Paralympic medallist and triple world champion Lauren Steadman, senior communications expert Sarah de Lagarde and business founder Charlotte Valeur will take part in a discussion about inclusion at the annual dinner to celebrate the 100 Most Influential Women in Finance.
The invitation-only dinner will be held at Financial News’s headquarters in London Bridge on 27 November, bringing together leaders from financial, legal and professional services.
The FN100 Women list recognises females who have broken barriers by reaching senior positions in a male-dominated industry.
Women on the list have spoken to FN about the hurdles they have faced in their careers because of the assumptions made about them based on their gender.
Some on the list are also from minority ethnic backgrounds or are part of the LGBTQ+ community, and have spoken about facing prejudices or feeling different because of those identities.
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FN will host a discussion at the dinner focused on another aspect of inclusion. The panel, titled Disability inclusion: The highs, the lows and the barriers to growth, will bring together three women who have disabilities to share their stories and tips for overcoming adversity.
Meet our panel:
Sarah de Lagarde, head of global corporate affairs, Janus Henderson
Sarah de Lagarde has spent 20 years working in the City at companies including BNY Mellon and Schroders. In September 2022, she was travelling home after working late when she slipped and fell onto the tracks at High Barnet station. She was run over by two tube trains before someone noticed her and alerted the emergency services.
Her injuries resulted in her having her right arm amputated as well as her right leg just below the knee. But she beat the odds and survived the ordeal. This year, de Lagarde became the first woman with prosthetics to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. As well as her role at Janus Henderson she has become a motivational speaker and a campaigner for safety on public transport.
Lauren Steadman, ParalympicsGB and Team Citi athlete
Lauren Steadman had a talent for swimming from a young age. Born missing the lower part of her right arm, a primary school swimming competition led to her being scouted by the former head of British Paralympic swimming, she told Stylist magazine earlier this year. She went to her first Paralympics — in 2008 in Beijing — as a swimmer aged 15.
She later moved into competing in paratriathlons. In that discipline she is a triple world champion and seven times European champion. She has competed in four Paralympics, winning a gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, a silver in Rio in 2016 and a bronze in Paris this year, having only just been cleared by doctors as fit to take part; she has been suffering from long Covid after testing positive in March.
She reached the semi-finals of the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 and has also completed a Masters in Business. She was awarded an MBE in 2021 for services to triathlon.
Charlotte Valeur, founder, Global Governance Group and the Institute of Neurodiversity
Charlotte Valeur has had an extensive career in finance, with roles at SG Warburg, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale before founding private equity firm Brook Street Partners in 2003. Valeur then set up Global Governance Group in 2009 to provide governance training and consultancy services. She was also diagnosed with autism later in life — aged 53 — and has used her experiences to support other people with neurodiversities by lobbying for change and education.
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In 2021, she founded the Institute of Neurodiversity to create a community and to advocate for change in society to better support people with neurodiversities. Valeur is also chair of Board Apprentice, a non-profit organisation that places people in board apprenticeships for a year to give them experience of how a board operates.
Contact cdickinson@efinancialnews.com for more information about the event
