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Nicola Shield
Lead for Governance, Risk, Compliance and Control - Partner at PwC
Professional Background
Nicola Shield is a seasoned professional at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), bringing a wealth of experience in governance, risk management, and compliance. Currently serving as a Partner at PwC, Nicola specializes in multiple focus areas essential for the operational integrity of organizations in today's complex landscape. Her expertise encompasses operational risk and controls, conduct risk and controls, and the measurement and assessment of workplace culture and behaviors. She is recognized as a thought leader in the field, leading initiatives that enhance organizational resilience and compliance frameworks.
As the focal point for Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Controls at PwC, Nicola plays a pivotal role in helping financial institutions navigate regulatory challenges and evolving market conditions. Her insights into entity-level controls and management information systems (MI) form the backbone of many compliance efforts, particularly those centered around the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 404 (SOX S404). Through her leadership, she has cultivated a culture of risk awareness, empowering teams to identify vulnerabilities and implement strategic actions effectively.
In addition to her current responsibilities, Nicola has previously served as the interim lead for Internal Audit, showcasing her multifaceted expertise within the comprehensive risk management landscape. Her extensive background equips her to manage intricate scenarios, particularly in the context of Brexit, where she acts as the primary resource for Banking and Capital Market clients at PwC. This crucial role reflects her ability to anticipate the impacts of geopolitical changes on financial operations, further showcasing her adaptability and strategic foresight.
Education and Achievements
Nicola's academic journey began at the renowned University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where she pursued a comprehensive education that provided her with foundational knowledge in business risk and governance. Prior to that, she honed her analytical and academic skills at Uppingham School, an esteemed institution known for nurturing leadership and critical thinking.
Her educational background, combined with her professional experience, allows Nicola to bridge theoretical concepts with real-world applications, making her insights highly valuable for organizations striving to enhance their risk management frameworks and governance systems.
Achievements
Throughout her career at PwC, Nicola Shield has made significant contributions to her field. She has been a key player in developing strategies that bolster controls and mitigate potential risks across various sectors, particularly in banking and capital markets. Her role as the PwC lead for Brexit initiatives underscores her commitment to guiding clients through transformative regulatory landscapes.
Her focus on operational excellence and cultural behaviors not only drives compliance efforts but also promotes an organization-wide ethos of accountability and transparency. As organizations face increasing scrutiny from both regulators and the public, Nicola's expertise is invaluable in fostering a proactive approach to governance and risk management.
In conclusion, Nicola Shield stands out as an influential figure in the landscape of Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Controls, driving innovative solutions that align with best practices in the industry. Her continued commitment to excellence, combined with her passion for fostering resilient organizational cultures, positions her as a trusted partner for clients navigating the complexities of today’s regulatory environments.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.