Throughout your career you will come into contact with your organisation’s board. Whether it be through pitching a project or cross-departmental collaboration, you need to understand how best to influence and work with the board to achieve the goals of your team and business. This panel of experts shared their top tips on how you can build your credibility and influence, and successfully work with the board.
Sylvia Pfeifer
Leader Writer and Editorial Director of the Women in Business Forum 2020, Financial Times
Sylvia Pfeifer is a leader writer at the Financial Times. She has covered industry and energy for the paper and was energy editor from 2010 to 2012. She joined the paper in 2008 as defence industry correspondent.
Prior to working at the FT Sylvia was deputy business editor of The Sunday Telegraph and City editor of The Business newspaper, formerly Sunday Business, where she was part of the launch team in 1998.
Ann Cairns
Executive Vice Chair, Mastercard
Ann Cairns is executive vice chair of Mastercard. In her role she represents Mastercard around the world, focusing on inclusion, diversity and innovation. She plays the important role of senior ambassador and executive leader and sits as part of the company’s global management committee. Prior to her current appointment Ann was president of international markets responsible for the management of all Mastercard customer-related activities in over 200 countries.
Ann has more than 20 years’ experience working in senior management positions across Europe and the US. Prior to joining Mastercard in 2011 Ann was head of the Financial Services Group with Alvarez & Marsal, CEO of Transaction Banking at ABN-AMRO and held senior positions at Citigroup.
Ann is currently chair of ICE Clear Europe, owned by the Fortune 500 company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). She is also global chair of the 30% Club, the chair ofthe Financial Alliance for Women and serves as a member of the UK government’s AI Council and the IBDE advisory board. She has a pure mathematics degree and honorary doctorate from Sheffield University and an MSc with research into medical statistics and honorary doctorate from Newcastle University.
Ruth Cairnie
Chair, Babcock International
Ruth Cairnie is the chair of Babcock International Group and currently the senior independent director of Associated British Foods plc. She is patron of the Women in Defence Charter, the chair of POWERful Women, an initiative to advance gender diversity within the energy sector, and a trustee of Windsor Leadership.
Ruth has extensive experience of the engineering sector gained from a 37-year international career spanning senior functional and line roles at Royal Dutch Shell plc. She also has experience advising government departments on strategic development and capability building.
Ruth has been a non-executive director of Rolls Royce Holdings plc, ContourGlobal plc and Keller Group PLC and a member of the finance committee of the University of Cambridge. She is a master of advanced studies of mathematics from the University of Cambridge and holds a BSc joint honours in mathematics and physics from the University of Bristol.
