London Stock Exchange CEO Julia Hoggett on inspiring those ‘who don’t feel that they quite fit in’ (exclusive)

‘One of the privileges of being in this kind of role is that it has a potential for impact on the next young woman who’s trying to figure out whether she wants to be a sociologist or a financier, who thinks that there’s no way she can ever work in the City because she’s gay.”

These words, spoken with calm conviction, encapsulate the essence of Dame Julia Hoggett — a woman who has consistently defied expectations. Seated in her office with the historic Coat of Arms of the London Stock Exchange behind her, the leader of the Financial & Legal category of this year’s Attitude 101, empowered by Bentley is a study in purposeful presence (see here for all the 10 influential figures who made our Attitude 101 Financial & Legal list).

Her extraordinary journey begins with an equally extraordinary lineage. “I have to say I was incredibly lucky,” Hoggett reflects, her voice carrying both humility and pride. As the only child of two pioneering legal professionals, she inherited a legacy of intellectual excellence that would both inspire and challenge her. Her mother, Baroness Brenda Hale, shattered glass ceilings as a groundbreaking Supreme Court Justice, while her father, John Hoggett QC, established himself as a distinguished legal mind of remarkable depth.

Yet for Hoggett, inherited excellence was never enough. Where others might have followed a predetermined path, she chose radical differentiation. “I realised that if I went into law, I might never know whether I got there because of me or because of who my parents were,” she explains. The pressure was profound. Instead, she chose her own path.

Below, the London Stock Exchange CEO unpacks a narrative that is part professional odyssey, part social revolution — a journey of leadership, authenticity and a commitment to creating spaces where everyone, regardless of their background, can thrive.

Tell me about your roots and early life.

I grew up in a tiny village just south of Manchester in northern Derbyshire. I went to Manchester High School for Girls and feel very much still like a proud northerner, even though I am well aware that I have lost my accent. I then came down to London to go to secondary school.

How did you navigate the expectations of coming from such a distinguished family?

I realised that if I went into law, I’d get to the end of my career and not know whether I got there because of me or because of who my parents were, in terms of the opportunities I might have been afforded. There was pressure, because following my parents in their legal careers would have been very difficult. That was when I made a very overt decision not to go into law and to study what I thought was my initial passion, which was politics.

Where did your path take you from there?

I got a place at Cambridge to study social and political sciences and realised in the first week that sociology was the thing that absolutely fascinated me. I won a scholarship to look at how Malawi responded to the oil crisis of the 1970s and 1980s. I went into the university library and took out every book on Malawi I could find and realised that they were not going to tell me the answer to my questions. My father suggested I apply to some investment banks that do emerging markets. I went to the careers service at the university and asked who the biggest emerging markets banks were. The two banks I wanted to work for offered me jobs, and I ultimately chose J.P. Morgan. They had already decided in their contracts that they wouldn’t terminate employment based on sexuality — which was significant at a time before sexuality was a protected characteristic in the UK.

Can you describe your coming out journey?

I didn’t come out until my graduate year at university. I got to a point where it was harder not to be me than to confront the potential consequences. I chose to do it because I already had a lot of gay friends at university. I came out at a disco at a pub in Cambridge, and most of them just went, “What’s taken you so long?” I had a lovely evening and realised that yes, this was me.

How did your parents respond?

They were both incredibly supportive. I wrote my father a long letter explaining my journey. He left me a voicemail that said, “I’ve just received your letter, and I just want you to know it’s the most wonderful letter I’ve ever received in my life.” It still makes me emotional to this day. At the time, in the mid-90s, many of the rights and protections the gay community now has weren’t there. As an only child, I was changing my parents’ sense of what was possible.

How did your career in finance begin?

My first major job was at J.P. Morgan. I wasn’t out for the first couple of years, but then was actually encouraged to come out by my boss. It’s a remarkable gift that continues in my life now. I’m just the same person at home as I am in the office, and I don’t need to waste emotional energy on [hiding who I am] — I can just be me. Being openly gay allowed me to develop my own leadership style. I wasn’t having assumptions about how women were supposed to behave projected onto me. And my male colleagues could chat to me about football and cricket, because I genuinely love those sports.

Tell me about your approach to diversity and inclusion.

I’ve been talking about diversity and inclusion in the City since I came out. I always jokingly say I haven’t worn a skirt to the office since 1998. I worked with a colleague to organise what we think may have been the first dedicated LGBT recruiting event in the City of London, in about 2000. I realised there weren’t many openly gay people, so one of my roles was to talk about my stories so that others felt it was possible. There weren’t that many openly gay women on trading floors then — in fact, almost none.

How would you describe your role at the London Stock Exchange?

I always say that I run a 300-year-old fintech. An institution founded in the coffee houses of London in 1698. What we do now is exactly what they did then — bringing together those who have capital with those who need capital — but we do it with high-level resilient technology that operates at speeds that supersede anything a human could do.

What is your philosophy on diversity, equity and inclusion?

For me, it’s a really simple thing: diversity, equity and inclusion is about giving everybody an equal opportunity to thrive. If I’m not creating an environment where all of my amazing people have an equal opportunity to thrive, that’s essentially poor resource management.

I don’t like the phrase “the day job and the gay job”. I am openly gay in my daily work, and I think about diversity and inclusion in how I manage my teams, how I think about strategy, and how I communicate — not as a sideshow or something to do during Pride Month. It’s how I run my organisation.

What are your hobbies outside work?

My partner would say that my hobby is working! I would often choose to do that rather than, for example, go to the cinema or read a book. My partner has got me into golf in the last few years. And I love spending time with my kids. I have a former partner who’s the mother of my children who is in Ireland and I go to Dublin every other weekend to see my kids — although they’re going to be 18 and 20 soon.

How do you view your recognition as leader of the Attitude 101 Financial & Legal category?

My immediate thought is gratitude, but also that somebody else more deserving could be sitting in that seat. If you’re given the privilege of sitting in these seats, you have to pay it forward. One of the privileges of being in this kind of role is that it has a potential for impact on the next young woman who’s trying to figure out whether she wants to be a sociologist or a financier, who thinks that there’s no way she can ever work in the City because she’s gay and doesn’t like wearing high heels — not just for young gay women, but any other person who doesn’t feel that they quite fit in.

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This feature is taken from issue 363 of Attitude magazine, available to order here or alongside 15 years of back issues on the Attitude app.