FMWF’s Lisa Buckingham has been made an OBE in the New Year’s honours

Lisa Buckingham, editor of Financial Mail on Sunday and founder and editor-in-chief of the Financial Mail Women’s Forum, has been made an Officer of the British Empire in the New Year’s honours list for services to journalism and women’s issues.

The honour recognises Lisa’s role as head of the best-read finance section in a Sunday newspaper and the way in which she has broadened the scope of Financial Mail, building on its traditional appeal to women readers to reach into new areas for the paper.

The award also recognizes Lisa’s commitment to championing the role of women in the work place and encouraging women from all walks of life and across all age groups to aim high and reach their fullest potential.

Lisa founded Financial Mail Women’s Forum (www.fmwf.com) a decade ago to help as many women as possible to reach the very highest ranks in British business and to support them once they get there with the most relevant news and features coverage, advice and networking opportunities.

As well as providing a network for women at the top of their professions in everything from City to politics, public services to arts and sciences, FMWF engages and uses the skills of its members to provide mentoring for women in business and reaches out to young women encouraging ambition in a new generation.

Now one of the most influential women’s networks in the country FMWF has its own successful website.  Some of its leading lights participate in our Breaking the Mould careers conferences by introducing schoolgirls to non-traditional role models, inspiring them to become trailblazers and challenge the frequently narrow horizons they often see in the world of work.

Most recently, Lisa has launched a series of newsletters, called Financial Freedom.  Distributed to every female prison leaver in the country they provide basic money advice in an attempt to reduce the high rate of re-offending that stems from a failure to deal with financial, housing and employment issues on the outside.

If a woman can stay free of prison for two years there’s a good chance she will stay free forever. With this mind, Financial Freedom newsletter aims to inspire and encourage women to start afresh and establish financial independence.

A free 24 hour information line has also been established to help vulnerable women with nowhere to turn make contact with Women’s Centers around the country.

Lisa is also a member of the Women’s Justice Taskforce, set up by The Prison Reform Trust to ensure that vulnerable women in the criminal justice system are a priority for government and to look at long term, sustainable ways to finance Women’s Centres.

Buckingham said: ‘To be made an OBE is an immense honour and a wonderful recognition of the superb work done by the team at Financial Mail not only to produce the best finance section every week but to creatively explore how we can extend this fantastic brand into new areas.

‘Financial Mail Women’s Forum has also achieved so much over the past year and deserves to be acknowledged.

‘This honour recognizes the dedication, ideas and hard-work of the FMWF team: Vicki Owen, Gaynor Pengelly, Helen Loveless, Tabby Cole and Jackie Jay.’

Tags: Female Journalists, Lisa Buckingham, Women in Media, Women's Justice Taskforce

Posted by Gaynor Pengelly on Sunday, January 2nd, 2011 at 12:09 am.

Filed under Business Icons, Feature, Features, In the Boardroom, Lisa Buckingham, News, Tagged as: , Female Journalists, Lisa Buckingham, Women in Media, Women's Justice Taskforce.