A lecture in memory of the late Professor Orla Gough was led by distinguished guest speakers Susanne Chishti and Devie Mohan in the Orla Gough Lecture Theatre at Westminster’s Marylebone Campus on 19 October.
The event was co-organised by the University’s Development Team and Westminster Business School as part of the annual Orla Gough memorial lecture series. Professor Orla Gough was the former Head of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Government at Westminster Business School.
Students from the FinTech with Business Analytics MSc course had the opportunity to attend the lecture, and engaged enthusiastically with great interest on the subjects discussed. The students also felt inspired to think about how they could apply what they had learned to the projects they are working on as part of their degree. There was particular interest around some of the green fintech trends and financial inclusion.
Susanne Chishti, who is the investor and editor of the FINTECH book series and a non-executive director at CMC Markets and Crown Agents Bank, spoke first at the event. An in-demand keynote speaker, she regularly speaks at leading finance and technology conferences globally. At Westminster, Chishti discussed the future of fintech and global investment trends such as green fintech and finance and the move towards financial inclusion, as well as developments across business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) business models.
The second speaker was Devie Mohan, an influential writer, speaker and commentator on fintech, who has been listed as a top 10 global fintech influencer by several groups. She is the co-founder and CEO of Burnmark, a fintech research company, that supplies research and data to players of the fintech ecosystem. Mohan spoke about ecosystem and platformification trends in fintech such as digitalisation and the role it plays in customer experiences, the untapped market of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lending and payments infrastructure.
Speaking about the event, Professor Malcolm Kirkup, Head of Westminster Business School, said: “Orla Gough was a much respected and much-loved Professor and Head of Department in Finance and Accounting at Westminster for many years, and her memory is honoured annually with a Guest Lecture in the Orla Gough Lecture Theatre at Marylebone. Orla Gough was responsible for a vast expansion of courses, student enrolment numbers and strong partnerships with several organisations and companies. Gough published more than 100 papers with a focus on occupational pension schemes’ liabilities and benefit structures and was appointed by the Pensions and Financial Services at Westminster in 2009.”
Jordan Scammell, Head of Development and Fundraising, added: “It was fantastic as always to have an energetic and captivating lecture – especially with two speakers for the first time. The students’ energy was fantastic, and you could see the cogs turning following both lectures. It was a great opportunity for our students to also network with our speakers and alumni attendees from the finance and banking world. Thank you to both Susanne and Devie and of course to Orla’s family for all they continue to do to support our students at Westminster.”
Watch the lecture on University of Westminster Alumni Association’s YouTube channel.
Learn more about Business and Management courses at the University of Westminster.
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