Speakers

Kelly Beaver is Chief Executive of Ipsos in the UK and Ireland, where she has worked for over a decade, previously leading their public affairs division.  Prior to this, she started her career in economic consulting for KPMG and PwC. She is regular commentator in the national press and broadcast media on societal and consumer trends across a range of topics including trust, gender equality, employee engagement, leadership, and many others. Kelly holds a Senior Research Fellowship at Nuffield College Oxford, and Kings College London, and was awarded an MBE in June 2022 for services to academia, research and the covid response.  She was named as one of 100 Women to Watch in Cranfield University’s FTSE Board Report, 2022.

Jo Bibby is Director of Health at the Health Foundation.

Jo is responsible for leading the Foundation’s Healthy Lives strategy to create the opportunities for everyone to lead a healthy life.

Joining the Foundation in November 2007, Jo initially led the Foundation’s influential portfolio of work in patient safety and person-centred care.  

Jo has worked in health care at local and national level for 25 years, including 10 years at the Department of Health. As Head of NHS Performance, she oversaw the implementation of the policy agenda set out in the NHS Plan. At the NHS Modernisation Agency, Jo led an international quality improvement initiative – Pursuing Perfection.

Before joining the Foundation, Jo was the Director for the Calderdale and Kirklees Integrated Service Strategy where she led a major service reconfiguration programme to deliver improvements in quality, safety and patient experience.

She is a trustee at the Centre for Homelessness Impact and from June 2021 a non-executive director at Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust.

Jo has a PhD in Medical Biophysics.

Professor Dame Carol Black is currently Chair of the British Library, the Centre for Ageing Better, and Think Ahead, the Government’s fast-stream training programme for Mental Health Social Workers. She chairs NHS Improvement’s Advisory Board on Employee Health and Wellbeing, and is Adviser to NHSI and on Health and Work. She is also a member of RAND Europe’s Council of Advisers, and of the Board of UKActive.

She recently completed her seven-year term as Principal of Newnham College Cambridge, where she was a Deputy Vice-Chancellor. She still sits on the University’s Advisory Board for the Centre of Science and Public Policy, and the Strategy Board on Student Mental Health and Wellbeing. She is a Patron of the Women’s Leadership Centre in the Judge Business School. Dame Carol has completed three independent reviews for the UK Government: of the health of the working-age population in 2008 as National Director for Health and Work; of sickness absence in Britain in 2011 as co-chair; and of employment outcomes of addiction to drugs or alcohol, or obesity, in 2016.

In February 2019 the Home Secretary announced that Dame Carol would lead an independent review on illicit drugs, demand, supply and treatment. Professor Black is a past-President of the Royal College of Physicians, of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, and of the British Lung Foundation, and past-Chair of the Nuffield Trust for health policy. The Centre she established at the Royal Free Hospital in London is internationally renowned for research and treatment of connective tissue diseases such as scleroderma. She has recently been a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.

Barbara Bradley was appointed Director General, Work and Health Services in June 2022. She has responsibility for the day to day to running of disability services, Universal Credit and working age operations across Great Britain via jobcentres and service centres. Barbara has had a career in both the public and private sectors, leading, advising and delivering services for many Whitehall departments. She started her career at IBM, before moving to Serco to run service delivery activities for the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Her most recent role before joining the department was as the Public Services Partner for PA Consulting. This wide-ranging role included providing critical support for Test and Trace during the pandemic.

Sir Ian Cheshire is Chair of Land Securities, Chairman of Channel 4, Chairman of Spire Healthcare Group, and chair of Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, as well as the Chair of We Mean Business Coalition. His previous appointments were Chairman of Debenhams, Barclays Bank UK, CEO of Kingfisher, B&Q, Chairman Maisons du Monde, Lead Non-Executive Director for the Government, and Non-Executive Director of BT Group plc. Ian was Chairman of the British Retail Consortium, Chairman of the Prince of Wales Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change, President of the Business Disability Forum President’s Group, and has chaired the Ecosystem Markets Task Force and GR Task Force.  Sir Ian was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to business, sustainability and the environment, and is a Chevalier of the Ordre National du Merite of France.

Dr Sarah Hughes has worked in mental health and criminal justice for 34 years. After originally training as a social worker, she has spent the majority of her career in the voluntary sector within both community and secure settings. Sarah became CEO of CPSL Mind in 2004 and has also led the prestigious think tank The Centre for Mental Health. She holds advisory and board roles with organisations including The FA, Kooth and IIMHL. Sarah is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Sciana and Salzburg Global. She is also a social commentator and has been invited to speak at many international events. In 2022 she achieved her professional doctorate studying women and leadership. 

Barbara Jeffery is co-lead of Employee Health at the McKinsey Health Institute. She is also a Partner in the London office of McKinsey & Company and a leader in their People & Organisational Performance Practice in the UK. She focuses on delivering transformative organisation journeys-journeys that change organisations and individuals, as people and leaders. Barbara has more than ten years of experience in organisational design, culture and change, leadership development, and HR function design in the context of transformations, mergers, separations and IPOs. Prior to joining McKinsey, Barbara worked at a leading global financial services firm, focused on structuring and marketing of fixed income derivatives. She also founded and ran Omoko, a company focused on performance transformations for PE-owned and VC-owned firms in the healthcare space. 

Previously the Global Vice-President of HR, Talent, Marketing, Communications, Sustainability & Water at Unilever, Geoff is now a global advocate, campaigner and consultant in addressing the stigma of mental ill-health in the workplace.  He is also a very much sought-after experienced keynote speaker, strategic advisor and consultant who inspires and provokes organisations globally to put purpose and wellbeing at the centre of everything they do with a reputation for energizing and motivating people to take action in creating workplaces that enhance the lives of everyone.  He brings his own experience of addressing the stigma of mental ill-health within Unilever, helping to archetype the transformation of this company with Purpose at its core and provides a real practitioner’s perspective on how to address the stigma linked to depression and anxiety within workplaces today, and on how to elevate wellbeing to a strategic priority in the Boardroom.  Geoff is a Co-Founder of the Minds@Work network, a charity which endeavours to inspire and equip individuals to break the stigma of mental health within their organisations. He also advises and helps organisations define and embed their Purpose as a driver of business performance and speaks on the power of Purpose and how a sense of organisational purpose can transform an organisation/institution.

Karl Simons is recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities regarding mental health strategy within business. His advice is regularly sought by Government on matters of mental health and safety and is appointed as Advisor to the Prime Ministers Cabinet Office. Karl presently holds the role of Chief Futurist at the Artificial Intelligence organisation FYLD. He is a lecturer at the University of Cambridge, a member of the UK National Forum for Health & Wellbeing, a member of the Society of Leadership Fellows of Windsor Castle and holds a position as Non-Executive Director on the Board of the global organisation ‘Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor’. His work globally for over 35 years, has led to leadership positions across all continents and in numerous safety critical industries including Defence, oil, gas, minerals, rail, roads, construction, and utilities. In 2020, Karl was awarded an OBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II for his work nationally regarding ‘Services to Mental Health Policy’ and in 2019 was voted ‘The Most Influential Person in Health & Safety’ by the 600,000 global readers of SHP.

Alex Will is President, Member of the Board of Directors, and part of the founding team at Calm. Since 2016, he has played an integral role in building Calm from the 1-bedroom apartment in San Francisco into an award-winning app and company with 100+ million downloads and 3,000+ corporate customers including leading brands such as KraftHeinz, Accenture, and ASICS. Prior to Calm, Alex co-founded several UK-based tech startups including Spoonfed, Evently, and Listora. Alex is an active angel investor and holds a BSc from the London School of Economics.

Helen Willis was appointed Chief Financial Officer at Costain in November 2020.  She has significant experience in senior finance roles, including most recently as Chief Financial Officer of De La Rue. Prior to this, Helen worked at Premier Farnell between 2014 and 2017, including as Chief Financial Officer from 2015. She has also held senior finance roles at Pelican Rouge, AZ Electronic Materials, and HSS Hire. 

Louise started her career as a fashion buyer at Marks & Spencer and transitioned into campaigning by taking health into fashion to support the government’s national skin cancer prevention programme. As Creative Director at COI, she has led campaigns including World Mental Health Day, 5 A DAY and FRANK.

Since joining Business in the Community, Louise has campaigned to establish employee wellbeing as a core responsible business component and a strategic boardroom issue.

The campaign has produced ground breaking research, including a three-year national survey cycle of mental health at work through a line manager lens.

Under Louise’s leadership, BITC’s Wellbeing Campaign takes a whole person, whole system approach to supporting thriving people, thriving business and thriving communities.

The success of the campaign has been built on a collaborative approach with business, government and third sector partners.

In partnership with Public Health England, BITC has co-produced a suite of innovative, interconnected toolkits consolidating the best evidence, freely available resources and employer practice on topics including mental health, sleep and recovery, suicide, musculoskeletal health, drugs, alcohol, tobacco and physical activity, healthy eating and healthier weight.

She is a member of the following expert advisory boards:

• Government Joint Work and Health Unit
• NHS Healthy Workforce
• What Works Centre for Wellbeing
• Council for Work and Health

Arti Kashyap-Aynsley started her career as a Chartered Accountant, whilst also embarking on a 15+ year journey in the Professional Services Sector. She has worked between audit, tax and advisory services, spending the largest chunk of her career as a Management Consulting, focusing on large scale Finance Transformation programmes. Working and travelling the globe opened Arti’s eyes to the impacts of what our working lives can have on our overall wellbeing. Therefore, with the experience she gained in her career, she decided to pivot into wellbeing, where she first worked with Deloitte Consulting in the UK, to design, develop and deliver on a comprehensive wellbeing strategy. By being able to create positive change, Arti was inspired to continue to grow in this field and joined Ocado Group as their Global Health & Wellbeing Leader. Here she has been able to develop and launch a group wide wellbeing strategy, whilst also exploring the intersectionality of Wellbeing with broader ESG elements such as Inclusion. Through this work Arti has been able to uncover her passion for diversity and inclusion and has since become the Global Head of Wellbeing & Inclusion at Ocado Group. Outside of her day to day working life Arti is a qualified life coach, as well as an Advisor and Non-Executive Director to various organisations.

Biography to follow.

Saumya Barber joined Unum in 2013 and has worked in various roles across Unum’s claims, rehabilitation and proposition teams. As Head of Proposition Development at Unum, she is responsible for driving innovative, customer centric solutions with a key focus on health and wellbeing services that deliver impactful outcomes. Prior to joining Unum, Saumya has worked across many industries in risk consulting and advisory positions at KPMG and Employer Mutual in Australia. She has experience in risk management, audit, workers compensation, illness/injury prevention, employee relations and wellbeing. Saumya attended The University of Sydney where she completed Bachelors in Applied Science (Occupational Therapy) and has completed a Masters in Science (Work, Health and Safety). 

Helen Beedham helps business and HR leaders create ‘time-intelligent’ organisations that gain a better return on the time their employees invest in work. She is an organisational expert, speaker, host of The Business of Being Brilliant podcast and Business Book Award-winning author of the Amazon bestseller The Future of Time – how ‘re-working’ time can help you boost productivity, diversity and wellbeing. Helen runs workshops to develop ‘time intelligent’ teams, coaches people on transformative time management practices, and gives talks on productivity, diversity and wellbeing topics. She comments on the future of work at conferences, industry panels and client events and is regularly featured in national, business and HR press including the FT, Financial News, Forbes, FastCompany, theHRDirector and HR Review. Helen has over 25 years’ experience in corporate workplaces and professional careers with expertise in organisation and team effectiveness, HR, Diversity & Inclusion, culture change, people management and time management.

Dominic Bennett, the Founder and CEO of OnWellbeing is an expert in digital platform innovation.  He was instrumental in the development and growth of the digital platform Aspire, a gold standard product currently supporting thousands of students across the UK.  His vision for Onwellbeing is an agile and personalised mental health tool with inclusivity at its core. 

Isabel Berwick hosts the FT’s Working It podcast and writes the weekly Working It newsletter. She was previously the Editor of FT Work & Careers, covering all aspects of working lives, management, leadership, wellness and the future of work. 

She joined the FT in 1999, at the height of the dotcom book and has since held a 

variety of senior commissioning roles at the paper. She was previously

personal finance editor and business editor of the Independent

on Sunday.  Isabel is currently writing a book about thriving at work.

Julia Biles is currently Head of Wellbeing at Saga. She is responsible for designing and implementing the whole of workforce wellbeing strategy. Her focus is on delivering impactful wellbeing programmes that engage a remote workforce with diverse needs. A priority for Saga is building resilience skills and aligning leadership to embrace wellbeing as a core business skill. Julia was previously Global Head of Wellbeing at Bupa for 8 years, delivering a global resilience programme that reached 20,000+ employees.  As a qualified Executive and Personal Coach, her passion is supporting leaders to maintain good energy for fulfilling lives at work and home.

Simon Blake OBE is Chief Executive of MHFA England. He joined the social enterprise in 2018 after 25 years working in a range of purpose led organisations including the National Children’s Bureau, young people’s sexual health charity, Brook, and the National Union of Students. Simon is an advisor to the mental health company Headspace Health and the Dying Matters campaign, chairs the Support After Suicide Partnership and is a NED on the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. Over the last decade, he has held trustee positions at Stonewall, the Black Health Agency and Diversity Role Models. Simon is a Chartered Companion of the Chartered Management Institute. 

As the UK Health and Wellbeing Manager at National Grid, Thomas Blakey leads the support for their diverse workforce driving the UK energy transition, and collaborates with the wider group health and wellbeing team on their health and wellbeing proposition across the US region of the business.

Harry Bliss is the CEO and Co-Founder of Champion Health, an award-winning workplace health organisation that brings all areas of wellbeing into one platform. Following Harry’s friend and mentor taking his own life in 2018, Champion Health set out on the mission to empower employees to optimise their wellbeing.

Justin Boxall has been with Mars Inc 26 years. During his early career in Sales Leadership, he found his passion for developing people and helping them to achieve their full potential in a supportive environment. This led to moving into HR, supporting people through transformation projects, and leading Mars UK’s initiatives in Diversity &Inclusion. In 2022 he moved into ‘the best job in Mars’ – Health and Wellbeing Manager and is responsible for leading a team of Occupational Health and Wellbeing professionals to ensure all Mars UK associates are fully supported in their physical and mental health, and can thrive at work.

Daniella Brackpool joined Wickes last year and is responsible for driving the benefits strategy, implementing new benefits and services, along with looking for new and innovative ways to bring to life the company’s benefits offering, supporting wellbeing and making everyone ‘Feel at Home’. Since starting her HR career 30 years ago, she has worked in a variety of roles including training, recruitment, shared services, reward and pensions, before ending up specialising in benefits. Dani’s previous roles include Benefits Manager for Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays, plus Head of Benefits for the Sainsbury’s Group. She is an active member of the Wickes Wellbeing Network and a qualified Mental Health First Aider, Dani is passionate about positively influencing the health and wellbeing of all colleagues.

Biography to follow.

Claire Burgess is Head of Health and Wellbeing at Unipart Group, where she is responsible for the strategy and delivery of Unipart’s workplace wellbeing programme. Claire works collaboratively with her key stakeholders to ensure the wellbeing programme is holistic. As the Lead for Unipart’s network of circa 200 MHFAiders and 50 Wellbeing champions, data insights are used to tailor lifestyle programmes to address risks identified in the local workforce, as one size does not fit all. With over 20 years’ experience as a generalist HR practitioner, Claire combines her human centric approach with her passion for Workplace Wellbeing and actively champions the need for improved mental health awareness. She supports the social movement to breakdown the stigma associated with Mental Health by improving the conversation, education and support available inside of the workplace.

Sharon, a seasoned operational leader, has an extensive background with top healthcare administrators. Sharon is deeply dedicated and driven to providing exceptional service, promoting options, and facilitating simplicity.

Lee Chambers is a respected psychologist, speaker and founder of Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing. After a diverse career, including time in corporate finance, elite sports and scaling and a videogame business, Lee decided to launch Essentialise in 2020, to support businesses in making wellbeing inclusive, effective and evidence-based. He has won the Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award and was inducted into the Black Cultural Archives in 2022 for services to business and health. Lee is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Scientists in the USA, and was featured as an Exceptional Founder in this year’s Startups 100 Index. He is regarded for his leadership on the future of wellbeing and inclusion, has spoken at the Bloomberg Global Equality Summit, and featured on the BBC and in the Guardian. Lee is the author of the Millennials Guide to Wellness and he consults for a variety of FTSE 250 organisations.

Originally training as a nurse, Daniel has worked in various roles throughout his career both in the public and corporate sectors. In his current role he leads on the Future of Work and Employee Wellbeing globally. Before this, Daniel lived in Hong Kong working in and around APAC consulting internally and externally with multi-national corporations, on their health and wellness strategy and delivery. Daniel is passionate about wellbeing and mental health in the workplace and creating healthy cultures.

Jen Christie is in a brand new Health and Wellbeing Practitioner role for Mars Inc, leading the UK health and wellbeing programme across all Mars segments with a focus on prevention through proactive health promotion. Jen comes from clinical beginnings as a Health Advisor for Bupa’s corporate banking clients as well as running her own Wellbeing consultancy practice prior to joining Mars supporting clients to develop and deliver their employee wellbeing strategies.

Alicia is a Senior Associate Solicitor at Thrive who has worked with both employers and employees in all areas of Employment Law, with a specific interest in Employment Tribunal litigation for both Claimants and Respondents. Her advice is factual and empathetic, and she has a holistic approach to what the best outcome is in litigation. She also leads our partnership with Pregnant Then Screwed in supporting new mothers where they have been the victims of discrimination.

Stefanie Daniels is a coach providing personalised support to executive-level employees and midlife women in the media workplace. She founded Life Begins at Menopause offering a safe space where people can talk about their symptoms, enhance nutrition and supplements, and optimise their lifestyle. Stefanie’s career started with organisations such as News Corp UK, Bauer Media and Global Radio. She studied at Barefoot Coaching, graduated from the College of Naturopathic Medicine and has been trained by Tedx Speaker Cynthia Thurlow, specialising in Intermittent Fasting.

Dr Shaun Davis MA, MBA, MA, MSc, MA
Chartered FIOSH, FIIRSM, Chartered FCIPD, MIoD

One of a relatively small number of Chartered Directors, Shaun is a dynamic and solution-focussed compliance and
sustainability executive with extensive experience across a broad portfolio and operating at a global level. Currently working
within a FTSE100 listed business with experience in FTSE250 and private equity-backed businesses, Shaun’s expertise includes
driving sustainable and ethical change within corporate health, safety, environment and sustainability, corporate security,
and regulatory compliance.

He is currently Chair of the Berkshire Branch of The Institute of Directors and acts a trustee of
four charities: The Men’s Health Forum, The Rowland Hill Fund (Deputy Chair), The Business Disability Forum and The
Society of Occupational Medicine. He is also a Board member and Treasurer of the European Chief Compliance and
Integrity Officers Forum (ECCIOF), a long-standing member of the Business in the Community (BITC) Workwell Leadership
Team 1 and a Member of the National Forum on Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace. Shaun also acts as vice chair and
director of strategy for the pan-European mental health campaign ‘Target Depression in the Workplace’. He was appointed
as Honorary Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham, School of Medicine in February 2018. Voted as one of
the 15 most influential in health and safety and a winner of The Institute of Directors ‘London & South – CSR Director of the
Year 2018 award, Shaun regularly contributes to contemporary debates, thought leadership, and campaigns. He has co-
authored two books Positive Male Mind and Positive Mental Health in 2018 and 2019 that explore mental health
management strategies. Shaun holds a Doctorate in Coaching and Mentoring, his research having explored the
relationship between coaching, well-being, and organisational culture.

Known internationally as The Bipolar Businessman, Thomas Duncan Bell has already reached millions of people with his writing, keynote speaking and through various media. He frequently works together with global companies to develop their mental health programmes while ensuring their business needs. Thomas is one of the UK’s most popular mental health speakers, as well as the primary mental health commentator and keynote speaker for the Institute of Directors. He knows how to transform a company and implement sustainable mental health programmes within the organisation, while still remaining human along the way, consistently found endearing to all whom he works with, through his candid and caring approach to change. As a FTSE 500 & SME Commercial Consultant for over 17 years, Thomas truly understands the needs of the people and the business.

Mary Curristin is the Customer Experience Lead at ART Health Solutions. Her role is to lead the customer experience for ART’s products and services, acting as the primary point of contact for the customer within our ongoing consultancy projects. She is responsible for the implementation, evaluation and iteration of the engagement strategies and communications with ART’s clients. Mary is also a qualified sports scientist with a research master’s in recovery nutrition and a diploma in performance nutrition and she is a graduate registrant of the Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr). To support the work she does at ART, Mary has completed a Wellbeing Coaching Programme to upskill on how to better support people to improve their wellbeing through lifestyle and behavioural changes.

Paul Farmer joined Age UK as its Chief Executive in October 2022. Before joining Age UK, he was Chief Executive at Mind, the leading mental health charity working in England and Wales, a position he had held since 2006. Paul has seen first-hand both the best and the worst of the ways that older people are treated in our society and wants to play his part in changing the experiences of older people. Paul is a Commissioner at Historic England, a Non-Executive Director for NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board and a member of the NHS Assembly. He co-authored ‘Thriving at Work’ for the Government, which led to significant changes in workplace mental health, and co-chaired the 5 Year Forward View for Mental Health, leading to additional funding for NHS mental health services. In 2016, Paul was awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to mental health. He has an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of East London and is an Honorary Fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford and The Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Sandra Dyball is the Director of Health, Wellbeing & Benefits at Centrica. She leads an award-winning team – who’s philosophy is ensuring colleagues have the right support when they need it, being passionate about engaging colleagues in their own health, wellbeing and benefits and drive a behaviour change. Centrica have recently introduced a Healthcare Plan for colleagues, which has been successful in supporting colleagues in accessing treatment sooner and we are working towards introducing more preventative rather reactive services to the Plan. Having over 25 years’ experience in Hospitality, Retail, SME and Utilities, Sandra has held a number of Senior Roles from Group Human Resources Director, Head of Employee Relations and Head of Employee Transformation. She currently Chairs the Cost-of-Living group within Centrica, to support colleagues through the current crisis.

Dr Clare Fernandes is an Occupational Health Physician. Clare is the Chief Medical Officer at the BBC and a practising doctor. 

Since joining the BBC, Clare’s role has revolved around providing medical input into policies and practices around BBC buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing return to work advice for colleagues, from drivers in Nepal to TV celebrities, general health promotion and COVID-19 health advice, and (virtually) taken her to teams in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan Nairobi and South Africa. She has worked with shows such as Strictly Come Dancing and EastEnders to keep your favourite shows going during the pandemic. She is currently leading the development of the BBC’s post COVID wellbeing strategy.

Clare is the author of ‘Questions and Answers for the Diploma in Occupational Medicine’.

Outside of work, Clare is a keen diver and loves to travel, particularly to experience new cultures and new food and textiles, and is a keen scuba diver. 

Dr Stephanie Fitzgerald is a chartered clinical psychologist, neuropsychologist, associate fellow of The British Psychological Society, keynote speaker and published author. She has worked in mental health for two decades and began working as a health and wellbeing consultant in 2013, when she founded Soyo. She specialises in delivering practical, evidence-based interventions, focusing on sustainable improvement. Stephanie’s most recent book is Reworked: Putting Health and Happiness at the Centre of Your Career. 

Jeremy Gautrey-Jones has been the Assistant Director of Employee Experience with the RSPCA since 2020, working as a core member of the people and culture leadership team, driving through vast improvements to the employee experience to create a modern and inclusive culture. He has extensive experience in developing and maintaining employee relations strategies in small to large sized organisations, as well as leading effective negotiations at the most senior levels at a UK and European level on a wide range of issues. Jeremy is an experienced employment law practitioner, who can undertake and oversee complex case management and investigations.

Emily Gabrielsen is Centrica’s Group Health and Wellbeing Manager. She has over 20 years’ experience working within Centrica, starting in the Cardiff call centre and graduating through many roles in Project and Change management, to following her passion of Health and Wellbeing seven years ago. Emily is responsible for the operation of Centrica’s UK health provision and designs and delivers Centrica’s global Wellbeing Programme across a diverse workforce of over 19,000 colleagues. Centrica’s holistic and inclusive risk-based Wellbeing programme focuses on the whole person, looking after physical, emotional, nutritional and financial health proactively as well as reactively. Her operational experience and being a trained Mental Health First Aider means Emily knows what colleagues want. Her work has been instrumental in transforming and ensuring there are proactive wellbeing resources, tools and benefits available to allow all colleagues to access and choose the right support, at the right time for them.

Lea Ghanem is Co-Chair of the Wellbeing Blend; Senior Strategy and Business Planning Manager with Starbucks EMEA, where she has been working for the past three years. In her day job, she works in Strategy and Business Planning, she is also a trained Mental Health First Aider and alongside her colleague Robert Wigmore, is the co-chair of the Wellbeing Blend at Starbucks. Lea is passionate about breaking down the stigma surrounding mental health, driving more open conversations on wellbeing, and supporting people to embrace themselves, no matter where they sit on their wellbeing journey.

Shamira Graham has been working in mental health research and clinical practice for over 20 years. She is a passionate mental health specialist providing mental health solutions, designing clinical pathways and building innovative evidence based mental health propositions for corporate organisations and large insurers at scale. These incorporate assessments, psychiatry, psychological therapy, and counselling pathways for both adults and children and young people, whilst always ensuring patient care and patient experience is optimised. As a practicing clinician, Shamira delivers clinical services and specialist consultancy shaping wellbeing, mental health training, and organisational performance solutions. She has extensive experience working with global professional services companies delivering consultancy, specialist training and corporate insights delivering benefits to people and organisations. Before re-training, Shamira worked in large corporate organisations in portfolio management, strategic planning and business analysis and improvement.

Kevin Green is the Chief People Officer of First Bus – a division of FirstGroup. In his time at First Bus, he has kicked off a transformational people strategy, which will put colleagues and customers first. As part of this, people centricity, at bottom-up change process, has started to roll-out across the business, driving a more human culture across First Bus, where colleague behaviours are fully aligned to their purpose of ‘your journey is our everything’ and the First Bus values – or ‘Our Way’. Kevin has also introduced a step change on diversity and inclusion, including the company-wide introduction of inclusion networks and a ‘Celebrating our Differences’ development programme for all managers. He has been an entrepreneur, a CEO and HRD of a FTSE 100 company and has long been recognised as an award-winning business leader. He has worked with many leadership teams to maximise their performance by developing both unique customer offerings and differentiated people strategies which provide sustainable competitive advantage.

Javier joined Heathrow in January 2008 and has served as Chief Financial Officer since 2016. He is responsible for leading the organisation financially by enabling a sustainable growth strategy and transforming Heathrow’s approach to risk, cost and investment. He leads the investment of our multi[1]billion capital plan driving long-term sustainable value generation to consumers and shareholders. He was closely involved in establishing the current capital structure and positioning Heathrow as a strong credit in the financial markets, including more than £10bn of fundraising since he became CFO. Recently, Javier has successfully led Heathrow’s financial response to the global pandemic creating an unprecedented 97% decline in revenue by securing business continuity and accelerating its recovery. Javier is Board Member, member of the Executive Committee and chair of the Investment Committee. Outside Heathrow, Javier co-chairs the UK Leadership Network of The Prince’s Accounting for Sustainability Project (‘A4S’) under the patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales. He also chairs the Wellbeing Leadership Team of Business In the Community, the UK largest and longest established business-led membership organisation dedicated to responsible business. Javier provides classes on strategy and change management at the MBA programme of UNIR Business School (Spain). Prior to joining Heathrow, Javier worked as senior manager with Ferrovial, a Spanish-based global operator of sustainable infrastructure.

Debbie is an experienced Nurse Consultant at Healix Health with nearly a decade of service. Her areas of expertise include developing and managing clinical pathways and serving as a strategic Clinical Account Manager for our Trust clients. With a strong background in intensive care and expertise in private mental health, particularly in eating disorders and addiction, Debbie brings a wealth of experience and a commitment to excellence, to her role.

Ruth Handcock is CEO of Octopus Money, a money advice brand for everyone. The new brand – Octopus Group’s second mass consumer brand alongside Octopus Energy – offers money coaching and advice to millions of people across the UK, regardless of how much they earn or are able to invest.

For her first 5 years as part of the Octopus Group she was Chief Executive Officer at Octopus Investments, an asset manager with £13bn under management. Prior to this she was a founding employee at Tandem, a new UK Challenger Bank, and was responsible for achieving their banking licence. Ruth started her career with 8 years in strategic consultancy before joining Bacardi as Finance Director of their Martini & Cognac portfolios. She is an independent non-Executive Director of Aldermore Bank and sits on the Octopus Group main Board.

Ruth is passionate about education – in finances and beyond – having spent a year working in the Ministry of Trade in Sierra Leone to attract overseas investment and establishing a primary school in Freetown. Ruth was also Governor at Bolingbroke Academy, a non- selective state secondary for 6 years.

Stephen Haynes is Director of Wellbeing at British Safety Council, where he specialises in the design, implementation and management of strategic workplace health, safety and wellbeing programmes – including the development of relevant interventions, from optimisation of support infrastructures to leadership development. Previously, Stephen was Head of Programme for British Safety Council’s award-winning sister mental wellbeing charity Mates in Mind.

Dr Sally Hemming is a psychologist and EY’s UK Health and Wellbeing Lead. With over 20 years’ experience, she is a workplace wellbeing practitioner with a technical interest in employer support for workers with long-term chronic health conditions. Sally is a member of the UK’s National Health and Wellbeing Forum and government’s Industrial Injuries Advisory Council. Her research work concerning workplace support for workers with long-term health conditions is published in the professional and scientific literature.

Nicky Hemmings is a Business Psychologist at Koa Health and is responsible for content supporting mental health in the workplace. She has a background in HR, L&D, and the design and development of evidence-based digital interventions for preventive mental health in the workplace with five papers published in leading digital therapeutics journals. Nicky has over a decade of experience applying an evidence-based approach to workplace performance. She is committed to finding science-backed solutions to real-world problems in the workplace and beyond.

Bio to follow

With over 15 years’ experience and two degrees in the wellbeing industry, Marcus Herbert has worked with individuals, elite athletes, and executives on enhancing their own personal wellbeing and reducing their risk of lifestyle diseases through effective behaviour change strategies. Transferring this experience into the corporate setting, he has worked with organisations from micro to global on their approach to organisational wellbeing and how to develop an effective and meaningful wellbeing strategy. More recently, Marcus has developed training courses to support directors, line managers and employees on the most effective ways to embrace health and wellbeing at work.

In 2018, Jodie Hill founded Thrive Law, a law firm that practices law differently and where people matter. Jodie is disrupting the legal sector with her forward thinking and innovative approach to the law by creating a uniquely positioned law firm that helps organisations get the very best from their people. Because wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and belonging underpin Thrive’s approach and advice. Jodie has experience in both HR and tribunals as an advocate, so can balance the commercial risks whilst giving straight talking, pragmatic advice as she has seen how so many get it wrong.​

Ryan Hopkins is on a mission to engage 1 billion people in the betterment of wellbeing. He is the host of the Audacious Goals Club, creator of Toilet Break Wellbeing, TEDx Speaker and soon to be published author – ’52 Weeks of Wellbeing: a no-nonsense guide to a fulfilling work life’, which will be available in January 2024. Ryan’s work has positively influenced the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. He shares his personal story of bulimia, depression, anxiety openly and has reached over 6 million on social media, recently being announced Global Emerging Wellbeing Leader of the Year and is currently a finalist for UK Storyteller of the Year.

Josh Jackman is the Operations Director at ART Health Solutions, whose mission is to empower people to take the best care of their wellbeing by creating cutting-edge technologies that deliver data-driven, actionable insights. He holds a PhD in Exercise Physiology and is also a Chartered Scientist, and BASES Accredited Sport and Exercise Scientist. Josh previously worked at the GSK Human Performance Lab, providing scientific support to elite athletes, including several world and Olympic champions.

Claudia Jaramillo serves as Chief Financial Officer at Jacobs. During her more than 20 years in the industry, she has held a variety of leadership and senior finance positions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President Strategy & Corporate Development at Jacobs. Before Jacobs, Claudia worked at Schlumberger, a Fortune 500 energy services company with operations in over 100 countries, as Corporate Officer and Group Treasurer. Prior to that, she was the North America Controller and Global Controller of two product lines headquartered in Houston, as well as the Northern Asia Region Controller in Beijing, where she led the finance organisations of all product lines operating in China and Japan. Claudia serves on the board of ChooseU and the Wharton Club of Houston as well as a member of the UN Global Compact CFO Taskforce, whose goal is to reshape the future of corporate finance and investment as a catalyst for growth, value creation, and social impact. Previously, she served on the board of Arabian Drilling ADC. Her focus on development of diverse talent led to the launching of a global programme, where Claudia sponsors mentoring of women from over 60 countries.

Dr Dan Kolubinski has been a Principal CBT practitioner with Onebright since 2011 and has a wealth of experience working with individuals in London, who have perfectionistic tendencies and high levels of self-criticism. He has been working in the field of mental health since 2005, when he received his MA in Counselling Psychology with a specialisation in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy. In 2019, Dan completed his PhD in Psychology, studying the impact of self-critical rumination (the tendency to regularly beat oneself up) on levels of self-esteem and performance. He is also a Senior Lecturer and Head of Division of Psychology at London South Bank University and teaches on both undergraduate and graduate courses.

Courtney Lagace is PwC UK’s Wellbeing Lead, as part of the firm’s the Inclusion, Culture and Wellbeing Centre of Excellence. Before joining PwC, she most recently led global wellbeing at Colgate-Palmolive and has worked within the health and wellbeing industry for twenty years. Courtney has held positions at Goldman Sachs, managing global travel health and crisis management initiatives, building wellbeing consulting practices for two benefit consulting agencies, along with developing clinically led employee wellbeing solutions, at a top healthcare system in the United States, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Business Administration from New York University Stern School of Business in New York, New York.

Dr Elouise Leonard-Cross is an occupational psychologist, chartered marketer and Head of People Strategy & Experience for Northumbrian Water Limited. A ‘curious collaborator’, with a squiggly career, Elouise thrives on asking and exploring the questions to help organisations be happy, healthy and productive places to work. A Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, she is passionate about the role that People Professionals play in making organisations human and creating the conditions for innovation and growth.  An active volunteer she Chaired the North East CIPD Branch for 10 years, is Chair of the North East Common Purpose Advisory Group, Trustee Board Member for Beamish Museum, holds NED roles and is an Enterprise Advisor for the North East of England LEP.

The UK Clinical Director for Koa Health, Dr Anna Mandeville, is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with more than 20 years’ experience designing and delivering psychological services in the UK public health system. She works cross functionally at Koa Health and hand in hand with the product team to design the best ‘human-digital’ hybrid approaches to mental health, furthering her passion for scaling psychological support to get closer to making ‘mental health for all’ within reach. Anna won a mid-career ‘outstanding leader’ Fellowship with the Health Foundation and completed a Masters Degree in Leadership (Quality Improvement in Services) at Ashridge-Hult International Business School. A published academic author and international speaker, Anna has clinical experience in health psychology and pain management and co-designed and co-led the UK’s first abdomino-pelvic pain and facial pain services. She is an Honorary Consultant at the North London Partnership Mental health Trust and an Honorary Lecturer at University College London (UCL).

Fiona McAslan is the Head of Health and Wellbeing at Royal Mail Group.  She is responsible for setting the long-term wellbeing strategy for over 135,000 people, as well as the day-to-day delivery of the Group’s wellbeing plan.  Fiona’s career includes over 25 years of varied HR experience across a number of organisations covering most HR disciplines. Her passion lies in helping people bring the best of themselves to work by actively designing a personalised proactive wellbeing proposition and promoting a positive wellbeing culture.

Angie McKenna is an experienced and passionate award winning people professional in the field of Human Resources, currently serving as the Head of People & Culture at ASquared. With 13 years of expertise in fostering a positive and inclusive work environment, she is dedicated to promoting employee wellbeing and holistic growth. Throughout Angie’s career, she has been instrumental in developing comprehensive strategies and initiatives that prioritise the mental, emotional, and physical health of employees. She firmly believes in the importance of addressing both the positive and negative aspects of wellbeing, striving to create a culture that values authenticity and encourages open conversations.

Dr Heather McKee is a lifestyle behaviour change specialist. Having studied health behaviour change psychology for 10 years, her mission is to offer a sustainable, evidence-based alternative to an industry saturated with quick fixes and health fads. Globally Heather has worked with over 100+ companies in 15+ industries to create evidence-based wellness programs, deliver keynote talks on how to create a sustainable lifestyle change and help people find joy in their healthy habits through her Sticky Habit Method. Her research has been published internationally in leading academic journals, as well as featuring in Time magazine, Vogue, Huffington Post, The Times, and LA Times.

Becky is Unmind’s Head of Therapies and Coaching overseeing clinical quality for Unmind Talk. As an accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapist, she has over 15 years experience of working therapeutically with adults with common mental health difficulties face to face, over video and typed. Becky has held senior leadership positions in UK National Health Service Psychological Therapies services and with two leading digital health providers.

A Clinical psychologist, Dr Sophie Mort is a spokesperson for meditation and mindfulness brand Headspace. In her role there, she provides additional support for the brand as it transitions beyond meditation and mindfulness to offer coaching and therapy as part of a complete mental health solution for companies. Named the “Guru of Insta-Therapy” by the Telegraph, and the “Charismatic Therapy Queen” by the Daily Mail, Sophie has helped thousands manage their emotional well-being by sharing her psychological expertise and up-to-date research on social media, her blog, through her online private practice, and most recently through her books. Her first book ‘A Manual for Being Human’ became an instant Sunday Times bestseller, and her second book ‘(Un)stuck; 5 Ways to Break Bad Habits and Get Out of Your Own Way’ will be out in June this year (2023). 

Sarah Munday is ED&I and Wellbeing Manager for Britvic Soft Drink and has been in the business for nearly 10 years, starting out as an Executive Assistant to their Chief People Offer and more recently, moving into the ED&I and wellbeing space. Sarah’s ambition is to create a happy, healthy, and inclusive culture for all, where their employees feel supported in all aspects of their life and can bring their true selves to work every day.

Natalie Nicholles is a Senior Director at the Capitals Coalition, a global collaboration redefining value to transform decision making. The Capital Coalition leads an extensive global network of business, finance, government and civil society that works to include the value provide by all capitals (natural, social, human and financial) in the decision making. Previously, Natalie was Global Director at the RSA (Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce) and before that, she built a socio-economic impact consultancy for leading UK think tank, New Economics Foundation. She began her career in industry working for FTSE 100 company Wolseley. Natalie is passionate about putting people and the planet at the heart of sustainable decision making to tackle our global crises, and using collaboration as the way to achieve impact.

In her role as Global Lead Employee Wellbeing at Novartis, Sharon O’Connor develops mental health and wellbeing strategies and programmes – collaborating with global cross functional teams to build and pilot products – she leads a behavior-based measurement methodology and evolving data and reporting strategy. Sharon is also a contributing representative on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and a founding member of the Wellbeing Executives Council of The Conference Board. Having worked across several industries at both global and country level including professional services, not for profit, hospitality and sport, Sharon describes her career path as intentionally non-linear. 

She is driven by a passion for enhancing the day-to-day experience of people through an authentic and visible culture.

Charlotte Osborn-Forde is the CEO of the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP), a government funded body to develop social prescribing locally, nationally and internationally with partners – especially NHSE. She works closely with clinical and community-based colleagues to develop strategic links between the healthcare sector and providers in culture, heritage, physical activity, nature and voluntary and community services – to improve health and wellbeing. Charlotte leads an evidence team of academics and researchers building the case for better integration and investment into social prescribing, at national and global level. Prior to leading NASP, Charlotte was the CEO of Involve Kent, and worked with the Department of Health to pilot social prescribing in primary care, initiating a service which grew to 102 GP practices offering social prescribing alongside medical care to more than 5000 patients. She also lectures in social prescribing at the Kent and Medway Medical School.

Amanda Owen’s career has spanned risk management and global safety, health and wellbeing across retail, banking, healthcare, and aviation. In 2019 she returned to Heathrow to lead safety, health, and wellbeing (SHW). Prior to Heathrow she held previous global risk and SHW leadership roles at Bupa and Royal Bank of Scotland. Amanda is also a Board Member of a Building Control company and specialist safety advisor to Southampton University. As a member of Business in the Community’s (BITC) Wellbeing Leadership Team, Amanda is helping to transform mental health and wellbeing at work. She is known for her advocacy in gender equality and safety leadership in aviation, and is Vice Chair at Green Corridor, a charity for young people with special educational needs. Amanda is a Chartered Safety Practitioner, has a degree in Economics, a Masters in Security and Information Technology, and a Master of Laws in Employment Law. In recognition of her services to Transport, particularly during Covid, she was awarded an MBE in the 2021 New Years Honours.

Nick Pahl is CEO of the Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM), the largest and oldest nationally recognised professional organisation for occupational health to advance knowledge through its Journal of Occupational Medicine. It advocates to policy makers of the value of occupational health via its Patrons – Lord Blunkett, Dame Carol Black, Lord Popat and Sir Norman Lamb. Nick has held senior posts in the NHS, Hospice UK and Marie Stopes International. He has completed a Windsor Leadership Trust and ACEVO next generation CEO training, a diploma in management, a degree in Economics and an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Nick has been a Trustee of THET and Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and is currently Trustee of the British Geriatric Society. Nick is the Chair of ROSPA’s National Occupational Health and Safety Committee. Last year Nick received  honorary membership of the Faculty of Public Health. 

As Head of Engagement and Inclusion at Metro Bank, Khushboo Patel has a wealth of experience in corporate and commercial banking. After joining Metro Bank and leading the launch into Wales, Khushboo now heads up engagement and inclusion. Passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, she is a leading voice in the area and specialises in workplace culture and wellbeing. In addition to this, Khushboo champions education and employability skills amongst young people by mentoring and advocating the Cardiff 2030 initiative and the 21st Century Schools Programme, as well as being on the board of Governors at a local college.

Dr Richard Peters is the EMEA Medical Director at Goldman Sachs Inc, where he provides clinical oversight for the firm on matters of medical policy, strategy, standards and delivery of the onsite health services across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Outside of his role, he holds an Honorary Clinical Associate Professorship at UCL Medical School and leads the Faculty of Occupational Medicine medical student initiative to promote the teaching of occupational medicine across UK medical schools.

Jordan Pettman has worked in and around people analytics for near two decades, as both a consultant working with leading organisations all over the world, in house at Nestlé, and at London Stock Exchange Group, where he built and lead business capability from HR and people data governance, reporting, business intelligence, employee listening, analytics projects, organisation design and effectiveness, and workforce strategy and planning.

Having joined Unmind in 2018, Dave Phillips has helped drive corporate wellbeing’s evolution from perk to essential lockdown support and to its latest goal of proving bottom line impact.  With a passion for performance fuelled by a prior career in professional sports, Dave is devoted to bringing this approach into the workplace by optimising environments for employee flourishing.

Ruth Pott has worked in senior HR roles for more than 25 years, predominantly in road haulage, trade association and civil engineering. She joined BAM Nuttall as HR Director in 2011 and has worked as Global Director for Mental Health and Well Being for the Royal BAM Group and is currently Head of Workplace Wellbeing for BAM UK & IRL. Ruth has a keen professional and personal interest in all matters mental health, particularly men’s health and child and adolescent mental health. She was awarded her Masters in Workplace Health and Wellbeing in 2021, along with “Most Inspiring Mental Health Leader” by This Can Happen. Ruth has a masters degree in Law and is a Fellow of the CIPD.

Amit Sidhpura is the Global Strategy Leader for IBM Talent Transformation Consulting, focusing on helping organisations embrace a “New Way of Work” and co-define the “Future of Work.” He is global executive, with 15+ years of experience in helping people and talent learn how to transform. He has worked in several leadership positions within a range of organisations from start-ups to global enterprises in London, New York, Singapore and now Zurich. In his spare time, Amit founded City Monk and Project Transformation – two global movements designed to help everyone connect and experience their inner superpowers. All with a simple goal – to help individuals understand themselves better and help maximise their growth, so they can lead a balanced life, with happiness and sustainable success.

Karen manages benefits across the EMEA region at Microsoft, with extensive experience in the UK and recently branching out into Middle East and Africa. Karen has a passion for wellbeing and ensuring employees are supported during those ‘moments that matter’. Whilst companies are invested in expanding benefits to support more inclusive health matters – such as fertility, gender dysphoria, and menopause, Karen is committed to ensuring the support extends to how these life events are managed in the workplace, through allyship and manager capability.

Recognising the importance of providing employees with opportunities for social connection, Karen co-founded the Families employee resource group at Microsoft UK, providing a community for employees to connect and share experiences, and to support each other through the challenges of family life.

Tony Singh is currently working at Babergh & Mid Suffolk District Councils’, as the lead for organisational development and employee experience. He predominately leads the award-winning health and wellbeing provision, equality, diversity and inclusion programme, leadership and management development, and oversees the learning and organisational development provision. Tony is an organisational psychologist, with more than 15 years’ experience in the public sector and has also worked in private and charitable sectors. He is passionate about supporting organisations and its leaders to develop compassionate and inclusive cultures that enable to people to thrive at work.

Professor Marcantonio Spada is currently appointed Professor of Addictive Behaviours and Mental Health, and Dean of the School of Applied Sciences at London South Bank University. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of Addictive Behaviours and Associate Editor of Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy.  He is an experienced clinician, trainer, and researcher in the fields of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Metacognitive Therapy (MCT). Marcantonio is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and three books, he is recognised as an international authority in MCT and its novel application to the conceptualisation and treatment of addictive behaviours, cyberchondria and psychological distress in health conditions. Before re-training as a psychologist and CBT/MCT practitioner, Professor Spada worked as an investment analyst in the banking sector.

Carole Spiers currently serves as the Chair of the International Stress Management Association (ISMA).  On their behalf, she founded Stress Awareness Day in 1998 and to recognise its anniversary in 2018, established International Stress Awareness Week in 2018. She is also a leading international business stress consultant and CEO of the Carole Spiers Group. With her background in psychology, Carole has over 25 years of experience as an industry expert on how to reduce stress and manage organisational change. She shows organisations how they can profit from a healthy workplace culture by building resilience for improved health and wellbeing. Carole has published books such as Tolley’s Managing Stress in the Workplace and Show Stress Who’s Boss! She is a Fellow and past President of the Professional Speaking Association.

Previously a site engineering technologist and a plant manager, Malcolm Staves has worked in corporate environment, health and safety for several companies prior to joining L’Oréal, in 2009, where he is Global VP Health & Safety. Since his arrival at L’Oréal, Malcolm has developed strategies for the globalisation of health and safety, with a focus on risk management, visible felt leadership, and putting people in the centre. He is the Occupational Health & Safety expert partner to the Capitals Coalition, where he is driving putting occupational health and safety firmly into the human capital and ESG agendas and a co-founder of OneWISH, that aims to promote diversity and inclusion within the health and safety profession. Malcolm is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, International Institute of Risk and Safety Management and a member of the IOSH Business Leaders Forum.

Sean Tolram has over 20 years of experience in the corporate world, leading digital teams at IBM, Arcadia and HSBC. He now heads up the HSBC Mindfulness Team where he is helping employees to nurture their brains and achieve their true potential. Sean believes that by moving out of fight or flight mode, where many of us usually are, we can open up the true potential of our brains. In his early career he saw too many colleagues fall victim to stress-related illness. And he was surprised by the fact that many of them took time off to recover, only to return and go through the same cycle all over again. Sean promotes the idea that work should be good for you. It should motivate and energise you, and give you a sense of fulfilment. However, studies have shown that employees are experiencing higher levels of stress and anxiety than ever. And reports of burnout and exhaustion continue to increase year after year. Sean is passionate about reversing this trend by creating healthy systems in the workplace which enable long term culture change.

Kimberley Ward is a Proposition Manager at First Direct Bank for Financial Inclusion and Vulnerability and Financial Health, where she is currently responsible for supporting customers with protected characteristics, variable needs and/or vulnerabilities. Kimberley is a passionate mentor and Speak Up Guardian for colleagues with disability and accessibility requirements, or those interested in development in this area. She has worked in Financial Services for more than 14 years in a variety of roles.  Kimberley is profoundly deaf after gradually losing her hearing as a child and in 2015, became the first woman in the world to undergo a Cochlear Implant Surgery under local anaesthetic whilst pregnant. In addition to hearing loss, Kimberley also has further invisible disability from ill health which requires the use and support of reasonable adjustments in the workplace.

Tina Woods is a social entrepreneur and pioneer in health innovation – connecting science, government, business and academia to align thinking and take action – solving real world problems and capitalising on new opportunities amidst uncertainty and change. She is Chief Executive, Executive Board Member & Director, Business for Health.  She is also the Founder and CEO of Collider Health and Collider Science and Co-Founder and CEO of Longevity International that runs the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Longevity (APPGL).  She is also the co-author of The Health of the Nation: A Strategy for Healthier Longer Lives published by the APPGL in February 2020.

Robert Wigmore is Co-Chair of the Wellbeing Blend; Senior Manager Total Reward and Analytics at Starbucks EMEA, where he has been working for over three years. He leads the Total Rewards Team and so has an element of wellbeing in his day job. Alongside his colleague Lea Ghanem, he is the co-chair of the Wellbeing Blend at Starbucks. Having faced his own mental health struggles, Robert would like people to understand that this is not to be ashamed of, and know from experience, that if you get help you will get better.  That is what the Wellbeing Blend Network is set up to achieve.

Francoise Woolley is the Head of Mental Health & Wellbeing for Acas and has over 20 years’ experience in the field of mental health from a clinical, academic, and strategic perspective. She currently takes the lead on enhancing Acas’ staff engagement and productivity through improved mental health and wellbeing, and works with external stakeholders to influence policy, debate and practice on workplace mental health. In her previous role as Senior Adviser in Acas, Francoise worked across public and private sectors to develop and implement tailored, evidenced-based strategies to support mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. Francoise is also a trained workplace mediator, and a qualified Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) practitioner, with experience of coaching individuals and teams to improve performance.

Petra Velzeboer is a renowned mental health advocate. Born and raised in the infamous Children of God cult,
she is a symbol of hope for survivors and those who seek to thrive despite the obstacles they’ve had to
overcome. Now a qualified psychotherapist, Petra is also the CEO and founder of PVL mental health
consultancy and a sought-after global keynote and TedX speaker.

Through her consultancy, PVL, Petra and her team work to fulfil a vision of a world where every organization
can be the rising tide that lifts and sustains mental health for every employee, their families, and their
communities. PVL’s mission is to partner with organizations to create strong and sustainable cultures that
improve mental health at work and beyond.

Mariyana Zhou is an HR Director at Boson Protocol, a Web3 fully remote global tech company aimed at revolutionising the world of eCommerce. She is focused on delivering a people and culture strategy for the digital nomads workforce of the future. Balancing between employee engagement in the Metaverse, global benefits regulatory compliance and ‘new gen’ wellbeing trends, she is paving the way for HR professionals and is always willing to share lessons learned. Before joining Boson Protocol, Mariyana worked as a HR consultant at PwC, supporting international clients with their people strategy and projects. She holds a Chartered Fellow CIPD membership and a degree in HR Management.

Catherine is on a mission to change the conversation about organisational value. #humansustainability puts talent investment and employee well-being front and centre. Talent-first CEO’s see TALENT as a value creator, as such talent is tied to every item of the strategic agenda. She is founder at halcyon coaching ltd, where the focus is to create more resilient and agile individuals, teams and organisations. Emotional Intelligence forms the centre-piece of her coaching approach.

As Global Vice President of HSE at Jacobs Engineering, Paul Hendry is a highly accomplished and distinguished leader in the field of HSE. With over 25 years of experience in the field, he has a remarkable track record in strategy development and implementation on a global scale, Paul is known for his expertise in driving transformational change, prioritising mental health and influencing positive outcomes. As a positive disruptor, Paul is skilled at articulating the return on investment in HSE in a strategic manner to stakeholders at all levels. He has achieved notable success throughout his career, including being voted as the HSE People Most Influential for 2021, launching a global three-year HSE strategy titled “Creating Excellence Together,” and introducing the #OneMillionLives mental health tool and campaign.

Sobia Afridi started with Oxford City Council in 2022 as an Equality and Diversity Inclusion Specialist, where her role is to improve diversity at the Council by setting up new networks, whilst simultaneously increasing engage with the existing networks. Sobia set up a ‘lunch and learn’ initiative, where one of the sessions focused on Islamophobia Awareness month. A further part of her role is looking at how the process of data collection and analysis can be improved, which will be collated into an Inclusive Recruitment Guide, to be written by Sobia. Prior to Oxford City Council, she had been working in the education sector for 26 years. Her role at Oxford Brookes University centred around supporting under-represented groups to access higher education – projects have included mentoring for young people at the Oxford Central Mosque, to improve attainment in maths and English. Sobia is passionate about tackling issues that some South Asian families consider ‘taboo’ subjects, which include forced marriage, first-cousin marriage, fertility, disability and adoption. She devotes a substantial amount of personal time to serving her local community, where she helps run a liberal Islam weekend club for young people in Oxford.

Lindsey Bass is an Ambassador for the Diversity Project as well as co-lead for the Mental Health Workstream. Lindsey was previously Head of UK Consultant Relations at LGIM while also co-chair of the L&G Inclusion Teams (staff networks). She had joined LGIM in 2015 from the credit specialist Cairn Capital where she had the role of UK Institutional Sales and Consultant Relations. Prior to that, she ran Investor Relations at Credaris and previously managed Consultant Relations at the London hedge fund, BlueCrest Capital. Lindsey graduated from the University of Leicester and holds a BSc in Communications, is a charter holder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association and holds the IMC.

Saida Bello is a non-practising solicitor and Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for the Stepping Up diversity leadership programme at City of London Corporation. She has previously worked as Director of EDI and Head of Diversity and Inclusion and EDI lead in the public sector for over five years. Saida was the Equality Champion in Birmingham City Council’s legal department from 2015 to 2016. She served as a Staff Network chair and contributed to the development of the diversity and inclusion strategy at Bristol City Council from 2017 to 2020. She was seconded to the Office for Students from 2020 to 2021 as an EDI adviser. Subsequently she worked as the Head of Diversity and Inclusion in the Government Actuary’s Department and Director of EDI at the City of London Corporation. Outside of work, Saida has gained over 11 years’ strategic leadership experience through sitting on several boards.  She chaired the EDI steering group on the board of the Changing Futures programme in Bristol and on the Golden Key partnership board for about three years. 

As an Inclusion Specialist, Harry Benham provides dedicated support to all Employee Resource Groups across Europe at QBE Insurance, including QBE Workability – their disability and neurodivergent focused network. He has also been responsible for leading QBE’s partnership with GAIN (Group for Autism, Insurance, Investment and Neurodiversity) and establishing a Neurodivergent Action Plan for the organisation. Harry is experienced in the creation, delivery, and management of diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies within the insurance and retail sectors. He has taken a lead role in supporting organisational progress against the Disability Confidence Scheme for several organisations.

As the Executive Director for Diversity & Talent at The Children’s Society (TCS), Michelle Clark has been working in the charity sector for just over three years, making the leap from the rail industry just before the pandemic began.  Moving into a new sector at a challenging time, reinforced to Michelle the importance of a human centred approach to HR and made her even more determined to bring her people experience framework to life at the charity. Michelle leads the people agenda and is passionate about positively disrupting the system of HR and creating the right conditions for all people to thrive.  For Michelle, this means valuing individual experience, celebrating difference and finding the ways to ensure that everyone feels included. Making it to the HR Most Influential list for two consecutive years (2022 and 2023) has given Michelle a sense of pride and achievement and recognition for her approach.  Previously, she had an extensive career in rail, where she learnt her trade, led people centred change and raised the importance of inclusion and diversity in a traditional environment. Michelle is committed in changing traditional HR practice and demonstrating that when you do, positive change happens and both individuals and organisations can thrive.

As joint Consultancy Director at Timewise, Claire Campbell oversees many of their larger consultancy projects and innovation programmes. She originally worked at Timewise from 2016 and 2021 and rejoined them in 2023, after some time at the Institute for Employment Studies as Director of HR Research and Consulting. Over the past few years, Claire has worked extensively with local authorities and the NHS, as well as a wide range of private sector and frontline organisations. She has also partnered with organisations like CIPD, NHS Employers and the Local Government Association to deliver flexible working programmes to their members. Prior to 2016, Claire was an HR Director in the civil service where she led on resourcing and talent in DWP and DECC, following an earlier career in HR consulting which included working globally. She is passionate about using job design to create fairer, healthier and more flexible organisations.

Louise Carvalho was appointed CERN’s Diversity & Inclusion Programme Leader in 2018 and has seized the role with gusto – she advocates curiosity and compassion in everything she does. After a legal career in Canada, the UK, post-conflict Kosovo and the Hague (OPCW Noble Peace Prize 2013), Louise joined CERN in 2014 as a Legal Adviser.

Maryclaire Hammond is currently serving as Chief Human Resources Officer at GXO, where her priorities include an intense focus on employee engagement and fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging. She has more than 25 years of human resources experience with Fortune 100 companies and was previously Senior Vice President, Human Resources for XPO Logistics Americas and Asia Pacific, Human Resources Director for BP Fuels North America and, earlier, BP Northwest Fuels Value Chain; Vice President, Human Resources for Honeywell Turbo Technologies in Switzerland; and Human Resources Director for the European operations of Eaton Hydraulics.

Neil Griffiths, a renowned communication professional and advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion, joined Kearney as Global & European DEI Director, after an impressive tenure as the Global Head of Diversity, Equality & Inclusion at ERM. With a diverse background spanning over two decades in external and internal communication, brand strategy, and organisational communication, Neil brings a wealth of expertise to his role in transforming cultures. He has held multiple leadership positions within esteemed organisations such as the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Company of Communicators (CoC), a prominent Livery Company in the City of London. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, Neil was honoured with the prestigious title of IABC Fellow in 2019, the highest distinction within the IABC.

Frank Kellenberg has more than 20 years of leadership experience in various operational and strategic HR roles in international companies, including Hewlett Packard, Siemens, Ingram Micro and adidas. Having worked for global organisations across Europe, Frank built his experience in culture, D&I, leadership development, talent management and organization development. He has a passion to drive innovation & change to help people and organisations to transform themselves to achieve goals. At the same time, he combines strategic and people-oriented thinking with a focus on data and operational excellence. Frank studied Business Economics with a focus on human resources, organizational psychology, and labor law. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Adult education. 

Farhana is a multi-award-winning Global Diversity & Inclusion thought leader and Business Transformation Expert. She leads with passion, holding people at the centre and is currently Global Director of Diversity & Inclusion in Banking and D&I Advisor to NASA.
She’s trailblazed across transformational change and D&I Strategy at Law Firms, Technology, Financial Services, Banking, Broadcasting & Media. Farhana sets vision and builds strategy, offering thought leadership right across the DEl spectrum to galvanise colleagues towards a greater place of togetherness and equity.

Farhana advises across multiple Advisory Boards, to eradicate discrimination and build sustainable impactful solutions for the future of ESG and D&I. She’s a Top 20 Global Diversity Leader, recognised at the European Diversity Awards 2022 within Head of Diversity of the Year, and accredited as an “Exceptional Inclusion Leader” in the Ethnicity Awards 2022. In the Fintech space Farhana leads from the front, credited for innovative strategies while re-imagining the way business is done ethnically both internally and externally – she was awarded as a Standout Top 35 and named in the Fintech Women’s Powerlist 2021. Most recently she has been named for her sterling leadership and advocacy in the Top 100 Influential Muslim & Allies List.

She is a STEM Ambassador, serves as a Coach and Mentor, guiding young people, professionals and creating opportunity for the less privileged. Farhana has partnered with many household names.

Mark Lomas joined Lloyd’s as Head of Culture in January 2022 and has led Lloyd’s to Gold standard on the Clear Assured Accreditation framework and to Disability Confident Leader status in 2023. He is an executive committee member of the R.I.D.I. (Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative) campaign and a Non-executive Director of NHS Property Services with responsibility for people, culture, diversity and inclusion. Mark is a published author on the topic of equality and diversity, having authored the Law Society E&D Risk & Compliance Toolkit, which assists law firms to comply with regulation and is the co-author of research published for Arts Council England on Goal 5: Equality & Diversity for Young People in the arts. 

Tracey Lucas is Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Emerging Talent at Kier. She has been with Kier for 12 years and is passionate about ensuring the construction Industry is a more diverse and inclusive place for all. Tracey has a particular interest in ensuring that young talent feels that the industry is a place, which is attractive to join and they feel like they can belong, flourish and be themselves. Tracey recognises the industry still has a long way to go be a truly inclusive place and has recently been fundamental in introducing the Expect Respect basics into Kier, to ensure inclusion is part of the culture, particularly within the site environment. Recognising that being more flexible is a barrier the industry faces, Kier has been partnering with Timewise to introduce a more agile approach to working across the business, including in operations.

With 5 and a half years’ experience at Balfour Beatty, Lisa McAteer is currently working as a Regional Head of Social Impact Wales and South West. She has more than 20 years of experience in the third sector, delivering and managing DWP welfare to work disability contracts and MoJ contracts, as Wales Operations Manager and then Head of Quality and Risk. Lisa is Co-chair of Balfour Beatty Ability Affinity and Allies network, a Fairness, Inclusion and Respect Ambassador, STEM Ambassador and Diversity and Inclusion Ambassador at Balfour Beatty. She is passionate about driving the sustainability and inclusion agendas, to ensure Balfour Beatty attract and retain diverse talent in the construction industry and leave a positive legacy for future generations. She is also co-chair of Constuct-Ability, an organisation formed to support disabled people in the construction sector and normalise the conversation around disability in the workplace.

Biography to follow

Jemma Pearson has worked in the recruitment industry for over 20 years, mostly within professional services and eight years at Grant Thornton. She currently leads the Experienced Hire and Senior Talent Resourcing functions at the firm, where they bring in c1100 new starters every year. Jemma’s passion for all things inclusive was realised around seven years ago, when she had a light bulb moment around how true diversity of thought, background and perspective can add such great value to a business, and how most recruitment processes were simply not inclusive. And how enabling opportunity for all, when considering job applications, attraction and recruitment strategies, was clearly vital. Since then, Jemma has led on inclusive recruitment for Grant Thornton – implementing inclusive initiatives, developing and shifting stakeholder mindsets and building a truly inclusive recruitment process for all of our vacancies. Continuous improvement is a key mindset for her, so building on the great work they have done year-on-year is key, as is sharing experiences and progress with like-minded external peers to drive greater inclusion across the workforce.

Shelley O’Connor works at the Bank of England and is a huge DEI activist. She holds the role of Performance Manager and has been at the Bank for over 11 years, now holding a range of roles, including across different staff DEI networks. Shelley’s most recent position is LGBTQ+ Network Co-Chair. She also holds the volunteer position of Head of Volunteer Management at the charity Bi Pride UK.

Rebecca Ormond is the EMEA Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.  With a background in culture change, organisational development, leadership and consulting, she is focused on how to change organisations at a systemic level to drive culture and behaviour. Previously responsible for PwC UK’s Inclusion and Wellbeing teams, delivering this agenda for their 24,000 partners and staff across the UK, she joined SMBC this year, to drive their D&I progress across the EMEA region and respond to the increasing demand and focus on D&I and wellbeing from regulators, customers and talent.  

Biography to follow.

Natalie Penrose is the Head of Legacy at HS2, where she is responsible for equality, diversity, inclusion, skills, education and employment. Prior to taking on this role in early 2022, Natalie was in leadership roles at HS2 in community and stakeholder engagement. Before joining HS2 in 2018, she worked in senior roles across a wide range of sectors, including health, education, welfare and public sector audit. Natalie has been leading teams for over 25 years, and is passionate about integrity and fairness. 

Michelle Okwudiafor is a culture, communication and inclusion specialist with over 14 years of cross-sector experience in the UK, USA, Qatar and Nigeria. She has held pivotal communication roles, most recently leading communication and engagement at TotalEnergies UK.  She has also worked with well-established global and local organisations including St George’s University of London, Association of Certified Chartered Accountants, Oando Foundation/Educate a Child Qatar, British Deputy High commission amongst others. Michelle’s expertise lies in leveraging the power of communication to fuel high-performing organizations. She collaborates seamlessly with senior leaders to navigate cultural complexities, drive change, and foster inclusive environments. Her expertise extends to advising businesses on engaging diverse employee resource groups, ensuring everyone’s voice is heard. In 2020, Michelle founded Career Invest, an initiative empowering early to mid-career professionals with future-focused skills. Through interactive workshops on Personal Branding, Inclusion, Allyship, Confidence, and Personal Impact, she’s fostering the next generation of leaders.

Dan Robertson is a diversity and organisational development specialist with substantial experience across the public and private sector – he provides industry leading strategic insight to improve diversity, inclusion, and accessibility within international businesses as part of Vercida Consulting. Widely regarded as a subject matter expert on workplace diversity and inclusion, unconscious bias, and inclusive leadership, Dan is currently the Chair of the Lord Mayor of London’s Power of Inclusion programme (London) and ICEDR’s QUEST programme ‘Supporting early career woman’ (Boston, USA). He has a number of published of publications to his credit such as The Long Road to Inclusivity: Published in Beyond 2015, Shaping the Future of Equality, Human Rights and Social Justice, and A Collection of Essays: Equality & Diversity Research Network. Dan has a particular expertise in the science and application of unconscious bias, leadership decision making and behavioural economics – he spends his days supporting executives to turn diversity theory into meaningful actions. 

Asif Sadiq is the Chief Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Warner Bros. Discovery. He was previously the Global Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Social Impact at adidas and has a long and rich career in the diversity and inclusion space with senior executive roles at The Telegraph Media Group, EY Financial Services and the City of London Police. Asif is a board member for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and a member of the board of advisors for Hedley May. Over his 20-year career he has worked in Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa. He is a multi-award winning diversity and inclusion expert with a proven track record in D&I, sustainability and social impact, being listed as one of the CIPD’s Top 20 Power list and a LinkedIn Influencer. He is winner of numerous awards including the highly commended Head of Diversity Award at the European Diversity Awards and was honoured with an MBE in 2017 by the Queen and granted the freedom of the City of London in 2016.

Pepi Sappal is Founder and Director of Fair Play Talks, and Head of PR & Communications at myGwork. She has a long history of writing on CSR, ESG, diversity, equity, inclusion and wellbeing issues, as well as HR, business, marketing and international management, spanning more than two decades for publications, such as the Wall St Journal (WSJ), Dow Jones and Edge Magazine. She was also the diversity columnist for the WSJ for a number of years, and the former editor of several business magazines such as the British Chambers of Commerce’s National Review and HR publications such as Global HR, formerly known as HR World and Human Resources Magazine.

Jessica Schibli has recently been appointed as the BBC’s interim Head of Creative Diversity. She joined the BBC as its first Head of Diversity & Inclusion for Children’s Education in January 2021, with responsibility for ensuring that children’s content reflects young audiences authentically and ensuring diversity among the genre’s leadership teams. Whilst at the BBC, Jessica has led the successful implementation of a comprehensive D&I strategy to diversify the workforce, build a culture of inclusion and ensure representative content for children on screen. Jessica has delivered focussed diversity training to staff and hosted a series of inclusion sessions on a range of cultures and backgrounds to build an inclusive, welcoming culture for all. She also manages the expanded BBC Children’s & Education diversity fund to support underrepresented individuals in the children’s media industry and increase off-screen diversity.

Kulbir Shergill is an accomplished diversity and inclusion leader with cross sector experience of working in fast moving and challenging environments.  She has a proven ability to contribute to a company at strategic and operational levels, currently Director for Social Inclusion at the University of Warwick.  Here she leads the social inclusion strategy for a world class university, working across a highly complex environment. Kulbir’s work with companies focusses on achieving change for clients, customers and staff through effective relationship building and engagement on issues of diversity and social inclusion at senior levels.  Empowering personal commitment and a strategic approach to embedding cultural change for greater inclusion.

Chelsey Sprong is Beazley’s Head of Social Impact, responsible all things ‘S’ in the company’s ESG strategy. When it comes to inclusion and diversity, Chelsey is responsible for creating, embedding and driving forward the global group strategy across all international offices. She is passionate about using her position to enable real, sustainable and measurable progress in the diversity and inclusion space all underpinned by relevant data. Her strength lies in collaborating with business leaders to create bespoke solutions to garner genuine commitment to change.

Biography to follow.

Claire Wilkinson is Wellbeing Lead for AECOM, where she leads the strategy for their Europe and India region to create a culture of care where people can thrive. She also leads AECOM’s regional Employee Resource Groups’ (ERG’s) to ensure the approach to wellbeing and the workplace, is inclusive. Claire is passionate about Wellbeing and ensuring no one’s mental health is negatively impacted by coming to work.

Laura Hearn is a writer, storyteller and mental health advocate.

She is the founder of ‘A-Way-With-Words’ – a journalist-led storytelling consultancy that educates, inspires and motivates audiences by finding and sharing the story that needs to be told.

Laura is an astute communicator with 17 years of experience working as a BBC journalist and producer across multiple platforms; including Radio, TV, Digital, online and PR. Laurahas worked with some of the BBC’s leading talent, producing sensitive and highly detailed content.

Laura is a passionate and tenacious individual, who believes in the power of storytelling and language to connect communities. Laura has crafted the skill of translating the complex into simple, relatable and compelling content, to help individuals, organisations and businesses increase engagement.

Laura has managed multiple high-level projects concurrently, in a highly demanding and pressured news environment, and is known for her ability to remain calm and deliver within tight deadlines.

She is continuously looking for fresh and innovative ways to tell stories, and has a reputation for being resourceful and creative in reaching underserved audiences. She has a strong instinct for what constitutes a story, and a talent for spotting future trends.

As a mental health consultant, Laura uses experience of recovery from mental ill health and how she learnt to heal from an eating disorder after spending 8 months in an inpatient treatment centre in the US. Using the tools she learnt alongside her skills as a storyteller, Laura trains leaders in mental health awareness. She advises organisations on their mental health strategy and encourages leaders to realise the financial and moral benefits of putting wellbeing at the heart of everything they do.