👇 Scroll down for Diversity & Social Impact video

Welcoming in-person attendees

1:00 – 2:00 pm BST

Refreshments and light snacks provided

Opening Keynote

2:00 – 2:05 pm BST

SPEAKER

Corina Balaneanu is the Founder of Innovation Partnership, a membership organisation for board directors/C-suite focused on innovation and leading change.

Corina has led delegations to Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv, visiting emerging startups, VCs and corporate incubators.

Previously she has been in leadership and commercial roles within various organisations including Dale Carnegie.

Corina has completed a Disruptive Strategy programme with Harvard University and a No-Code AI and Machine Learning course with MIT.

Implementing sustainability in your commercial strategy

2:05 – 2:45 pm BST

SPEAKER

Mark is the Global Director of Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability at Senior PLC. Senior is an international manufacturing group with 26 operating businesses in 12 countries. Senior designs and manufactures high technology components and systems for the principal original equipment manufacturers in the worldwide aerospace & defence, land vehicle and power & energy markets.

Since joining Senior PLC in 2016, Mark has established a climate program including a supplier outreach targeting all major global suppliers. Under Mark’s leadership, Senior PLC became the first aerospace and defence listed company to have its carbon reduction targets verified by the Science Based Target Initiative.

Prior to joining Senior PLC, Mark was the Global Director for Environment, Health & Safety at Johnson Matthey.

Mark holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Business Approach to Sustainability from Cambridge University (Trinity). He also holds an MSc in Occupational Health, Safety and Environmental Management from Portsmouth University.

SPEAKER

Heriberto is the Head of the Foresight, Strategy and Coordination Department at the European Space Agency ESA.

Until January 2022, he was the Managing Director and Technical Head of Brinc, a Venture Capital Accelerator. Where he invested and provided advisory services to more than 130 tech companies of over 28 different nationalities.

Prior to Brinc and while studying for his bachelor’s degree at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, he worked on several projects, including the development of a biped robot and an automated rover.

In addition to leading a team that designed and built miniature space drone systems, he was also a team leader at Procter & Gamble to develop new products and upgrade its production lines.

Post-graduation, Heriberto received a master’s degree at National Cheng Kung University while joining an international scramjet (supersonic engine) research project between Europe and Taiwan.

He was awarded the prestigious Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme and joined the PolyU Highspeed Thermo fluid and MAV/UAV Laboratory.

He developed software, which he hopes will help design the next generation of space vehicles and planes.

SPEAKER

Toby Siddall, Managing Director & Sustainability Lead, Accenture UK & Ireland

Toby is the Sustainability Lead for Accenture’s UK & Ireland business and a member of the organisation’s global leadership on Sustainability. He is accountable for leading client relationships and the work Accenture do to drive shared impact on climate, social and nature related outcomes.

He brings experience in advisory and senior leadership roles across strategy, M&A and industry in UK and abroad, including recent leadership of Accenture’s Energy, Natural Resources and Utilities business with a very specific focus on driving growth through a just and fair energy transition and Net Zero future.

He believes the opportunity for re-invention has never been greater through data-driven innovation and new technology enabled collaborations between businesses, consumers, regulators and shareholders alike that can accelerate the change we need.

Toby began his career with Accenture Strategy and then re-joined in 2014, having broadened his experience in Goldman Sachs, Centrica plc and leadership of PE backed healthcare business. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, a Master’s of Science from Kings College in London and a Bachelor’s of Psychology from the University of Bristol.

He lives in Suffolk with his wife who is a farmer and their three children.

Offsetting your business emissions and selling net-positive products

2:50 – 3:30 pm BST

SPEAKER

Ric Porteus is the CEO and founder of One Tribe, a platform dedicated to bringing nature based solutions to market by creating and funding Indigenous focused carbon offset and removal projects.

Former Director of Global Brand the Pacha Group with a twenty year history operating in CTO/CMO roles.

SPEAKER

An enthusiastic marketing professional with 15+ years of experience in understanding consumers and growing brands. With an entrepreneurial mindset, Abel has also been involved in two start-ups and is a visiting branding professor in a business school in Spain.

Driving innovation with a neurodiverse workforce

3:45 – 4:30 pm BST

SPEAKER

Lord Chris Holmes has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2013 and a member of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee.

His core policy focus is on digital technology for the public good, with a particular interest in technologies such as AI and Blockchain, and areas of application such as: FinTech, GovTech, RegTech, Assistive Tech and EdTech. Other key policy areas are social mobility, employment, education, skills and culture, media and sports.

He is a firm believer in the benefits of diversity and inclusion and have campaigned for more accessible environments for disabled people. He has also advised the government on diversity and inclusion, including conducting an independent review on improving access to public appointments for the Cabinet Office, and under his own auspices a two year on Progress Report to assess how far the department had got with implementation.

Technology and inclusion are the ‘golden threads’ that run through everything he does. The opportunity provided by emerging technologies and the value of genuine inclusion provide both the practical and philosophical underpins to his work across the public and private sector; including in current roles as Adviser to BPP University and Deputy Chair at Channel 4.

He also used to swim and has been described as ‘Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer’ winning a total of 9 gold, 5 silvers and 1 bronze. He was honoured to continue his involvement with the Games as Director of Paralympic Integration, responsible for the organisation of the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

SPEAKER

An award–winning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategist, Allyson has built her fifteen-year career advising and leading organizations on the vanguard of social change. Today, she serves as Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging at Cruise, building the world’s most advanced self-driving vehicles to safely connect people to the places, things, and experiences they care about.

Previously, Allyson led DEI strategy for Amazon Robotics and the nearly 20,000 global employees of Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer Technology divisions.

She is a veteran of Cook Ross, the global diversity and inclusion consultancy, where she led the technology practice and co-founded the assessments and strategy practice.

She led internal and external diversity initiatives at the Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization.

Later, she became the first transgender person to lead a U.S. national LGBTQ+ civil rights group as executive director of OutServe-SLDN, an advocacy group for service members, veterans, and their families.

Allyson is a 1994 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she studied physics and nuclear engineering, and holds a master’s degree in religion and society from Baylor University.

She has been honored by Harvard Law School and West Point for her diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership.

She has spent nearly half her professional life outside the U.S., including extended periods in Germany, Portugal, and Saudi Arabia.

Today, she lives with her partner Lauren in Seattle, Washington, where she enjoys hiking and backpacking, running, and spending time with her four children.

SPEAKER

Christopher Kenna is Chairman and Founder of Brand Advance Group // CEO (North America) which encompasses Brand Advance Group EUROPE & BA Diversity Media USA, a Startups.co.uk top 100 company the last 3 years (2021), and connects brands with diverse audiences globally, through Insights, Media and Creative.

Brand Advance Group was named (Campaign 2021 -media Business of the year) & (The DRUM – Diversity & Inclusion Company of the Year 2021).

Christopher is a director at UK Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) and US country lead for (CAN), and as a mixed race, out gay father – he is a strong advocate for diversity and representations within media and advertising. He is also on the advisory boards for ITV, WFA, Tiktok, London MetPolice and the V&A Museums.

An award-winning entrepreneur having received the Innovator of the Year Award at the second annual Ex-Forces in Business Awards and was recently named on EMPower’s 100 Ethnic Minority Executives 2020 and OUTstanding top 100 LGBT Executives.

CHAIR

Diane is an experienced Non-Executive Director, financial service professional, corporate governance expert, former regulator and an executive coach.

Diane is currently a Board Member at Societe Generale International Ltd, Axis Bank UK Ltd, Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland and at Switch Mobility, an electric bus company operating in India and the UK/Europe. She is also a Board Governor at a multi-site Further Education College in North London.

Her previous Board roles in the UK include Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, MUFG Securities EMEA and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and she also served on the Board of Habib Bank Ltd in Pakistan.

Diane holds an MBA from the Open University (Vienna and London), an MSc in Politics and Public Administration from the University of London and an MA Joint Honours in French and German from the University of St Andrews.

How can organisations improve their social impact

4:35 – 5:15 pm BST

SPEAKER

Thomas Lawson has worked in the social sector since the early ‘90s in international development at UNICEF, HIV at Terrence Higgins Trust and NAM (the charity behind aidsmap.com), criminal justice at Prisoners Abroad and more recently in youth work at the award-winning Leap Confronting Conflict.

Recently he has been challenging the sector to address the barriers to success for people from Black, Asian and other minoritised ethnic communities.

Tom has served on the boards of the charities: Centre for Youth Impact, Heart ‘n Soul and the National Peace Council. Tom is a non-executive chair of his family’s retail firm, Lawsons, and executive chair for Elizabeth Finn Homes Ltd, which is Turn2us’s wholly owned subsidiary care home business. He joined Turn2us in March 2019.

Thomas is interested in how the social sector can work with, and challenge, state bodies and companies to create an inclusive society in which everyone can thrive. He is passionate about the role that people with lived expertise can play in the future of the leadership of the social sector and in addressing the complex problems we face.

SPEAKER

Minerva Tantoco is an Innovator, investor, startup founder, author, advisor, and speaker on Ethical AI, cybersecurity, fintech and healthtech.

Minerva served as New York City’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Based on her efforts, New York City was named “2016 Best Smart City” and helped launch initiatives such as LinkNYC, CSforAll, and Internet of Things Guidelines, as well as promoting an inclusive, equitable tech ecosystem.

Ms. Tantoco also served as Senior Product Manager at Palm, Chief Technology Officer at Merrill Lynch and UBS, and holds four US patents on intelligent workflow. Tantoco serves as a Trustee of the New York Hall of Science (nysci.org), Board of Directors, Vyv, Board Advisor to One Creation Embedded Privacy and Socure.

SPEAKER

Simon became Chief Executive of Fair for You as well as its charity owner, the Fair Credit Charity, in October 2021.

For the three years prior to this, he was CEO of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (now known as Community Pharmacy England). There, he was responsible for negotiating the annual £2.6bn contract on behalf of all high street pharmacies for the provision of NHS services.

Before 2018, Simon was the Chief Executive of the UK’s fraud prevention service, CIFAS, where he successfully worked to increase the awareness of fraud within UK Government. During Simon’s tenure CIFAS for the first time prevented over £1bn of fraud loss in one year.

Simon’s early career was in the UK’s public sector where he held senior roles in defence and security as well as government communications and public affairs.

Simon is also Chair of the medical research charity Antibiotic Research UK.

CHAIR

Tangy Morgan is a global (re)insurance industry expert with over 35 years of experience in the US and global catastrophe liability marketplace. Her career in the financial services sector includes working for such companies as Chubb, Guy Carpenter, AIG, and Corporation of Lloyd’s.

Prior to her (re)insurance career, she worked in the petroleum industry. Currently, she is an independent Senior Advisor to the Bank of England (PRA), advising on issues such as business models, underwriting, board governance, solvency and capital modelling, regulation, sustainability, technology and DEI.

The Powerlist named her as one of the 100 most influential Black people living in the UK. She contributed to the book Black & Great: A Workplace Toolkit by Rene Germain, a UK bestseller.

Tangy is a frequent speaker in the UK and internationally speaking on issues of board governance, the impact of technology on traditional business models and sustainability, algorithmic bias as well as diversity and inclusion.

She is both a mentor and investor in multiple fintech start-ups. Her current board and advisory memberships include: Boston University Alumni Council (Governance and Engagement Committees), InsurerCore Ltd, Cachet (Estonia), STEM Learning UK, Ltd Advisory Panel, Strategia Worldwide Ltd.

Tangy is involved with several charitable, civic and philanthropic organisations in the US and UK. She has a B.A. in Business Management from Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN and M.S. in Business Continuity, Security and Risk Management from Boston University. She is a dual citizen of the UK and US.

Drinks reception & networking

5:15 – 7:00 pm BST

Join us for some awesome wine/beer/soft drinks and canapés