In this month’s employee spotlight, we’d like to introduce Laura Logan Lane, Senior Sales & Strategy Analyst at FISPAN. Laura joined the FISPAN team in December 2020 after previously working in both Financial Services Consulting and Investment Compliance.
As a Senior Sales & Strategy Analyst, Laura’s role sounds incredibly ambiguous but actually makes a lot of sense at FISPAN. Laura sits across all client accounts (new and existing), facilitating risk assessments and diligence requests while also managing our internal contractual process.
Laura graduated from University College Cork in Ireland with both a degree in Law, then later obtained a Masters in Corporate Finance. Prior to FISPAN, Laura worked at Charles River Development, a fintech company that helps automate and simplify the investment process, where she gained more insight into compliance standards and regulatory requirements alongside developing compliance rule coding skills.
Get to know more about Laura, why she’s empowered by working for a female-founded fintech company, and why it’s important to bring your personality to work!
Laura conquering her fear of heights at Whistler Bungee
What made you decide to join FISPAN in the first place? Were there specific aspects that attracted you to the company?
Upon moving to Canada from Ireland in 2019, I decided to take a break from office life and move into retail for a change of pace and to meet new people. I love retail so this was an easy transition for me, and having customer service experience from working throughout college really helped me settle in quickly.
When the pandemic started, the retail industry took a huge hit - as did many others, and I decided it was time to move back to a more secure role. My career started mainly working with banks and investment management companies, so this was initially what I was looking for, but I happened upon a FISPAN job posting on LinkedIn and I was interested from the start. I began to research and was really impressed by the 50/50 gender split FISPAN tries to maintain within the company. I was also impressed that FISPAN is a female founded fintech company, as that was something I had always struggled to find previously. FISPAN’s ethos really aligned with me and my values, and I kept pushing my resume on the sales and strategy teams until somebody pulled me for an interview.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work each day?
My biggest motivation to wake up is always food but the fact that my job differs from day to day is a close second! I get bored quite easily and the nature of my job makes getting bored impossible. Whether I’m dealing with a client question or request, or something internal that needs to be handled, there’s rarely a dull moment and I think that’s the best part of working in a start-up environment.
What is one thing you wish you had known when you started out your career?
Probably that you don’t have to act so seriously all the time to be respected within a workplace, and if you do then that’s not the right workplace for you.
I think for young people, it can be difficult not to feel intimidated when you are inexperienced. For young women especially, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong when you’re one of maybe a couple of women in a room. With experience comes confidence, but now I definitely try to bring more of my personality to work every day - you can still be professional and have fun!
Meet Ellie Logan Lane, taking a well deserved rest during her daily walk in Cork, Ireland.
Who has influenced you the most in your professional career?
I’ve been lucky enough throughout my career to have been mentored by some incredible people, but I would have to say my dad. My dad has built his career from the ground up and is hands down the most hardworking person I know. He is great at dealing with people, and I like to think that it’s from him I get my ability to make others feel comfortable. He has always been someone I’ve looked up to professionally, and was my first influence on how to conduct yourself in a work environment. He taught me to respect other people, but above all to respect myself and to stand my ground when I need to. He can also do a lot of math in his head, which I find both strange and impressive in equal measure.
What does a typical weekend look like for you?
I love working out, so usually my days will start with some kind of physical activity in the mornings. After that, coffee and food are a big focus - I like to try new things and discover new food places or coffee spots. During the summer, I try to spend as much time as possible near or on the water. When it’s raining, (as it does a lot in Vancouver), I visit galleries or museums whenever I can. I love art and have developed an appreciation for history as I’ve gotten older - I like to learn as much as I can about a place I’m living, and being in Canada means learning about the First Peoples and their cultures, traditions and histories.
As an outdoors lover, Laura is consistently finding new ways to explore BC, which can look like kayaking around the Sunshine Coast (left) and being rewarded with a great view after a hike (right)
What’s your favourite quote?
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world”
What are you most excited about for the rest of 2022?
I’m excited to see FISPAN continue to thrive in a post-pandemic market. There’s a lot of unease across many industries right now but I think FISPAN is well positioned to weather the storm, whatever that turns out to be. We have just gone through a company-wide reorganization, so I’m excited to see the impact of that across the company, as new teams have been formed in line with collective goals. We’re working on a number of new initiatives for 2022, so I’m excited to look back at the end of the year and see what we have accomplished.
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We invite you to get to know Laura further by checking out her LinkedIn and exploring what a career at FISPAN could look like, for those like Laura who are motivated by the changing nature of a start-up!