Fondsfrauen Award 2025: Award for CACEIS and Carola Marx from DWS

On 21 October 2025, outstanding pioneers and role models for greater gender diversity in asset management were honored at the seventh Fondsfrauen Award in Frankfurt. CACEIS was named Company of the Year and Carola Marx from DWS Role Model of the Year. Further awards went to Sina Meier from 21Shares (Woman of the Year), Dr. Denisa Čumova from La Française (Fund Manager of the Year), and Nina Blachut from Union Investment (Rising Talent).Woman of the Year), Dr. Denisa Čumova, La Française (Fund Manager of the Year) und Nina Blachut, Union Investment (Rising Talent).

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While Donald Trump is working to abolish DEI initiatives in the United States, Europe continues to stand by its commitment to diversity. Yet setting a goal is one thing, achieving it is another. The proportion of women in executive positions across Europe remains low, many industry events still feature predominantly male panels, and the media continue to quote far more male than female expert, at least when it comes to financial topics.

At Fondsfrauen, we want to keep attention focused on equality and diversity. That’s why we are presenting the Fondsfrauen Award for the seventh time this year.

Sixteen female finance professionals and companies were honored.

As part of an exclusive evening event at the Frankfurter Botschaft, Fondsfrauen put a spotlight on 16 outstanding female finance professionals on 21 October. Their achievement: through their role-model behavior, by motivating other women in the industry, or through exceptional professional performance, they have actively contributed to greater diversity in the financial sector.

Five categories

In the run-up to the event, Fondsfrauen, together with media partner FONDS professionell, had asked men and women in the industry to nominate individuals and companies for the following five categories - in each case with precise reasons.

• Company of the Year
• Woman of the Year
• Fund Manager of the Year (f)
• Role Model of the Year (m/w/d)
• Rising Talent (f)

After a welcome by Fondsfrau Anne Connelly, Maren Schmitz, Partner at KPMG (the event’s main sponsor), delivered an inspiring speech on why diversity benefits the financial industry and why both role models and networking are so important for women. Maren Schmitz leads the Financial Services Management Consulting division in Frankfurt and oversees consulting for banking, asset management, and real estate in Germany. Hans Heuser, Co-publisher and Editor-in-Chief of media partner FONDS professionell, also emphasized in his speech that it is indeed possible today to find outstanding female talent in the industry—provided one knows how and where to look.

Here are this year’s finalists and winners in the five categories.

With around 280 nominations, the financial community has recognized outstanding companies and professionals who are committed to diversity and have already achieved measurable success. As in previous years, the nominations came from all four countries where Fondsfrauen is active: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

The Fondsfrauen Awards honor successful women from the investment fund industry, companies that actively promote gender diversity in asset management, and men and women who serve as role models for others. These individuals send a clear message: women make significant contributions to the financial industry, and companies in this sector can both promote and embody diversity, and achieve success by doing so.

Company of the Year

• CACEIS ( winner)
• DEKA (Finalistin)
• DWS (Finalistin)

CACEIS was selected as the winner for its strong and consistent commitment to creating a female-friendly work environment and promoting gender equality at the leadership level. With 50% women on the Executive Committee and 46% across the company, the bank is well above the industry average. Through the myFürstenberg Institute, CACEIS offers mental health support programs specifically tailored to women. The bank’s parental leave policy promotes equality between mothers and fathers. As a pioneer, the German branch founded the first women’s network within the CACEIS Group, strengthening diversity and inclusion. This initiative has since become the model for a group-wide network, which is expected to grow to 500 members by 2027.

Woman of the Year

• Sina Meier, 21Shares (winner)
• Regina Townsend, CACEIS (Finalistin)
• Zoe Hart, UBS (Finalistin)

Sina Meier was named Woman of the Year. She is Managing Director and Head of Switzerland, FraBeLux, and the Middle East at 21Shares. She was recognized for her forward-thinking mindset, which has played a key role in increasing 21Shares’ assets under management from 19 million CHF to over 12 billion CHF. Sina leads the company’s strategic expansion in key markets, working closely with private banks, family offices, asset managers, and regulators to accelerate global adoption of cryptocurrencies. Her clarity, deep market knowledge, and collaborative leadership style were particularly highlighted in the nominations.

Role Model of the Year (m/w/d)

• Carola Marx, DWS (winner)
• Ines Hoffmann (Finalistin)
• Aleksandra Matschinsky, Union Investment (Finalistin)

The winner in this category is Carola Marx, who was already shortlisted as a finalist in 2024. Carola is deeply committed to supporting young professionals—particularly to empowering women in their careers. She creates spaces where female talent can grow and gain visibility, such as the company’s Female Round Table, and she provides individual guidance to employees on their career paths. Through professional development programs, both locally and internationally, she motivates women to actively shape their careers. In addition, she volunteers at Finkennest, a home for children with disabilities. Carola embodies leadership, empowerment, and social commitment: a true role model.

Fund Manager of the Year

• Dr. Denisa Čumova, La Française (winner)
• Lilian Haag, DWS (Finalistin)
• Dr. Lisa Herr, Quoniam Asset Management (Finalistin)
• Raluca Jochmann, Allianz Global Investors (Finalistin)

Dr. Denisa Čumova is a Fund Manager and Team Leader at La Française. In addition, she has established ADORA, an innovative strategy based on machine learning that mitigates return risks in portfolios. She continuously develops this approach further, building on insights from behavioral economics. As a strong and visionary leader, she combines scientific excellence with clear client value and drives best practices in portfolio management. She serves as an inspiration for many young women in the fund industry to pursue careers in quantitative portfolio management, financial mathematics, and data science.

In the Fund Manager of the Year category, so many exceptional portfolio managers were nominated that the jury found it difficult to narrow the selection to just three finalists. Therefore, it was decided to name four finalists, with Dr. Denisa Čumova ultimately being chosen as the winner.

Rising Talent

• Nina Blachut, Union Investment (winner)
• Sabrina Löffler, DJE (Finalistin)
• Anna-Lena Röhn, d-tail Family Office (Finalistin)

As a career changer, Nina Blachut took on the role of Co-Head of Marketing in July 2024 at the age of 36, with just two and a half years of experience in asset management. Since July 2025, she has been solely responsible as Head of Marketing for a 15-person team and a seven-figure budget. Her goal is to strengthen sales success and market leadership through top-tier digital marketing that focuses on customer orientation and data-driven strategies. To achieve this, Nina introduced agile working methods and pursues innovative approaches by combining marketing and technology. Internally, she serves as an ambassador for the Co-Head model. Since 2023, the mother of a six-year-old has been active in the Diversity Council, and since 2025, she has been a member of the MD Advisory Panel.

Lots of great women in finance!

The winners of each category were present in Frankfurt and gladly accepted their awards. The finalists also expressed their joy and appreciation at being recognized and shortlisted among so many strong candidates.

The award shows that successful women in the financial sector do exist - even if some panels or conferences give the impression that the industry is still very male-dominated.

A heartfelt thank-you goes to our media partner FONDS professionell for organizing the nominations. We would also like to sincerely thank our sponsors: KPMG, Morningstar, S&P Dow Jones Indices, and BiermannNeff - without whom this award ceremony would not have been possible.

Read the article by our media partner FONDS professionell here.

In our gallery , you’ll find a selection of special moments from the evening. Please remember to include the photo credits when using the images.

Foto: Toni Hofmann (2025)

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