Women's Bond Club Honors Debra Walton and Reshma Saujani at 22nd Annual Merit Award Dinner Hosted by Citi

The Women's Bond Club, the first organization in New York to focus on women in finance, announced that Debra Walton and Reshma Saujani have received the organization’s two most prestigious awards. Both women were recognized at the Women’s Bond Club’s annual gala, the Merit Award Dinner, held last night. Citi hosted the event at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. James A. Forese, Co-President of Citigroup and Head of Citi’s Institutional Clients Group, served as the keynote speaker.

Debra Walton, Chief Content Officer, Financial & Risk at Thomson Reuters, received the Merit Award, which recognizes outstanding professional contributions in financial services. Ms. Walton leads a group of nearly 4,000 people with end-to-end responsibility for setting the strategy and managing Thomson Reuters information and analytics offerings. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, she held a number of senior roles in the financial services including partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. Ms. Walton is executive sponsor of the Thomson Reuters Women's Network and contributes much of her spare time promoting the balanced leadership agenda.

Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO, Girls Who Code, received the Isabel Benham Award, which recognizes exceptional dedication to the advancement of women. Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and prepare young women for jobs of the future. In her groundbreaking new book, "Women Who Don't Wait in Line," Reshma advocates for a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and sponsorship, and boldly charting your own course, personally and professionally.

The event also recognized future leaders with a Rising Star Honor Roll, which included 47 women across financial services.

“Citi views diversity as a source of strength. Attracting, developing, advancing and retaining female talent at all levels within Citi is very important to us. We are proud to partner with the Women’s Bond Club to honor Debra and Reshma, along with all of the Club’s Rising Stars on their well-deserved recognition,” said Mr. Forese.

The Women’s Bond Club Rising Star Award honorees for 2015 include:

The Women’s Bond Club is a vital community of experienced women across a wide range of financial services and related industries. Founded in 1921, The Women’s Bond Club was the first organization in New York that focused on advancing women in finance. Today they have over 850 members and over 40 of the leading financial services firms as corporate sponsors, with several new additions to their roster. Their members are united by a powerful mission: to advance women’s leadership, grow their intellectual capital, and return value to their companies, communities and upcoming generations. They accomplish this through a series of thought-provoking and engaging events for their members, as well as through their scholarship program and partnerships with non-profit organizations, such as the Urban Assembly School for Young Women in Business, which provide career guidance to women. They invite you to visit their website, www.wbcny.org.

Citigroup, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citigroup provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Citi Women, a global company-wide effort, was created to unlock the combined potential of women and Citi by inspiring progress, leading change and driving us to succeed. Citi Women aims to support women across Citi’s many businesses and regions with tools and resources to help enhance their careers. Citi Women strives to establish Citi as the industry leader in its comprehensive support of female employees, clients and community partners and use this leadership position to expand the penetration of our client footprint, as well as increase Citi’s influence on the community in which our employees and our clients live and work.

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