International Women's Day Interviews

Leila is a passionate business owner and entrepreneur, born in Hong Kong SAR and adopted and brought up with her younger brother by British parents with origins from England, Scotland, and Wales. She is married to a Greek American.

Leila leads multiple businesses and charitable initiatives and spends her time dedicated to managing these Directorships whilst continuing to promote and campaign for the benefits of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in business and in wider society.

Leila is also a presenter and chair and hosts the twice weekly DIAL Global podcast “Diverse & Inclusive Leaders".

Julie Brown is the COO & CFO of Burberry and the Audit Chair of Roche. After gaining a First from Warwick University, she joined KPMG where she qualified and became a Fellow of ICAEW and the Institute of Tax.

Julie then spent 25 years with AstraZeneca, undertaking 11 roles in four countries and three continents, covering all aspects of Finance in the value chain, together with fulfilling Commercial and Strategic roles, including Head of Corporate Strategy, Marketing Company President, Regional Vice President and Interim Group CFO. Julie also has extensive M&A experience, being part of AZ merger team, together with leading multi-billion dollar change programmes.

Julie is a also member of the Board of Roche and chairs the Audit Committee and a member of the Mayor of London's Business Advisory Board.

Karen is a Partner in PWC’s Risk Assurance. She leads the health industries and government internal audit practices in the North. She also represents the regions on the firms Government and Health Industries Board and sits on the UK firm Public Sector Health Board.

Karen provides assurance and advisory services to a range of clients and works extensively across the healthcare sector with NHS providers and national bodies.

She also leads on the diversity and inclusion agenda in the North and is heavily involved in our activities to recruit and retain talent within our business.