Women in the COO Community

WCOOC

Supporting, empowering & inspiring the female leadership of tomorrow

Established in 2016, Armstrong Wolfe’s Women in the COO Community (WCOOC) initiative is now globally recognised across major financial hubs, including New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

WCOOC is dedicated to championing the advancement of women in financial services, with a focus on nurturing the leadership of tomorrow—those who will drive the industry forward into the future.

What We Do

WCOOC brings together members of our global COO network to collaborate, share insights, and provide guidance on topics related to career management and professional growth.

Our initiative features:

  • Podcasts, Articles, and Interviews: Showcasing stories, strategies, and advice from inspirational leaders.
  • Engaging Events: Hosting speakers from both within and outside the financial services industry to inspire and inform.
  • Cross-Level Participation: Open to individuals at all stages of their career, fostering inclusivity and collective growth.

WCOOC is led by industry professionals and supported by regional steering groups, ensuring timely, relevant, and forward-thinking content that resonates across the globe.

Our Mission

  • Inspire Tomorrow’s Female Leaders: Empowering women in financial services to embrace ambition without limits.
  • Educate Peers: Highlighting business management and the COO role as aspirational career paths.
  • Promote Cross-Industry Dialogue: Offering a platform for debate and collaboration to address shared challenges.

Join us as we continue to support, empower, and inspire the female leaders who will shape the future of financial services.

WCOOC Leadership Team

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Emma Prophet

Global Chair

Emma Prophet is Group Head of Operations at TP ICAP and their EMEA Business Sponsor for Diversity and Inclusion Network groups.  Emma joined TP ICAP following 15 years at Morgan Stanley, where she was a Managing Director and held various leadership roles across Clearing, Data and Securities Operations based in London, Glasgow, Singapore and New York.

Prior to her time at Morgan Stanley, Emma started as a consultant working with various Financial Services firms and then spent 5 years as Project Manager delivering cross-functional change at Barclays Capital.

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Stiofan De Burca

Deputy Chair

Stiofan is a highly motivated, self-starter by nature who fosters collaborative approach in determining most effective way forward in balancing a change agenda with significant growth targets with the need to build an effective and scalable controls and infrastructure environment to support it.

He has worked in the Financial Services Industry for over 20 years across EMEA, APAC and Americas and is a qualified accountant who has leveraged his skills in the charity sector as well in a range of activities in the UK and Africa.

Confidence Clusters

To support our executive female COO community members, we provide Confidence Clusters. Each cluster of six managing director COOs remains the same over a 12-month period, meeting every quarter for a 60-minute on-line exchange. This safe space allows our female members to engage with a peer group with confidence and in-confidence on common challenges.

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How does this work?

Frequency: The group meets once every quarter.

Confidentiality: Discussions are held in a safe space under the Chatham House Rule, ensuring privacy.

Commitment: The same six members will participate for a full year, promoting continuity.

Duration and Agenda: Each meeting lasts 60 minutes, with topics submitted in advance or raised spontaneously.

Scheduling: Meetings for the upcoming year are confirmed week 1 January.

Support: Armstrong Wolfe will manage logistics and documentation, including noting action points and providing feedback to the WCOOC Chair.

WCOOC Steering Group

North America

Andres Oranges
COO Finance
Societe Generale

Kay Lazidis
SVP, COO, U.S. Global Banking & Markets
Scotiabank

Rhiannon Wakefield
COO, Americas
TP ICAP

Caitlin Behrens
COO, Americas
Standard Chartered Bank

Susie Roberts
Managing Director, Chief of Staff for Global Fixed Income & Currencies

EMEA

Yvonne Waldron
Director – Treasury Services Global Business Change Lead and EMEA CAO
BNY Mellon

Sophie Rutherford
MD, EMEA Head of FX Business Risk
State Street

Emma Prophet
Global Head of Operations
TP ICAP

Fahreen Kurji
Chief Customer Intelligence Officer
Behavox

Natalie Golding
COO
Payment Systems Regulator

Anna Chadderton
Head of International FICC Operations
Goldman Sachs

Thomas Snowden
Director, Strategic Projects
EMEA Executive Team
BlackRock

APAC

Fatema Bookwala
MD and COO Markets and Securities Services ASEAN
HSBC

Katy Matvey
Former APAC COO
Wells Fargo

Dawn Tan
APAC Head of Operations
TP ICAP

Stiofan De Burca
Chief Financial Officer
JP Morgan Asset Management

“I am excited to be a part of the WCOOC Steering Group as the work of the WCOOC is important to continue to connect and advance the women in the global COO Community.”

Katy Matvey Former APAC COO Wells Fargo

WCOOC Testimonials

“When smart motivated people come together with a common goal there is no end to what they can achieve. This growing community of WCOOC brings together some of the best and brightest experienced professionals, joined by shared desires to promote equal opportunities, excellence and innovation. I am honoured to be a member of this community as an ambassador.”

Rowena Everson, Head of Digital Channels and Data Analytics for the West region at Standard Chartered Bank

“The COO has a unique and wide-reaching role with the capability and responsibility to inspire, impact and empower change across the entire organisation.  As such, it is extremely valuable to have a forum like the WCOOC to exchange ideas, meet likeminded people and strengthen resolve to create environments of complete inclusion allowing everyone to bring their whole self to work.”

Peter Zorn, Talent and Transformation, IBM Consulting

“As a female COO, manager of talented women, and mother of two daughters, the advancement and development of the next generation of female leaders is close to my heart. It’s a privilege to join the Steering Committee for Women in the COO Community, which has grown into a vibrant network of accomplished women who are actively supporting each others growth and success.”

Rebecca Crowe, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer at BNY Mellon

“I have been engaged with the WCOOC and the Armstrong Wolfe community since inception. The WCOOC community is both relevant and pertinent given the challenges that the COO, and wider C-suite faces. More critically it provides an excellent, safe space platform, sandbox if you will, for critical discussions on the often highly complex commercial, regulatory and human elements of our business.”

David Sharratt, COO Asia, Commerzbank

“The WCOOC is an outstanding collaborative forum bringing together the COO (and wider) community to engage, learn, network and examine in detail the key topics and challenges impacting business today and in the future. As a rare cross-industry platform it provides a unique opportunity for the COO community to come together and support each other in what are increasingly challenging roles in increasingly challenging times.”

Stephen Miller, Chief Information Officer, Arco

“The role of the COO has been my most challenging and at the same time most rewarding of my career to date. Being an ambassador for  Women in the COO Community allows me to support others and share my experiences in what is an often misunderstood role with few experienced resources to lean on.”

Rich Evans, Former Head of Equities, EMEA, Barclays and Current Head of Prime, CEX.IO

“Embracing diversity, equity and inclusion is not just a commitment, infact it is a driving force in shaping the future of our industry. I am honoured to join the WCOOC Steering Committee and look forward to passionately contributing to the journey of fostering a more inclusive and equitable financial landscape for all.”

Fatema Bookwala, Managing Director, Managing Director & COO Markets and Securities Services ASEAN, HSBC

“Being equally able and allowed to develop ones full potential in the workplace should not be a topic of discussion anymore in this day and age. Unfortunately it still is. Creating and supporting avenues that enable the right environment to ensure everyone has access to equal opportunities remains urgent and important. As a woman with a career in Finance, I know it is not a given for everyone to break or confront barriers in adverse environments. I have seen firsthand how WCOOC is paving the way and supporting talented women in our industry across all walks of life. I am extremely honored and proud to be able to contribute as a steering Committee Member.”

Sietske Kalse, Managing Director, COO and Head of Business Development, Citi

“The COO role covers a wide range of responsibilities and a unique set of challenges. It is so important and invaluable to have a community like WCOOC that supports us to deliver and develop both professionally and personally.”

Kimberly Ong, EMEA & Asia COO Asset Management Solutions, J.P. Morgan Asset Management

“I am a firm believer that truly inclusive cultures drive better business outcomes and enable everyone to realise their full potential.  It is encouraging that the most egregious behaviours of past decades can now at least be reported and taken seriously rather than the complaints being shut down.  But significant disparities and inequalities persist.  Diversity shouldn’t be about tokenism and diversity on its own is not enough.  Inclusion is critical to ensure that different perspectives are taken into consideration. There is notable benefit, not least from a risk management perspective, in seeking cognitive diversity from staff with different life experiences and to encourage decision making which takes into account a variety of different viewpoints.

This is especially important in a rapidly changing world where sophisticated solutions are needed to tackle ever more nuanced issues. So many members of the flourishing Armstrong Wolfe community are aware of the benefits of inclusion but also of the challenges any firm faces when implementing measures to achieve inclusive cultures. I am honoured and delighted to have been asked to become an WCOOC Ambassador and look forward to working actively with WCOOC to help drive meaningful change.”

Alexandra Stanton, Corporate Culture Consultant, AVS Corporate Culture Consultancy

“I refuse to believe that women do not have the potential to achieve success at the highest levels of business given their proven academic achievements and business contributions and yet, we continue to see the gender gap persisting. Our customers, shareholders and communities are being failed because businesses are not tapping into the full, representative talent pool available to them, being unconsciously (or consciously) trapped by biases and held back by the legacy overhang of accepted practices. I’ve been an active member of the Armstrong Wolfe WCOOC for a number of years and love how it brings individuals together, agnostic of organisation and geography, to collaborate, challenge accepted norms and share best practice with the common aim of improving diversity and inclusion and, in doing so, improving the outcomes for our clients, our shareholders and our communities as a whole. I am very grateful for the opportunity to contribute more actively as a WCOOC Ambassador moving forward.”

Helen Hughes-Green, Managing Director, ICG Head of Client Conduct Risk, Citi

Armstrong Wolfe Forums & Events 2025

In 2025, we are proud to offer our members an extensive program of 100 events, comprising 61 in-person gatherings and 39 online sessions.

We recognise the growing importance of online engagement in today’s business landscape, enabling us to connect our global community in real time for meaningful discussions. However, we firmly believe that in-person events remain the cornerstone of our community, fostering deeper connections, collaboration, and impactful engagement.

For more information about our membership or events program, please contact:

Banking: Maurice Evlyn-Bufton, CEO

Asset and Wealth Management: Terry Yodaiken, CAO

We look forward to welcoming you to Armstrong Wolfe in 2025 and helping you become an active part of our thriving global community.

Recent WCOOC Content

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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.

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Contact:
+44 (0) 203 664 8863
(London, UK)

Hours of business:
08:30 am to 17:30 GMT
(Monday – Friday)

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