Turks and Women in Banking and Finance (WiBF) are delighted to announce Paula Nassif, Senior Associate at King & Wood Mallesons as the winner of the 2022 Turks WiBF Leadership Scholarship.

Turks and WiBF are strong advocates for excellence in the Australian banking and finance industry. Now in its ninth year, the 2022 Turks WiBF Leadership Scholarship is an exciting joint initiative between Turks and WiBF to provide WiBF members with a significant career development opportunity. Paula submitted a compelling, articulate and considered response to the question 'As CEO of an organisation (not your current employer), how would you go about making sure it was an inclusive organisation? How would you measure a tangible impact, internally & externally?'

As the winner, Paula will travel to the United States in April 2023 to participate in the Women in Leadership Program; a one week course run by the highly esteemed Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. The program helps women assess and address their unique strengths and challenges, as well as navigate the frequently complex dynamics of strategic business leadership.

On winning the Scholarship Paula said “I am over the moon and extremely excited to be awarded this year's Turks/WiBF scholarship to attend the Women in Leadership program at Darden at the University of Virginia. This is one of those very special and unique opportunities and I am so grateful to Turks and WiBF for their exceptional support for this Scholarship. I’m equally excited about the opportunity I know have to be an ambassador for WiBF and to be working alongside the WiBF CEO and Board to promote WiBF’s values (including diversity and innovation) in the industry in 2023. I am excited about what I will learn at Darden (including international perspectives), the participants I will meet, and what I will be able to share on my return to Australia.”

The judges found this year’s Scholarship extremely difficult to judge due to the record number of very high quality applications and the impressive performances of all of the finalists at interview. All of the applicants were inspirational. In the end, the judges agreed that Paula was a stand-out applicant and were truly delighted to see her win.

“This year, we have received an astonishing number of applications for the Turks WiBF Scholarship. Paula has shown exemplary dedication and resilience through the process. We are thrilled for her and look forward to hearing about her experience at Darden. Thank you to all applicants for the time they took to apply and to the finalists for participating in a high-quality interview process. Thank you to the judges and the staff at WiBF and Turks that make the Scholarship as successful and aspirational as it is.” said WiBF CEO, Stephanie Girard.

The 2023 Turks WiBF Leadership Scholarship will open in early 2023.

About Turks

Turks is a leading commercial law firm with 38 partners and over 170 staff in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Newcastle. For 40 years we have developed our skills and expertise to align with the needs of our clients. Our commitment and unwavering focus has undoubtedly helped us to build the long- standing partnerships we have with many of Australia’s leading institutions, major and boutique insurers, corporate entities and banks.

About Women in Banking and Finance (WiBF)

WiBF is a not-for-profit membership association aimed at increasing the representation of female leaders in the banking and finance sector. WiBF’s corporate members collectively employ over 600,000 individuals and represent all facets of the industry, from major Australian and international banks, insurers, investment managers, super funds to professional services, insurance and law firms, financial regulators, fin-techs, treasury, exchanges & corporates servicing the sector.