ALFI Leadership Seminar

Baroness Helena Morrissey DBE

Baroness Morrissey was a global fixed income fund manager before becoming CEO of Newton Investment Management. During her 15 year tenure the firm’s AUM grew from £20bn to £50bn. Helena was chair of the UK’s Investment Association from 2014-2017. Today, she chairs three financial services companies - Fidelis, a specialist insurance firm listed on the NYSE, Altum Group, a fund administration company and Barnett Waddingham, a pension consulting firm. She is also chair of Eton College’s endowment fund.

Helena is best known for her work on diversity, having founded the 30% Club in 2010, a campaign to achieve better gender-balanced boards through voluntary change. The proportion of female directors on UK listed company boards has since risen from 10% to 43%. Since 2016 she has chaired the Diversity Project which aims to create a new generation of diverse talent in the investment and savings industry. The Diversity Project has recently published a new study exploring the linkage between cognitive diversity and a team’s investment performance.

Helena was appointed a Dame for her work on diversity in financial services in 2017 and to the House of Lords in 2020.