Susan Looby
Lecturer
Email: susan.looby@tudublin.ie
Susan Looby, B.Comm, FCCA, Dip IoD is a Lecturer in the School of Business at TU Dublin (Blanchardstown Campus). Susan has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from NUIG and following this, she qualified as a professional accountant while working in London. Susan has a Diploma in Company Direction and is currently volunteering on a number of not-for-profit boards/committees and is chairing an Audit, Finance and Governance Committee. She brings to her students the benefit of over 20 years' experience working as a senior executive in the financial services sector in both London & Dublin, where her roles ranged from Group Financial Accountant, Company Secretary, Finance Manager, Company Director and finally Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for an international business. Susan commenced lecturing in the University in 2018 and since then she has specialised in delivering accounting and finance modules across multiple degree programmes and she has also enjoyed lecturing modules in entrepreneurship and business start-ups. Her style of teaching provides a good blend of theoretical knowledge, practical industry focus, using case studies, research projects, group work projects and presentations. Throughout her career she has developed a strong understand of the value of team work and has brought this into her academic career where she has enjoyed working with other academic colleagues on course board meetings, department meetings, committees and teams. She was involved in the development of the recently accredited BSc in Accounting and Finance degree programme, a collaboration between colleagues in the Blanchardstown and Tallaght campuses. Susan is a qualified accountant (FCCA) and is committed to continuing her CPD while working at TU Dublin. Since starting working at TU Dublin, she commenced the Chartered Directors Programme with the Institute of Directors Ireland and received a Diploma in Company Direction (Distinction) in July 2020. Susan intends developing her academic qualifications further and has commenced a Masters by Research through TU Dublin in 2021. Susan is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a member of the Institute of Directors Ireland.
Research/Practice Interests: I have recently started a research masters with TU Dublin in 2021. Susan Looby – A qualitative study of gender diversity in private company boards & senior executive management in the financial services sector. What is the Problem? Ireland has a highly qualified work force and both men and women from any ethnic / cultural background should be able to enjoy the same opportunities and reach their full potential. I am passionate about achieving gender diversity right across all aspects of our society. The benefit in having gender diversity is very apparent in government, where with better female representation, issues that affect gender are more fairly addressed. This benefit can also be seen in the private sector where there has been much research and articles in recent times into the strong business case for having diversity on boards and in senior executive positions in terms of the improvement to overall business performance, decision making and bottom line profits. 1. In Ireland, the financial services sector has a high level of female participation, (just over 50%),2. but women are under-represented at senior executive management and board level. My research will seek to gain an insider's perspective and understanding of why a sector that has such strong female representation in their workforce has such poor female representation at senior executive and board level. In order to gain this understanding, I will conduct qualitative research in a select number of private companies in the financial services sector in Ireland, (between 2 – 4 companies). The aim of this research will be to get a more in-depth understanding of the issues that exist to achieving gender diversity in senior management positions and to highlight approaches that could be taken to improve gender diversity and inclusion. There is a significant amount of quantitative research on gender diversity on boards and in senior management positions, conducted by, for example Central Statistics office (CSO), Grant Thornton Women in Business, Balance for Better Business 3.. The most recent 3rd report from the Balance for Better Business government initiative, was issued in December 2020. This report shows that there has been good progress in female participation on boards and leadership teams, especially for ISEQ20 companies, where the average representation on boards has moved from 18% when the initiative was launched in 2018, to over 27% in 2020. It should also be noted that Publicly Listed Companies (PLCs) are driven to achieving board diversity through compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code, (“the Code”) and the Irish Corporate Governance annex. My research will focus on private companies, who unlike PLCs are not required to comply with diversity disclosures and requirements of the Code. It is clear from recent research by the CSO in 2019, that there is more work to be done in private companies, with only 20% of board members being female, though in senior executive positions, 28% were female.3 This is impact-focused research which will build on the quantitative research conducted in Ireland on gender diversity in senior management. I believe that qualitative research, gaining an insider's perspective through understanding personal narratives, could be very beneficial in gaining a more in-depth understanding of the issues and suggesting paths to improvement in gender diversity & inclusion.