Two emerging leaders in the capital markets speak to the Herald about their careers, the challenges women face in the sector, and what can be done to promote greater diversity and inclusivity.
Daniela Bossard
Daniela Bossard is an investment director at Rangatira Investments, a leading long-term investor in private NewZealand businesses.
In her role, she is responsible for assessing new investment opportunities and ensuring they align with Rangatira Investment’s core investment principles.
This involves identifying and evaluating potential investments, conducting due diligence, and presenting investment recommendations to the board. Additionally, Bossard works closely with existing portfolio companies to help them achieve their growth objectives. As a long-term investor, Rangatira Investment takes a partnership approach with its portfolio companies, working collaboratively to achieve its shared objectives.
She says it is a rewarding position that allows her to make a meaningful contribution to the growth and success of New Zealand businesses.
Bossard’s interest in the financial markets sector started at a young age, which led her to study finance and economics at the University of Auckland.
She started her career in investment banking, working closely with founders, senior management teams, and boards on potential acquisitions and divestments.
Bossard hopes to contribute meaningfully to investment outcomes that benefit Rangatira’s shareholder base. She is proud that around 60 per cent of its shareholders are charities or charitable trusts, allowing her to make a positive impact on New Zealand’s wider communities while leveraging her core skill set.
Bossard says one of the biggest challenges facing women in the sector is a lack of visibility and representation. She explains that this has a twofold effect: firstly, younger women have limited access to female role models, making it harder for them to envision themselves in leadership positions. Secondly, when there are so few women in leadership roles, they may be seen as tokens, putting undue pressure on them to be perfect and potentially stifling their leadership styles.
She says tackling this issue is not easy, but it is essential, and while the sector has grown its focus on promoting diversity and inclusion, further changes are required to address inequitable outcomes.
Bossard says Rangatira is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion at all levels of its portfolio companies, and discloses its efforts to achieve gender balance in its annual report.
By working together to promote diversity and inclusivity in the sector, Bossard believes a more equitable and thriving industry can be created that will benefit everyone.
Kate Le Quesne
Kate Le Quesne. Photo / Supplied
Kate Le Quesne is the director of prudential policy at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand — Te Pūtea Matua. She leads the teams responsible for writing and reviewing the prudential rules that deposit takers, insurers and financial markets infrastructure must meet.
Le Quesne says she fell into financial markets “almost by accident”, having studied actuarial science. She became excited following the economic environment in real-time, which took her through a range of institutional banking roles in Australia, New Zealand and London.
More recently, she joined the public sector, where she found an array of roles that need specialist technical finance skills alongside a broad range of other skills — particularly good leadership.
She says she has been lucky in the Reserve Bank to have roles spanning both financial markets and financial stability, both critical areas to the functioning of our financial system.
Le Quesne was chairwoman of Young Women in Finance in Wellington for three years, which she says was a fantastic way to build a network with the shared goal of raising awareness around issues that matter to young women coming through the industry, to build support and awareness more broadly and to showcase some great role models.
She is keen to help mentor the next generation of leaders in the financial sector, acknowledging that in her own career, she has been lucky to have people who have been instrumental in helping her seek new opportunities and build confidence.
But she says it is still a challenge since there are fewer women in senior roles within the sector.
This means there are fewer role models and fewer of the benefits that come with a diverse set of leaders.
Le Quesne says the sector can drive change as it brings through the next generation, ensuring it puts unconscious bias aside to attract and retain a broader, more diverse workforce and ensuring organisations value diversity, inclusion and a range of skill sets, experience and backgrounds.
