An IT professional who fell into my career via Business Continuity and followed the path of being involved with "things that go wrong" through to Crisis Management, IT Disaster Recovery, IT Incident and Problem Management and last but not least, Risk! My favourite bit about all of these roles is how far across the organisation they allow me to reach!

What makes you a Risky Woman?

I absolutely love getting into the detail of how risk events can play out and bringing that to life for people to help them make the best decisions. It is so important to make risk a topic that is relatable and meaningful but also isn't a huge overhead for people to engage with and I'm a strong believer in trying new things to help embed risk into ways of working and thought processes so that the risk function becomes part of the fabric of the organisation.

Name your top 3 achievements

1. Rolling out a new framework in my current role. Trying something completely new that works and brings IT risk to life has been so rewarding.
2. In 2015, I won Young ITSM Professional of the Year (Awarded by ITSMF) for my work in IT Disaster Recovery. It was a huge confidence boost to be recognised externally and really set me up to continue to push myself and try new things!
3. Being part of a successful team recovering an entire office during a real Business Continuity incident. There's nothing quite like trying your plans out for real but it was fantastic experience and went so well (plus winning a trip to Barcelona afterwards too for our efforts made it all the more enjoyable!!)

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

Moving to a new industry. I left a role and sector that I was comfortable in and had worked in for many years to join an airline in a role I hadn't done before. It was a complete gearshift but it's turned out to be the best decision I could've made and my career has progressed significantly since taking that step.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I am a 50s /early 60s music fan. Think Johnny Cash, Dion DiMucci, Connie Francis etc.

What is the best quality for successful leaders in Risk?

Maintain understanding of the bigger picture and the ability to influence.