Insights
Meet the Stonehage Fleming XV - Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia
Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, is founder and executive chair of the multi-award winning fintech, Snoop. One of the founders of Virgin Direct, she was CEO of Virgin Money for over ten years and the UK Government’s Women in Finance Champion. Jayne-Anne is also a Trustee of the Tate and sits on the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board and the Financial Inclusion Policy Forum.
BEST PIECE OF ADVICE?
“Never take anything personally.”
It was the best advice I was ever given. Years ago, I was a CEO, working with a business mentor who was also coaching the former Director General of MI5, Dame Stella Rimington. He passed that trick of hers on to me. Any problems thrown at her, he said, she knew would have been thrown at anyone sitting in that chair; it is nothing personal, just a puzzle to be solved. I have repeated it to myself ever since and it has always helped.
WHAT DOES BEING SELECTED FOR THE SFXV MEAN TO YOU?
The most important thing about initiatives like the SFXV is role modelling. If you’ve had some good opportunities in your career, if given the chance, you should try and put something back and help other women too. There are too many young women and girls out there who think they couldn’t be like me because they don’t look or sound like me. It is not true that we have nothing in common. It is important to me to try and show them that.