Darren Michael Smith | CBRE
I have been with CBRE for 16 years and during this time I have held various leadership positions and most recently as the Managing Director for the National Accounts Division within CBRE Global Workplace Solutions and responsible for a team of over 700 people that successfully delivers over 85 contracts across the whole of UK.
I have full responsibility for the day to day operation of the entire Division which serves various customers in education, finance, legal, utilities, entertainment and conferencing through to commercial and healthcare. The portfolio has a turnover in excess of £204 million PA, with 20% growth year on year.
BACKGROUND
Managing Director, CBRE, 2020 – present
Executive Director, CBRE, 2018 – 2020
Business Unit Director, CBRE 2009- 2017
Account Director, Norland, 2008-2009
Area General Manager, Norland, 2006 - 2008
Patrick McCrae | Patrick McCrae
Entrepreneur and investor focussing on business models with economic longevity and positive social impact.
Great interest in how businesses can do good, give people purpose and be profitable. CEO and co-founder of ARTIQ, global arts and cultural consultancy.
In the wake of the 2008/09 financial crisis, I established ARTIQ as an ethical business to marry the arts and business worlds. The plan was to open a market where artists could rely on a regular income through paid-for exhibitions. Today, we rent art collections to 100s of corporates, many in London, show businesses how art can provoke conversation and educate, and advise global hospitality brands on how to become next generation galleries and museums. Considering 98% of clients have never rented art before, it is incredible that in the last three years we have paid over £5mn to artists whilst pushing for more inclusion and diversity in the arts sector.
As an LGBTQ+ leader I am committed to building a truly inclusive sector. ARTIQ is equally gender split at Board level, and our commitment to identifying new talent means we have established multiple exhibitions to increase the visibility of international diverse and emerging artists who are under-represented in the art world. Our annual Graduate Art Prize invests in the artists of tomorrow; Queer Frontiers fundraises for local charities. Last year’s support of Renaissance Foundation exemplified how diverse communities can engage and educate one another and how acting collective, drawing on local participation can truly impact change on a grand scale.
Harrison Burton | PwC
I grew up in a town called Crawley - about half way between London and Brighton - and spent the first 18 years in that area.
At 18, I moved to East London to study mathematics at Queen Mary University which eventually led me to PwC. I joined our Technology Risk team as a fresh faced graduate and have been here ever since; albeit having worked across a couple different lines of service.
Not long after joining the firm, I joined our Gender Balance Network as a newsletter contributor and over the intervening years that role has grown and changed shape; for the last 9 months I've been the national events lead and network co-chair - responsible for planning and executing events for our c. 1000 members (and many more UK based staff).
Outside of work, I like to read when I can and exercise when I have the will power. I am a devoted Chelsea fan and, although I can't wait to be back at Stamford Bridge, watching the games on TV has kept me a little sane in the last year.
Gus Macfarlane | Barclays
Gus leads Technology Vendor Transformation, plus responsibility for the Vendor Management Centre of Excellence.
He provides senior day-to-day oversight of Barclays Vendor partnerships with a focus on increasing the commerciality of the relationships, both contractually and financially, maximising the relations with Barclays strategic vendor partners and developing broader relationships and ensure Barclays has smooth and transparent partnerships.
Prior to this, Gus was Chief Operating Officer for Group Technology, Innovation and Applied Research and Design. He was responsible for the coordination of innovation globally across the firm. His role was to define and own the Technology and Innovation Operating Environment, with a focus on maximising commercial and reputational opportunities both internally and externally. He owned the execution of the Innovation Strategy and embedding the position of innovation across Barclays Group.
Gus joined Barclays from Experian where he was Managing Director, Commercial Enablement. Gus has a long track record of managing business solutions and embedding commercial strategy. Prior to Experian, Gus worked globally for Transcom and Sky, and consulted for a variety of large and small organisations. He previously set up a tech startup which delivered risk and continuity based analytics, gaming and solutions. Gus served in the Royal Scots as an infantry Captain, and during his career, he has served 12 years in the reserves. Throughout his career Gus has championed Diversity and Inclusion.
Peter Palmer | S.E.E.D Lancashire
My main background is within management of occupational health and safety for over 30 years. I am a Chartered member of IOSH and a Fellow member of IIRSM.
As a Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner my role can be very challenging and diverse on a day to day basis. Predominantly, I assist clients in ensuring regulatory compliance, whilst mentoring and supporting management teams in system implementation and creating positive culture change. My consultancy services have enabled me to successfully share my many years of industry knowledge, skills and ethos across a wide range of companies in the north west.
I have volunteered with at Breathe Therapies and S.E.E.D Lancashire (Support and Education for Eating Disorders) since 2016 to assist with the implementation of the health and safety management systems. I continue to champion and support the services of S.E.E.D Lancashire and its driven, female weighted leadership team. Since 2020, I have also been a charity Director and Trustee with this much needed organisation.
Fiona Barrett | Genius Within CIC
Fiona is the Director of Operations at Genius Within CIC with overall responsibility for our Social Justice Projects.
She is responsible for leading, developing and supporting the Senior Leadership Team to drive performance and develop customer relationships. Fiona is an experienced frontline senior manager, specialising in implementation and leading high performing teams in the Employability Sector.
Combining her public sector knowledge, she can bring together an in-depth understanding of employability alongside diversity and inclusion. She recognises the barriers that people with disabilities face, and has a working knowledge of how to support individuals and businesses to overcome them. Fiona has been working in the Social Justice setting since 1999, training to be a Probation Officer and latterly working as a Senior Probation Officer in Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust. She moved to Genius Within in 2015 to take advantage of working in an agile Community Interest Company whose passion is for all people to maximise their potential and work towards their strengths. During her time at Genius Within, Fiona has grown the social justice team four-fold and prides herself on being able to communicate the vision and strategy effectively to build a high performing and well managed front line team.
Bernadette Thompson | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Bernadette is the Deputy Director for Inclusion, Wellbeing and Employee Engagement in the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
She joined the Civil Service in 1998, starting as a Caseworker in the Legal Aid Board, and she has held a range of roles within the Civil Service across many Government departments, including, Ministry of Justice, Home Office, Treasury and Cabinet Office.
She is a notable diversity advocate and public speaker, working with leaders across government and the public sector to drive a culture of inclusion and increase the pace on representation of Black and Minority Ethnic employees particularly at more senior grades. In 2019, she won one of the Civil Service Charity's Community awards and in 2020 she won the Workplace Hero category in the Investing in Ethnicity Awards for championing and driving race equality and inclusion across the Civil Service.
For over four years, Bernadette has co-chaired the multi award-winning Race to the Top G6/7 network, a community of interest network group of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) G6/7 employees across all Government departments and agencies. The Network actively supports members by helping to increase preparedness for leadership at the next level, and the overarching intention is to help the Civil Service address BAME underrepresentation in the Senior Civil Service (SCS). She is also a Different Woman Ambassador where she campaigns for a more inclusive gender agenda, amplifying the voices of women of colour.
Bernadette has also been a Community Governor at a local infant school for over 18 years and volunteers at athletics/sports events such as 2012 Olympics, 2017 World Athletics and she is really looking forward to being a part of the 2022 Commonwealth Gamers. Bernadette’s most important job, however, is being a mother to her two children.
Joy Foster | Tech Pixies
Since 2015, Joy Foster has led TechPixies on a mission to help thousands of women upskill with social media in order to return to work, change careers or start a business. TechPixies, and Joy herself, have been recognised nationally for the work she is doing.
Most recently, in 2020 Joy was named one of 100 Women of Inspiration by Pioneers Post and NatWest as well as Editor’s Choice for the WeAreTheCity Rising Star Awards. Her signature course, Social Media Magic was named Course of the Year 2020 by Digital Women.
When the global pandemic hit the UK in March of 2020, Joy set up and ran multiple free training programmes to help women quickly upskill with modern technology. Over 4,000 women have now participated in this free training programme and it was featured in The Times.
TechPixies was also profiled in Forbes for raising £150,000 and Stella Magazine for breaking down barriers for women wanting to re-ignite their careers and in April 2019, TechNation named TechPixies ‘one to watch’ in the EdTech space.
In 2018, Joy won the Startup Director of the Year for London and the South and was the only female finalist in the national award. Her business, TechPixies was named Women in Business Startup of the Year 2018 and Enterprise Nation Female Startup of the Year 2017.
Joy is a Mum of 2. Her husband is Tim Foster MBE; he won the Coxless 4 Rowing Gold Medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Joy loves sports herself and was a member of the US Archery Team from 2004-2007. She has run 3 marathons, competed in Ironman Wales and won a Gold Medal at Women’s Henley in 2001. The Fosters live in Oxford, England with Asteroid the cat.
Yota Trom | Together in Tech
Yota Trom is the founder and CEO of the non-profit organisation Together in Tech, a UK-based community that aims to encourage and empower women, amongst other under-represented groups to be bold and equipped to pursue a career in tech.
Founded in London in August 2019, Together in Tech has now over 4000 members, ranging from CEOs, CMOs, entrepreneurs and employees of tech companies. Together in Tech has organised over 25 online and offline events under cooperation with leading companies such as The Telegraph, educational institution General Assembly and more are planned with Microsoft, Deutsche Bank, Sky, UCL and other companies. Also, we have recently started expanding internationally in countries such as Amsterdam, Berlin and Greece.
Yota is also a Leadership Coach specialising in building high-performing teams and developing emerging tech leaders by applying Positive Psychology and Strengths-Based Coaching. Combined with 13+ years of leadership experience holding a variety of senior roles within high-profile companies, such as Amazon and Yahoo she has a deep understanding of the tech industry and a passion for new technologies. Finally, she is a visiting lecturer at University College London (UCL) where she teaches leadership and organisational psychology for students of the Business Psychology and Management department.
Lisa Waterhouse | National Grid
A Talent Management and I & D expert with almost 20 years of experience in my field.
A strong track record of designing, implementing and leading talent management strategies and methodologies both at a strategic and operational level. More recently moving into the inclusion and diversity space where I have found my passion; I care deeply about equity and equality and am responsible for implementing groupwide I & D strategies and leading both new and well established interventions to shake up the diversity mix to improve inclusion for all.
My purpose is to create an environment where everyone at National Grid...no matter what their race, age, role, gender, gender identity, colour, religion, country of origin, sexual orientation, marital status, dependants, disability, social class or political views...can bring their whole selves to work, feel a great sense of belonging and have the opportunity to thrive.
'Diversity is a fact but inclusion is a choice'; my goal is that everyone at National Grid chooses inclusion!