all in the post-trading area and in the post-trading in the trade repository business so fascinating. Thank you so much for having me today here in this podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you, maria, and also joining the podcast today we have Dionne Moudi, our new Chief Compliance Officer in the UK, who has worked at JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank holding different roles. Later she joined CIBC Capital Markets and went through various positions in the compliance area, growing from senior associate to executive director and before joining Registrier at the beginning of 2024, she also worked with our friends of the TR of ICE. Dionne, thanks for joining the podcast.
Speaker 5:Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to be here, especially on International Women's Day, so I'm looking forward to the conversation.
Speaker 1:That's great. And last but never least, we have Bertha Addes. She started her professional career as IT manager and held different management roles at BME, the Spanish operator, along the value chain from the front office to the settlement system. Well, I will clear, as you all know, in all of these roles she was very close to technology, digital transformation and innovation, and she is now the head of program and innovation office at Financial Information at 6. What a stunning career, bertha. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 6:Thank you, barbara and Tim, thanks for inviting me. I love both the topic and your podcast, so very happy to be here today.
Speaker 3:Great. So why is today so so important? Well, because we are celebrating the International Women's Day, and we want to celebrate this by recording this podcast and by raising our voice against a world which is still not gender equal. There is still a lot of work to get our free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.
Speaker 3:At Registria, we are proud to work on a company that has empowered many women along the years. Actually, today, 50% of line manager at Registria are women, and we always had women representation on the general management. It is curious, though, that we have always been an example of relevant or big number of women representation, when the reality is that we have the same number of men and women in management position. So the fact that 50% of teams are lead by women, it gives still the perception that the number of women at management is higher than men, and this is only a reflection that this parity that we have at Registria is still not common in our industry, but I want to think that we are on the right path to achieve it. So now let's listen to our female leaders.
Speaker 1:Okay. So Dionne, Bertha Maria, let's start by knowing a bit more about yourself. I wanted to start with Dionne because compliance relevance in the financial market in the last few years has increased significantly, and I wonder if you always thought about this role since the beginning of your professional journey. How did it evolve? I guess you did then play a role as a chief compliance officer when you were 10 years old, right, Absolutely not.
Speaker 5:I doubt, actually, that I would have even known what a chief compliance officer was at 10 years old. I think if you'd have asked me back then I would have said that I wanted to be a dancer because I love to dance. But you're right though. So you know, the focus on compliance in regulated markets it's always increasing. I think that would always be the case because, you know, the regulators are always trying to keep up to speed with the rate of change in technology and in financial markets and everything else that they have to grapple with. So that will always be the case, and actually I personally find that that's what makes compliance as interesting as it is. No two days are ever the same, and we're always trying to get our head around the next new regulation, I think.
Speaker 5:In terms of my career, actually, I'd always planned to be a barrister, so a lawyer, and from a very, very young age I decided that that's what I wanted to do, because I'd seen a TV program where they were all arguing in court and I thought it sounded super interesting and exciting. So that's what I decided to do and write through to university. So I did an undergraduate degree in law and then I went on to do a postgraduate degree in law and I finished university most like most people, with no money and I needed to get a job quickly. So I went home and lived back at home with my mum and basically I had to get a job locally. So I found a job at JD Morgan. They have a huge site in Bournemouth, which is where I'm from, on the south coast of the country in the UK, and I started working for six months there in their personal account dealing team, within the compliance team. So at the time actually I was put in a really dark room just organizing all of their files. But I was so happy just to have a job so I did it with a big smile on my face and at the end of that my manager said to me hey, would you like to stay Like you know? Do you like JD Morgan, do you like the culture? And I thought actually I really enjoy it and what I had realized then was my skillset. The things that I had learned in law were actually really useful in compliance. And you know, at university compliance has never been offered up as a career, a potential career. I'd never heard anything about it. So you know, like you do. Then I spoke to my mum and she said well, why not do it for a year? You know, take a year out and then come back to law if you decide to. So that's what I did and actually I loved it and never looked back.
Speaker 5:So I then decided that the team actually that I moved onto at JD Morgan was then called the License and Registration Team, so again within compliance, but now they would be responsible for the senior managers and certification regime in the UK, which is an accountability regime for the most senior individuals and client facing roles. So I did that for a couple of years before I decided that I wanted to move back to London and so I began looking for a new role, which was when I moved to Deutsche Bank and I moved to their compliance quality assurance team. So I was effectively testing the business and monitoring and testing on their areas, making sure their controls were robust, and at the time I had I was the most junior person on the team, but I had exposure to my manager on the team, or actually sat next to her Well, I say manager, the big boss on the team, should I say and she was brilliant and she gave me so many opportunities to get involved in different projects, which I loved because I was learning at a super fast rate. And she sadly left to take on a more senior position at CIBC. And not long after she left, she reached out to me and said hey, I've got this really interesting role. I know you've always been in big organizations like JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, but this role will really enable you to get involved in different things.
Speaker 5:So I thought about it and you know it's always really difficult because people would say, oh, why and people did say this to me why would you leave? Like Deutsche Bank, it's such a big name it's great to have on your CV. But for me, I just wanted to learn. I wanted to learn everything that I could. And she had basically said to me look, you will be a regulatory compliance officer. You'll be dealing directly with the FCA and that junior in my career that often didn't happen in the big banks. You'll also be able to get involved in so many different aspects of compliance. So I thought, okay, it's a great opportunity. Even if it's not great it doesn't look great on my CV in comparison to Deutsche Bank it's great for my learning. So yeah. So I took the opportunity and I actually, looking back now, I would say that was the pivotal turning in my career because she kept her word.
Speaker 5:I got exposed to so many different things. So shortly after joining I took on responsibility for the senior managers and certification regime because obviously my experience at JP Morgan meant that I understood that quite well. I also had a lot of engagement with the FCA on that regime and any other sort of regulatory compliance aspects. Additionally, I became responsible for personal account dealing because of my time at JP Morgan GIFs and entertainment conflicts of interest and I was also advising investment banking and corporate banking on conflicts of interest and the like. So that gave me huge exposure to the senior management team there. I was often presenting in front of them nervously and, yeah, I loved it and quickly that developed into other things for me.
Speaker 5:So because I'd had a lot of exposure to the regulator, the senior management team asked if I'd like to become the head of regulatory affairs for Europe and Asia. So I then broadened my responsibilities to having more responsibility for the Bank of England, the PRA and the Prudential Regulators across Europe and Asia. So it was a huge step up for me. But they trusted me, they believed in me and I had their support, which was really important. And alongside that I took on the role for data protection officer for Europe, which was an area completely new to me, a huge learning curve, but again I had the support of the business. So those opportunities were golden. And that's sort of how my career developed, because for me I've always been guided by what feels right for me. Now Does this offer an opportunity for me to learn and develop personally and professionally and does it give me an opportunity to learn more about the business and how different teams work. So that's what I've always been guided by.
Speaker 5:Shortly after that, because we realized quite quickly that the roles that I were doing alone were huge, the data protection officer role, after about a year, migrated back into the legal function which we decided to do at a global level, and so I felt great, I can continue now doing my regulatory affairs role on its own, I can focus on it. But actually that didn't happen. I got asked if I would also take on enterprise risk management for Europe and Asia. So again I was a bit like, oh my goodness, this is another new area, but it was something I could learn about, get my teeth into. So I took that on as well and I did that for a few years and I think I always knew that I wanted to go back into the central compliance function eventually because, having had experience in banks, my dream was to become a chief compliance officer.
Speaker 5:So I took some time out and started looking for a more suitable role in that area and that was when I was approached by ICE to become the CCO of their trade repository. It's an ICE trade vote, europe limited, and that I did for a year on a maternity cover up until January of this year. It's a very recent. The ICE team obviously are exceptional and I had a fantastic time there. I learned so much about trade repository and because of the network that I had at ICE. Then I also met people here at Registria and different events that opened the doors to this. So yeah, I feel like I've been incredibly lucky in my career and fortunate to build networks and meet people, and I sort of always been guided by my God.
Speaker 1:I'm sure many young women that might be listening to the podcast could feel familiar and inspired by your stories. Thanks, thank you, Maria. I'd like to get back to you to also learn a bit more about how you started your career. How did you get where you are today and maybe, if you could share some highlights, something from your background that contributed to become what you are today?
Speaker 4:Thank you. Thank you so much for the question and thank you, diana. I was not wrong when I was saying that I was surrounded by brilliant women today. So thank you very much for sharing your experience as well. Well, I just started. I mean my first series job was at BME. I mean I started in my Trilistock exchange many, many, many, many years ago. If I tell you the number of years, you could see my, you could you know figure out my age, and we're not here to talk about it, but I started a lot of years ago, as many of you.
Speaker 4:During my career I'm a Baccalaureate in Business Administration I worked during the summers in different kind of things. So on one summer I went to consultancy, on another summer I went to auditing. There was something, you know, that the university prepared for you, for you to understand what you wanted to do once your career was finished. And then I went to a bank where I was working I mean for two months, in portfolio management. So, you know, I thought that portfolio management would be a good option for me. But I had this interview at BME thinking I mean thinking that the exchange was going to bring me this portfolio management thing, which was not the case, obviously. But then I had this interesting interview about a new company that was being created in Trilistock exchange at that time, which was the financial information company, and I was offered, I was proposed that job and I said well, that's good for me. It's something that has to start from scratch. It's quite interesting. I didn't know anything about it. It was my first job. I was very young. You never know what you want to do. I said, okay, let's do it. So I joined the company when the financial information company was being created, the financial information services were being built and they were being built according to the needs and suggestions and opinions and ideas of the customers. So it was a very fascinating process to create a service from scratch, just understanding the customer.
Speaker 4:And from that very moment I really knew I wanted to be a commercial and that I wanted to treat people outside and inside the organization customers, providers, etc. I love that negotiation. I love to understand the others' needs, I love to understand what the customer requires, what the customer wants, and I also love to understand what the employees want. So this satisfaction of the customer is very rewarding, as it is the satisfaction of the employee when you, when they see, you understand them and you understand their needs and their emotions. So for me it was a very happy time in my professional life because we had to build everything from scratch. Even the exchange that was going through the first big reform was being fully transformed. So it was very interesting and I could learn a lot of things, because we were only three in a company that ended up years later being 80 people. So everything had to be done from the, from the various scratch.
Speaker 4:So I studied in that company for 10 years. We expanded the business support to get Germany, latin America. We were part of a joint venture with Deutsche Börse for more than 15 years as well, so we had this international experience. And then I moved to the post-training area where I had the opportunity to contribute to the synergies initiatives of the central securities depositories.
Speaker 4:When the acquisition of BME by six and, as you mentioned before, barbara, my last project was a migration of Registria into the six group that gave me the opportunity to to come back to my very beginning, which is to understand and to see a company from a holistic point of view. So I could see the whole company and this is very enriching and very important for any. It's an incredible professional experience. It's been a very enriching project, not only because of the knowledge acquired, but also because of the interesting people from business units, corporate areas specifically from Registria that have been able to meet, and I believe that my customer orientation is what has allowed me to get this part. Understanding the needs of the customer, whether external or internal, is what make it possible to to respond to the needs and to the expectations anytime.
Speaker 1:I think it is great to think that some small decisions in our life actually drive our final career or you know where we finally are at the end. But at that moment when you make those decisions, you don't realize if it is just a few years later or many years later that you you see how those decisions are to be where you are In the middle of all that.
Speaker 4:When I was, when I was like 40, I studied an MBA of portfolio management because, for some reason, you know, I thought, well, I have to go to performance and I even studied that sixty hundred I don't know how many hours, you know and it was like a pending issue on my life. But you know, now I know I'm on the place I had to be and I wanted to be.
Speaker 1:That's great. Thank you. So, bertha, we already said that you have always been related to technology and innovation. However, I think the actual rate of rate of women on these two areas are still pretty low, isn't it like? How do you see the participation of women on these two topics? Do you find difficulties to hire women professionals on these two roles?
Speaker 6:Yes, actually, yes, I do. I come from from technical background, as an engineer At least, not that it was my dream, as, as Dion said, I wanted to. I always wanted to be a word journalist, but this is a different story. I think it's. I'm an engineer. I saw the an MBA later, but the technology was always been central to my career. The reason is because I think technology is a key driver of change, value creation and and progress, and especially in our sector.
Speaker 6:And and then, yes, innovation. It comes in innovation because, because it's a need for staying competitive and bring impact. We need this constant exploration and and pushing boundaries. So so for me, innovation was not really a choice. A choice, it was like something that I needed in my roles just to achieve my goals. So, but, but at the same time, it's a really challenging and fascinating field to work in and, as, as Maria mentioned before, I had the chance just to start something from scratch, test some crazy things. So it's really a fascinating field. And, as you say, yes, it's true. I think it's undeniable that there is significant gender gap in these two fields in technology and innovation and in in my opinion, it is crucial to address this disparity. We cannot afford to leave women out of this picture, especially in areas that are shaping the future. So so I think women must be active participant in this, in this revolution that is happening and will you have any advice?
Speaker 1:or will you encourage young women, students that are listening, will you tell them something?
Speaker 6:I will say just go for it, because technology opens the door to many opportunities. You don't have to be a computer crazy fanatic, you don't need to be a freak. In my experience, sometimes women feel overwhelmed, thinking they have to be a technology expert to enter this field, but that's not the case. Technologies diverse, offers a wide range of roles and provides many options. So please, girls, just go for it and Bert.
Speaker 3:You have some specific example. Can you say what was a specific turning point in your career?
Speaker 6:Well, I think it's hard just to pinpoint just one turning point in my career, but if I have to, I'd probably say that it was when I made my first role change. It's not that this change was this specific new role was like a bit different, but it set an emotional series of changes for me. It somehow marked the beginning of a journey where I learned to embrace new challenges and follow my curiosity, and I think since then each step has led me to new opportunities and growth. So this will be my turning point.
Speaker 3:Okay, I would like to come back to you, dionne, because, as you know, compliance often has the responsibility of being this force driving the change, because of the many times these things has to be implemented in the middle of the day activities. So what values and principle guides your decision making process when taking these daily decisions, so different along the day?
Speaker 5:It's the tough one. Well, first, I would probably say collaboration with the team is key. I mean, yes, I'm the compliance officer and it's my responsibility to ensure that the entity complies with its regulatory responsibilities in line with regulatory timelines, but we achieve that ultimately as a team. So, very often, and actually 99.9% of the time, any changes that we make across the business involves multiple teams, multiple subject matter experts, and so I essentially have to be guided by them. So collaboration is absolutely key, because they will tell me what's achievable within the realms of our technology, within the realms of resources, are know how, and so I'm really the middleman that goes between the business and the regulators to work out what we can do, how we do it. You know whether we need extra information from the regulators. So I would say collaboration and communication always have to come first.
Speaker 5:For me personally, integrity and doing the right thing are really, really important. I think I've always been, you know, driven and ambitious, and I want to achieve things, but ultimately I want to do that in the right way, and you know I personally I just want to leave things better than I found them. So doing the right thing and being guided by my gut sometimes is really, really important. And finally, I would say I would say kindness is really important too, because you know, I think we can all recall experiences where we've had to deal with egos or politics or environments that are not collaborative, and I just always find it so unnecessary, it makes people feel uncomfortable and I don't think there's any need for any level. So, for me, I always try to treat people how I want to be treated, but that doesn't mean that you can't be direct and you can't ask for what you need. You just do it in the right way. So, yeah, I would say those things.
Speaker 3:That's a really great, great point, and I think all of us here will support that for sure. Another difficult question, this one for Maria. I would like to ask you what challenges has you faced as a woman in leadership? How did you overcome them when this happened? Your career.
Speaker 4:That's not an easy question, but yeah Well, fortunately, to find women in leadership roles is becoming more and more usual. But it's also true that some years ago and on days not too distant, it was hard for a woman to be taken seriously as a leader. It's maybe because we were perceived too emotional or more intuitive and rational. And I also come back to Spain in the early 80s and 90s. It was a very traditional country and women were perceived as too dedicated to family responsibilities, and that was a situation I was facing when I started my professional life. There was a time where the decisions seemed to be between a professional career or the caregiving role of the family, with no possibility to have any balance. That was the perception at that time.
Speaker 4:In my particular case, I have always used the same formula, and it comes from my customer focused mind. I have always tried to understand the other's needs and I have always tried to bring people together for collective actions. I'm a strong believer on collaborating teams and I also think that delegating in your teams makes you stronger, as people take ownership and acquires confidence and the team grows in all aspects. So this has been my. This is the way I overcame any potential challenge I faced in my professional life.
Speaker 1:This is a great point, maria, that actually I would like to stop a little bit on the impact that a good leader could actually mean, because historically leaders were stereotyped as tough men, very strict, someone that did not seek for collaboration or for getting different opinions or perspectives within a team. But I think that is actually changing in the last years and soft skills are more valued and people actually do want to work where they are listened, where their opinions matter, and I think actually we are moving into this collaborative environment that you were mentioning, maria. So in this context, maybe to you, bertha, how would you define the effective leadership? Also, I think Dion mentioned something about this, but how do you think we can summarize, because I know it's a tough one?
Speaker 6:Yes, I think, in contrast with your previous description of what is the traditional leadership, how the traditional leadership looks like, for me, effective leadership is more about inspiring and guiding and motivating teams to achieve common goals. It is like being mentor and coach and cheerleader all role into one. I think it's about connecting with people and understanding their strengths and aspirations and then empowering them to reach their full potential, and it has a lot of listening and supporting and I think it's important also the fostering the culture of trust and collaboration and, at the end, it's about creating a sense of shared purpose, which is a lot right. It's not easy.
Speaker 1:I was actually thinking it's not easy. It's not easy to find all those qualities within someone, many of those things that you're saying. In my opinion, some people they just don't get burned, they weren't born with those qualities and it's difficult sometimes to actually train those qualities, which is where I think at schools or now the new parenting model that's trying to work on. But it's not easy, so let's keep working on that. I guess have you ever lived a gender bias? Knowing that you work on, you know where more men are normally working more on technology, on innovation that we already mentioned, that it's still a gap between genders. How did you combat any gender bias that you've worked? Did you use any specific strategy for this?
Speaker 6:Well, first of all, yes, I have, and somehow I think we all have some encounter instances of gender bias in our careers because, as you said I think Laura said in the introduction we still don't have gender equality. So this is happening in the society, I mean in the works play, in our sector too, so it's happening everywhere. So I think we all have. And about the strategy, well, I don't have a specific strategy, but I firmly believe in addressing bias openly and constructively. So my way, my recommendation, will be to confront bias by sharing the concerns or sharing the discomfort directly with the individuals involved, or maybe with just supportive colleagues.
Speaker 6:So in my experience, this conversation often leads to positive outcomes and many times it helps foster understanding and can even lead to chaining behavior. So I'm optimistic, right, and I am really optimistic about the progress we are making in addressing gender bias. I don't think it's now a matter of opinion. I think data is showing us that diverse teams are more productive. So this understanding and traction and more people are actively working to bridge the gap. So let's share it, let's speak about it.
Speaker 1:That's great, I fully agree. I have to say and actually this drives me to another question that I'd like to ask Maria, because what is what Bertai is saying? It's actually very important to speak about issues openly and directly instead of, you know, many times going on the back or something like that, because how do you balance assertiveness with empathy in leadership? I think this is again a delicate balance right?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it is, and leadership is a matter of balancing correctly both of them, although I have to admit that I tend more to the empathy.
Speaker 4:Maybe it can be because of my commercial background, I don't know. I believe as I think that Bertai already mentioned that that leadership is to connect with people and connect the people with a purpose of collaboration, and the way to connect is through the empathy. So people cannot be separated of their emotions. So the ability to understand their emotions is at the heart of any successful professional and personal relationship. This is my understanding. So only when you establish open relationship, the people feel free to express their views, their opinions, their concerns, which is something very crucial for any kind of project, no matter if it's professional or a personal project. So only when this connection is done, you understand what you can expect from the others and also there's an important and interesting lesson and you are able to understand what the others expect from you as well. And then, once you know this merge is done, you will be able to lead your team into the action and courage when needed and stand in after them when required.
Speaker 1:That's great, and will you be able to share an experience where you turn maybe a failure into a valuable learning opportunity? Maria.
Speaker 4:Well, it's not exactly a failure, but the experience may answer to your question and it relates precisely to a change of role and on position that happened to me four years ago when I moved to Australia in 30 years in the financial information sector. So, needless to say that I knew by heart my past job and I was confident enough to face any challenge because I knew everything by heart. But then I moved to a different completely area with a new team that was running a business that I had no idea about and where I felt I had to start from scratch again. And what a challenge. I mean it was a huge challenge. But very soon I found myself applying everything I had learned in during my professional years to this new business and I learned that life teaches you to face experiences that you believe you are not prepared to, but suddenly you are. And I realized that at a certain moment that I was.
Speaker 4:At the time I was learning the business from my colleagues. I was also teaching them how to see the business from another perspective, and that was an important lesson, because you think, well, I don't know anything about that, I cannot bring anything useful to these people, but then you bring a new point of view and new kind of relationship how to manage this, how to manage that from another perspective, and that was a huge lesson for me. You have to think that you are prepared because you have your background and this is very you know. This is something you have to have in your mind. You are prepared, you can do it.
Speaker 3:Yes, I totally agree that third experience are key in different teams to growth together. It's totally the way. Yes, and talking also about experience, now I would like to dedicate some time to think about the future, which is also right here, and I would like to come to you on this one, dionne you might have some future women leaders listening and men leaders listening, and I'm sure that they would like to get some inspiration from you. As you said also, at the beginning you were pursuing your career as chief compliance officer. You are now in this position and that's really a great way to see that, with dedication, we can have all those achievements that we pursue. So what advice would you give to aspiring women and men leaders?
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's a good question. I think I think and memory has touched on this as well I think if I could go back and give myself some advice, as I was, you know, progressing through my career, first and foremost it would have been to speak up. I feel like in the very early stages of my career, definitely, I often felt quite intimidated when I was around people that were more senior than me or more experienced than me, because you just feel like you don't know as much of them. So, you know, quite often I would be in meetings and I'd have a point of view or I'd have a suggestion, but I just wouldn't say it because I was almost so scared of looking silly in that environment. And so, you know Maria just said this you know your experience, your background can bring something so new to the table. So don't be afraid to speak up. You know, in a healthy professional environment, people welcome that. They want to hear your point of view. It helps teams come together. So that would definitely be my first advice to anybody really.
Speaker 5:Secondly, career progression is not easy. You know it's tough. You make sacrifices. It takes time, it takes commitment. You, I think, be prepared to make sacrifices, but know what sacrifices you're prepared to make, because we all want different things in life. And that brings me onto my final point. I would say be authentic and know yourself, because quite often you can look at somebody and say I want to do what they've done, but you don't understand the path to get there. So I think, work out what it is that you want to achieve, who you want to be, what your work life balance will look like, what makes you happy, and then plan your steps according to that. Don't feel like you have to follow somebody else's path. So I think that would be my advice to people looking to progress in whatever field that they're in.
Speaker 6:I mean it's funny that all of us the three of us have talked about change and how all these changes have strengthened our confidence and our self-assurance in our careers. I mean, we come from different places, but I think this was in the three of us. I don't know if you feel the same, but I got this.
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely, I agree. I think that's the thing with change, isn't it? At the time it can feel hard and difficult, but in hindsight you look back and you go. Actually, I learned so much from that experience, sometimes more than when things have gone well.
Speaker 4:You look back and you say I did it.
Speaker 6:I was afraid.
Speaker 4:I was not going to be able, but I did it. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:That's a great example. Now I have a question that I think we all should ask ourselves regularly to make sure the answer is what we want, because it's very easy to say it and we never get it right. Here it goes Bertha, how do you maintain work-life balance while pursuing ambitious goals? I mean, is it possible to go to the gym daily or actually dedicate some time to your social life, while having lunch with your friends or spending more time with family, and without looking at the screen and getting into all those responsibilities that we have from work?
Speaker 6:This is a really tough one, but I have to say, first of all, I've got an amazing team that really makes all the difference in what we accomplish. I think they are the real MVPs. But now, when it comes to shutting the laptop and finding that perfect work balance, well, let's just say that I'm still figuring it out. It's like my eternal New Year's resolution. But hey, I'm not giving up right. I'm determined that this year is going to be the one that I finally crack the code and find this sweet spot. It's not an easy one. We have to keep fighting for it, not easy.
Speaker 5:I think the other thing that I would add into that is, like Bertha said, work-life balance is difficult and it changes. It changes on a weekly, monthly basis according to what's going on in your world. But the one thing that I have always done because I know it has the most impact to my mental well-being and just how I feel on a daily basis is I carve out an hour of every day to exercise. So that means for me I'm up at 5 AM every morning, but that works for me. I've always been an early bird, but I'm in the gym at 6 AM and I finish at 7. And for me that feels like I've done something for myself. So, no matter how my day pans out by the end of it, I know I've already done that.
Speaker 5:So I think that's one sort of wellness principle that I call it. Or when I'm in the office in London, because we're quite fortunate here to be able to work from home. Sometimes I will do that at lunchtime because I spend a lot of time travelling from the very south of the country. But yeah, I think it's important to carve something out of your day for you, even if it's 15 minutes, just to have a breather or go for a walk outside the office to get some fresh air. But I find that when you just stay at your desk all day, you don't get the best out of yourself, and actually you don't get the best to other people either.
Speaker 3:I will take note also and take it as a resolution, even if we are immersed. But that's where it does it, it's never too late. And now I also would like to ask a question to Maria to close the list of questions what legacy do you hope to leave to future generations of women? I know it's still a very, very tough question, as all the rest, but I'm sure you can give us some tips or some ideas and we will take them and see how we can put it in our board and look at it every day to keep them being motivated.
Speaker 4:Well, yes, it's not easy. I prefer the one of the work-life balance. To be honest, this one is quite difficult, but well, I mean. For me, the word is confidence. I just want any woman to have confidence in her possibilities and not to be afraid of taking any decision in their personal and private lives. Is their decision, their life. Young generations are growing now when they're used to more equal work and gender bias are becoming less frequent, although there is still a long way to go and this work-life balance is still an upending topic, as we discussed before, although the homework in May helped. But in general, women need to believe that they can reach their goals by taking action, visualizing the success and keep learning. Never stop learning. This is the lesson I have tried to do. This is something I have learned during my professional life. I mean, these are the things I would do now if I started. This is what I can tell after my experience.
Speaker 1:Thanks a lot, maria. I can't believe we are coming to the end of the podcast. We actually don't have time for more. So, berta Maria, beyond, it has been a great pleasure to have you in the podcast, to listen to you, to your experience, but I actually would like to ask you one last question. Are you actually celebrating today in a different way, anything that you will be doing different being the International Women's Day? Maybe, dion, you want to go first?
Speaker 5:No, I don't have anything planned. I'm ashamed to say, but I would just like to say thank you so much for this conversation. I mean, I've learned so much from Maria and Berta and yourselves, yeah, and it's just such a pleasure to have had this conversation today, of all days.
Speaker 6:Thank you. I mean, in my case, I like this day. I like it and I like to congratulate all the women I have around. So actually, happy International Women's Day for you two and for me. This conversation was a great celebration.
Speaker 4:So this was great, but let's make it, we can find something else to do yeah, for me the same I mean for me the celebration has been to be here with you today. I had a very good time, it was very interesting, and I always love to listen to others. So thank you so much for inviting me to this podcast, and happy International Women so thanks and goodbye, Dion Mude, our New York Chief Compliance Officer in the UK.
Speaker 1:Thank you very much for joining us today.
Speaker 5:Thank you so much for having me. Honestly, this has been such a great experience, especially on International Women's Day. I've learned so much from everybody today, on the show too, so thank you.
Speaker 3:And thanks a lot also, bertha Arez, our Head of Programming Innovation Office at Financial Information at 6. It was great to have you here today and learn a little bit more about you. I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 6:Oh, I did. Thank you very much for inviting me and happy International Women's Day for you all Okay, and also thanks to Maria.
Speaker 1:I'm really looking forward to keep collaborating with you at RAGE-DR in the coming weeks, months and years. Thanks a lot for joining the podcast.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much for inviting me and Waterplace and Water Company to celebrate International Women's Day. Congratulations to all. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:So, before we go, I would like once again to encourage all listeners to celebrate and support women in their own lives at work, at home, directly or indirectly. And especially, we would like to encourage people that are in a position to support women in their work environments by giving them same opportunities and same recognitions as to men to push their professional careers when they saw they have the right potential. It seems obvious, right when we say it. But well, if so, the glass ceiling will not exist, but we can tell that it is right there. So that's it, and overall, this day is not only a celebration but also a reminder of the ongoing fight for women's right around the globe and the need to create a more equitable world for all.
Speaker 1:Actually about what you said about the glass ceiling. According to the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report last year on 2023, it will take and listen to this another 131 years to reach gender parity. So well, let's just try to chart in this period by contributing where and how we can. So for me, goodbye, thank you. Thank you for this great leaders we had today. Thanks to you, lara. It wasn't easy to be on Andrew's shoes, but we did it.
Speaker 3:Yes, we did it and for a good reason. But Andrew will be back in the next episode together with Nick and John and with more news about the trade repository space. In the meantime, stay connected and keep in touch in our Registriercom and on linkedincom, slash companies, slash Registrier, so you can network with us. Thank you a lot also to Liana and all the support in Virtual Studio, and thank you everyone again to Bertha, diana and Maria and to you, barbara. Have a great day. Bye-bye.