Levelling the Playing Field: Accelerating career development in Financial Services

Sophie leads Progress Together, a not-for-profit membership body. It aims to level the playing field in UK financial services. As Head of Skills Policy at the City of London, Sophie was the founder and architect of a Government-commissioned Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce. Sophie sees a clear link between the skills and labour challenges which exist in UK financial services and the need for greater socio-economic diversity at senior levels. Sophie joined Progress Together as Chief Executive in September 2022.

Sophie currently sits on the SteerCo for the 30% Club and has led a number of high-profile initiatives including the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards. Throughout her working life Sophie has focused on the power of business to bring about change, including working for a welfare-to-work organisation, a Corporate Responsibility membership body, and as a trustee for Governors for Schools.

Her dad is a working-class East Londoner and her mum a retired academic with immigrant parents. She lives with her partner and two mixed-race children.

Kavita Varsani works at financial services and global banking giant, UBS. Kavita is is the Head of UBS Scholar – a vast suite of professional development courses at different levels – from Level 4 to Level 7 – which are open to all UBS UK employees.

The UBS Scholar programmes are tailored specifically to the needs of the UBS workforce through collaboration with specialist training providers. Thanks to this winning combination of excellent training and resources, with individuals specifically identified and aligned to each programme, and a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, many programme participants have progressed in their careers, often moving into more senior or technical roles.

Jina is the Managing Director for Custom Solutions, developing and executing the strategies for Corndel’s bespoke leadership and data training programmes. With significant previous senior executive experience, Jina has an innate understanding of the challenges her clients face, and what it means to lead and run a top-flight business, in a changing marketplace.

Jina is a former Chief Financial Officer for companies in the pharmaceutical data and market research industry. She led teams through periods of high growth and change, operated at board level and worked on several company transactions. She worked in a Big 4 accountancy firm and in financial services, working with clients on large-scale engagements, deploying teams and resources.