As the finance industry continues to evolve and change rapidly, there is a growing demand for new capabilities, more diversity and inclusive workforce culture. The WIM initiative is an important catalyst to drive inclusion and diversity to improve business performance", says Isabelle Juillard Thompsen, CFA and President of CFA Society Norway.
WIM aims to lead the diversity dialogue for the industry, while providing programming, networking and professional development opportunities to support each of its members in their personal career journey.
Despite immense progress towards diversity, the reality remains that there are still relatively few women in senior leadership roles and even fewer minority women. This means that women often lack the natural mentorship and sponsorship that tends to take place at the middle and senior levels, necessitating that they work harder to establish their own support network.
Women, as the minority in the finance industry globally (regardless of country and geography), are the universal diversifier. The partnership sees the new world of virtual programming as an opportunity—to build a broader community that is geography-agnostic, to share resources and information for the ultimate benefit of its combined member base, and to create high quality programming that celebrates the accomplishments of female leaders, while empowering each of our members in their personal career journey.
The collaboration is modeled after the CFA Institute Women In Investment Management (WIM) Initiative and is a grassroots campaign:
• To empower female professionals across all facets of the finance industry
• To support the advancement and development of female leaders, as well as to celebrate their accomplishments
• To establish a broad-based community and share resources to promote our shared vision
• To create demand for diversity
Elevating and showcasing talented, accomplished women has a powerful impact on the diversity dialogue. To see that women from all backgrounds and cultures can and do succeed at the highest levels of finance can be both empowering to other female professionals and inspiring to those who come after us. We hope that this initiative will help to inspire young female professionals to shoot for the highest positions of leadership within their organizations.
Establishing a support network is critical to career success and perhaps more important than ever as many of us adjust to a virtual work environment. This collaboration will enable enhanced networking opportunities at all levels and facilitate the formation of a peer support system for members.