TurksLegal and Women in Banking and Finance (WiBF) are delighted to announce Katrina Francis, Head of Collections, Toyota Finance Australia as the winner of the 2020 TurksLegal WiBF Leadership Scholarship.

Katrina produced a powerful written submission in response to the question “What will the positive impacts of the response to COVID-19 be; both within your organisation and the broader financial ecosystem (customers, suppliers etc) in terms of gender equality?”. The judges felt compelled to interview Katrina and explore those ideas further. At interview, Katrina’s history of advocating for gender balance and inclusion was evident, as was her passion for collaboration and problem solving. But it was Katrina’s creative approach to expanding an ambassadorial role promoting the interests of WiBF that won the judges over and she was awarded the Scholarship.

As the winner, Katrina will participate in the Women in Leadership Program in October 2021; a one week course run by the highly esteemed Melbourne Business School at the University of Melbourne. The program is designed to develop women with purpose into leaders who have a profound impact in their organisations, communities and wider society.

“Katrina’s outstanding written response simply demanded an interview and, ultimately she prevailed over the other outstanding finalists. We are confident the skills and experience Katrina will develop from participating in the Women in Leadership Program will help further her career and inspire others at Toyota Finance Australia.”, said David McCrostie, Partner and Practice Group Leader of TurksLegal’s Banking & Finance practice and member of the Scholarship judging panel.

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

“WiBF is proud to support the Banking and Finance sector to develop the pipeline of female talent at all levels, with an emphasis on increasing the representation of women in key leadership positions. We are delighted to partner with TurksLegal to provide the opportunity for one of our members to attend the coveted Women in Leadership Program at the Melbourne Business School, alongside an impressive cohort of female executives, and immerse themselves in a program that will expand their thinking and leadership capability,” said WiBF CEO and judging panel member, Jen Dalitz.

2020 was the 7th year of the TurksLegal WiBF Leadership Scholarship. The Scholarship supports the professional growth of excellence in the industry by providing WiBF members with a significant career development opportunity.

The 2021 TurksLegal WiBF Leadership Scholarship will open in July 2021.

About TurksLegal

TurksLegal is a leading commercial law firm with a team of over 200 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Newcastle. We specialise in secured and unsecured loan recoveries, asset realisation, security enforcement and portfolio debt recovery. We are the go-to firm for creditors defending liquidators’ claims on creditors and known market leaders in PPSA recoveries.

About WiBF

Women in Banking and Finance (WiBF) is a non‐profit organisation, which provides a forum for professional women in financial services and related industries. Our objective is to provide a supportive environment for career and personal development and the opportunity to network with like‐minded professionals such that women may realise their full potential. Women in Banking and Finance is working with its members to ensure that we are able to influence relevant debate and engage industry leadership.

For more information, please contact:

Sarah Waley
Client Care & Communications Manager          
TurksLegal
T: 02 8257 5792            
M: 0404 007 914              
sarah.waley@turkslegal.com.au