Few people are better placed to discuss leadership, women in the boardroom, diversity, and the multiple challenges facing the banking industry going forward, including those relating to climate change.
Alison Rose is currently a senior advisor to Charterhouse Capital Partners, an advisor to Mishcon de Reya LLP, is on the Board of Trustee Directors for BITC and Help for Heroes. She served as CEO of NatWest Group, a major retail and commercial bank until 2023.
During her tenure at NatWest, she was invited by the UK Government to lead a review of the barriers to women starting business and authored The Rose Review in March 2019. This led to the establishment of the UK’s Investing In Women Code which now has over 250 signatories. This ecosystem wide effort has led to the UK tripling the number of women business start-ups from 50,000 per year in 2019 to 167,000 in 2023. Alison chaired the Rose Review board and the review was updated annually to detail good progress on female entrepreneurship. This initiative was introduced to We-Fi by the Financial Alliance For Women and is currently being rolled out in 28 countries.
Throughout her career, Alison has been a strong ambassador for diversity and the progression of women and female entrepreneurs. During her time at NatWest, she championed the firm’s entrepreneur accelerator program by establishing 14 free accelerator hubs across the UK, and providing an extensive program to support entrepreneurs. She was appointed Dame Commander (DBE) in 2023 New Year Honors for services to the financial services sector.