Gender Pay Gap Conference For Employers: Prepare Your Organisation For Staff and Public Scrutiny

Alison Parken

Research Fellow - Wales Centre for Public Policy , Wales Centre for Public Policy

Alison’s most recent research involved collaborating with employers to assist them to understand how gender pay gaps arise within their organisations. The Women Adding Value to the Economy (WAVE) team produced the evidence base and then supported employers to implement change to organisational practice and employment structures. Alison was formerly the Programme Director for WAVE With colleagues, she provided the research base for the design of the Welsh public sector duty on Pay Differences. She has been an advisor to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) on gender mainstreaming and a Standing Advisor to the Equality Committee, National Assembly for Wales. She was awarded an OBE for services to equality and diversity in the June 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours and is a member of the EHRC (Wales) Committee. The WAVE employer case studies: from evidence to action on gender pay gaps: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/research/explore/research-units/women-adding-value-to-the-economy-wave

Will Winch

Solicitor , Mishcon de Reya

Will Winch is a Managing Associate in the Employment department, dealing with contentious and non-contentious matters. He acts for employers and employees and provides day to day HR advisory advice to employer clients on all aspects of employment law. Will has a particular interest in training and development, as well as the future of employment law in the 'gig economy'. He is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association. Prior to qualifying as a solicitor, he worked in the film and television industry for several years.

Ben Willmott

Head of Public Policy , CIPD

Sam Smethers

Chief Executive , Fawcett Society

Petra Wilton

Director of Strategy and External Affairs , CMI

Petra Wilton takes a lead role in building strategic partnerships in the public policy arena. She is responsible for promoting the needs of practising managers through engaging with and accessing the views of the CMI's 100,000 plus members. Through a bespoke thought leadership agenda, these views are shared with those in Government, business, education and the media. Petra also leads on the development of customer insight and building CMI's body of knowledge, and she has co-authored many CMI reports. She also set up the Campus CMI initiative to inspire and create confidence in young people through developing their management and leadership skills. She manages the All Party Parliamentary Group on Management and represents the CMI on various external group , including the recent ABS Innovation Taskforce, the Employee Engagement Taskforce Gurus' Group, Valuing your Talent and Professions Week. Before joining CMI, Petra was a director of specialist public affairs consultancy advising on public policy issues. She has an MA (Hons) in History from Cambridge University and is a Fellow of the RSA. Petra enjoys sailing and walking on the East Coast, spotting Little Egrets and spending time with her young family.

Nick Parker

President , The Institute Of Chartered Accountants

Nick Parker is President of ICAEW for 2017-18; in that role he chairs its board and has been a member of its Council for 22 years. As President he is also a Patron of CABA, ICAEW wellbeing arm. He is a tax partner with RSM UK. He has a wide portfolio of clients including professional partnerships and UK subsidiaries of overseas parent companies, he mainly specialises in the SME sector. During his time on Council he has chaired a variety of committees including the Members Board, the Committee of Council and the Audit Committee. He was Chairman of Council for three years. During his career, Nick has lived in Hampshire and has worked in London, Edinburgh, Southampton and Basingstoke. He is married with two grown up sons, one who is an equine surgeon and the other who is an equine yard manager. In his spare time he likes to undertake adventures – he trekked to the base camp of Everest, trekked in Patagonia, sailed from Sydney to Cape Town across the Southern Ocean as part of the Global Challenge Yacht race and most recently attempted to climb Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere. He also held a private pilot’s licence which has lapsed due to other commitments.