Alumna Dr Bijna Kotak Dasani MBE, FRSA, named on HERoes Top 100 Women Executives List


DMU Alumnus and Advisory Board Member of the DMU Alumni Women’s Network, Dr Bijna Kotak Dasani MBE, FRSA has been named in the HERoes Top 100 Women Executives List, which identifies the top 100 women executives across industries and sectors globally, for the fourth consecutive year.

Earlier this year, she was also recognised by the EMpower 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Role Models List (2021) which celebrates 100 senior people of colour who are leading by example and removing barriers on the pathway to success for ethnic minority employees.

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Dr. Dasani (37), an Executive Director at global investment bank Morgan Stanley, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from De Montfort University in 2018, and she graduated in 2005 with a degree in Business Administration from the University’s Business School.

“DMU holds a very special place in my heart,” said Dr. Dasani. “If had not originated from Leicester, I may not have attended DMU and my journey would have been very different.

“Obtaining my undergraduate degree provided pathways into the corporate world and all subsequent opportunities that have come after my education. The university has always been supportive and helped me achieve my goals.”

Last year, Her Majesty, The Queen awarded an MBE to Dr Dasani for her services to Diversity and Inclusion in Financial Services.

Through the pandemic, Dr Dasani has continued to strengthen her reach and impact beyond the traditional spectrum of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) extending her support to new verticals.

She has lent her voice and support to ground-breaking initiatives this year including campaigns with SEA (surviving Economic Abuse), The Metropolitan police, BBC, Citywire, WHEN (Women’s Higher Education Network of the UK) and is featured as a role model in the first-of-its kind D&I book for children (being distributed to UK schools), Aspire To (published by DMU scholar and film-maker Jane Heart), to name a few.

As part of her role at Morgan Stanley, Dr. Dasani supports the firm’s D&I focus in the Americas, EMEA and Asia by driving divisional diversity and inclusion activity and implementing different initiatives to build awareness.

Through her leadership on more than a dozen committees internally, Bijna makes impact with a focus on age, gender, ethnicity, race, LGBT, social mobility, mental-health, domestic abuse, intersectionality, empowerment – her effort spans the Americas, EMEA and APAC.

Bijna advocates consistently to raise awareness of the Diversity, Equity and & Inclusion (DE&I) agenda and to bridge maturity across different regions in order to obtain consistency in the firm’s approach across the verticals.

Forming strong alliances with external partners has been a creative means for Bijna to proactively strengthen awareness and focus across the DE&I umbrella.

‘Our global society has been reckoning with various layers of inequalities and pandemics within the pandemic since last year. 

Through it all, we have discovered new lenses and established policies to better understanding and remediating deep-rooted matters on subjects such as racial inequality, domestic violence, social inclusion and more.

Whilst we have made progress, there is much that remains to be uncovered and resolved, to enable a truly diverse and inclusion workplace and workforce across the World’ says Dr. Dasani.

Posted on Thursday 9 September 2021

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