Witad Awards 2019 Write-Ups: Vendor Professional of the Year (Data and Operations)—Tamsin Hobley, SIX

Tamsin Hobley, vendor professional of the year (data and operations) in this year’s Women in Technology & Data Awards, has a mutually beneficial relationship with her employer, SIX, which provides capital markets firms with financial information and ancillary services. 

Hobley is UK and Ireland head of sales for the Zurich-based firm, and has been with the company for about two decades, minus a five-year hiatus when she started her family. “I always come back to this work–life balance,” she says. “I am ambitious, I am career-minded, and I want to be constantly challenged—I don’t want to get bored in a role. SIX has always been able to fulfill that for me.”

Hobley is the driver behind SIX’s back-to-basics approach to client service, shifting attention from the added sell to the fundamentals of how data is created and consumed. “I have been instrumental in driving the business here in the UK,” she says. “We’ve been in a growth trajectory; we’ve grown 7% year-on-year, adding key clients and really putting ourselves in their shoes, being flexible and entrepreneurial.”

As her career matures, Hobley is taking specific actions to champion women in financial services, for example, through her involvement in the SIX Gender Diversity Network, although she has long been a proponent of diversity, leading a team that includes working mothers, various nationalities, and caregivers of elderly parents. “We focus on talent management, forward thinking, and hiring the right people for right roles,” she says. “We have a very diverse team in the UK, but they’re the right people for the right role, and then we recognize that talent going forward.” 

Hobley has benefited from mentor relationships and she also serves as a mentor. SIX has an official program, but she says a willingness to share knowledge is a core part of the company. “We have that culture and spirit, where if you want guidance and you want support, the best person to give you that is always available,” she says. 

From an industry-wide perspective, Hobley says financial services has “a long way to go” before reaching gender equality, citing the pay gap as an area with much room for improvement. She also points out that companies should better prioritize flexibility, and not just for parents. “I think people need to be able to take a career break and not have their career affected by that,” she says, something she recognizes is “difficult for companies to do, but that is what’s required. There’s no magic wand. It’s going to take time and it’s the companies that need to make the change.”