To mark International Women’s Day, the ION Analytics team, including reporters and analysts at Creditflux, Debtwire, Mergermarket, Dealreporter, Cybersecurity Law Report, Hedge Fund Law Report, Private Equity Law Report, and Anti-Corruption Report have interviewed outstanding women in their respective jurisdictions and fields.

It is our honor to highlight these women and their accomplishments and contributions to their industries and share some of their insights and perspectives. These lawyers, advisors, and consultants from around the world specialize in private equity, restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, hedge funds, anti-corruption, data privacy, and more. We hope these remarkable women inspire you as much as they do us.

In this article, Lisa Lee, Managing Editor at Creditflux, profiles notable women in the structured debt and private equity fields, including (i) Laila Kollmorgen, portfolio manager at PineBridge Investments (ii) Lauren Law, senior portfolio manager at Octagon Credit Investors, and (iii) Shona Ha, a partner in private equity transaction at Ropes & Gray.

Shona Ha

Partner, private equity transaction, Ropes & Gray

Looking back at your career, what has been a defining moment that shaped your leadership style?

I take a lot of my leadership style from senior partners I learned from early on – both women and men who led with real empathy, are just amazing at what they do, and really invest in growing our team and practice. I’ve had great female mentors and male ones; we have a well-balanced partnership that nurtures junior lawyer talent. Seeing those different styles helped me develop my own. I’ve been at Ropes for 13 years, which has allowed me to focus on growth – both personally and in developing the team. People invested in me so I try to do the same for those around me. It’s a very stewardship-oriented partnership, and that’s become part of my leadership DNA.

What opportunities in the current M&A environment excite you the most?

I work on private equity transactions for sophisticated investors who invest in the UK and Europe more broadly – this has been a core strength of our practice here at Ropes & Gray. What’s exciting right now is not just the M&A opportunities our clients see – notwithstanding recent market volatility – but the creative ways they’re deploying capital and generating returns and liquidity for their LPs and investors. Once upon a time, being a PE M&A lawyer meant doing buyout after buyout. Now, my practice is really diversified: traditional buyouts on exciting targets, co-investments, JVs, growth investments, and also, asset management M&A. I was part of the team advising EQT on its landmark acquisition of Coller Capital earlier this year, so it’s been an exciting few months!

The other part that excites me is how active the European investment landscape is. At different points in my career, Europe has seen varying levels of focus from investor clients, but right now, we’re seeing tremendous attention from globally well-positioned clients. We’ve had our London office for 15 years, opened Paris a year ago, and Milan six months ago. Growing our European private capital practice continues to be an exciting journey.

How can organisations do better to support and retain female talent in financial industry?

As a mum of two – an eight-year-old and a two-year-old – Ropes has been incredibly supportive. Being a transactional lawyer while raising kids and growing a practice takes patience and perseverance. I’ve felt real support from those around me, which has allowed me to do it all and be happy at the same time. That’s not an easy combination to come by.

Lauren Law

Senior CLO portfolio manager, Octagon Credit Investors

Looking back at your career, what has been a defining moment that shaped your leadership style?

My leadership style has been shaped by the exceptional people I’ve had the privilege of working for. Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to work with managers who treated me with respect, supported me, and encouraged me to take on challenges I wasn’t always sure I was ready for. Watching how they built teams, trusted their people, and created environments where others could do their best became the foundation of how I aspire to lead.

What opportunities in the current environment excite you the most?

Retaining female talent really starts with something pretty simple: treat women fairly, pay them fairly, and then trust them to do their jobs. Give them the room to lead without putting extra barriers in their way.

And honestly, women create opportunities for other women. When you can look up and see someone in a senior role who looks like you, it suddenly becomes much easier to picture yourself in that seat one day.

How can organisations do better to support and retain female talent in financial industry?

Representation isn’t just a nice idea—it truly matters. It helps people grow. It sends a very real message that there’s room for you to rise, that you’re supported, and that the people around you understand what it’s like to navigate this industry as a woman.

Laila Kollmorgen

CLO portfolio manager, PineBridge Investments

Looking back at your career, what has been a defining moment that shaped your leadership style?

Role models were very few and hard to come by, and the generation before me had it quite hard. They barely ever married or had children. I did, however, have one outstanding manager early on in my career, who really helped me figure out the type of manager I wanted to be – Harley Bassman at Merrill Lynch, the ‘convexity maven’. He was a fantastic manager who knew how to build and develop teams. He was the first manager I had who very thoughtfully ensured that all his teams were half women and half men. He did not rely upon your educational background, despite the fact that his was stellar. Working with him was truly a privilege.

What opportunities in the current environment excite you the most?

I still think that finance, whether it’s the sell side or the buy side, represents a fantastic opportunity for women because it is still one of the few places where you can work If you are in portfolio management or in trading or as a credit analyst, and your results count. And it’s one of the few places where you have a chance of a meritocracy.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have all the same opportunities as others. As women, We recognise that if a door is shut or if it’s going to be too difficult, we’re not going to bang our head against that door. Life’s too short. But if you perceive that you have a chance, then you’re going to give it a go. I think that’s very important that you have a chance. And I don’t think anybody’s asking for anything more than that.

How can organisations do better to support and retain female talent in financial industry?

I think it’s important to continue to have education. Unconscious bias training is incredibly important. How to recognise each of our unconscious biases, so that they become conscious, so that you’re aware of them, so that you can do something about them.

I also believe in flexibility in work schedules. That goes a long, long way. This is not just for women who have children, it’s for men. At PineBridge, we have had parental leave. It’s incredibly important for men and women to be able to bond with their young child, so I think it’s incredibly important that we treat men and women equally on this issue on this front.