Recently, the Fnality ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) Community of Practice organised a live Q&A session with Meghan Foreman-Purves, Head of Legal, Europe for CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce). It was a session that all of us at Fnality found insightful and inspiring, so we are delighted to share Meghan's experiences and advice around topics such as leadership, overcoming career obstacles, and parenthood in the workplace with a broader audience in this blog post.
Meghan was, until very recently, a Director of CIBC’s UK regulated subsidiary, and has recently been welcomed to the Fnality Community as CIBC’s Board Observer and Shareholder Representative.
Four years ago, my Fnality (formally known as the ‘USC Project’) journey began. I walked into a little office by St Pauls Cathedral that looked like something between the Apple store (read slick and technologically advanced) and a beach hut (read rustic, laid back and the kind of place you wanted to hang out) and contained a handful of geniuses! I took a seat at my new desk and tried to take it all in; new job, new role, new colleagues, new industry, new city. It quickly dawned on me, I’m no longer living in Devon, working in uniform at a major trauma hospital. I’m now working for a super cool technology research and development company in the heart of London, focused on making...
Is there a better recipe for disaster than changing career, dive headfirst into a new industry, meet a new team only virtually, leave your home and move to a new city - all while in lockdown in the middle of a pandemic?
Following 25 years working in post trade banking roles, an opportunity arose to try something different - FinTech.
Who am I?
This must be an important question for anyone who is reading this article, right? I am a Consultant Engineer & have worked with organisations of different scales and domains like E-Commerce, Media and recently FinTechs. As a consultant, we move around between different clients and each time we are reborn with some fond and not so fond memories of our experience. Hence you are reading an article from a five-month-old toddler reborn as a Platform Engineer consultant in Fnality.
Going back one year to February 2020, I would have never imagined what was about to happen. I was – and probably I still am – in love with the City of London. I love its narrow alleys, its old buildings which seem ready to tell a unique story of trade and people from all over the world. I love its corners and squares, the coffee shops. Hence, it’s not hard to believe that, at the beginning of March 2020, as the Government announced the first lockdown advice, I felt somehow in despair. Yes, I knew what was coming – but I wasn’t emotionally prepared for that!
Being T-shaped refers to the wealth of skills and experience someone may have, and is particularly useful in the world of recruitment when looking for strong employees or the most desirable candidates.
At the beginning of 2020 a fully remote job was a dream for many people… In 2021 it is a reality – but working from home brings a new set of challenges alongside any benefit.
