Kathy Simonis is a Certified Diversity Professional (CDP) and Certified Diversity and Inclusion Recruitment Professional (CDIR), Advisory Board member, and Lead Faculty for Diversity Training International University (DTUI)  and Diversity Executive Leadership Academy (DELA). Kathy has a diverse international career in global Financial Services, with a cross-section of project and people leadership roles. Establishing, leading, and evolving cross-regional operational, risk management, and Diversity and inclusion functions and teams.

Kathy’s move to Macquarie Group Limited's Head Office in Sydney, Australia, fed her passion for establishing and leading teams in an environment of significant growth across diverse disciplines and locations. She moved to New York, USA in 2007 as the regional lead to grow the Risk Management – Compliance function and team during a period of significant change through major acquisitions and organic growth, moved to London, England as the global Anti Money Laundering lead before enjoying a sabbatical and returning to New York and rejoining Macquarie in 2015 to establish and leading the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) function and agenda for the Americas region.

As a passionate leader of many diverse teams and functions, this pivot was a natural culmination role. Obtaining the CDP designation honed her toolkit and skills in the corporate environment. A particular success working to establish and drive the D&I framework and agenda was the global adoption of much of the Americas model.

Instructing individuals and groups to successfully achieve their own certifications through DTUI for over five years has been a highlight.