Despite significant progress in recent years, the journey towards gender parity in leadership is far from complete. Women now hold 44% of FTSE 100 board positions yet represent just 37% of senior leadership roles and fewer than 10% of FTSE 100 CEO positions. While the boardroom is becoming more balanced, representation in the most influential executive roles remains uneven.
CHAIR
Nicki Pritchard, Managing Partner, Anderson Quigley
SPEAKERS
Dame Theresa Villiers, Director and Trustee, Shaftesbury | Kate Mackie, Global Chief Marketing Strategy & Operations Officer, EY
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) is essential in the boardroom. Differing from their inward facing C-level peers they serve as a crucial bridge between the company’s internal operations and its external customers and market.
CHAIR
Sarah Roberts, Global Chief Marketing Officer
SPEAKERS
Christian Gladwell, SVP of Strategy and Partnerships, Sabio
This Masterclass is part of the Global CFO Academy and is delivered in collaboration with Bayes Business School, London.
This masterclass provides CFOs with the tools to forecast internal financial demand, manage external vendors, and scale services efficiently. With spending under increasing scrutiny, CFOs must balance flexibility and control while extracting maximum value from supplier ecosystems. Learn how to model demand, negotiate strategically, and track impact effectively.
Topics include:
• Financial demand forecasting and resource planning
• Strategic sourcing, procurement, and vendor lifecycle management
• In-house vs outsource decision-making
• Performance tracking, cost control, and transparency
• Using metrics, dashboards, and benchmarking for accountability
• Driving vendor innovation, collaboration, and SLA management
This is for Global CFO Academy Delegates only, to find out more or become involved please contact Sandy Markwick (sandy.markwick@winmarkglobal.com)
SPEAKERS
Edward Guest, Senior Operating Partner, DBay Advisors | Kashish Kohli, Group Chief Financial Officer and SVP Asset Management Division, Sanad – A Mubadala Company
This Masterclass is part of the Global GC Academy and is delivered in collaboration with The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London.
This masterclass enables General Counsel to operate with confidence and impact at board level while influencing senior stakeholders across the organisation. With rising expectations on legal leaders to contribute strategically, GCs must navigate complex governance environments, communicate risk effectively, and align legal priorities with business objectives. The session explores how to build influence with board members, shape corporate strategy, and position the legal function as a visible, value-adding business partner.
Topics include:
• CEO expectations and legal’s role in corporate planning
• Building influence with the Chair, NEDs, CEO and C-Suite
• Structuring strategic legal input at board level
• Communicating legal risk and opportunity to non-lawyers
• Aligning legal and business strategy
• Enhancing visibility and impact of the legal function
This is for Global GC Academy Delegates only, to find out more or become involved please contact Ben Palmer (ben.palmer@winmarkglobal.com)
SPEAKERS
Omiyinka Doris, VEON, Former Group General Counsel, now CEO Advisor | Mine Hifzi, Heathrow Airport Holdings, General Counsel & Company Secretary
Microsoft: Leveraging Tech for Better Legal Team Outcomes
Most legal teams are past the question of whether to use AI. The harder question is how to make it deliver. Pilots are everywhere, embedded results are rarer, and the gap between the two is where value is being won or lost, especially in an environment where volatility keeps raising the bar on cost, capacity and speed.
The morning opens with a 30-minute tour and live demonstration at the Microsoft Innovation Hub, giving participants a first-hand look at how the technology is being applied before the conversation turns to their own teams.
Ali Haidar, Head of Legal Affairs, Middle East at Microsoft, will then share practical insight into how legal teams can leverage technology and AI effectively in the current environment: where the real gains sit, what it takes to move from experimentation to everyday use, and how to measure improved outcomes rather than increased activity.
Designed as a peer discussion for General Counsel, Heads of Legal and Legal Operations Directors, the session runs as an open roundtable under the Chatham House Rule. Participants are invited to bring their own experience, pressure-test what is working elsewhere, and leave with practical approaches they can apply to their own teams.
CHAIR
Laura Thomson, Chief Legal Officer, EWEC
SPEAKERS
Ali Haidar, Head of Legal Affairs, Middle East, Microsoft
This session will provide practical insights into the financial challenges and opportunities that arise at senior leadership level. Attendees will hear an update on the current investment landscape, explore the increasing complexity of wealth, remuneration and tax planning, and consider strategies for managing investments alongside broader financial priorities. The discussion will also examine the benefits of taking a coordinated approach to tax, investment and financial planning, maintaining flexibility as careers and circumstances evolve, and planning for long-term goals and legacy. The session will conclude with an interactive Q&A, and the final slide will include a QR code for those who wish to book a complimentary consultation.
SPEAKERS
Michael Winson, Senior Investment Director, Rathbones | Chris Noble, Senior Financial Planner, Rathbones
Achieving $B Impact on Cloud Spend with FinOps: A Palo Alto Networks Case Study
Managing spend remains the number one cloud challenge. Traditionally IT spend has run on fixed budgets but with cloud running on consumption, costs can fluctuate often as a result of over-provisioning, cloud sprawl, poor visibility, inefficient pricing models and tagging failures. The true cost is more than just financial and brings with it operational drag, encumbered strategic processes, wasted time and damaged confidence.
SPEAKERS
Zhen Cao, JAPAC Value Realization Lead, Google Cloud
The Firm Foundations of Tax Governance – Keep Up with Regulatory Change
Attendees will discuss the implications of changes in the regulatory landscape relevant to tax management and risk at multinational enterprises, with a focus on updating current best practice, the impact of AI, and assessment-based training.
CHAIR
Sandy Markwick, C-Suite Director, Winmark
SPEAKERS
Graham Tilbury, Partner, BCT Partners | Stephen Callahan, Partner, BCT Partners
This Masterclass is part of the Global CFO Academy and is delivered in collaboration with Bayes Business School, London.
This masterclass supports CFOs in operating as strategic partners to the CEO, Board and wider stakeholder group. In today’s environment, the CFO is not only responsible for financial stewardship, but for shaping strategy, driving performance and enabling long-term value creation. The session explores how to strengthen board relationships, provide clear decision-ready insight, and increase the influence and impact of the finance function. Topics include:
• CEO expectations and the CFO’s evolving strategic role
• Building trusted relationships with the Chair, NEDs and C-Suite
• Structuring impactful financial input at board level
• Communicating risk and opportunity to non-financial stakeholders
• Aligning financial strategy with enterprise priorities
Designed for CFOs seeking to deepen their influence at the centre of organisational decision-making.
This is for Global CFO Academy Delegates only, to find out more or become involved please contact Sandy Markwick (sandy.markwick@winmarkglobal.com)
SPEAKERS
Patrick Butcher, Non Executive Director, Endava | Francisco Urzua, Professor of Finance, Bayes Business School
