Company: Jones Publishing (Citywealth), London, United Kingdom
Company Description: Citywealth is a publishing and events company diffusing up to date financial news through its website, monthly e-newsletter, and two printed annual magazines, and recognises excellence within the wealth management sector through their yearly awards. It seeks to support women in the sector through its networking clubs to reach their maximum potential along their career path
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Most Innovative Woman of the Year - Business Services
 Nomination Title: Karen Jones, CEO
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2021 of the nominated woman, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below:
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 198 words used.
Karen Jones founded Citywealth - a media and events company that connects private wealth management professionals globally – in 2005.
She founded the company after working ten years in the media, and then taking over In Brief magazine, a legal B2B title, where she grew the organisation to a successful £500,000 a year business.
When setting up her own company eighteen years ago, Karen was much discouraged from launching into the financial sector as it was an industry dominated by men. In spite of all the obstacles, she built up a successful multi-award winning business. Her own struggles led her to champion other women in business.
Karen has already been awarded no less than eight Stevie Awards, including a gold award in the Female Entrepreneur of the Year category, and three awards in the Women Helping Women category. Her outstanding work also earned her the prestigious Freedom of the City of London, a rare honour bestowed upon a valued member of the community. As a freeman, she has the right to vote for the Lord Mayor of London, one of the world’s oldest elected offices, whose main role is to support businesses in the City of London
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2021 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
Karen joined the mere 5% of crypto entrepreneurs who are women by creating the Citywealth Crypto Club in 2022.
Having always had a keen interest in cryptocurrency, both in trading and NFTs, Karen established the club for the safe adoption of crypto for the institutional UHNW or accredited investor market.
Karen was also a TedxHSG salon speaker at St Gallen University, Switzerland, talking about NFTs being part of a new art history.
The club is open to crypto professionals and wealth managers to discuss regulation, tax, disputes, custody, or to hear from compliant and verified crypto natives. The club meets quarterly to keep abreast of the latest developments within the sector.
“Citywealth Crypto Accredited” listings and rankings of highly recommended people and organisations were introduced after thorough vetting - examining key competency areas such as cases worked on, educational background and resources in crypto as well as history with clients in the industry. This enables Karen to offer a list of approved advisors, managers and verified crypto organisations to work with that have professional touchpoints in the form of lawyer/accountant or trustee references
Karen has attracted some illustrious speakers to her crypto meetings. Amongst these Daniel Masters, Chairman, Coinshares; Miami based Blockbar, Steven Rees Davies, Partner at Carey Olsen, Bermuda and most recently Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE from the House of Lords, a member of the influential House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, as well as an ex-Paralympic swimmer with nine gold medals to his name.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 218 words used.
The creation of the Citywealth Crypto Club is an innovative addition to Karen’s business, as only very few women have the interest and knowledge within this relatively new sector. Also, financial institutions such as Family Offices that manage private family wealth and advise on the safe transfer of assets to the next generation, tend to be very traditional and cautious. They need reassurance and guidance to be gently and safely introduced to crypto. Karen provides an invaluable service with the vetted and verified listings of recommended crypto professionals.
Crypto, NFT’s and tokens have risen up as a new global industry but with patchy regulation and variable legal definitions in each country, so navigating the sector for institutional investors like family offices or trust companies is difficult. Family Offices may be subject to large scale scams as accredited investors and trustees are liable to their beneficiaries if they lose money in a lifetime trust by holding bitcoin. Citywealth provides touch points with professional references for crypto natives and one on one contact to verify their services and people. In addition they provide a survey to give accreditation – checking on claims of expertise and the www.leaderslist.co.uk site to allow users to leave reviews of services. These are checked by Citywealth. Data is used to verify reviews.
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 94 words used.
URL to the website giving more details about the Citywealth Crypto Club
- Adding some humour and creating international interest, a photo of Karen wearing a Bitcoin hat at the major British horse racing event Grand National, printed in the British newspaper Liverpool Echo and in the Swiss press Neue Zurcher Zeitung
- Photo of Karen at the Crypto Club launch in March 2022 with BlockBar founders Dov Falic and Samuel Falic
- Testimonial from Citywealth Crypto Club member Sean Kiernan, founder & CEO of Greengage, a digital merchant bank for SMEs and high net worth individuals
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