Sam Cooper-Gray

ICA19 Shortlisted Nominee.

Mentor/Sponsor of the Year Award

Sam is the Network leader for HSBC’s Gender Diversity Network, BALANCE, supporting over 49,000 participants, of all seniorities, across 43 countries within HSBC. The network embraces both men and women to improve the gender diversity of the business. Sam has been the global co-chair since 2017, having been the UK chair prior to this, and is also a mentor to a number of junior women within the organisation. She lobbies senior leadership to drive change and works closely with the network Sponsor (HSBC Group COO) to drive gender parity. Her core focus is increasing senior female leaders, supporting flexible working and balanced parental leave and career development across the business whilst driving the conversation about gender parity. In 2018 sam launched a global BALANCE Ambassador programme of over 60 senior leaders to expand the gender discussion and increase board level discussions.