By Lora Benson
Educational charity and financial services professional body the CISI (Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment) is delighted to announce that Arlene Ewing Chartered FCSI has won the CISI Mentor of The Year award 2025.
The CISI Mentor of The Year Award was launched to recognise and celebrate an inspirational CISI member who goes above and beyond in supporting their mentee's learning and development and helping them achieve their professional goals.
The CISI Mentoring Scheme was launched in 2022 as an exclusive worldwide member benefit, facilitating both traditional and reverse mentoring, and has matched hundreds of mentors and mentees to date. All CISI members can join the scheme which offers members the opportunity to support one another and build strong and trusting relationships.
Arlene Ewing Chartered FCSI is an Investment Director, left, having worked in the financial services sector for over 35 years, starting her career with Greig Middleton, moving to Speirs and Jeffrey in 2002 and then Brewin Dolphin in 2016. During her time at Brewin Dolphin Arlene commentated on markets on BBC Radio Scotland and in 2021 moved to Investec in Glasgow where she led the office. She has been a long-standing member of the CISI Scottish Committee and most recently led the Committee as President for a number of years. She has been a CISI member for over 20 years.
Of Arlene, her mentee Kolade Salawu Chartered MCSI, right, said: “Arlene was selfless in assisting and guiding me through a difficult period in my career. She allocated adequate amount of time for periodic meetings, and she encouraged me to be open and honest whilst also giving a lot of herself in the process. I am particularly impressed with the individualistic and tailored approach she brought to the mentorship.”
Regarding her award, which will be presented to Arlene at the Mansion House, London CISI Awards ceremony 29 April, Arlene said: “It has been a pleasure assisting Kolade to achieve his goals, I am truly delighted to receive this award and be part of Kolade’s journey. I would personally like to thank the CISI for providing this unique opportunity to assist our members in their career paths.”
To obtain this award mentees were invited to nominate their mentors. The shortlisted mentors were then invited to an interview with CISI judges Neil Atkinson Chartered FCSI, Tsitsi Mutiti Chartered FCSI and Kevin Moore Chartered FCSI.
The CISI judges noted there were two strong finalists – Kash Baig MCSI and Matthew Fielding Chartered MCSI – who both demonstrated energy and commitment to supporting their mentees.
Kevin Moore Chartered FCSI, CISI Director of Global Business Development said: “We are thrilled to congratulate Arlene for achieving the CISI Mentor of The Year award 2025. Her energy, enthusiasm and dedication to her mentee was outstanding. Arlene’s experience was fundamental to Kolade Salawu achieving his mentee goals and it was clear to the judges that this was a formidable mentoring partnership. Many congratulations to Arlene and we look forward to helping her mark this important achievement at our annual Awards ceremony in April.”
The CISI launched its reverse mentoring scheme in January 2024, offering more senior CISI members the chance to learn from more junior members, recognising the importance of lifelong learning and development throughout members’ careers. More information on CISI’s mentoring scheme: cisi.org/mentoring