"With me, Ana Botín took a chance on me, and that's a great lesson for all of us." - Pamela Ann Walkden, independent director of Banco Santander

On the 5th and 6th of May 2022, the women's community of the Santander W50 program - created by Banco Santander over 12 years ago with the aim of promoting female talent to achieve effective equality – had the chance to meet in person at a Summit held in London. 

At the meeting, around 200 participants and members of this extensive network of female leaders enjoyed two days of training sessions, discussions, top leadership exercises and networking. They also shared their ideas, fears, ambitions and professional experience.

To launch the new edition of Santander Course | SW50 Leadership Programme - LSE, today we're sharing one of the most inspirational moments from the Summit, which was none other than the talk by Pamela Ann Walkden - president of the Banco Santander Audit Committee and member of the Risk Supervision, Regulation and Compliance Committee - as well as independent director at Santander UK Plc. and Santander UK Group Holdings Plc. - in which attendees heard about her successful career first hand. 

After watching the interview with Pamela Ann Walkden it's easy to understand why, after successfully negotiating her way through a gauntlet of interviews at Grupo Santander, the last of these with Ana Botín, the president offered her a post at the company in three simple words: "Come to Madrid".

And so it was that in 2019, Pamela Ann Walkden joined the Banco Santander Board of Directors as an independent director. This strategic role is the kind of challenge she set out to take on when she decided to retire from executive duties at her old company Standard Chartered Bank, where she was Group Head of Human Resources, Risk, Treasurer, Internal Audit, Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations, Asset and Liability Management, and Regional Markets. Moreover, she served as an independent member of the Regulation Committee of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK, and a member of the Stakeholder Group at the European Banking Authority (EBA) among other roles.

However, this change of course didn't come about overnight: her new objective required her to prepare herself in order to successfully complete the transition. And as she herself says: "To become a member of a Board, personal attributes count more than experience". 

In this interview, Pamela explains the ups and downs of her career change, her view of talent as a leader, the changing profiles sought by Boards of Directors, and how women should be able to shake off their own reticence and break the glass ceiling, thus opening up major job opportunities for themselves, just as she did. She also encourages other women to become leaders who move into all sorts of business fields and are able to challenge their view of business or act as a front-line decision-makers.

With the aim of boosting, empowering and promoting female talent to achieve effective equality, Banco Santander launches a new edition of the Santander Course | SW50 2025, aimed at 50 women in senior management positions.

This year, this women's leadership programme is taking off with local editions in 11 countries (Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, USA, Spain, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, UK and Uruguay) to find the 50 best female managers in each of these countries, a total of 550 women leaders.

50 women from each country will be the winners of their local edition and will become part of an exceptional community of women leaders from around the world. They will access an online course on women's leadership, delivered by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and will also have the opportunity to attend an event with the other winners of their local edition.

From the 550 local SW50 women, LSE will choose 50 finalists to take the programme in London. In this global SW50 course, delivered on-site at the London campus of the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), they will acquire the tools, strategies and skills needed to work on and hone their own leadership style.

This will be done through interactive lectures, one-to-one mentoring and discussions with top experts from LSE and their peers. In addition, they will receive individual and group coaching sessions and a unique networking experience.

The course includes 100% of the cost of the programme, as well as accommodation in London for the duration of the programme. It is not necessary to have a university degree or be a client of Banco Santander.

Are you in a senior management position and want to be part of an international community of women leaders? If the answer is yes, register now for the Santander Course | SW50 2025.