Goldman Sachs Senior Women in EMEA and Asia Pacific Celebrate International Women’s Day and Support Women United

Goldman Sachs senior women in EMEA came together last night, on the eve of International Women’s Day, to demonstrate collectively their support for Women United, a campaign to end violence against women and girls across the world.

Women United has designated the color orange to symbolize a brighter future without violence. To raise awareness of the campaign and the plight of millions of women and girls worldwide, female partners and managing directors purchased and wore orange dresses and scarves by Daniella Issa Helayel, designer of the Duchess of Cambridge’s engagement dress, who designed the attire specifically for the event. Proceeds from the dress and scarf go directly to support the work of Women United in partnership with the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence Against Women campaign.

To support their EMEA colleagues, female partners and managing directors in Hong Kong also purchased and wore Issa Helayel’s orange dresses this week to demonstrate their awareness of this global issue.

Hosted by Michelle Pinggera, chief administrative officer for EMEA and international chief of staff, and Sally Boyle, head of the Human Capital Management Division, the event in London followed a dinner held in July 2015 at the Serpentine Pavilion, where the firm celebrated the success of female leadership in the region. 

“It is fantastic to see the senior women of Goldman Sachs coming together to celebrate female leadership and to also use their voices, their profiles and their convening power to advance such an important social issue,” Michelle said. “We welcome our colleagues from around the world to participate in the program of events during the course of the week to celebrate International Women’s Day.”

Sally highlighted Goldman Sachs’ focus on leadership driving diversity: “We truly value the success of women at the firm. This is reflected by the fact that a record 28 percent of our new managing director class in the region are women. We hope this is inspirational for women at all levels.”

The senior women were joined by special guests including June Sarpong OBE, television presenter and head of the Women United campaign; Aldijana Sisic, chief of the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women; and designers Issa Helayel and Ozwald Boateng.

Co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International Richard Gnodde, who also attended the event on March 7, noted: “It was truly impressive to see such a large number of our senior women role models uniting to support a common cause.”

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