Diversity & Inclusion Speakers

Ayo Akinwolere

Ayo became one of four people of colour with a swimming world record, when he swam in one of the deepest stretches of water on earth. The former Blue Peter presenter has written for the Daily Telegraph, BBC Sport and the Independent, and appeared on Celebrity MasterChef, the Great British Bake Off and Celebrity Pointless. After moving into sports and current affairs, Ayo co-created the production company Milk First Productions, which aims to tell diverse stories and amplify diverse voices.

Eniola Aluko

The former Juventus, England and Chelsea striker was a natural goalscorer and a leading talent in the women’s game. She won Super League and Serie A titles as well as FA Cups, and played over 100 internationals. She served as Aston Villa Women's sporting director. Off the pitch she’s a lawyer, having qualified in the US and worked in the City. She's a regular pundit and commentator on both the men's and women's game, becoming the first woman pundit on Match of the Day. She hit the headlines with her stand against the discrimination, outdated behaviou...

Dr Nighat Arif

Dr Nighat is a GP specialising in women’s health and family planning. She is a medical educator and provides teaching to local trainee GPs as well as at national and international conferences. Nighat was nominated for the National Bevan Prize for Health and Wellbeing to acknowledge her commitment to advancing wellbeing in her community. She has worked to raise awareness on menopause and women’s healthcare in Black and Asian women, and presented her clinical work at the Menopause in the Workplace Parliamentary committee hearing. Nighat...

Christine Armstrong

Communications and management expert, and acclaimed author, Christine considers what modern, values-driven, inclusive organisations should look like and how they should operate. Touching on work-life balance, workplace culture, 'hybrid work',  management and mental health, she examines the new challenges to old ways of doing business. From remote working to diversity strategies, she points out the misleading assumptions and dares organisations to think differently about what they do, how and where they do it. She was named sixth out of the top fifty Future of Work influ...

Dame Inga Beale

After working in senior global leadership roles in some of the world’s largest insurance companies, Inga took over the helm of the 330-year-old City financial institution. Taking on many of the traditions that had held the organisation back, Inga expanded their global markets, and introduced strategies including the Lloyd’s Innovation Lab, and the Dive In Festival, an industry-wide, international diversity and inclusion event. She considers the balance struck between history and modernisation when implementing change, the vital importance of inclusion in the workplace, and co...

Cally Beaton

After joining the board of ITV, setting up her own company and serving as SVP in charge of International Sales at media giant Viacom, Cally has also started a parallel career in comedy. She brings humour and energy to workplace insights ranging from how to foster a creative, positive environment to how to inspire and lead through change.

Poorna Bell

As UK executive editor, HuffPost produced its first month-long campaign celebrating and giving voice to women and men across the world – The All Women Everywhere and Building Modern Men. Poorna has since become an acclaimed writer, raising awareness on the negative effects of the media and society’s decline in mental health.

Rt Hon Lord (David) Blunkett

As Home Secretary David was in charge of security, immigration and policing. He is now Chairman of a multi-Academy Trust and an advisor to easyJet. As well as sharing insights on cyber-crime and crisis management, David considers how leaders can best engage with the public and counter the widespread sense of grievance. He argues for business to take a lead: “You are a part of our communities, not just employers of people with certain skills.” After dinner he takes a lighter look at a life in politics - both highs and lows – from The Queen offering to cut up his meal, to...

I. Stephanie Boyce

I. Stephanie is a solicitor and the Former President of the Law Society of England and Wales. She became the 177th president of the society and the first person of colour to be appointed to the role. She has been on the Power List of 100 Most Influential Black People, the Governance Hot 100, and was awarded the Burberry British Diversity Awards-Inspirational Role Model of the Year.

Caroline Criado Perez

Caroline is behind successful campaigns to see women represented on English bank notes, and the erection of a statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square. In speeches and in her book Invisible Women, she highlights the systematic biases behind the data and assumptions about our everyday lives. From healthcare diagnoses to search algorithms, the over-reliance on men as the default standard has left women, and society as a whole, disadvantaged.

Lavinia D. Osbourne

A Blockchain, Web 3.0 & NFT specialist, Lavinia is a consultant and thought leader sharing her knowledge to help break down barriers within these emerging technologies. She founded Women in Blockchain Talks and Crypto Kweens to help provide resources to those underrepresented.

Mariella Frostrup

Mariella has moved from film review to Panorama and writing about menopause. She has also served as agony aunt on The Observer and has interviewed luminaries of stage, book and screen from Oliver Stone to Kermit the Frog.

Hon Julia Gillard

As Prime Minister of Australia, Julia revamped education at every level, expanded access to healthcare across all ages and oversaw major investment into telecoms and broadband infrastructure. She is now Chair of the Wellcome Trust, the world’s second largest charitable funder of medical research into improving human health. Julia draws on her time in office to cover lessons on leadership, diplomacy, gender equality and mental health, while also highlighting the Trust’s work in combating climate change and preventing the spread of infectious disease.

Professor Lynda Gratton

Professor of Management Practice at London Business School Lynda is considered one of the world's authorities on people in organisations and is one of the UK’s leading business advisors working with companies across the world. Formerly the Chief Psychologist for British Airways, Lynda explains people strategy, how to get the best out of groups, and why some teams seem to have an energy others lack.

Kevin Green

The former Chief Executive of the Recruitment & Employment Confederation and also HR Director at Royal Mail, Kevin delivers challenging, practical advice on how to make the most of the often overlooked HR functions within an organisation. He looks at how to attract, retain and develop employees, how to create better leaders, get the most from millennials, and whether AI really is the threat to workers people seem to believe.

Baroness (Tanni) Grey-Thompson

Britain’s best known Paralympian, Tanni amassed eleven gold medals in five consecutive Games. She also won six London Marathons and achieved a total of thirty four world records. Since retiring from competitive sport Tanni has taken an active role in the Lords, particularly on campaigns and legislation around disability. She believes that disabled people still face barriers that need to be removed, and calls for more genuine engagement rather than political rhetoric: “Public perceptions are changing.”

Baroness Ayesha Hazarika

Having moved from the civil service to comedy to Harriet Harman’s Chief of Staff and now back to comedy, Ayesha has gone from writing policy and speeches to writing jokes and commentary pieces. With a combination of humour and insight she looks at politics, the operation of government, what goes on behind the scenes of Westminster and what might happen next.

Margaret Heffernan

Having run a range of digital and internet businesses in the US, Margaret has turned to analysing where leadership in organisations so often goes wrong. Ignoring potential problems, failing to encourage or develop talent, building a culture of isolation and internal competition; all are commonplace issues that could easily be addressed. As in her bestseller Wilful Blindness and her acclaimed TED speeches, Margaret simply and effectively considers what makes a great leader.

Lindsay Herbert

With a focus on the real-world of customers and workforces, Lindsay examines the five critical stages of digital transformation. Dealing with and embracing innovation and disruption are as much a matter of strategy and culture as they are about understanding what technology can achieve. Lindsay delivers examples and cautionary lessons in how the digital can add customer value and free up people to collaborate, innovate and focus on the human aspects of their job, but only when allowed to by internal structures.

Herminia Ibarra

The London Business School’s Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour and cited as one of the world’s most influential management thinkers, Herminia’s work covers talent management and technology, collaboration, and career and leadership development.

Ateh Jewel

Ateh is a multi-award-winning beauty journalist, influencer, broadcaster, and diversity advocate. She’s a regular presenter and social commentator on This Morning, Good Morning Britain, and CNN. She has been in the industry for over twenty years specialising in beauty, social commentary, and campaigning for more diversity in the beauty industry. Ateh was awarded the CEW Achiever Award to honour her diversity work in the beauty industry.

Amy Lewin

Amy was the first employee at Sifted and has played an instrumental role in building and developing the new media brand. She covers fintech, foodtech, generative AI, climate tech, and diversity initiatives, and is particularly knowledgeable on Europe’s venture capital industry.