Roger Taylor | Co-Founder | Famn
I am a coaching psychologist and work with senior leaders across a range of organisations in the insurance industry and beyond.
I believe my role is to assist my clients to develop awareness of their habitual patterns, developed in early life that have brought them success but can also have a shadow-side. My clients are mainly senior C-Suite leaders from organisations including Willis Towers Watson, Ed Broking, Janus Henderson, eBay, the ABI, Flood Re, the House of Commons, the NHS, and BP as well as leaders from other diverse organisations in the private, public and voluntary sectors.
I work by bringing together compassion and empathy balanced with provocation and challenge. I employ a psychologically-grounded approach that is also informed by several years experience of working as a leader in a corporate environment (in T Mobile UK).
Mike Smith | Wells Superintendent | bp
I joined the bp Women International Network in 2017 while working in Baku.
On my return to Aberdeen in 2019 I joined the Women in Wells North Sea Chapter and in 2020 I founded the Men as Allies Wells group in the North Sea. Since then I've helped to set up Men as Allies groups in London, Baku and Houston, with all groups staying closely connected to their local Women in Wells colleagues.
I grew up in a small town in Scotland. I met my wife when we both worked in Aberdeen. We married in 2014 and have two beautiful daughters and an adorable labradooble.
I work as a Well Superintendent for bp. My role is to ensure safe, compliant and efficient well intervention operations in the North Sea. I have 18 years of OIl and Gas industry exerience and have worked in Angola and Azerbaijan in addition to Aberdeen. I have a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Aberdeen University and a Master of Science in Subsea Engineering from Robert Gordon University.
Martijn van der Meulen | Development Director | Snap Finger Click
Martijn is the Development Director and co-founder of Snap Finger Click, an independent game developer based in Brighton, UK.
Martijn has 25 years of experience in the technology industry, starting his first business – a digital design agency – when he was just 18 years old. He started his career in the games industry at Electronic Arts working on huge franchises such as Harry Potter, The Simpsons, The Sims, and FIFA. He moved to the UK in 2008 to work for Sony PlayStation, being a senior member of the PlayStation Home team and forging key partnerships with companies including Red Bull and Rockstar Games during his time there. Martijn co-founded Snap Finger Click in November 2015 with the vision of making games people can play together, both in the living room and online over streaming platforms like Twitch. Under Martijn's leadership, Snap Finger Click has so far released seven games.
Mark Timms | Co-Head of Corporate Banking Origination | HSBC UK Bank Plc
Mark is Co-Head of Corporate Banking Origination for HSBC UK, leading our loan and investment banking origination for clients in our Corporate Bank.
Mark joined HSBC from Barclays, having also previously worked at National Australia Bank and Pinsent Masons. Mark's broad finance experience includes leveraged, acquisition and corporate finance. He is a CFA charterholder and qualified lawyer.
Outside the "day job", Mark is the Co-Chair for Balance UK at HSBC, aiming to support the recruitment, development and engagement of colleagues, managers and senior leaders in driving towards a gender balanced workforce.
Mark is married with twin daughters and a keen rugby (Wasps) and tennis fan. Interesting fact: Mark worked at Disneyland and the Sydney Olympics prior to starting his career in professional services.
Mark is also Co-Chair for HSBC UK’s employee resource group Balance UK. HSBC Balance has over 50,000 members, 220 Executive Leader Ambassadors and 1,000 Advocates across the world. It is an employee resource group focussed on gender equality and inclusion, working closely with other ERGs, to help drive awareness of intersectionality, and Mark has presented on a number of joint panel sessions in this regard.
Mark Smith | VP Digital & Talent Supply | bp
I am a transformational leader within procurement and supply chain.
I have a passion for digital and people, and the huge power that can be created when you bring them together in operating models that are effective and create inspiring places to work. Having worked for 10 years in consulting with some of the world's biggest energy, mining and utilities companies, I joined bp in 2012. Since then I have held a number of roles across our businesses, championing the power of procurement and supply chain to transform our business and support the energy transition.
Kabir Alam | Business Manager | HSBC
I’m a Bengali, Muslim, gay man from Birmingham, university educated, spending 15 years in the city as an Actuarial Consultant before moving 5 years ago to HSBC HQ in Birmingham working originally in Fraud before moving to People engagement.
I’m passionate to support gender equality and equity and those in the underrepresented parts of the community, intersectional identities i.e. black ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ and disabled colleagues. I create events that highlight issues faced within these communities, with hope of providing insight for those outside of these communities, creating further support for those within the community, hopefully empowering them to be their best selves
In the last 12 months I have spearheaded 9 HSBC-wide events and numerous specific gender equality events, with the support of 20 senior executives acting as hosts or panellist. These events have tackled a number of issues, many of a sensitive nature, including men and women’s health issues; discrimination within the LGBTQ+ community; HIV and testing, and transitioning. With 7500 colleagues from across the globe attending these events, I have received 100+ messages telling me how these events have provided awareness, knowledge and understanding for colleagues. There’s been a 15% growth in ally-ship across the Balance & Pride employee resource groups (ERGs) by those not affected by the same issues, realisations of the challenges faced by their colleagues and the need to provide support.
Active in supporting change of bank polices that have included procedural change on guidance on gender identity and sexual orientation effecting 5200cc
Graeme Fox | Director of Technical | BESA
I am refrigeration engineer by background and achieved my Chartered Engineer status in 2020 after evidencing my technical and professional competence via a professional competence review panel.
I was also elected a Fellow of the Institute of Refrigeration in 2012.
As Director of Technical at the BESA Group my role is to ensure industry standards are kept updated, to provide members with advice and guidance to help them comply with legislation and regulations, and to advise Government departments and assist them in keeping legislation effective and workable. I am also currently a Director at ACRIB (UK industry Board) and President of the IOR (Institute of Refrigeration), and Past President of European contractors’ association AREA.
With over 30 years’ experience in the HVAC sector, mainly in building services refrigeration and air conditioning (RAC), I have been the driving force in helping the United Nations Environment Programme to develop minimum competency levels globally to assist developing countries with their transition to more environmentally sustainable refrigerants to meet their Montreal Protocol Kigali Amendment requirements.
I ran my own family contracting company for over 20 years and gave hundreds of hours a year on a voluntary basis in performing most of the roles outlined above before selling up in 2016 and taking a paid role at the BESA Group running REFCOM – the UK’s registration body for companies working in the RAC sector before being promoted in 2022 to Technical Director for the whole group.
Dimuthu Ratnayake | Vice President, Senior Equity Trader | Northern Trust Corporation
Upon graduating with a First Class degree at the top of my class in Computer Systems and Networking, my career started at the software company Fidessa in 2007.
After various further IT roles at RBS, Barclays, and finally JP Morgan, I pivoted to their Equity Program Trading desk in 2017. I joined the Northern Trust Corporation, Capital Markets in 2021 as an experienced Trader (Vice President) to help grow our fantastic team to service our clients. Outside my day to day role, I am also a member of multiple business resource councils helping advance careers of junior and mid-level colleagues, a mentor to four mentees, and have participated in our flagship DE&I leadership training programme.
Clay Van Doren | CEO Central Europe. CEO Northern Europe & Asia Pacific. | Atos
Having spent 20+ years in tech, Clay believes there’s never been a more exciting or challenging time to lead & collaborate with diverse teams, individuals & customers across the digital services sector.
Proudly leading two of Atos’ vibrant regional businesses, Clay is a member of the Atos Group’s 10-person Executive Board.
As Chief Executive Officer for Central Europe and Chief Executive Officer for Northern Europe & Asia Pacific (with a presence in 13 and 22 countries respectively), he is focused on delighting the huge variety of customers both regions serve, while ensuring that a highly engaged & diverse workforce lies at the foundation of it all.
With his unique & deep multi-industry expertise combined with the innovative application of technologies (such as multi-cloud, app migrations, high-performance computing, AI, cybersecurity), Clay prioritises the delivery of differentiated digital outcomes that are making a positive contribution to local societies. He considers the “how” to be as important as the “what”, with inclusivity & belonging at the core of his work.
Clay’s tenure as Atos’ Chief Executive Officer in the UK has seen a hands-on approach with clients & employees that has helped improved customer satisfaction to best-in-industry and supported the acceleration in DEI at every level of the UK organisation.
Taryn Walker | Trainee Solicitor & Implementation Manager | Summize
As a Trainee Solicitor at Summize, a legal tech company, I have made significant contributions to the overall experience of our clients, internal processes, and the wider social impact of the organisation.
I have successfully led the implementation of our software for over 50 in-house legal teams, laying the foundations for a number of positive online reviews and case studies by my clients on their experience working with myself and the business.
Alongside this, I also co-chair our Corporate Social Responsibility team. Through our CSR initiatives, we have made positive contributions to our community, such as providing ethical legal resources, donating toys to children’s charities, and creating food parcels for Manchester Central Foodbank.
Additionally, I founded ‘Women @ Summize’, a group dedicated to promoting gender equality and creating an empowering space for the women working at Summize. I organise monthly events and host inspirational external speakers to lead discussions with the team.