Women in the COO Community
Promoting the cause of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Supporting, empowering and inspiring under-represented groups within the global COO community through our diversity, equity and inclusion programme
Armstrong Wolfe’s Women in the COO Community (WCOOC) initiative has been running since 2017, and is now well-established globally across New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Our purpose is to champion the cause of all under-represented and minority groups within the COO Community. WCOOC is about more than just women: we want to create inclusivity and opportunity for all.
Our global network shares solutions and challenges on non-proprietary industry topics around DEI through podcasts, articles, interviews and events for which we recruit engaging speakers from within and outside the industry.
We welcome people of any level of seniority to engage with our WCOOC agenda: we want to leverage our network of contacts in the COO Community and Financial Services as a whole to build a fairer and more equitable finance sector.
Our Mission:
To inspire under-represented groups in Financial Services to have no limit to their aspirations.
To educate our peers on business management and the COO role as career destinations.
To establish exclusive and confidential networking opportunities with peers.
To establish a cross-industry business dialogue to address common challenges.
The role of the COO in developing and implementing ESG strategies
The Business Case for Strengthening Workplace Culture.
Upcoming Q2 events
WCOOC Steering Committee
Steering Committee from global banks supporting WCOOC and its Dnl initiatives
Rebecca Crowe
MD, Chief Operating Officer
BNY Mellon
John Currie
Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific
Scotiabank
Gordon Grant
Head of Asia Operations
Citi
Sietske Kalse
Managing Director, Global CAO Rates
Citi
Pascale Moreau
Global COO of Markets, Buisness, Transformation & Oversight
Societe Generale
Penelope Tunbridge
Head of Chairman’s Office
Credit Suisse
Suzy White
Global COO Markets & Securities Services
HSBC
WCOOC Ambassadors
Erica Benjamin
Fatema Bookwala
Managing Director & COO Markets and Securities Services ASEAN
HSBC
Jason Brus
Global Chief of Staff, Equities
Nomura
Rich Evans
Helen Hughes-Green
Managing Director, ICG Head of Client Conduct Risk
Citi
Stephen Miller
Chief Information Officer
Arco: Experts in Safety
Peter Zorn
Director, Business Transformation
Mercer
Joe Norena
COO
Builder.ai
Kimberly Ong
Director – Financial Services – Client Resilience Hub
WTW
David Ornstein
COO
Baton Systems
David Sharratt
Asia Regional CDO
Commerzbank
Alexandra Stanton
Ronald Taylor
EVP, Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Natixis
Career Coaches
Kate Hutchins
UK Head, Career Management
Miia Lankinen
Asia Head, Career Management
Cressida Hamilton
Leadership Content
WCOOC Leadership Forum 2022 - EMEA / APAC
WCOOC Leadership Forum 2022 - EMEA / North America
WCOOC Leadership Forum 2022 - POV Article
WCOOC Leadership Forum 2020 - New York
WCOOC Leadership Forum 2020 - London
WCOOC Lunch New York 2020 - Natixis
WCOOC Leadership Forum 2020 - Asia
WCOOC Leadership Evening New York 2019 - BNP Paribas
WCOOC Leadership Evening Hong Kong 2019 - HSBC
WCOOC Leadership Evening New York 2019 - Societe Generale
WCOOC Past Events Content
Content from most recent WCOOC events can be found below, follow the link for more.
The existence of a Glass Ceiling has long been a feature of women’s experience in the financial services industry. Women should not be held back by outdated gender stereotypes and oppressive hiring practices. Women in financial services often find...
Listen to our Executive Coach Cressida Hamilton discuss why setting goals is important, barriers that stop us achieving our goals, the principles of good goal setting and techniques for commitment and implementation. Listen here to find out more...
Listen to our panellists to share their views on how to manage career opportunities for growth within an organisation, motivating the workforce, empowering through exposure and L&D, and driving communication. It is also an opportunity for you...
Armstrong Wolfe are proud signatories of the Women in Finance Charter.
Despite being called ‘Women in the COO Community’, our mission is to promote all talent regardless of gender, race or socioeconomic background to leadership positions, and we are appreciative of the fact that best practice and true change must be a holistic effort and involve all members of the community. To improve D&I in the workplace, we have a strong board of ambassadors who contribute to our purpose of providing opportunities and the cause of leadership for all women and underrepresented groups across financial services.
Our career coaches and ambassadors consist of males and females (45% female, 55% male) to help accelerate this change across the wider Financial Services industry. Armstrong Wolfe’s senior management is 33% female, with the WCOOC management (Armstrong Wolfe employees) being 100% female.
iCOOC Membership
Our membership is one degree of separation from the executive. They are the ambassadors of conduct and the ‘COO’ a trademark for innovation, execution and ethical behaviour. They are uniquely positioned to transform financial services, add value to the society of nations and support the global economy.
iCOOC’s mission is to help them meet this challenge by working better together to build a brighter future for all.