Associations World Congress

Lorraine is the Head of Conferences and Events at the Biochemical Society, developing and leading the Conference and Events team and ensuring that its activities are aligned with the organisation’s strategy. She began her career at a corporate events management agency but has spent most of the last 20 years working for a range of prestigious associations and learned societies. Lorraine’s first major event was during the final year of a Maths and Computer Science degree at the University of York, when she co-organised the 13th British Juggling Convention, a four-day festival for over 1,000 people. 

Twitter: @LorraineMReese

Nika is an event geek with 15+ years of experience in events and hospitality industries. She has worked for a high end hotel group as Sales and Event Manager, before moving to a buyer side as Head of Events for WAGGGS (World Association of Girls Guides and Girl Scouts). Now she is working as Senior Conference Manager at FIGO (Federation of International Gynecology and Obstetrics). 

Nika is always looking into ways to improve event project management processes and to increase the impact of events for membership organisation.

After completing a Bachelor degree from HEC Montreal and a Master degree from EMLyon Business school, Valentine began her career in event management in the hospitality industry and then worked for international organisations such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She is currently working at the European Respiratory Society (ERS), mainly focusing on the ERS International Congress which brings together more than 20’000 participants and ERS Satellites, a recently awarded, innovative event.

I started my professional career in Financial Services and private equity, working in London, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lyon. 

After 10+ years in the financial world I made a big lifestyle change and relocated to the Côte d'Azur where I initially took some time-out to be a full-time mum and then owned and managed a small company in the electronics industry. My desire to mix with other like-minded women led me to join PWN Global as a member and I really appreciated the exchanges, learning and support this brought me during these exciting and challenging years. After stopping the business, I moved again to Lyon and joined the staff of PWN Global initially as Community Manager, moving on to focusing on the membership experience. 

I am now based in Zurich, where I continue to work for the network. I am passionate about working with PWN Global Volunteers and Members to promote our mission and vision and making my contribution to a more gender balanced leadership for the next generation.

As a UK national, I worked as a senior marketing professional (Chartered MCIM) for 15 years in the UK (with assignments across Europe and the US). I have worked with venture capitalists, not for profits and SMEs, in the technology education and training market – responsible for directing marketing strategy to implementing tactical marketing and communications plans – and everything in between.

In 2010 I had the work-life balance debate and decided, with my family, to make a move to the sunny idyll of the Ardèche Gorges in SE France and set up a business as a freelance marketer. Through my freelance work, I joined PWN Global to help support their community management and flesh out their communications strategy. The more I researched the gender balanced leadership debate, the more I realised that I wanted to make this client my full time job. I took on the role of Head of Global Marketing and Communications so that I could really focus on communicating to the world about the varied range of conscious and sub-conscious barriers that exist for female leaders. I am driven by knowing that I am improving the professional world for the next generation of female leaders.