Leigh Golombick, Morgan Shaw Advisory

"No two deals are the same, no two days are the same. The work we're doing are life altering events for most of our clients."

In short, it's about creating space for people to thrive, both at work and in life.

With over thirteen years in M&A, Leigh has seen firsthand how the industry demanded everything from its professionals. But when she became a mum and experienced the shift to hybrid working, she realised something was missing: genuine support for women navigating career and family simultaneously.

That realisation sparked By Women in Finance, a grassroots networking organisation born from the bonds Leigh formed with other mothers in the industry.

What started as a lifeline became a movement. "I would just love a handful of women to say that through their involvement in By Women in Finance, it helped keep them in a career in finance and helped them feel safe to evolve in this career as their life changed and we gave them tools and life skills that made this career an option past the point of 'I'm now having a family and I don't know if I can go back into that,'" Leigh says..

As M&A transactions grow more complex, with more parties, more data, and higher stakes, the right tools matter. Leigh has partnered with Ansarada for years to manage this complexity.

"Ansarada [is] very much the apple of data rooms," she explains. The platform's intuitive interface means clients in their early 30s and late 70s can navigate it with ease. Whether using Ansarada's redaction tool to protect sensitive information when a competitor is acquiring a client, or uploading everything directly into the dat room, Ansarada has become integral to how Morgan Shaw Advisory operates.

But what sets Ansarada apart for Leigh goes beyond functionality. "You don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk. Your team are at every event and they are supporting women in the biggest ways by just being there and showing up for the By Women in Finance community."

For Leigh, it's a reminder that in M&A and in life, success isn't just about managing transactions, it's about supporting the people making them happen.

Leigh Golombick is a Pathfinder.