Erika is Citi’s Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer and Global Head of Talent, responsible for developing global diversity, equity and inclusion strategy and driving Citi’s agenda on talent planning, succession planning and leadership development. Prior to joining Citi, Erika was Chief Diversity Officer at Goldman Sachs from 2018 to 2021 and Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Bloomberg from 2015 to 2018.

Prior to this, she led executive and diversity hiring efforts at Bank of America and Lehman Brothers. Erika's background includes a range of banking and finance roles, including Head of Business Development for Black Entertainment Television, Senior Associate in High Yield Capital Markets at Morgan Stanley and Senior Policy Analyst for Domestic Finance for the United States Department of the Treasury.

She began her career as an Analyst in Public Finance at Lehman Brothers. Erika is Vice Chair of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and serves on the Boards of Columbia Business School and the Riverside Hawks. Erika earned a BS in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Kate is the Head of Distribution Oversight at HSBC Asset Management, based in London. She is a member of HSBC AM’s global fund services management team responsible for the management and development of AM’s global distribution oversight model. Kate is an active member of HSBC’s AM LQBTQI+ group and participates in The Proud Trust’s (a UK LGBTQI+ charity) mentor programme.

Prior to her current role, she worked for HSBC Global Asset Management Bermuda as a Senior Product Manager. She started her HSBC career with HSBC Securities Services Ireland and held various roles and responsibilities in the account management team focused on managing and developing the administration, custody, trustee, and depositary relationships. Prior to joining HSBC, Kate worked for Fortis Prime Fund Solutions Ireland.

Kate holds a BA in Financial Services from University College Dublin.

Kayus Fernander is a longstanding member of Citi’s London Pride network steering committee, taking a lead on membership engagement. He has been instrumental in leading conversations about intersectionality at Citi.

Kayus is also a member of Citi’s Roots Network for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) colleagues and has organised multiple joint events with the two networks. Most recently these have explored faith and sexuality, platformed Black, queer voices during Black History Month, and discussed solidarity between Black and LGBTQ+ communities’ fights for human rights.
As well as speaking at these events, Kayus has written powerful internal blogs for the wider organisation about his experiences as a Black gay man and how everyone can be better allies to both LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities.

In 2021, Kayus was a key participant of the Pride network’s new reverse mentoring programme across the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region. The programme gives senior leaders the opportunity to learn from LGBTQ+ employees about their experiences at Citi and encourages them to champion diversity and inclusion in their part of the organisation. As a result of Kayus’s candid and energetic mentorship, his mentee became a huge ally for Citi’s LGBTQ+ population and this has led to the formation of a new network group chapter in that location.

By sharing his own experiences in panel discussions and town halls, serving as a mentor internally and externally, organising events to promote inclusion, and engaging with senior leaders across the firm, Kayus has worked to shift mindsets, enable important discussions, and promote cultural change across the organisation.

Rachel originally trained as an Avionics Software Engineer working within the defence sector, later transferring to a senior position within HR.

An interest in employment law led her to study for the Solicitors’ Final Examinations. As a woman with trans history she was unable to obtain a position within a law firm in the 1990s, so instead joined the University of Law working for 15 years in various senior operational roles leading up to Production Director.

Rachel is founder and CEO of Global Butterflies, a company that is hugely successful in helping businesses to create trans & non-binary inclusive environments. Global Butterflies donates much of its time and profits to other LGBTQI causes and events.

She was Vice Chair of The Law Society LGBT Lawyers Division Committee representing trans & non-binary solicitors and is a trans & non-binary ambassador for Aspiring Solicitors. Rachel has worked with many law firms regarding their trans & non-binary inclusion journeys.

She is honoured to be a judge for the People in Law, InsideOut and OutVertising awards each year.

In 2019, she wrote the acclaimed “Lloyds of London Trans & Non-binary Inclusion Guide” and also contributed to the popular “Guide to Gender Neutral Drafting” with the Government Legal Department.

Rachel joined the IGLTAF trans & nonbinary board in 2021. Advising on tourism support for trans & non-binary travelers.

D&I Leaders listed Rachel as one of their Inspirational D&I Leaders in 2021. In 2022, Rachel was listed as a Pride Inclusion Advocate by Pride Life Global. Also in 2022, Rachel was awarded the Chambers Crystal Award (with her wife Emma), for their visible work in trans & non-binary inclusion.

Richard is a Managing Director and Senior Client Executive covering strategic global relationships for Citi’s Securities Services. During his twenty-one years with Citi, Richard has undertaken several senior leadership roles across sales, product and client service within Asia, Europe and North America. Before taking up his current role, Richard was based in Europe as the EMEA Head of Investor Strategic Relationships and Sales.

He has run the Prime Finance Client Management team based in London (covering Prime Brokerage, Swaps and Stock Loan products) and been the Asia Pacific Regional Head of Securities Services for Global Transaction Services based in Hong Kong. Richard has been involved in LGBT+ and Pride activities throughout his career. He has been an active member of the Pride Committees, participating in LGBT+ recruiting and LGBT+ DE&I mentoring and reverse mentoring programs. Richard is the North America Head of Diversity Equity and Inclusion for Security Services. He is responsible for structuring programs to ensure leadership, engagement and visibility across Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

He is an active speaker at industry events and a visible champion for LGBT + within Citi and beyond. After working for over 30 years in Tokyo, Singapore, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, and New York, Richard currently resides in Boston. He enjoys keeping fit, skiing, tennis, gardening, cooking, and travelling.

Matt is an experienced talent management, diversity and organisational development leader with extensive experience within the financial services industry. A proven track record in inspiring others, developing effective strategies, programme execution, managing diverse teams and building partnerships.

Matt was the first in his family to go to university, is part of the LGBT+ community and also from a lower-social economic background.

Matt is responsible for the development of LGBT Great’s programmes, the strategic direction of the organisation and advising organisations on DE&I issues. Matt is also a Board Member of the Diversity Project.