Sophie Hulm, the head of diversity organisation Progress Together, and Reggie Nelson, a Blackstone vice-president who got his first job in finance after knocking on doors in Kensington, will address senior City women at Financial News’s headquarters on Thursday evening.
The pair will be guest speakers at the annual 100 Most Influential Women in European Finance dinner at The News Building in London Bridge on 6 November.
The panel discussion, Cracking the class ceiling: How to break barriers in the City, will focus on how to improve socio-economic diversity within financial and professional services.
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Senior women in investment banking, asset management, law, accounting, hedge funds, financial regulation, trading and wealth management will attend the dinner to celebrate their recognition on the 19th FN100 Women list, which was published in October.
Hulm joined Progress Together as CEO in September 2022 after almost 13 years at the City of London Corporation, latterly as an assistant director in the external affairs team. She is also a member of the UK steering group of the 30% Club.
Progress Together is a non-profit that aims to make the financial services industry in the UK more socio-economically inclusive. It offers mentoring, workshops and events for people working in finance to exchange ideas and build a community.
Nelson grew up on a council estate in east London and gained media attention when, as a teenager, he went door to door in Kensington, one of the wealthiest parts of the UK capital, and asked anyone who answered how they made their money.
Although many people didn’t answer or slammed the door in his face, he eventually met Quintin Price, then a fund manager at BlackRock, in what Nelson told FN in 2019 was “a life-changing moment”.
He went on to attend a training day for undergraduates at the US fund manager’s London offices and then did an internship there. He got his first job in finance at Legal & General Investment Management in 2018 and is now a vice-president in Blackstone’s private wealth division.
He is also the author of Opening Doors and Bedtime Stories, Beautiful Black Tales From the Past, and was previously a presenter for the BBC podcast #YourWorkYourMoney.
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Write to Clare Dickinson at cdickinson@efinancialnews.com
