Ladies, you might like to put this event in your diary. Women in Management celebrate their 40th anniversary with a lecture from Lady Susan Rice CBE, MD, Lloyds Banking Group Scotland entitled “The Future is Bright”
The evening takes place at The Caledonian Hilton Hotel, Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2AB on International Women’s Day, Tuesday 8 March 2011, from 6.00 pm – 9.15 pm.
This will be the 13th Eleanor Macdonald Memorial Lecture to celebrate 40 years of the organisation.
Eleanor Macdonald was a pioneering business woman as well as an entrepreneur who founded WiM in 1969. This was just one of the many ventures in her inspiring career. This event continues in the spirit of role-models for successful business women and entrepreneurs.
Lady Susan Rice CBE, a Chartered Banker, is Managing Director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland. She was previously Chairman and Chief Executive of Lloyds TSB Scotland, the first woman to head a UK clearing bank. Lady Rice has worked at Bank of Scotland and NatWest Bancorp in New York and, in her earlier career, she was a dean at Yale and Colgate universities in America.
She is Senior Independent Director and chairs the Remuneration Committee of Scottish and Southern Energy and sits on the Court of the Bank of England, where she chairs the Audit Committee. She also chairs the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh’s Festivals Forum and the Chartered Banker Professional Standards Board.
A frequent speaker on the future of financial services, leadership and corporate responsibility, Susan sits, inter alia, on Scotland’s Futures Forum, Scotland’s 2020 Climate Leadership Group, the Advisory Board of Oxford University’s Said Business School and the HMT Financial Inclusion Taskforce. This successful businesswoman has degrees from the eminent American University, Wellesley, as well as Aberdeen University, and honorary doctorates from 7 Scottish Universities. She is a Fellow of the RSA and the RSE.
At this event Lady Susan will reflect on the path her own career has taken and the influence that networking has had on her own progress and career decisions. In a recent interview she explained that she hopes attendees will leave the event with a sense of optimism and a renewed sense of their own potential. Click here to read the full interview.
Schedule for the evening:
6.00 pm Networking reception
7.00 pm Opening address by Sandra Pollock, WiM National Chair
7.15 pm Keynote address by Lady Susan Rice CBE followed by Question & Answer session
8.15 pm Closing words from Sandra Pollock, WiM National Chair
8.20 pm Open Networking
To attend this event, please click here to book online. Alternatively contact Event Administration at event.administration@managers.org.uk or call 01536 207333.
WIM interviewed Lady Rice in advance of the event and have kindly allowed us to reproduce the interview here
International Women’s Day on 8 March is the perfect time to celebrate four decades of CMI’s Women in Management (WiM) network. Guest speaker Lady Susan Rice CBE, MD of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland tells us what she hopes to share with members
What’s the most important thing you learned in your rise to the top?
At the beginning of my career a colleague threw a query back at me, saying ‘it’s your job to make the decisions.’ People often try to emulate the most the most successful person they know, but it’s important to be yourself, take responsibility and do things your way. I learned to trust my own judgement at that early stage and have continued to do so ever since.How does it feel to be a pioneer for women in the banking industry?
I don’t consider myself a pioneer. If you’re too focused on a set career path, you risk overlooking other options. I’ve taken a number of opportunities when they’ve presented themselves, and have often found the most unexpected ones to be the most interesting.What would you consider your biggest achievement in management?
That’s difficult for me to answer, partly because there’s still so much to do! The thing I’m most proud of is when my business grows, not just in terms of profit, but in strong and stable relationships with customers. The long term is most important to me.What would you like to see happen for women in the next 10 years?
More women seeing themselves in leadership roles. I’d like less focus on the ‘glass ceiling’ – talking about an obstacle only reinforces its existence and risks it becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.What do you hope WiM members will take from the event?
I hope through sharing experiences they will walk away with a sense of optimism, and renewed sense of their own potential. I hope women will be saying to themselves ‘this is my time.’Why is Women in Management important?
It enables women to make connections and foster each other’s careers in a way that isn’t always possible in every day work life.What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
It reminds us there are women all over the world, in a range of different circumstances, trying to make things better for themselves and those around them. It’s often lonely at the top, but on this day we stop and realise we are all in this together, making things happen.What would you say to someone looking to follow in your footsteps?
Don’t wait for someone to tell you it’s OK to have aspirations. It’s great to have initiatives to encourage women into the boardroom; it’s up to us as individuals to decide this is what we want and to believe we can add real value. What ever you do, trust your own instincts.
