The Volunteer of the Year Awards recognize society leaders who have demonstrated exemplary results with their local society, the CFA Institute community, and beyond. This year, Jeannie Tai, CFA, Board of Directors, CFA Society Malaysia, has been recognised as the Outstanding Young Leader (awarded to an inspirational society leader under the age of 35 years) and Nerina Visser, CFA, President, CFA Society South Africa has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for her sustained, varied, and impactful long-term service.
Outstanding Young Leader Award
Jeannie Tai, CFA, Board of Directors, CFA Society Malaysia
Jeannie has served on the CFA Society Malaysia board since 2017, the same year she earned her CFA charter. She was re-elected to the board in 2019 and drives employer engagement for the local society. Her extraordinary leadership abilities and diligence have enabled CFA Society Malaysia to build closer relationships with key employer organisations.
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Jeannie was first elected as the Director responsible for Membership Management and Communications in 2017 and assumed the role as Secretary and Director of Employer Engagements in 2019. Since then, she has been regarded as the “face of CFA Society Malaysia” for employer outreach. She drives engagement, leads career initiatives, and delivers content from CFA Institute to key local employers. Jeannie was responsible for the employer segment of the first virtual Career Carnival 2020. She also developed the web-based “Career Guide” for university students and young professionals intending to enter the finance industry. It has proved a successful tool for attracting registrants to the CFA® Program, promoted greater awareness of the local society, and led to increased traffic on the local society Facebook page.
Her efforts over the past few years paved the way for the launch of the CFA Society Malaysia Employer Recognition Program in 2020. This program recognizes employers who are committed to developing employees through the CFA® Program and this is the first of its kind among the CFA Society community. Her dedication in developing and maintaining relationships with top employers is extensive. She continuously reaches out to them in ways the local society can support and assist the organisation’s employees in advancing their career profile through the CFA Program.
Jeannie has successfully forged strategic alliances with institutional bodies on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and she played an integral role in the establishment of the ESG Game Show with an asset management company in Malaysia. The ESG Game Show has garnered interest and favourable feedback from top local employers and is recognized as one of its flagship initiatives.
Jeannie’s efforts in the international capital markets landscape are far-reaching. Jeannie collaborates with International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and other capital market regulators in the ASEAN region beyond the local society to promote regional and international capital market initiatives (including green finance, FinTech and long-term financing).
Caroline Ng, Executive Director, CFA Society Malaysia, commented: “Fondly known as our go–to person for employer engagement, Jeannie constantly comes up with new ideas and concepts to promote the CFA Program to this audience. She has a deep passion to advance the mission of CFA Institute and elevate CFA Program brand awareness and has demonstrated huge value. Jeannie is proactive and worked hard with the team at CFA Society Malaysia to invite high-profile speakers to our virtual events when the country went into lockdown in 2020. She is an invaluable member of the team at CFA Society Malaysia and we are delighted this has been recognised with this award.”
Lifetime Achievement Award
Nerina Visser, CFA, President, CFA Society South Africa
Over the last 17 years, Nerina has worked tirelessly to further the mission and vision of both CFA Society South Africa and CFA Institute. Nerina has an abundance of energy and her enthusiasm is contagious. Under her leadership, the board of CFA South Africa has been transformed and in 2018 it reached its full complement of 12 members for the first time since the local society was formed in 2001. To many outsiders, Nerina is the “face” of the local society and she remains fully committed to raising its profile and delivering member value.
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In 2004, Nerina became an active member and volunteer for CFA Society South Africa. She joined the board of the local society in 2013, became Vice-President and Chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee in 2015, and has been President of the local society since 2018.
Nerina has been a driving force behind the restructuring of the Executive Office and revised board structures to achieve operational and strategic excellence. She has focused on increasing diversity across several metrics. The board now consists of an equal 50/50 gender split, ages ranging from 34 to 56, with six different ethnicity and language groups represented. She also has a strong focus on the promotion of the CFA Institute Women in Investment Management program and champions Women in ETFs initiatives and events.
The primary objective of the board is to ensure that members derive value from their membership. Through Nerina’s drive, CFA Society South Africa has become a recognised Continued Professional Development service provider, offering its members a guaranteed minimum 18 compulsory CPD Credits through a of high-quality continuing education programmes, and events.
Nerina can create and conceptualize new opportunities and collaborations for CFA Society South Africa and is able to leverage her wealth of contacts, whether it be with industry professionals, the media, industry bodies or the CFA Society community. Through Nerina’s vision and insight, CFA Society South Africa partnered with Asset Tv SA in 2019 to create a dedicated channel on Asset TV SA – enabling members to access quality recorded CPD content to view on demand. With the outbreak of COVID 19 and subsequent lockdown, the digital offering put the local society in an advantageous position with effective professional systems already in place.
The wealth of knowledge that Nerina has gained from attending Society Leadership Conferences since 2014 has been an asset to the local society. She is eager to share her knowledge and findings and keeps the board and Executive Office up-to-date through regular feedback sessions.
Nerina’s involvement goes beyond the local society. Indeed, she actively sits on the EMEA Presidents Council and CFA Institute Society Marketing & Communications Council, and was a member of the Annual Conference Advisory Group FY20.
Linda Hawkins, CFA Society South Africa, commented, “Nerina’s continued passion and dedication to CFA Society South Africa and CFA Institute is unsurpassed. Her knowledge sharing, guidance, support and leadership style drives the local society forward and allows younger members of the board to explore new initiatives. Nerina’s commitment to supporting governance, ethics and best practice will leave a long-lasting positive legacy. Given the demands of her day-job, this has required substantial sacrifice. We are hugely grateful for Nerina’s leadership and proud that she has been honoured with this award.”
Read more about CFA Society South Africa initiatives:
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