A Most Excellent Member of the British Empire award that acknowledges exceptional contributions by a person in their line of work; has been bestowed upon Indian origin banking professional Dr. Bijna Kotak Dasani MBE, FRSA.
She features in the respected Queen’s Birthday Honours List (2020). Currently serving as an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley, Dr. Dasani received the distinguished honor for her tireless work in gender parity in the global financial sector.
Mumbai, October 19th, 2020: Dr. Dasani was appointed as Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the respected Birthday Honours List by the United Kingdom’s Queen for her outstanding services in Diversity & Inclusion (D&I).
It is the third highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award that acknowledges exceptional contributions by a person in their line of work. Dr. Dasani has won various global accolades in the past for championing causes of equal-pay and flexible working policies for women and has been an active voice in gender diversity across industries, sectors and geographies.
Last month, she was named one of the world’s top 100 female executives in Yahoo Finance and Involve People in the HERoes Women Role Model Lists 2020, for the third consecutive year. She carved out an achievement-rich career, which for more than 20 years has seen her develop innovative diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategies with some of the world’s leading banks, around the globe, including Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, State Street Global Advisors, and Lloyds Banking Group.
On accepting her award, Dr. Dasani said, “I am humbled by this honour bestowed upon me and at the same time I recognize it as a significant responsibility. This recognition motivates me to further my efforts in creating and refining tangible and measurable frameworks for advancing D&I initiatives across the financial services sector.”
As a British-Indian with ties in the UK, US and South-East Asia, Dr. Dasani is a living example of multiculturalism. The roots of her inclusive learnings first took hold in her hometown of Leicester (UK).
One of three siblings, she was raised by a single mother who was a strong influence in shaping her principles and perspectives. Dr. Dasani is an alumna of Oxford University and De Montfort University. While studying Strategy & Innovation at Oxford, her thesis focused on gender parity in the C-suite of UK financial services.
“Over the last decade, I have observed significant effort and investment in attracting more diversity, particularly in developing women for leadership roles. The UK government is encouraging businesses to achieve gender diversity. This should positively catalyze the next wave of change in in-house policies and business practices. For business leaders, being sensitive to gender disparities and setting the right tone for cultural awareness of diversity in a firm is all-important. I have witnessed examples where this has been lacking – whether in gender equality, racial inclusion or social mobility”, Dr. Dasani explained.
Dr. Dasani serves on numerous advisory boards such as the Inclusive Companies Network, Generation Success, CIO Net, Fintech Connect, The Inclusive Companies Network and Cajigo. She co-hosted the ‘Women in Business’ television series (2018) and has been featured in various publications. Among the many awards she has won are Rising Star at the UK Women of Influence Awards (2019), one of Top 50 Women to Watch by Cranfield University (2019), Business Role Model of the Year by the UK Women in IT Awards (2019), and Lloyds Banking Group’s Ethnicity Role Models List (2019, 2018, 2017). In 2018 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from De Montfort University and was honoured at the House of Lords (UK) at the NRI World Summit Pride of India Awards for ‘Making India Proud’ (2017).
Additionally, she is working with her alma maters, Oxford University and De Montfort University, to develop partnerships that will offer students from marginalized backgrounds the chance of a career in investment banking through professional mentorships and work experience at participating banks.
