Pupils from the North-east’s only all girl school will learn first hand about women succeeding in business at a conference in Aberdeen next week.

Sixth year pupils from St Margaret’s School for Girls will hear presentations from three prominent business women at a day long event called Be the Best You Can Be.

First to share her career experiences will be Lady Susan Rice, managing director of Lloyds Banking Group Scotland, and the first woman to head a UK clearing bank.

She also chairs the Remuneration Committee of Scottish and Southern Energy and sits on the Court of the Bank of England, where she chairs the Audit Committee.

Lady Rice will be followed by two former pupils, Zoe Corsi, director at public relations consultancy The BIG Partnership, Scotland’s biggest PR agency, and Jill Stevenson, Associate at Shepherd and Wedderburn Legal Services, Edinburgh.

Zoe, who has more than 18 years experience in PR, was previously Public Affairs Manager at Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce.

A former director of Aberdeen Enterprise Trust and panel member of the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, she is also a current director of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce and a Burgess of the City of Aberdeen

Jill Stevenson joined Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP as a trainee after graduating from the University of Aberdeen and is now an associate in the corporate finance division of the firm.

She has recently completed a secondment to Inspiring Scotland, a venture philanthropy organisation born out of the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland.

Dr Julie Land, head of St Margaret’s, says the girls will benefit from hearing the career paths of such experienced business women.

“We are absolutely delighted to have attracted such high calibre speakers to our annual sixth year conference,” she said.

“This is such an important time of life for our senior pupils. They are about to embark on their final year of school, before heading off to higher education and beyond to their various career choices.

“ At St Margaret’s, we work hard to nurture our pupils, instilling self confidence and belief in their abilities. Hearing about the successes achieved, and the challenges faced, by our speakers will serve to inspire our girls further and underline that they can go on to reach the top of their chosen careers.

“We are particularly delighted that Zoe and Jill, former pupils, are returning to the school and honoured that Lady Rice will be with us. We thank all the speakers for giving up their time to share their experiences.”

The Sixth Year Conference, which will also involve team building exercises, will take place on Monday, August 23, in the Ardoe House Hotel.