Ahead of the full list, here are three new entrants to this year’s list.

Don’t forget to visit fnlondon.com/lists on 14 October or sign up for our lists and awards email.

To get a free trial to read the full list, please email licensing@fnlondon.com.

Stephanie Eckermann
Executive board member for post-trading
Deutsche Börse

One of the most senior people within Deutsche Börse, Stephanie Eckermann was promoted to oversee the post-trade division for the exchange in June and at the same time became a member of the executive board.

Eckermann is also chair of the board of Clearstream, Deutsche Börse’s central securities depository, a role she took over following Stephan Leithner’s appointment as chief executive of the German exchange group, which took effect on 1 October.

The post-trade business that Eckermann oversees accounts for a third of Deutsche Börse’s revenue, with a headcount of more than 3,000. Over the past year, she has helped to implement a reorganisation of the Clearstream business, splitting securities services and fund services into two separate entities.

After Deutsche Börse acquired SimCorp last year, Eckermann also became a board member of the asset management services firm.

Eckermann initially joined Deutsche Börse in 2020 as head of strategy and controls for post-trade. She has had several roles within the group, including chief executive of Clearstream Banking and board member of proxy adviser and indices business ISS Stoxx.

In addition to her responsibilities in post-trade, Eckermann supports Deutsche Börse’s internal female talent network and is the executive sponsor for gender issues within the exchange’s diversity, equity and inclusion council

Prior to joining Deutsche Börse, Eckermann spent 18 years at McKinsey, 10 of those as a partner at the consulting firm. She holds a PhD from Goethe University and an MBA from the European Business School and the University of Pittsburgh.

Amy Flikerski
Head of external portfolio management
CPP Investments

Born in Canada, Amy Flikerski boarded and trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. Now the IMG Academy, past students include Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.

Flikerski was twice Athlete of the Year, but rather than sports, she pursued a career in finance, studying economics at Brown University in Rhode Island (with a year in Paris) and later an MBA at Harvard Business School. From working as a senior associate at Moody’s Investors Service, she became a senior analyst at Highbridge Capital Management and later Talpion Fund Management in New York, among other roles.

In 2012, she joined CPP Investments, which invests for the Canada Pension Plan, as a portfolio manager. She has held various roles since, including leading its climate change programme from 2018 to 2019. She moved to the UK five years ago, and in 2022 she was appointed global head of its 40-strong external portfolio management team across Toronto, London, Hong Kong and New York.

Flikerski is responsible for a C$70bn (US$51.6bn) global portfolio of absolute return and directional public market manager strategies – more than a 10th of the C$646bn total AUM. The team’s investments encompass core funds, emerging managers and co-investments. Over the last five years, Flikerski has overseen top-performing returns and a 30% growth in the capital managed.

She is a member of CPP’s global leadership team, and sits on its capital markets and factor investing, active equities and sustainable investing committees. She chairs its external portfolio management committee. She also chairs its monthly Europe investment discussions across investment departments, as well as risk, legal, and non-investment functions.

Karen Zachary
Partner, chief operating officer
Lansdowne Partners

It has been just over a year since Karen Zachary joined Lansdowne Partners following its acquisition of UK equities boutique Crux Asset Management.

Zachary, who over the past 25 years has worked in senior roles at firms including Man Group, Janus Henderson and Fidelity International, was chief executive of Crux. She had joined the fund manager as chief operating officer in 2015.

Since joining Lansdowne Partners, which oversees more than $8bn, Zachary has led the integration of Crux, which was set up in 2014 by former New Star fund manager Richard Pease.

She also has oversight of Lansdowne’s Group Services, a business unit which provides operational infrastructure to other investment managers so that they do not need to build their own middle and back office functions.

Zachary has been credited for helping to secure investment from US-based investment firm Stephens, which rolled over its holding in Crux to Lansdowne Partners.

Outside of Lansdowne Partners, Zachary is chair and independent non-executive director at Mediolanum International Funds in Ireland. She is also a non-executive director on the board of UK asset management trade body the Investment Association.

She is a member of the Financial Conduct Authority’s smaller business practitioner panel, where she represents the asset management sector.

Profiles by Jeremy Chan, Peter Davy and David Ricketts