Belen Jorda | Senior Manager | EY
I am a Senior Manager in EY’s People Consulting practice.
I have a proven ability and passion to shape and deliver complex technology-enabled change programmes, specialising in large scale infrastructure.
Being a part of major transformations in the infrastructure sector is what gives me purpose. Every day, I see my job as an opportunity to have a positive impact on society by solving complex issues – involving people and technology – while helping colleagues to thrive and reach their goals. When people ask me about my dream job, I respond that this is my dream job. I bring this passion to my teams and clients.
I grew up in Spain and studied Law, Economics and Journalism at the University of Valencia. My vision for my education was to build a well-grounded foundation in these fields in order to tackle complex issues in society, including the ability to articulate and communicate them in an effective way.
Motivated by the societal impact of improving railway safety, my focus client for the last 4 years has been Network Rail. Over this period, I have led diverse/high performing teams to deliver safety-critical technology-enabled change, including Network Rail’s largest and most complex transformation to date to help save lives on the railway.
As a woman in a male-orientated industry, I have focused on acting as a role model for women in rail by leading from the front, mentoring colleagues and inspiring by example to empower women to make their way in an industry that I love.
Alice Graham | Senior Chartered Surveyor | Faithful+Gould
Alice is a diligent senior chartered surveyor, passionate about making a difference through her work in the built environment.
Since entering industry in 2018, Alice has worked on high profile flagship projects for public and private sector clients.
Alice graduated from Heriot-Watt University with a first-class degree in Quantity Surveying in 2018. After graduating, Alice joined Faithful+Gould as a graduate quantity surveyor. In her nearly 5 years at Faithful+Gould, Alice has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects and programmes for public and private sector client. Alice became a Chartered Quantity Surveyor in 2021 and continues to deliver a range of cost management services.
Outside her technical role, Alice has been engaged in the following activities:
- Alice is a STEM ambassador and regularly undertakes activities to promote the uptake of construction careers by young people.
- Alice is a member of the Building the Future Young Persons' Advisory Panel. The panel of 14 people under the age of 35 will help the Building the Future Commission harness the knowledge of the next generation of leaders in the construction sector.
- Alice is a Trustee of the Cambridge Forum for the Construction Industry. In this role, Alice works with other trustees to promote the construction industry in Cambridge.
Sonam Kohli | Global Strategy Manager | IHG
After a few years as a management consultant, I knew I wanted to be part of an industry that I loved as a consumer, and this is how I begun my career in hospitality.
To date, I have worked in 3 different firms, from a UK based apart-hotel firm, to a fast growing start up now on NASDAQ leading to my current role as Global Strategy Manager within the Office of the CEO at IHG Hotels and resorts. My breadth of experience is quite unique, sitting across portfolio development and asset management, operations, brand/ product and now strategy. My deep understanding across this variety of functions has enabled my to bring a different lens to each role I am in.
My proudest moments within my career so far include securing a flagship asset that restored a dated hotel within a grade II listed to an award winning apart-hotel; transforming the operational processes within a firm working across 14 countries and developing the platform for all product standards to enable the brand to scale and ultimately making access to accurate information easier for all in the business, from housekeepers to senior leadership.
Lucy Imms | Director, Campaign Marketing | IHG Hotels & Resorts
A confident, creative and collaborative campaign marketeer, with 15 years marketing experience in the travel & hospitality industry.
Passionate about building strong and successful marketing campaigns, with the customer at the forefront of all strategy.
An energetic, positive and authentic relationship builder who leads successful teams, delighting stakeholders and partners along the way.
Kay Lawrence | Hospitality Sales Executive | Ashton Gate Stadium
My career started at 17 years old in the Royal Navy as a Weapons engineering Mechanic.
I served on 3 war ships and received a NATO medal for my time in Bosnia. When I left 6 years later I somewhat accidentally, moved into Sales. The years that followed saw me in roles selling various goods, from soft toys to stationary to electrical appliances.
During this time I also worked for Bristol City football club as a matchday hostess. I loved Saturdays at the club and happily would have worked for no pay. This is where I developed a love of football and all things Bristol City.
Shortly after, any career aspirations were put on hold following the birth of my children. In order to work and raise my boys, I retrained and became an Ofsted registered Childminder.
Some years later and back in Sales, I saw an advert for what I considered my "dream job" at Ashton Gate. 4 years later and I still love my role and my team and have recently become a mature student and started an apprenticeship to give myself the best chance of improving my position within the company.
Jo-Anna Reid | Global Internal Communications Manager | IHG
Jo-Anna Reid is a versatile and dedicated communications professional with extensive experience in team engagement.
Currently working as the Global Internal Communication & Engagement Manager for IHG Hotels and Resorts, Jo-Anna is responsible for driving a variety of corporate and hotel engagement programs. Her role includes communicating IHG's strategy, priorities, and financial results to over 9000 colleagues worldwide.
Prior to joining IHG, Jo-Anna was the Communications, Events and Engagement Manager for Premier Inn at Whitbread, where she was responsible for generating communication strategies and overseeing their implementation for Premier Inn's operational teams. Jo-Anna introduced and supported the senior leadership team to use MS 0365 functionality for crucial company messages and lead new ways of communicating and engaging with over 17,000 team members using Microsoft O365. She planned and managed national events, conferences and meetings, sometimes over multiple days and locations. Jo-Anna also managed a team to drive the company communications manifesto and support the Premier Inn operational team.
Earlier in her career, Jo-Anna worked as a Customer Experience Manager for Premier Inn, creating new and engaging ways to hook in team members to the purpose in their roles and developed new content to connect every team member to personally identify with the guest. Jo-Anna ran focus groups with teams to plan new promotions and talk lines, and worked effectively with all business areas to deliver a successful customer insight programme.
Gemma Evans-Hurley | Culinary Lead - Projects | Compass Group UK & Ireland
Gemma Evans-Hurley is a passionate chef with over 20 years of experience supporting Compass in key sectors such as business and industry (Eurest and 14forty).
Her responsibilities include food concept creation, supplier and partnership management and staff mentoring.
Gemma always dreamed of being a chef and graduated from the prestigious Westminster Kingsway College with a professional diploma.
Joining Compass in 2010 as a sous chef, Gemma has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the company. A born leader, she was promoted to head chef for Eurest aged just 21, then national executive chef a year later.
Her leadership skills in the kitchen, combined with her ability to motivate and inspire colleagues, helped earn Gemma promotion to Culinary Lead of Projects in 2021, her most senior role yet.
However, it is Gemma’s D&I work in a heavily male-dominated industry that really stands her out as a leader in her field. Since 2018, she has chaired Compass’ longstanding Women in Food initiative, which forms a key part of the group’s overarching D&I strategy.
Its aim is to tackle the shortage of female chefs by encouraging more women into the industry and support the development of existing female chefs. Through her drive, passion and inspirational leadership, Gemma has built this into a community of nearly 300 Compass employees, up from just six in 2021.
Farkhanda Abbas Rind | Procurement capabilities Manager | IHG Group Plc
I started my hospitality industry career as an operations manager, rapidly moving to the general manager ranks.
As a tenacious manager and decisive leader, I turned unprofitable properties into consistently outperforming units by streamlining operations and eliminating duplicate functions to reduce costs and increase productivity while maintaining team engagement and value-added guest experience. I also enjoyed the project management of 3 brand-new hotels in central London during the Olympics.
Following 14 years of general management experience, my strong interest in expanding proficiency in managing multi-phase/multi-dimensional/multi-resource projects to successful completion whilst maintaining high stakeholder satisfaction lead me to take on a challenging role at IHG corporate head office.
As a Manager, Quality Programmes, Brand Standards and Audits for Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, I was trusted to transform and roll out the guest experience and operational performance improvement programme ( Quality 360) across EMEAA.
After the successful roll-out of the programme in diverse markets with various cultural nuances, I moved on to take the responsibility of Manager, EMEAA Operations Support. I was responsible for developing and rolling out new programs in the EMEAA hotel estate. Supporting EMEAA hotel estate to achieve their operational KPIs each year is part of my remit.
Recently, my perseverance and hard work have earned me the Sr Manager Procurement capabilities position.
Devina Morjaria | Senior Manager, voco hotels Brand & Guest Experience | IHG Hotels & Resorts
I grew up in the restaurant business. My father ran one of the first vegetarian restaurants in London.
Ever since I was a child, I would spend my evenings and weekends in the restaurant, always delivering great customer service. Despite a love for hospitality (I honestly didn’t even know studying this was an option), I chose to study journalism at university, with a vision of becoming a print journalist! Little did I know the world was entering the age of online media! Post-graduation I joined Virgin Active, and soon moved to Hilton Hotels, working on capex projects and hotel refurbishments across EMEAA. In 2018 I joined IHG Hotels & Resorts working in Global Strategy and later moved across to Development Marketing working across all IHG’s brands. I then took the opportunity to embark on a secondment with IHG’s voco brand team, which eventually resulted in a permanent role offer working in Brand Operations. 12 months later we are here, and most recently I have been promoted with a broader remit of Brand Operations and Brand Management.
Annabelle Coffin | Event Manager | Ashton Gate Stadium
As an outgoing and confident teenager, I was an active member of several social groups from Girlguiding to swimming teams and wanted a career path that would give me regular interaction with diverse groups of people.
Studying International Hospitality Management at Bournemouth University helped to influence my passion and desire to develop within the food and beverage industry.
For my university placement, I achieved a position within the Dorchester Collection’s country house hotel, Coworth Park. My internship gave me the opportunity to learn fine dining etiquette, work within a Michelin Star Restaurant and even serve The Royal Family. Coworth Park was an invaluable learning experience that I remain incredibly grateful for as it opened my eyes to aspects of hospitality that I had yet to discover.
Having been promoted through several roles at Ashton Gate Stadium and my current role as Event Manager has grown and evolved with me as my own knowledge and skills have developed. I’m now in charge of managing the entire process from planning through to evaluation for events including matchdays, concerts, exhibitions, private parties and banquets. I am responsible for leading, coaching and mentoring a diverse team of both permanent and casual staff to improve their skills and increase work quality whilst demonstrating patience and empathy. Maintaining close relationships with venue sales, health & safety, security, kitchens and IT, communicating with all departments to ensure the highest standards and attention to detail is maintained whilst maximising revenue and reducing costs where relevant.