Supporting the development of colleagues and teams, and seeing them evolve personally and professionally, has been the most satisfying aspect of Laura’s career. A core responsibility of good leaders is to give to and get from people the best which both have to offer, leading to better outcomes for all.

Global culture, international business and leadership, strategic change, operations, business management, regulatory affairs and governance, boards, and board committees, are areas in which she has developed strong expertise. She has always enjoyed bringing these experiences together and creating great outcomes for stakeholders including colleagues, clients, service providers, regulators.

Laura has been especially proud to support the development of women, through multiple channels: as Branch Manager in Frankfurt, establishing BNYM’s Women’s Initiative Network there; as CEO of BNY Mellon’s European Bank, initiating the Belgian Women in Finance organization.

Sara’s Financial Services career has created extensive mentoring opportunities within her teams and with formal platform-based mentoring roles. Most recent mentoring assignments were with the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) and Bankers without Boundaries.

Having graduated in Psychology, she remains passionate about helping others grow, acknowledge and solve complex situations and optimise outcomes.

During her career, she has had the opportunity to work for Morgan Stanley, UBS, BNP-Paribas and ING Bank N.V., and managed her own Real Estate Development firm. Currently Sara runs her own Corporate Growth Consultancy. Revenue generation and operational effectiveness and efficiency were / are critical to all these roles. Sara knows what it is like to want to perform under pressure, juggle balls and personalities, achieve work and personal goals and develop your career.

Simon is a Singapore-based Leadership Coach focused on working with high performing individuals, typically c-suite. Simon has a wealth of experience, having worked for global banks for 40 years in London, Luxembourg and Singapore. His roles have covered a broad range of responsibilities, including as Head of Business, Head of Global Products, Global Strategy Head and Country Head for some of the industry’s most respected firms. For the last 7 years of Simon’s banking career he was the Global COO for Standard Chartered’s Financing and Securities Services business based out of Singapore, where he has lived with his wife and (now) 18 year old son for the past 13 years.

Simon’s coaching philosophy employs empathy and pragmatism in utilising that experience. His approach is focused on a belief that an individual’s performance in any task is equal to their potential minus any interference. Simon works without judgement to help leaders, including COOs, to identify what is getting in their way and impacting their ability to perform at their optimal level, (ie. their interference), and works with them to create conscious strategies to clear those blockages towards peak performance – effortless high performance consistently, systematically and on-demand.

David Ornstein is currently acting as consultant and advisor to growth companies in various markets.  He was formerly at Barclays, where he held a number of roles in the Investment Bank, including as COO for Markets.

During his time at Barclays David also had a number of other responsibilities including chairing the global regulatory change effort, leading cross-business functions (Strategic Investments, Market Structure, Front Office Risk and Controls, Trade Capture Utility), and several new business initiatives.  He joined Barclays in London in 2004.

David began his career in the financial industry in 1994 at Bankers Trust in New York. David holds a BS from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Norm Parton is an independent consultant with extensive experience in financial services, specifically investment banking and asset management at top tier firms. Norm has been recognized as a leader who sets high standards, can influence proper outcomes and creates a culture that helps organizations thrive.

In his most recent role, Norm was the Chief Operating Officer for the Global Credit business within the Alternatives division at BlackRock. As a member of the four person management team, he was responsible for all non-investment activities, including business strategy and development, budgets, financial analysis and human capital strategy. Among his many accomplishments at BlackRock, Norm was the business lead for the post-acquisition integration of Tennenbaum Capital Partners, a $9 billion AuM West Coast private credit manager.

Prior to BlackRock, Norm spent 21 years at Credit Suisse, including five years at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) prior to the merger. Norm held a variety of roles including COO for the Global Credit business for over ten years, Americas regional COO for Fixed Income and Chief of Staff for the Global Markets division. In his earlier career in investment banking Norm held various business management roles at Bankers Trust and E.F. Hutton. Prior to his career in financial services Norm was a senior accountant with Berdon LLP, where he received his C.P.A. license.