HerFinance Circle, the brainchild of Jenny Martin, a director at Leeds-based specialist finance recruiter Headstar, has been launched in response to the stark gender imbalance in senior finance roles.
Despite progress in recent years, women remain significantly underrepresented in the most senior positions.
Just 24% of the top boardroom roles, including the position of chief financial officer, in FTSE 150 companies are held by women.
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Fewer than one in five of the top 1% of earners in finance and professional services are women, and the sector’s gender pay gap remains around 22% – nearly double the UK average.
Jenny said the idea was born from a moment of reflection in her own role as a recruiter.
She explained: “I was shortlisting for a £150k CFO role, and my list was overwhelmingly male. Despite excellent representation of women at financial controller level, there’s still a sharp drop-off when it comes to CFO and finance director positions, with C-suite finance roles still very male dominated.
“At Headstar, we’re proud that 50% of our board is female, but we also see the urgent need to strengthen the pipeline of women stepping into top finance leadership.
“That’s why we’re launching HerFinance Circle, a peer-led community for female CFOs, finance directors and aspiring leaders in Yorkshire. It gives women a chance to come together, share experiences, build confidence and connections, and support each other.”
HerFinance Circle is free to join and already has more than 100 women involved. Members connect through a dedicated WhatsApp community – complete with sector-specific sub-groups such as CFOs-only, Women in Manufacturing, Women in Retail, and Women in Private Equity – and a programme of regular events designed to provide mentoring, peer-to-peer advice, and honest conversations about navigating female leadership in finance
The first official HerFinance Circle event is on Monday September 22, 8:30am – 11am at Box in Leeds. Attendees will hear a keynote on AI and Automation from Carolyn Cole, Partner at Unity Advisory, and Alice Fee, Associate at Faculty.
This will be followed by a panel discussion with experienced CFOs and FDs from private equity, and there will also be plenty of networking opportunities over the course of the morning. Spaces are limited and can be booked online at EventBrite.
Headstar has tied the launch of HerFinance Circle to its new charity partnership with Smart Works Leeds, a charity that helps women back into employment through coaching and high-quality interview clothing.
As part of this partnership, event attendees are encouraged to bring along high-quality clothing donations, directly supporting women on their journey back into employment.
For updates and to join the community, visit www.headstar.co.uk or email info@headstar.co.uk