Sonia Bewley is a Deputy HR Director at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).  Her current role involves leading the HR Strategy team focussed on ensuring that DWP has a highly engaged and diverse workforce with the best possible organisation design, employee experience and inclusive culture.

Following roles in DWP policy and front line operations, Sonia has worked as a HR professional for over ten years performing a range of roles across the function in a number of Government Departments and public bodies, with a strong focus on organisational change and transformation, development and inclusion.

Kevin is an experienced IT Professional who is passionate about meeting customer needs through deploying technology and new services. A strong communicator and relationship builder, Kevin is committed to maintaining relationships and making them mutually beneficial.

Kevin head's Fujitsu’s EMEIA Digital Technology Services Partnerships and Alliances, bringing partners together in ecosystems, facilitating agile co-creation and service development. He has recently developed Assistive Technology through Agile Software Development, and has bveen working with partners to identify and tackle focused subjects through Hackathon and subsequent development and trialling of a Minimum Viable Product.  

Georgina has worked in a variety of HR and Organisational Development roles at Oxfordshire County Council for more than 15 years. She is currently an HR Business Partner; developing trusted relationships with leaders in to order to genuinely partner with the business and enable the workforce to achieve organisational aims. Previously she has been strategic lead in performance, engagement and leadership as well as undertaking organisational development consulting assignments.
In 2017, as lead for performance, she led a project to move the Council away from the annual appraisals to focus on regular, quality conversations about performance. Her current corporate focus is Diversity and Inclusion, specifically Mental Health and Wellbeing. A Chartered Member of the CIPD and qualified and practising Executive Coach, Georgina is passionate about supporting individuals, teams and organisations to thrive and achieve their full potential.

Fiona is Head of Diversity and Inclusion for HSBC UK responsible for driving the agenda for one of HSBC’s largest key markets. She has extensive experience in the Financial Services industry, specifically Retail and Wealth Management, Commercial Bank, HR, Learning, Talent and Development. She has been with HSBC since 1997 after joining on a five year management trainee programme and defying the odds by receiving her first management position, three years into the program.

She is passionate about the progression of all individuals, and specialises in supporting the progression and development of BAME professionals in the workplace be that in the private, voluntary or public sector. She advocates for more inclusive behaviours to be demonstrated to all and actively mentors many diverse professionals in and out of HSBC giving them access to her large network, expertise and her own style of inspiration and motivation to effectively help others reach their full potential.

She is described by many as “one to watch” and she has recently been highlighted as a mover and shaker in Precious, a magazine for women of colour.  She is a highly sought after thought leader and contributor and has played a fundamental part in raising the visibility of HSBC to raise their visibility in this space.

She is open to sharing her natural passion, creativity, ideas and practical solutions to make impactful change and is often described as a game changer and future thinker in diversity and inclusion.

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Colonel Steve Davies began his current appointment at the Army Headquarters in January 2017.  He leads a team of 18 military and civilian staff responsible for Army employment policy and is the Army Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor. 

A New Zealander, he began his military service in the NZ Army.  He undertook an exchange programme as an officer cadet at the Royal Military College (Australia), completing a BA. In 1997 he was deployed to Cambodia as the UN Senior Training advisor to the Demining Programme.

He enlisted into the British Army and Corps of Royal Engineers in 1998.  He has served in a range of appointments including deployments to Bosnia (1999) and Kabul (2002).  He commanded an Engineer Squadron in both Iraq (2005) and Afghanistan (2007).  He commanded the UK Combat Engineer Regiment and C-IED Task Force in Afghanistan in 2013-2014.  He has also served as a planning officer, in recruiting and recently as Chief of Staff of the Army’s Engineer and EOD Brigade. 

He has completed a MBA (Defence), the Advanced Command and Staff course at the Joint Services Staff College and is an alumnus of the Windsor Leadership Trust.

Mary has worked over 20 years in various delivery roles, but over the last 15 years has worked in Human Resources at Atos. As part of Mary’s role supporting employees and from personal experiences within her family, Mary has always had an interest in promoting the mental wellbeing of Atos employees. Mary has helped to formally establish the first Mental Health First Aiders in Atos.

Yvonne joined the Ministry of Justice in April 1986 and progressed to the first line of management, working specifically as a Job Skill Instructor (JSI), before taking a lateral transfer in 1991 to the then Headquarters HR Training. 

Yvonne continued her MoJ career within HR obtaining her Certificate in Training Practice (CTP), has a diploma in Diversity and Oppression and a qualified MBTi Practitioner and a CIPD member.

Whilst in HR Yvonne was part of the newly formed (2003) Corporate Diversity Unit and was instrumental in supporting the department’s implementation of the Equality Action Plan. Later, she was part of the project team that designed, implemented and delivered the Performance Management system and in 2013 alone, facilitated over 150 workshops to the SCS and staff across the MoJ family.

Yvonne currently promotes the work within Project Race (initiated May 2016), supporting the MoJ in driving cultural change towards making the business “Race Competent, Comfortable & Confident”.  One of Yvonne’s responsibilities is to help build BAME staff’s capabilities to support the individual’s ability to realise their full potential and where appropriate provide the relevant empirical evidence that underpins the Projects purpose.  Yvonne continually works with the business on issues and challenges raised pertaining to race inequality; offering recommendations and solutions on moving forward positively on this transformative race agenda.

Since 2012 Pia has been Global Diversity Manager at Skanska. In this time Skanska has successfully launched and activated a D & I vison, strategy and change journey map. The percentage of women in top three most senior levels has increased from   13% to 22%. Not only does Skanska score above industry benchmark when it comes to employee experience of D&I, the company has also managed to establish an internal business case for inclusive leadership (linking inclusive leadership to effectiveness). Prior to working for Skanska, Pia was Global Diversity Director for Volvo Group. She has a PhD in Business Administration from Stockholm School of Economics and in 2010 she became an Associate Professor in Organization, Management and Gender at the Royal Institute of Technology. The main focus of her own research has been gender in organizations and diversity work in organizations.

Angela joined Companies House in May 2012 as Head of Human Resources and Estates, before taking up the role of Director of People Transformation in February 2018. Angela has over 25 years’ experience within the HR profession working in the NHS, Metropolitan Police, and higher education sector. Prior to joining Companies House Angela was Assistant Director of HR in the Office for National Statistics.

Angela is passionate about supporting leaders to develop the skills required to inspire their teams particularly in times of change. In terms  of culture change and leadership capability, Angela has been the driving force behind several fundamental improvements for our people. Angela leads with strong visible direction, builds trust by being open and approachable, and seeks feedback and an understanding as to what truly motivates individuals. A strong advocate of leading by example, Angela actively encourages, rewards and champions improvement and new ideas and is particularly committed to promoting and celebrating diversity and inclusion.

Tanya joined Dstl in 2012, and has many years of experience working within diversity & inclusion. After graduating from Nottingham University with a Masters in Occupational Psychology in 2004, she began working for the Wiltshire Police as an Equality and Diveristy Officer, spearheading an Outreach Officer Programme, helping to attract their first Sikh and Goan Officers. A mother of two, she is now the Lead for D&I at the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), embedding it across the business. Her enthusiasm for the subject and drive to empower has resulted in some unique approaches that cater for Dstl’ s innovative and neuro diverse people. Dstl’s Employee Support Networks - that Tanya embedded - are great examples of this and despite resource challenges, they have been three times finalists in the prestigious Civil Service D&I Awards.

With nine years of HR experience, Jenny has been a Diversity and Wellbeing specialist for the last four years and is responsible for overseeing the UK’s diversity, inclusion and wellbeing strategy. Recently she has led on the launch of the VisAbility Network to help tackle the stigma of disability and mental health in the workplace. Jenny has also worked closely with the LGBT and Allies Network, and her work has led to the firm entering Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index for the first time. Jenny is passionate about making the working environment one in which anybody can thrive, regardless of their background.

Julie has been an environmental lawyer for over 25 years.  She has worked predominantly in the public sector at both the Environment Agency and Natural England with a short stint in-between those roles when she worked in private practice.  She joined Natural England in July 2007 as its first in-house lawyer.  Julie is now the Chief Officer Legal & Governance and one of six Chief Officer’s reporting to the Chief Executive.  She has overall responsibility for all legal, assurance, risk and governance issues in Natural England.  She heads an in-house team of approximately 40 people.  At the start of 2018 she became the Senior Responsible Officer for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across Natural England.

Peter is Chief Operating Officer for Arcadis in Europe, Middle East and UK and leader of the LGBT+ network group, Kaleidoscope.  As well as his corporate role, Peter has considerable experience in the management of major change projects and was highly commended this year by the Management Consultancy Association in their Change Management Consultant of the Year category.  He has experience of international programme and project management, strategic business planning and joint ventures.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and was the founding Vice-Chairman of the RICS Project Management Faculty Board.  Peter recently graduated with a masters’ degree from Pembroke College, Oxford (Said Business School) in the Management of Major Programmes and he continues to teach at the Business School on the Finance and Contracts modules.

He has a passion for diversity, equality and inclusion, writing in support of gay rights in the construction press.  He founded the LGBT+ network group, led a rise in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index of 159 places, has increased the size of the network group to >30 and secured sponsorship in this year’s London Pride with over 80 Arcadians marching together with Build Equality. He has overseen a revamp of the company’s polices with respect to LGBT+ issues.

This year he was the proud winner of the national NatWest LBGT awards in the category of Corporate Straight Ally in recognition of his work.

Rob joined the Ministry of Justice in October 1983 and in 1998 began working for Corporate HR as a Development Trainer. He studied at the Civil Service College for two years, gaining a Certificate in Training Practice [CTP] and is now a member of CIPD. Rob was a founding member of the MoJ’s BAME Staff network in 2001, and later in that same year became the first elected Chair of the Civil Service Race Equality Network known today as the Civil Service Race Forum.

 Over the past fifteen years Rob has continued his MoJ career in HR. As an original member of the MoJ’s Employee Engagement Team, Rob led the design, recruitment and launch of the Engagement Champions Network in 2008. As MoJ’s Head of Engagement Networks, Rob was responsible for the development of Employee Engagement Champions [EECs] across the MoJ.

 In 2015 Rob was invited to lead the MoJ’s Diversity & Inclusion Team over the summer as temporary cover and during this period led the delivery of key priorities, including the Department’s response to the Civil Service Talent Action Plan and renegotiating contracts with all Diversity Staff Networks. 

And in May 2016 Rob was chosen to lead the MoJ’s Race Project – an inward facing programme of work aimed at supporting the MoJ’s published Diversity & Inclusion objectives and turning the dial on race equality.  In September 2016 he was elected Chair of the Civil Service Race Forum, an umbrella network of BAME Staff Networks across the civil service made up of over 30 Government departments, reaching in excess of 6,000 BAME civil servants working at all levels. Rob ended his one year tenure as Chair of CSRF in January 2018 and remains a member the CSRF Executive Committee as a Non-Executive Director. 

In April 2016 Rob was included in the ‘New View 50’ which recognises influential Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals in the public sector and was most recently recognised for his ‘Services to Race Equality in the workplace and the community’ by being awarded an OBE in The Queen’s 2018 New Year’s Honours list.

Gareth joined Remploy in July 1988 and has since progressed through the organisation in many different roles, culminating in being appointed as Chief Executive in May 2016. His career in the business has helped establish him as one of the UK's leading practitioners in the field of disability and employment, often working closely with Government departments on policy and strategy matters.

During Remploy's transition from public to private ownership in April 2015 Gareth took a leading role in promoting and establishing employee ownership in Remploy. As such, Gareth is a Board member of the Employee Ownership Association and an active participant in the Employee Ownership sector.

With his track record of working in the field of disability, combined with his own experience of mental health issues, Gareth is passionate about improving the lives of disabled people through sustainable employment.

Gareth has a Social Sciences degree from the University of Hertfordshire, specialising in Social Policy.

Rajinder is a committed Diversity and Inclusion champion and Career Development Lead for Network Rail’s employee network Inspire which focuses on creating a fair and supportive environment for all gender identities. She is also a proactive advocate, inspiring girls about Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) career opportunities. In April 2018 Rajinder was awarded Inspirational Woman of the Year by Women in Rail in recognition of raising awareness on the importance of gender equality.

Within Network Rail, Rajinder has worked in various roles on a range of strategic projects and programmes across functions, focusing on technology, people and culture change. As a certified change management practitioner, she is enthused by driving lasting change, thriving on the challenges and opportunities this brings.

Rajinder started her career working for leading high-street retailers, implementing technology solutions and the associated business change. She moved on to join the Industry, Transport and Distribution arm of IT and management consultancy, Logica (now part of CGI), where she worked with clients in both private and public sectors on large-scale, complex IT programmes and in presales.

Cat has worked within the legal profession since finishing university 17 years ago and currently works as a Contract Manager at Atos. She has become more interested in mental health within the workplace over the past 11 years, having experienced periods of depression and anxiety herself. She understands how important it is for work to support people’s mental wellbeing. Cat has helped to formally establish the first Mental Health First Aiders in Atos.

Zsanett is an accomplished Civil Service and Voluntary Sector manager with considerable experience gained at strategic and operational levels. She is performance driven with a proven track record of service delivery of high profile projects and programmes. Zsanett is able to offer advice on operability issues in relation to equality, cultural diversity and their quality assurance.

Zsanett has held various roles within Welsh Government; she contributed to Welsh Government’s Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act 2015, representing Wales at the International Girls Summit 2015.

Recently Zsanett lead Welsh Government’s outreach agenda to ensure the Civil Service workforce in Wales is representative of its economically active population. The work conducted in 2017 was recognised as the Best Diversity & Inclusion Initiative at the People Management Awards run by the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD). This award recognises employers who are genuinely dedicated to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace.

Marjorie has over 20 years experience of working across the Financial Services industry in HR, Change and Organisational Development roles.

Following a variety of line management roles, Marjorie spent five years running an internet services business before joining Accenture as an Executive in their Talent & Organisational Performance Practice.  During her time with Accenture, Marjorie led the Change Management Practice for Accenture’s UK Financial Services client group and had responsibility for all Human Capital consulting across Capital Markets in the UK and across all industry groups in Scotland.

Marjorie re-joined RBS as a COO for HR in 2011.  She now has responsibility for RBS’ culture and inclusion agendas. Specialising in organisational effectiveness and change management, Marjorie has degrees in Industrial Psychology and Business Administration from The University of Strathclyde and has qualifications in Human Resource Management and Culture from Napier University and The University of Harvard.  She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

Outside of work, Marjorie is married with two daughters and a baby son.

Bernadette joined the Civil Service in 1998, starting as a Caseworker in the Debt Recovery Unit of the then ‘Legal Aid Board. She progressed through the ranks over the years and worked in many roles and Government Departments. Bernadette is currently a Diversity Consultant in the Home Office, responsible for the Disability portfolio and she Co-Chairs the award-winning Cross - Government Race to the Top Grade 6/7 Network.

Bernadette is a notable public speaker and diversity campaigner within the Civil Service, working with other leaders to drive through better representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic employees particularly at more senior grades.

Louise is currently the HR and Estates Director at DVLA. She holds a Masters (LLM) in Employment Law and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development and has been a civil servant for 32 years. She has spent the majority of the last 20 years in HR-related roles, which have included HR leadership roles in HR policy and reward, health and wellbeing, organisation development, resourcing, diversity, learning and development and HR business partnering. She has led on a number of organisational change projects and programmes including large scale resourcing, redundancy, redeployment and TUPE for centralising network services and insourcing the IT function. She is the Chair of Trustees for Port Talbot and Afan Womens Aid and is Chair of the Creative Industries and Professional Services cluster group for the South and Mid Wales Regional Learning and Skills Partnership.

Samina is Diversity and Inclusion Consultant for King’s College London. She joined in 2016 and has worked across a variety of Diversity and Inclusion initiatives focused on gender and race equality, parent and carers’ programmes as well as managing the university’s first Diversity Mentoring Scheme for BAME, female and LGBT staff. Since being appointed in her current role she has led the university’s Disability Inclusion Project to improve how King’s attracts, supports and retains disabled staff. Samina has developed King’s Disability Inclusion Maturity Model to embed strategic and operational best practice in line with King’s Vision 2029. She has worked collaboratively with King’s leaders and sector-wide experts to complete a university-wide self-assessment and successfully launched King’s Disability Inclusion Staff Group.

Prior to King’s, Samina worked for the British Ecological Society. She was a member of the Society’s Equality and Diversity Project Working Group responsible for developing and overseeing the delivery of its equality and diversity work. Samina led a research project to examine equality, diversity and inclusion issues within the ecological sector, and ran an international Women in Ecology mentoring scheme. Samina’s previous experiences in the charity and education sectors have focused on widening participation, youth empowerment and human rights.