Hilary Lambert | J.P. Morgan
Hilary Lambert, Senior Administrative Coordinator & Assistant Strategy Lead, develops and drives strategy for the JP Morgan Asset Management UK Administrative population.
An employee since 2017, Hilary was previously based in Dubai where she set up a new office for Macquarie specialising in Sovereign Wealth Funds. Prior to this, Hilary was Executive Assistant to the UK CEO of Deutsche Bank in London. Before this, Hilary was based in Bermuda where she worked with Group Management for the offshore law firm, Appleby. Hilary was educated at Solent University where she studied Law and Business and has over 20 years of experience of supporting Senior Executives, while leading and managing teams ensuring first class support is a priority.
Hilary has been recognized with a number of Honors and Awards during her career including Executive Assistant of the Year awarded by Executive PA magazine in 2006 and Employee of the Year awarded by Appleby in 2010.
Hilary sits on the JP Morgan UK Employee Forum and is Secretary to the JP Morgan Asset Management UK Philanthropy & Volunteering Committee.
Tribeni Chougule | Visa
Qualified as an Electronics and Power Engineer, Tribeni has over 20 years’ experience in technology across diverse sectors and geographies, starting her journey as an ABAP programmer (SAP’s proprietary programming language).
She is currently Head of Change Management in Visa Finance (Europe). Prior to this, she led the Technology innovation team in the London Innovation Centre. In her 8 years in Visa, Tribeni has delivered Agile transformations and managed multiple complex programmes and projects during and post-Visa Europe acquisition. She is a Warwick Business School Executive MBA student and also a Staff and Students Liason Committee representative for her cohort. Her dissertation explores Responsible Innovation using fair and unbiased AI within financial services. Prior to Visa, Tribeni has worked with the top tier of Indian IT companies of Tata Technologies, Wipro and Infosys, through which she worked across various industries and geographies in the SAP domain. Passionate about the inclusion of diversity and social impact, Tribeni is the co-chair of Visa's Women in Technology Europe network, and a techUK Skills and Diversity Council member. She is a Cherie Blair foundation Women in Business mentor alumnus, Women in Payments and Migrant Leader mentor, and an AI APPG task force member. She also mentors recipients of the STEM bursary which she has set up from her personal fund for girls from a disadvantaged background – one with Kendrick School, Reading and the other with the WBS foundation course.
Amanda Newman | Accenture
A senior professional in IT, I’ve had a career involving 20 years at Shell, 18 months at Microsoft and I’m currently at Accenture.
I have worked in project, programme and portfolio management delivering large scale multi million $ IT programmes across Oil & Gas, Manufacturing, Retail and Public Sector as well as service delivery. I’m well respected and considered to be an asset in teams, focusing on collaboration and delivering as a team, ensuring a happy and fun work environment. At times I’ve led teams up to 250.
I studied maths and computing at Uni which made me fall in to a career in tech. It also highlighted to me from a young age the lack of women in STEM.
Holly Miles | BLM LLP
I am an Associate Solicitor at an insurance and risk specialist firm.
My role is to have conduct of a variety of high value occupational disease claims for a range of commercial and insurer clients as well as to lead a team of handlers. I am responsible for supervision of their day to day work as well as managing performance, progress and development.
I am an EDI Ambassador at BLM. I have set up a Gender Inclusion network at BLM which is in its infancy as a network but aims to bring together multiple initiatives that I work on already in Women's rights, Domestic Abuse awareness and Working Families. The network aims to increase inclusion to employees of all genders and highlight gender specific issues and debunk stereotypes as well as influence policy change to ensure gender equality. I also support and collaborate with LGBTQ+ and multicultural awareness networks. I sit on the steering group for The Insurance Working Families Network (a sister network to I:CAN) and share experiences and best practice of flexible working and family friendly policies which has been particularly important over the Covid19 pandemic. I feed these back in to my employer to lead change wherever possible for the benefit of colleagues. I liaise with client's and have held meetings to discuss EDI policies and share ideas. I have taken part in and am a strong advocate of our reverse mentoring programme which mentors senior management on EDI issues.
I have worked at BLM since 2017, but have been a qualified solicitor since 2011. Prior to becoming a solicitor I worked for Thames Valley Police in Witness Care with a focus on domestic violence victims and this has continued to be an important issue for me ever since, continuing to work with local charities fundraising and creating awareness of campaigns. These relationships led to BLM becoming a member of Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse and I am in planning stages of a training programme internally to create further awareness and signpost support services across the organisation.
Nina Ma | PwC
Nina is a Technology, Data & Analytics (TDA) Senior Associate at PwC. Despite being from a non-technical background, she is a fast learner and is always keen to upskill herself in technology and data.
Nina has worked as a Data Analytics SME on various engagements for clients ranging across multiple industries, including IT Service Management Optimisation, Order to Cash Process Streamlining, Spend Analysis, Strategic Sales Analysis, etc. She drives data insights to customers that support their growth and development. She delivers tangible value to clients by identifying gaps and points of improvements and offering constructive suggestions and recommendations. She creates and delivers high-quality and engaging presentations and demonstrates professionalism and expert knowledge. She is able to perform under pressure and manage multiple tight deadlines whilst ensuring a high quality of delivery with minimal guidance. She continues improving ways of working and drives operational efficiency through innovative thinking, automation and streamlining.
Besides her day job, she is also involved in a wealth of Diversity and Inclusion activities. She is the PwC Midlands People Network Coordinator, part of the Gender Balance Network and Women in TDA, promoting gender equality at the workplace and in the technology industry.
She was one of the finalists of the Apprentice Award in the inaugural Midlands' Women in Tech Awards and one of the winners of WeAreTheCity's TechWomen100 2019. She was on the HERoes 100 Women Future Leaders List 2020 won Digital Hero of the Year of the Digital Technology Leaders Awards.
Kate-Lily de Graft-Johnson | British Land
Kate-Lily joined British Land three years ago having worked in various industries including Higher Education, Television and Tech.
At British Land, Kate-Lily has demonstrated high skills, professionalism, dedication and been a mentor, motivator, and supporter of employees at Broadgate with a focus on Employee Wellbeing and Diversity.
Born to Ghanaian immigrant parents, Kate-Lily was bought up in an inner-city area, part of the EC1 New Deal programme of the 2000s. The EC1 New Deal was a Government programme to raise and improve the community’s deprived profile. Kate-Lily attended St Marylebone Secondary school for Girls and studied law at Brunel University. After graduating from university, Kate-Lily’s first job was Widening Participation and Community Engagement Admin Assistant for City University London before progressing to a Widening Participation Projects Officer. Here Kate-Lily’s work, focused on creating, coordinating, and delivering outreach projects with the purpose of helping young people (aged 5 – 19) fulfil their potential through “AimHigher “- a government initiative to encourage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to consider Higher Education.
After four years at City University London, Kate-Lily spent two years working in the Television Industry; a short time backpacking across South East Asia followed by four years in Tech; before arriving at British Land, where she has flourished within the Broadgate team.
Kate-Lily’s current role has enabled her to evaluate her values and work ethics. She is passionate about the wellbeing of colleagues as well as demonstrating awareness of diversity across the workplace and in projects. She is a member of several Wellbeing and Diversity Committees at work and a champion and supporter for Wellbeing and Diversity activities at Broadgate and British Land.
As Central Services Manager, she has helped with the refurbishment of the Estate Management office, supported the roll out of Broadgate’s new branded uniform to over 500 employees and contributed to the creation of Broadgate’s Wellbeing and Diversity strategies, creating guides to support the framework of both.
Kate-Lily’s strength lies with people interaction and building effective working relationships. She is a good organiser and has demonstrated such skill in many events at Broadgate.
She can deliver on all three Broadgate values of: Connecting, Surprising and Empowering. Examples include surprising the team with wellbeing boxes full of personalised items; connecting colleagues with opportunities or lending a listening ear and empowering others to shine and coaching them to success.
In terms of her own management, Kate-Lily has excellent working relationship with peers and senior management. Although Kate-Lily draws inspiration from her current Director who instils confidence in her daily work, she has been affected by instances where she has experienced low self-esteem that affected her mental health and performance due to poor management and lack of appropriate support.
However, such situations have strengthened her character, making her resolve to support and help others at all times and drive change in the conversations around Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Diversity.
Louise Goux-Wirth | UWE Bristol
I am Louise, a proud self-proclaimed equality geek, human right activist, public speaker and aspiring CEO.
My passion for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) began when I when I was a student at UWE Bristol in 2007 where I joined the LGBT+ Society. What started as nights out in gay clubs at the beginning of the semester ended up with becoming the Vice President of the LGBT+ Society. This opened me up to a world of activism, campaigning and politics which admittedly I completely fell head over heels with. My passion for EDI, creating change and championing marginalised voices grew from there and led me to amazing opportunities of representing my University at various conferences and events. After 2 failed elections to be a full time representative within the Student's Union - I got elected as Vice President Community and Welfare at the 3rd attempt. This was the first time that I realised that I could get paid to do what I love.
Since then, I have had the privilege to be in different roles and organisations where I have advocated for diverse voices and experiences to be celebrated, heard and visible. Now, out of some twist of fate, I have returned to UWE Bristol to be their Staff and Student Engagement Officer where I lead on University level engagement programmes such as Black History Month, our sponsorship relations with Bristol Pride and St Paul's Carnival, Staff Networks and our organisational wide health and wellbeing campaign. When I ran in the elections as a student my strapline was "Making Things Happen" and I am proud that I have lived by my motto throughout my career.
In the last year, I have spoken on a variety on national and international panels, led on research projects, curated digital content on equality issues – and have what it feels like grown in my career journey on an accelerated trajectory.
As a proud Black lesbian with anxiety and depression - I know first-hand the importance of organisations taking diversity and inclusion seriously. For me, equality isn't just my job but an intrinsic part of who I am.
Caroline McIntyre | NatWest
By aged 18 Caroline had already broken free of the societal pressures impressed upon her by a highly academic high school, turning down six university placements in order to pursue an entry level career in finance.
After 4 years climbing the ladder of a small finance department Caroline bucked the trend. Proving her critics wrong, she secured a position at JP Morgan despite the absence of a university education.
Now a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants with 16 years’ experience spanning banking and technology Caroline leverages her diverse career history to challenge the status quo. Positively disrupting the norm at NatWest to encourage an open mindset to inclusion and diversity. As a strong and active advocate and sponsor within her organisation, she is making a significant impact. Acting as a role model among the female population, championing potential, and driving gender and racial equality.
Caroline is dyslexic. Only recently choosing to speak openly for the first time about her own brain disorder, the challenges it brings and the judgement and labels she has had to deal with during her career. She now strives to encourage others to join her voice and make disability a more openly spoken about aspect of diversity and a cultural norm.
Lea Armstrong | Barclays
Lea’s passion for equality, inclusion and accessibility are at the core of everything she does.
Lea began her career at Barclays six years ago and has worked in various roles within the Risk function. She is currently a vice president in the Capital Projects team, leading strategic programmes to deliver enhanced system infrastructure to the Corporate and Investment Bank.
Lea joined Reach (the Barclays’ network for disability, mental health and neurodiversity) in 2017 as Events Lead, organising events promoting disability and mental health confidence. Whilst in this role, Lea introduced new ways to ensure events were fully accessible to colleagues and, never afraid to challenge the status quo, she soon became a powerful voice on accessibility and inclusive best practices.
In 2020 Lea became Deputy Co-Chair of Reach and took the lead on a number of key initiatives, including the relaunch of ‘This Is Me’, a storytelling campaign which encourages colleagues to bring their whole selves to work. When a Co-Chair role became available in January 2021, Lea took another step up and is now leading the 2,000-colleague network with drive and passion.
Nafisa Kiani | House of Commons
Nafisa currently works as Business Support Manager for House of Commons education and engagement department where she suggested introducing a new software for booking educational tours and workshops so a more efficient system is implemented.
She introduced a new share-point site for assigning events onto 65 events coordinators as she assigned these shifts manually via outlook diary which was time-consuming reducing bureaucracy in House of Commons. During coronavirus, she introduced a new loan box process where schools who show no engagement with Parliament are prioritised in being assigned political resources. She assisted in setting up online workshops for schools during coronavirus via Eventbrite and delivered an educational workshop on what Parliament does to the public during UK Parliament week via MS teams during coronavirus.
She delivered a presentation to Muslims and non-Muslims at Parliament educating them about Ramadan, why Muslims fast, discussing about measures Managers can implement assisting Muslims during work hours like introducing 15 minute comfort breaks, approving leave for Eid and ensuring prayer rooms are open for public and staff. These were implemented. She was involved in a workplace equality network called Parlireach discussing about better representation of BAME individuals in senior roles within Parliament.
She has been working for the House of Commons since April’2014 and has completed a BA in Politics from Queen Mary University and a BSc in speech therapy. She has edited ministerial statements and arranged delegation visits for members and inputted parliamentary questions to be asked in the Commons chamber when working for the Commons overseas office and press gallery.
Nafisa has done charity work for 3 years with children and adults recovering from neurological conditions, speech, language and communication needs. Nafisa worked with Stroke association interacting with stroke survivors at communication support groups developing their communication, confidence, self-esteem, preventing social isolation. Nafisa worked with Alzheimers society interacting with clients recovering from brain injury facilitating communication.