Phoebe Waters is Co-Founder and Partner of Optimising Potential ('OP'), a strategic business consultancy - specialising in high impact leadership - with an emphasis on supporting women and breaking down systemic inequalities. OP works in-depth with individuals and teams as impactful improvement partners, particularly through periods of transformational change.
Phoebe is a two-time winner of Management Today's 35 Women Under 35 Awards, a UK-wide initiative recognising the best of female business talent. She is now Chair of Judges for these 35//35 Awards, in addition to being a Judge for the Women and Diversity in Law Awards, and a Judge for the UK StartUp Awards. Phoebe is the Co-Founder of London's 'Female City Supper Club'.
Phoebe is a former corporate investigator specilalising in asset recovery and enforcement, and is previous Chair of the Female Fraud Forum. She is a faculty member at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Sustainability Leadership, tutoring on two internationally renowned courses. These courses are 'Women Leading Change: Shaping Our Future' and 'High Impact Leadership' at CISL.
OP was UN Women UK's sole leadership partner for the Commission on the Status of Women in 2024 (CSW is the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to gender), and again for 2025 - with Phoebe presenting to hundreds of UN Women UK delegates (of all genders) in a range of sectors and industries, on how to break down systemic inequalities at the micro, meso and macro levels.
Phoebe is a visiting lecturer on the foundations of gender equity and equality at other UK universities, supporting students moving into a broad variety of sectors and industries. Phoebe is also the Co-Founder of Project UpLift, a non-profit forum that provides support, networking, advocacy and mentoring for LGBTQI+ and allies working in the legal, investigations and forensic fields, and is a member of the Aspen Rising Leaders Fellowship. She has worked for organisations including Goldman Sachs, Burford Capital and Schillings.