Membership Directory - Individual

Mary Spencer

Partner at Lane Clark & Peacock

About

Bio: Mary Spencer is a Partner at LCP, helping pension scheme trustees and sponsors on a range of investment matters. She also identify as a woman, in a male-dominated industry. Mary leads LCP's Social Committee and is a Partner Champion to our Wellbeing Network.

As Mary has become more senior within her own firm, she's increasingly become aware of the need to ensure opportunities and support are there, and are equal, for all. Mary has never felt any lack of opportunity or need for significant support in my career, which she feels makes her very lucky. Historically she had a slightly stubborn approach to the gender issue - "why shouldn't I be able to do this" - and no one has told her she can't (yet…). She has walked into a room plenty of times and known that the group may have low expectations of her, that she could be the "support" and couldn't possibly be the lead adviser, so she developed tactics to make sure she and they knew that she deserved to be in the room. But Mary is very conscious that she's never had to hide who she is, or pretend to be anything different.

Mary comments: "In a recent session hosted by the LCP LGBT+ network we discussed the example of an individual coming out to their parents and whether we could think of any other announcements you could make that you'd feel quite so nervous about - as you may expect, across over 80 people, there were less than a handful of suggestions. This was quite a lightbulb moment for me, putting me in the shoes of so many that have been through similar experiences.

I strongly believe that one human has no right to tell another who they are, how they feel and how they should act. We should be celebrating and not discriminating our differences. But to really break through, and I think this applies particularly on the LGBT+ front, we need to provide an environment where individuals feel comfortable to be who they are. It's not good enough just to not have prejudice, we need to recognise where we're coming from and provide support to help break through barriers that took decades to build.

I commit to being a stronger LGBT ally and using my position to drive forward the change that needs to happen."