Race Equality in the Workplace Summit 2021

Chair's welcome, opening remarks and ice-breaker exercise

Elizabeth Smith

Director of Research
Business Forums International Ltd. (BFI)

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Elizabeth Smith

Director of Research , Business Forums International Ltd. (BFI)

Elizabeth is director of research and a founding co-director at Business Forums International. She is responsible for all programme content and writing, and researches current areas of interest for senior HR professionals in large organisations. BFI is the UK’s leading HR risk specialist conference and training provider, delivering key and timely information to over 3,000 delegates a year both through public and in-house training courses. Before founding BFI in 1996, Elizabeth specialised in researching corporate financial programmes in Asia and the Middle East, based in Dubai. She also worked in advertising and publishing in the Middle East and London. Elizabeth was educated in the West Indies, Saudi Arabia and Belgium before reading Modern Languages at Durham University. She is currently developing an online training course for line managers to raise awareness of menopause symptoms and ways that employers can work to make their workplaces more inclusive.

Sabira Akram

Founder
ACE Network (Formerly of SQA)

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Sabira Akram

Founder , ACE Network (Formerly of SQA)

Sabira's career has spanned over 20 years within Financial Services, Utilities, Education, Community, and the Public sector. She has strong commercial acumen, an understanding of growth markets, people management, and strategic experience. Her roles have granted her extensive exposure to dealing with senior stakeholders. Outside of these roles, she is also a public speaker, patron & board member, diversity leader, and most importantly, a proud mother of two. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and believes in open and honest leadership. She aims high, works hard, and aspires to be a role model. She sits as Non-Executive Director on various boards, bringing her experience and expertise in areas including Strategy, Governance, Compliance, Operational Oversight, Stakeholder Engagement, Negotiation, Education & IT

Delegates will be split into small friendly groups for a short ice-breaker in breakout rooms to discuss objectives for the day, exchange experiences and network with fellow D&I professionals.

Assess your current and desired future D&I culture state

Deborah Williams

Executive Director
Creative Diversity Network

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Deborah Williams

Executive Director , Creative Diversity Network

Since 2016, Deborah has been the Executive Director of Creative Diversity Network, the membership body funded by the UK’s major broadcasters, and production community. Its aims are to support the UK television industry to promote, celebrate and share good practice around the diversity agenda. With over 30 years’ experience working above and below the line in television, film and theatre, as well as policy development across the wider creative and cultural industries. She is the architect and designer of the BFI Diversity standards that were adopted by The Oscars and BAFTA in 2020. In addition she is an adviser to the UN and UNICEF on the rights of disabled people to cultural activities. As well as sitting on panels and steering groups for a many organisations, Deborah is known in her own right as an artist provocateur having won awards and nominations nationally and internationally. Her work in theatre is acknowledged as a catalyst for challenge and change in perceptions of disability and difference. In 2019 she was awarded the Life Time Achievement award from Inclusive Companies for her body of work in the area of diversity and culture. She is a Disabled Powerlister 2018 and 2019.

• Understand key definitions and concepts – diversity, intersectionality, inclusion, belonging, equity, equality, and merit
• Map your current and future D&I strategy and culture maturity state
• How to identify critical next steps
• Defining and communicating a compelling business case for change
• Strategies to achieve senior leader and staff “buy in” and mobilisation

Measures to aim to overcome structural disadvantage and privilege

Jatinder Bains

Partner
Macfarlanes LLP

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Jatinder Bains

Partner , Macfarlanes LLP

Jat is head of the restructuring and insolvency practice and a finance partner at Macfarlanes. He advises on a range of debt finance transactions, acting for credit and special situations funds, corporates, sponsors, bondholders and lenders in relation to, amongst other things, workouts and restructurings, and real estate finance. Jat is a partner champion of the Macfarlanes REACH network (race, ethnicity and cultural heritage), a forum for networking and peer support between ethnic minority staff and allies. He is also Chair of the Trainee Solicitor Committee, which has oversight for all aspects of graduate recruitment and trainee development, and a member of the firm’s Diversity Committee. Jat was awarded the “Workplace Hero” award at the 2019 Investing in Ethnicity Awards.

• Hearing and acknowledging the lived experience of your colleagues when considering the role that they can play: the dual responsibility of and the burden on the individual; the need for acknowledgement of their effort and their fatigue
• Galvanising allies: making your inclusion strategy authentic, sustainable and consistent
• Reverse mentoring, commitment to support and other practical initiatives

Open Discussion

Comfort break

The deep impact approach

Naseem Joban

Senior Lecturer
University of Westminster

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Naseem Joban

Senior Lecturer , University of Westminster

Naseem's background and training is in the area of Business Psychology. She is in the School of Management and Marketing and lead modules on Leadership at levels 5 and 6; and Organisational Behaviour at level 4 on BABM Marketing courses. Her interest is in the application of academic and theoretical knowledge to practical situations. As such, she has taught and worked in industry, side by side. She has been teaching and developing curricula in various Higher Educational establishments for over 25 years and has worked extensively in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. In addition, she has also formed and run three companies, working with Small and Medium Enterprises to improve and enhance their leadership and people-skills. Her work has focussed on Stress Management and Well Being and she is an accredited Coach and Mindfulness (MBSR) certified practitioner. As EDI lead, her focus is on raising awareness, decolonising the curriculum, closing the BAME Award Gap and to improve opportunities for students and staff of Black heritage and other protected characteristics.

The Deep Impact Approach: is a workshop grounded in evidence based research from Depth Psychology and Sociology. The main aim is to close the BAME Award Gap that exists in universities, whereby students of Black heritage and Students of Colour are awarded lower grades than their white counterparts. The Deep Impact Approach does this by creating  conditions for optimum growth and development in students and reducing unfair disadvantage in Higher Education.

• Smart ways to address and change outer conditions and the internal architecture: essential issues to consider
• Giving voice to POC: colleagues and students: legitimising non colonial knowledges, creating equity and building confidence
• Double consciousness: what is it and why is it relevant today?
• Positives and pitfalls of creating an Atmosphere of Decolonisation
• Quantifying success: what does it look like and where do we go next?

Interactive mini masterclass: understanding privilege

Jiten Patel

Director
Diversync Ltd

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Jiten Patel

Director , Diversync Ltd

Jiten is a recognised Conscious Inclusion thought leader, an award-winning Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion strategist and practitioner, helping employers to maximise the benefits of diversity through consciously inclusive leadership, anti-racism, addressing cognitive biases and microaggressions, stereotype threat, and structural privilege. An accomplished diversity and inclusion author and strategist, with strong experience of public, private, education and third sectors, Jiten is the managing director of Diversync Limited and has headed diversity and inclusion at two international organisations. He is the recipient of a number of awards, including Diversity Champion of the Education Sector 2015, at the prestigious Excellence in Diversity Awards and 'Highly Commended' Head of D&I in the 2016 and 2017 Excellence in Diversity Awards. He is a judge for the UK’s Inclusive Top 50 Companies Awards, and the author of Demystifying Diversity, which went into its 2nd Edition in 2020. A skilled trainer and facilitator, often working in complex environments, Jiten’s client base spans a broad range of organisations from Blue Chip companies through to small local charities. Jiten started out in Financial Services where he worked in commercial banking, international trade finance, corporate relationship management, treasury operations, project management and finally in Equality and Diversity. Working as conscious inclusion thought leader, Jiten has undertaken a range of projects including: • Inclusive Leadership coaching and mentoring • Inclusive strategic planning and operational implementation • Designing positive action programmes • Developing staff diversity and inclusion networks • Conducting diversity and inclusion audits • Researching barriers to career progression for staff from diverse backgrounds • Sourcing diverse talent pipelines, and • Leading a range of strategic interventions

Jiten will examine the concept and reality of privilege: what it is and what it isn’t. Using a framework and reference of intersectionality, this interactive and challenging session will examine the ways in which organisations can interrogate their own inherently privileged systems and use the findings to move towards a fairer and more inclusive workplace. Jiten will also be giving away a copy of his book ‘Demystifying Diversity.’

Case study: strategy and practice: ensuring your organisation embeds inclusion in your brand, promise and execution

Bernadette Thompson OBE

Deputy Director Inclusion
Department for Levelling Up Housing & Communities

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Bernadette Thompson OBE

Deputy Director Inclusion , Department for Levelling Up Housing & Communities

Bernadette is the Deputy Director for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). She joined the Civil Service in 1998, starting as a Caseworker in the Legal Aid Board, and she has held a range of roles within the Civil Service across many Government departments and agencies, including, Ministry of Justice, Home Office, Treasury Legal Aid Agency and Cabinet Office. She is a notable diversity advocate and public speaker, working with leaders across government and the public sector to drive a culture of inclusion, specifically focusing on increasing the pace on representation of Black and Minority Ethnic employees at more senior levels. For five years, Bernadette co-chaired the multi award-winning Race to the Top G6/7 network, a community of interest network group of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) G6/7 employees across all Government departments and agencies, supporting members by helping to increase preparedness for leadership at the next level, and helping the Civil Service increase the flow of BAME staff into the Senior Civil Service (SCS). She is also a Different Woman Ambassador where she campaigns for a more inclusive gender agenda, amplifying the voices of women of colour. In 2020 Bernadette won the Workplace Hero category in the national investing in Ethnicity Awards for championing and driving race equality and inclusion across the Civil Service. In 2021 she won one of the prestigious “We are the City” Rising Star Champion awards and also in 2021, Bernadette was awarded as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) Bernadette has also been a Community Governor at a local infant school for over 18 years and volunteers at athletics/sports events such as 2012 Olympics, 2017 World Athletics and she is really looking forward to being a part of the 2022 Commonwealth Gamers. Bernadette’s most important job, however, is being a mother to her two children.

• Designing and implementing an intersectional approach that encompasses everyone
• Being data led and evidence based: Utilising data and insights into tangible action plans across the employee lifecycle
• Making delivery the business’s business
• Importance of delivery partners, champions, allies
• Creating the right accountabilities

Lunch

Motivation, empowerment and BAME students: what workplaces need to do to reach diverse young talent

Ibrahim Mohammed

Educational Influencer & Vlogger

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Ibrahim Mohammed

Educational Influencer & Vlogger

Ibrahim Mohammed, more commonly known as Ibz Mo, is a multi-award-winning Education Influencer, D&I Officer and Future Trainee Solicitor. His work focuses on widening participation to top UK Universities for non-traditional students and helping support POC/First gen graduates transition to the workplace.   During his time at Cambridge University, Ibrahim has helped Cambridge University become more accessible for prospective disadvantaged students through various role. Ibrahim launched his YouTube channel ‘Ibz Mo’ in 2017 and created online content to help demystify the Oxbridge process. Now he has over 130,000 subscribers, over 10million views and has been featured in The Guardian, The Telegraph and the BBC. In 2018 he worked with Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Malala, and hosted the first Oxbridge Pakistan Access Conference, he also facilitated the first Cambridge Muslim Access Conference, and is currently the spokesperson for the first Oxford University access programme dedicated to British-Bangladeshi and British-Pakistanis. He has just completed his MSc in Higher Education at Oxford University and has written his thesis on ‘The Oxbridge experience for Free School Meal undergraduate students’. He will be working in Human Rights as a ‘Research fellow’ for MLAG (Muslim Legal Action Group) before starting his Training Contract in 2023.

Roundtable sessions

Bernadette Olusola

Global Inclusion, Diversity & Wellbeing Advisor, Learning Specialist
Genesis Energies

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Bernadette Olusola

Global Inclusion, Diversity & Wellbeing Advisor, Learning Specialist , Genesis Energies

An avid mentor to many, Bernadette is determined to help others succeed at reaching their personal and professional development goals. Having been in the HR space for 8 years. Bernadette specialises in Learning, Development and Talent Management and more within the last 4 years has been getting more involved with the wellbeing, inclusion and diversity space.

Anna Sirmoglou

Equalities, Diversity & Inclusion Manager
West Midlands Combined Authority

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Anna Sirmoglou

Equalities, Diversity & Inclusion Manager , West Midlands Combined Authority

Anna is the Equalities and Inclusion manager for the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). She leads the authority’s diversity and inclusion strategy which includes the design and implementation of practices, initiatives and programmes that foster an environment of inclusion for the workforce and for residents. Anna has over 15 years of experience in the field of diversity and inclusion, supporting positive equality outcomes and implementing change in the public and third sectors. Her key areas of focus include diversity management, strategic planning, transport accessibility and disability inclusion, community engagement and fostering a culture that makes change possible. Anna’s passionate and focused approach has yielded impressive results and significant recognition for the WMCA, including a number of accreditations and national recognitions. Anna holds a Master of Science in International Relations and a Doctorate in Political Science from the University of Bristol.

Sabira Akram

Founder
ACE Network (Formerly of SQA)

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Sabira Akram

Founder , ACE Network (Formerly of SQA)

Sabira's career has spanned over 20 years within Financial Services, Utilities, Education, Community, and the Public sector. She has strong commercial acumen, an understanding of growth markets, people management, and strategic experience. Her roles have granted her extensive exposure to dealing with senior stakeholders. Outside of these roles, she is also a public speaker, patron & board member, diversity leader, and most importantly, a proud mother of two. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion and believes in open and honest leadership. She aims high, works hard, and aspires to be a role model. She sits as Non-Executive Director on various boards, bringing her experience and expertise in areas including Strategy, Governance, Compliance, Operational Oversight, Stakeholder Engagement, Negotiation, Education & IT

Working in small peer-led groups using discussion and exercises, delegates will have the opportunity to reflect on their own positions and organisations and examine ways in which professional action can help establish networks and become an effective diversity partner.  After discussing for 20 minutes, the group leader will summarise and feedback to the whole summit.

Roundtable 1: Essential lessons for those new to this: how to be courageous and authentic
- Bernadette Olusola

Roundtable 2: Reviewing and examining your existing workplace race policy: where can you improve and how?
- Anna Sirmoglou

Roundtable 3: What does a truly anti-racist workplace look like and what lessons can you learn for your own organisation?
- Sabira Akram

Comfort Break

Workplace barriers to effective inclusion: who should break them down, when how and why?

Mohamed Patel

Director
Epic Equality

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A brainstorming and feedback session to tease out the real and hidden expectations of the course attendees and establish exactly what success looks like. Attendees have the potential to be a real catalyst for change and this important session will help you develop a roadmap for your organisation to ensure your diversity and inclusion goals are clear, achievable and something to be proud of.

Employer branding strategy and practice: ensuring your organisation embeds inclusion in your brand, promise and execution

Kishoree Kotecha-Pau

Partner & EDI Lead
Freemans Law LLP

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Kishoree Kotecha-Pau

Partner & EDI Lead , Freemans Law LLP

Kishoree is a highly experienced Criminal Defence solicitor. She qualified as a Solicitor in 1986 and joined Sheratte Caleb & Co Solicitors in 1986, becoming a Partner in 1993 assisting them in acquiring membership of Serious Fraud Panel. Kishoree joined Freemans Solicitors in 2006, where she is a Partner Partner and joint Head of Criminal department; she is a specialist practitioner in complex cases ranging from murder, fraud, money laundering and Confiscation proceedings and criminal appeals. Kishoree specialises in difficult cases whether complex due to the facts or allegation or as a result of the legal matrix. Involved in reported cases, the most recent related to the instruction of intermediaries for vulnerable defendants. She is known for her attention to detail, tactical approach and effective support of her clients and her high level of expertise in her subject matter. She works with high calibre experts and is acknowledged by her clients and third parties for her unstinting commitment to her clients and cases. Kishoree recently represented a pharmacist acquitted of murder in a case of assisted suicide, she also successfully resisted the application of the General Pharmaceutical Council to remove him from the register, in what will be a high profile decision for the pharmaceutical profession. She is equally skilled at High value frauds, often with international elements; successful resolution of confiscation cases, where millions of pounds are sought by prosecutors; and negotiating settlements of monies seized under forfeiture proceedings. She continues to act in all levels of criminal cases ranging from importation of drugs, to allegations of a violent or sexual nature. Kishoree has been a Legal 500 Recommended Lawyer every year since 2014. In the 2018 edition she was described as having “great depth of experience and knowledge of the criminal justice process’ and ‘combines professionalism with humanity, charm, warmth and hard graft.” She has also been a ranked lawyer in Chambers & Partners UK since 2017. In the 2019 Guide she was described as “always calm, in control and sensitive to clients‘ needs” and also praise her “excellent mastery of the material and vigorous pursuit of defence strategy.” Kishoree was presented with the Society of Asian Lawyers’ Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Award in 2013 by Sailesh Mehta Co-chair of SAL and The Rt Hon Sadiq Khan MP. In the words of the organisers “this Award marks Kishoree’s unstinting dedication to assisting those on Legal Aid and her active involvement in the campaign to protect those who may lose this valuable right.” In 2018, Kishoree was awarded the Highly Commended BSN Lifetime Achievement Award at the UK Diversity Legal Awards 2018. Described by one of her nominators (Natasha Wong QC) as having “dedicated herself to furthering and promoting the equality, diversity and inclusion of all genders and ethnic backgrounds, both within the community and the legal profession. She has never wavered in her commitment and has been at the forefront of several major initiatives that have made a real difference to countless people entering and within the legal profession, as well as to the many who did not know where to turn to for help within the community. Her tireless work with some of the most vulnerable people across all ethnic backgrounds makes her a highly effective champion in the field. She has changed and saved lives; inspired countless people of all backgrounds and ethnic origins to pursue and develop their dreams of a legal career, at a time when few were prepared to devote themselves to helping others to progress. She is the worthiest of nominees for this award”. Kishoree is a member of the London Criminal Court Solicitors Association, a founder member of the Society of Asian Lawyers and serving Board member of the Association of Women Solicitors. She also served as a University governor for nine years.

• Designing and implementing a race equality approach that encompasses everyone: assigning ownership and responsibility
• Internal challenges: people, systems, processes, training and culture
• Protests and social justice issues: risks, expectations and doing the right thing

Networking session

Delegates said of our recent D&I events that they would value time to chat and exchange experiences once the formal programme finished - this is your chance to make contacts, swap details and build a network of like-minded professionals.

End of summit