Spotlight: Katy Knox
Katy Knox is a Retail Banking & Distribution executive for Bank of America. She leads a team providing a full range of financial products and services to nearly 40 million customers through an unmatched coast-to-coast retail and ATM network, including the nation’s leading and award-winning digital banking platforms.
Katy has more than 25 years of leadership experience in financial services. With senior positions in commercial banking, corporate strategy, global treasury management, consumer banking and marketing, she proved to be the perfect mentor to Carol Fitzsimons, CEO of Young Enterprise Northern Ireland (YENI).
Carol came to the Global Ambassdors Program with several challenges she wanted to address with her mentor Katy. Identifying funding growth opportunities, engaging new business and volunteers to support the work of YENI and helping the youth of Northern Ireland create their own economic futures were just some of the issues she hoped to address.
During the week-long program, Katy was able to help Carol develop a “virtual advisory board,” critical to achieving the strategic goals of her organization, with tactics and support networks to deliver on them. Five months after the end of the program, Carol successfully developed a U.S. fundraising plan, in which Katy assisted in the preparation of the fundraising pitches. She has started delegating accountability within the YENI team, another great stride in her human resource management. Further, Katy has connected her with a number of international contacts who have been able to assist with some of her fundraising goals.
In Carol’s words, “Having an experienced, senior professional as a sounding board meant I could develop and challenge my thinking, to translate aspiration into a concrete delivery plan.”
Bringing her financial expertise to the program, Katy also facilitated a financial management discussion with all of the mentees in Ireland. She addressed a number of their questions around impact investment, franchising versus leasing models, how to understand and interpret financial figures and how to measure return on investment.
Over and above the exceptional caliber of women leaders that Bank of America shares as mentors, a number of the GAP mentees have been able to take advantage of further mentorship through a new opportunity. Bank of America can match employees with select GAP mentees for tailored financial management mentorship, addressing each mentee’s specific needs. This initiative has been spearheaded by Katy Knox, another clear example of her commitment to developing and empowering women leaders around the world.