While tremendous challenges have defined the last few years, some leaders rose to the occasion in unprecedented ways.
Organisations often express that diversity and inclusion are top priorities, however, words have not always translated into action. The FL Summit was delighted to convene a robust collection of visionary leaders rising to today’s unprecedented challenges facing women in the workplace by driving change in their businesses and industries through action.
Here are some highlights from the discussion by our panel members:
Anna Keeling, MD Boeing Defence UK
“I will encourage anyone no matter how big or large a business you are to take advantage of the support out there and really embrace early careers and see how you can bring young, energetic, open-minded and diverse talents into your business”- Anna Keeling.
Anna joined Boeing as Managing Director of Boeing Defence UK in 2019 from GKN Aerospace. She is responsible for Boeing UK’s significant defence programmes, people and sites and the organisation’s growth, alignment and business development. Boeing, across all businesses, operates at 65 sites and employs 2,500 people directly and many more through a significant domestic supply chain.
Anna has two decades of global leadership experience in the aerospace and automotive sectors. Before joining Boeing, she was Senior Vice President Business Transformation, leading GKN’s business improvement plan to drive profit, margin and cash and Senior Vice President Commercial, where she assumed responsibility for all GKN Aerospace’s global commercial governance and ensured an aligned customer strategy across the business.
Susie Cunnings, Founder of Nurole
“I was a traditional head hunter for 30 years, and about seven years ago, I had one of those light bulb moments, and I thought surely in this digital age, there must be a better way than all those endless cups of coffee…. to leverage technology”- Susie Cunnings.
Susie works on board level appointments across all sectors. After a 30-year career as a traditional headhunter, Susie had one of those lightbulb moments when realising that, in the digital age, there had to be a better way of hiring new board members.
In 2014 Susie founded Nurole, the global platform changing the way organisations bring the best people onto their boards. The approach combines smart technology and industry experts to transform the boards of multinationals, start-ups, charities, government bodies, and everything. The Financial Times named Nurole one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies in both 2019 and 2020.
Matt Turner Founder and Group CEO at ELLO Group
“I don’t believe in affirmative action, so I would only ever bring somebody in who is capable of doing the job and who’s the best person for the job irrespective of gender, but in many cases that is clearly a woman” – Matt Turner.
Matt founded tastecard (originally tastelondon) in 2006 with just £20,000 – fifteen years later it is now the UK’s largest dining club with over 3 million members.
Of course, the last twelve months have proved challenging for tastecard as most of its partner restaurants have been closed and members asked to stay at home, but with challenges come opportunities and Matt talks about how the business has pivoted, giving an insight into some of the other projects they’re working on including a new fitness app.
Matt also talks about hospitality reopening and how hard the industry has worked to ensure that it reopens safely. He had COVID at the beginning of the year and understands how nervous some people are about being in a social setting again. However, he is hugely optimistic about the industry’s future, with many people longing for real human interaction in restaurant settings.
Griselda Togobo – Host, CEO Forwardladies.com
Griselda Togobo is an international corporate consultant.
She is also a multi-faceted entrepreneur, engineer and chartered accountant. Her experience as a black woman in the corporate world drives her to help progressive global companies create inclusive workplaces. She works directly with CEOs and business leaders to embed a culture of inclusion at the heart of their talent strategy. She is a respected and impactful speaker and is known for her high energy and engaging style. Griselda offers a fresh perspective and approach to developing leaders.
She graduated from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Industrial Systems, Manufacture and Management. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she was a management consultant at Deloitte LLP.
Griselda is passionate about advancing girls into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths sectors and supports female leaders through forwardladies.com.
This panel was sponsored by Boeing Defence UK and ELLO group.
FL Unstoppable Women Summit 2022.
The FL Leadership Summit is just some months away and we’re kicking it off on the 25th of November, 2022.
This year we are bringing together carefully curated expert panels, as well as industry-leading speakers to share thoughts on how we can create a safer, healthier and more gender-balanced working environment for all.
Nominations, Applications and Sponsorships for the awards are open now. For more information, click on the button below