Speakers

Mavis is the Global Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Harbour Energy. 

Her career began over two decades ago with the UK Civil Service, where she worked in various Economics leadership roles to support UK Macroeconomic policy at its highest level, working with decision-makers in the Bank of England, Ministry of Defence and Her Majesty’s Treasury.

She subsequently progressed to the energy sector, working across the value chain for an operator, supplier and the Oil & Gas industry regulator. Mavis was an inaugural member of the Diversity and Inclusion Task Group set up in 2019 by Oil and Gas UK to drive inclusion in the UK oil & gas industry. 

She is co-founder of a Scottish charity, Africulture, set up to drive cultural integration in Scotland. She is also a Non-Executive Director of the Scottish Government’s initiative, Developing Young Workforce.

James is the owner and lead trainer for All About The Mind, a mental health training company.

He delivers Diversity, Equity & Inlcusion, Addiction Awareness, Suicide Awareness & Mental Health First Aid training to a broad section of society, including NHS teams, the Police, the charity sector, local government and private companies. 

James experienced a lot of racism growing up and this had a massive negative impact on his mental health. But despite this, he had a successful career in IT and worked at some of the world’s leading institutions including British Gas. 

James came to the mental health field after his last burnout 22 years ago. Knowing that many of the struggles he faced were avoidable, he is passionate about inclusivity, its role in maintaining good mental health and educating people so that others do not face the same.

James is also an associate trainer for leading charities Rethink Mental Illness, Mental Health UK and Mental Health First Aid England where he is also a plenary speaker on Race & Ethnicity.

You can find out more about James at allaboutthemind.com 

Sandisiwe (Sandie) has previously worked in HR for government and is the EDI lead at The Pensions Regulator, where she led on a piece of work not dissimilar to TIDE. She also previously sat on Ofcom’s communications consumer panel as part of the UK Regulators Network’s next-generation non-executive director programme.

After graduating from Trinity College with a Masters in Science, Damian moved from his home city of Dublin to the UK. Initially working as an Environmental Scientist, his background allowed for a diverse energy and sustainability career – from Geophysicist to Sustainability Manager – over the next 16 years. Even though that experience was grounded on the technical, Damian naturally progressed to a consultative approach on new and existing developments. Later completing a Masters in Psychology, Damian’s approach to projects is lived through a sustainable lens, where Operational, Human Centric and Commercial pillars are addressed equally. Damian now works for Enel X, delivering Energy Flexibility solutions across all sectors.  

Outside of the above, Damian has held the voluntary positions of Chair of Sustainability for the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM 17,000 members) and Head of Business & Resident Liaisons for Pride in London (6,750 businesses and residents). During the pandemic he focused his volunteering on wellbeing – as a Crisis Counsellor for Shout and a Covid-19 Vaccinator for St. John Ambulance.  

Damian now holds a Board Director position with VCP (a charity dedicated to elderly and homeless care in central London). Having recently completed his Level 7 in Strategic Equity, Diversity & Inclusion with the Chartered Management Institute, this sustainable engagement is also seen in his volunteering, where Damian sits on the Pride in Energy Committee and holds the role of Industry Liaison Lead for TIDE (Tackling Inclusion & Diversity in Energy).   

Gary Ford worked as a technologist within Financial Services for over 35 years. He was a Managing Director at JPMorgan where he co-founded their male allies programme for Women in Technology. The programme was rolled out to thousands of men globally and was ultimately launched across the whole firm. 

For the last 10 years Gary has actively promoted gender equality. He’s been the male ally advisor to Women On The Wharf, and was a winner of the WeAreTheCity Rising Star award in the Men for Gender Balance category. 

In 2020, he co-authored his first book, ‘The Accidental Sexist: A Handbook for Men on Workplace Diversity and Inclusion’ (Rethink Press), showcasing his commitment to fostering inclusivity in workplaces. 

Gary’s not just a co-founder; he’s a driving force behind Men for Inclusion, bringing a wealth of experience and a passion for creating transformational culture change. 

A compelling and knowledgeable industry commentator, Gary provides insights and data that will interest those fostering inclusive workplaces through DEI employee engagement and inclusive leadership. 

Jane is the passion and driving force behind the Everyone’s Welcome vision at EDF that creates the environment where people feel able to be their whole selves at work.

A senior leader and professional engineer, with extensive experience across a broad spectrum of business activities in the electricity industry. Jane has worked in a wide variety of roles from Investment Governance, Corporate Finance and Audit, Major Projects and Operational Engineering.

Jane believes in the power of people’s stories and in being the visible LGBTQ+ role model that she needed in the workplace when she was younger. Jane takes a data driven approach to decision making and is taking the actions needed to make our workplaces more inclusive, particularly when it’s tough.

“Focus on the employee experience and you empower them to thrive. Having the authentic conversations that help us see the value and power that our stories and differences bring to the table that drive inspirational business performance.”

Mark Freed, a trailblazer in diversity and inclusion, co-founded E2W over two decades ago when he left a successful fintech career to become the type of husband and father that he always wanted to be.  

Mark grew E2W to become a community with a reach of more than 15,000 women in Financial Services, aiding institutions with best-practice recruitment and retention of diverse talent. 

Wishing to accelerate change, Men for Inclusion was born, and Mark shares his own lived experience as to why inclusion benefits all men, providing more opportunities and breaking free from outdated stereotypes. 

Mark’s distinctive voice is not just heard within this community. He’s a vocal advocate for workplace inclusivity, and recently provided evidence to the UK Government Treasury Select Committee during their ‘Sexism in the City’ inquiry, and collaborates on initiatives like the Women in Finance Charter and the Diversity Project. 

Mark brings a refreshing perspective to the industry, making him an engaging and insightful commentator for journalists seeking a fresh take on diversity, allyship, recruitment, and workplace culture. 

With over 15 years of HR experience, Raj currently oversees Resourcing, EDI and Employee Retention and Engagement at SGN. He has helped raise the profile of EDI at SGN over the last two years and has supported both executive and board level discussions to sustain progress. SGN have gone from no staff networks in 2022 to launching to now having 6 up and running, and in terms of recruitment Raj has overseen the utilisation of CV Less Hiring for entry level roles into the business.

Sharna is an experienced culture, inclusion and development professional, passionate about making a difference to people’s lives through the work that she does. She has eight years of experience driving transformation through setting direction, empowerment and partnering to drive performance and deliver actionable change. She places value on others, their ideas and their potential to contribute that allows them to be their best, perform at their best as well as feeling safe to say how they feel and to challenge. The end goal for her is always about people, how to help forge success and how this influences a high performing culture.  

Lauren leads Murray’s specialist Policy, Public Affairs and Strategic Communications function and for over 10 years has recruited across trade and membership organisations, regulators, corporates, government bodies and charities.  For several years, the strategic priorities of the energy industry have been an increasingly high-profile topic to policymakers and this space has been a key area of focus for Lauren, in which her experience and network have provided rounded insight into the existing initiatives as well as historic and current challenges. 

Believing that recruiters play an important role in realising diverse and inclusive workforces, Lauren is also Murray’s EDI lead, striving to learn and share best practice with clients and candidates alike. Committed to levelling the playing field, Lauren works with leadership to understand challenges and break down barriers to access, entry and progression through the recruitment process.  

Louise is Director of People & Organisational Development and Board member at Energy & Utility Skills, responsible for people, organisational resilience, health & safety and business continuity.  

As part of her role, Louise leads on diversity & inclusion. Working across the sector, she has played a key role in establishing the award winning Energy & Utilities Inclusion Commitment and sector wide Inclusion Measurement Framework. 

A Chartered Fellow of the CIPD, Louise is a senior HR leader and executive coach with over 20 years of experience working within HR, diversity and related roles. Louise is on the Board of Women’s Utilities Network (WUN) and a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Industry Leadership Group. She is also a taskforce member of Tackling Inclusion and Diversity in Energy (TIDE) and Co-Chair of the Insight Strategy Group. 

Emma Pinchbeck is the Chief Executive of Energy UK, a position that she has held since July 2020.  She is an expert in whole-economy decarbonisation and the energy transition. She also holds several board advisory positions. Emma has two children and shares childcare with her husband. She is passionate about efforts to improve diversity in the energy industry. 

From 2016-2020, she served as Deputy CEO of the trade body Renewable UK, in which role she also sat on the Board of Scottish Renewables. Prior to this, Emma was Head of Climate Change at WWFU-K. She has an MA from the University of Oxford.

Grace currently leads on the Fair Energy Market work at Consumer Scotland.

Grace has worked across both academia and policy with a focus on energy and water services. She has taken on some interesting EDI roles including running a ‘working through Cancer network’, an LGBTQ+ working group and undertaking mutual mentoring to improve EDI within her workplace.

She is also a passionate patient advocate for improving cancer patient experiences  – including recently for queer people with cancer. She is motivated to share her story of living and working with cancer to show that it is possible to live well and thrive with a cancer diagnosis.

Yumann Siddiq is a Policy Manager in the Policy & Innovation Team at the Smart DCC and is also the Chair of the Young Energy Professionals (YEP) Forum. At the DCC, she leads on energy flexibility, focussing on policy and advocacy surrounding the future flexible digital energy system and facilitating better market access, visibility and appropriate data sharing. As YEP Chair, Yumann steers the network’s strategic direction, event and project planning, and the growth of the Forum. The YEP Forum is a community to promote the next generation of energy industry leaders, providing opportunities to meet, collaborate, develop and recognise success.  

Lawrence is Chief Executive of ENA. He joined the organisation in February 2023.

He was previously Chief Executive Officer of GIIA, the membership body for the world’s leading institutional investors. Prior to his role with GIIA, Lawrence began working with Energy UK in 2011, becoming its Chief Executive in January 2015. Additionally, he served on the boards of Eurogas and Eurelectric in Brussels.

He has been involved in the energy industry since the late 1990s, working in countries all over the world.

Lawrence is a Board member of Connected Kerb, and a Board Trustee of the Money Advice Trust and the St Clare Hospice. He is also a Fellow of the Energy Institute.

As a Consulting Business Psychologist, Louis Taylor’s role involves supporting organisations on their journey towards neuro-inclusivity. This includes education and awareness webinars and interactive workshops, consulting on internal policies, processes and procedures, and supporting organisations through change programmes to achieve neuro-inclusion. 

With a career that is the very epitome of diversity, Jason Tunney is the Head of Talent at So Energy, a retail supplier offering renewable energy to domestic customers, part of the ESB Group.

Jason’s early career saw him as a professional dancer; devastated by injury he discovered a passion for talent. With a decade of experience across recruitment houses, major corporates and entrepreneurial start ups, as well as leading the Talent function at So Energy, Jason proudly chairs the company’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee that leads initiatives to support inclusivity not just in the candidate and onboarding journey, but also through pastoral programmes throughout the business.

Baroness Verma is a highly influential, both as an outward facing global business leader and within the numerous political positions she has held. 

Since entering the House of Lords in 2006, she has held several key Ministerial appointments, in Government and opposition. Baroness Verma is adept at leading teams from the front, strong in strategy development and transformational change. She has significant experience in chairing committees both in the private and public sectors.  

Baroness Verma is self-assured, confident in decision making and wise enough to build strong teams around her. 

A strong and committed advocate of diversity and inclusion, she is involved in a wealth of influential initiatives to create a more inclusive working environment and society. She has led from the front specifically on gender and race discriminations, both in her political position as well as in her many roles on committees. Baroness Verma was the Prime Minister’s Ministerial global champion for tackling violence against women and girls when was a government minister. 

Baroness Verma has received numerous accolades over the years, as a business leader, politician and champion on rights and access to opportunities. She doesn’t shy away from being forthright and honest but has always embraced the art of cooperative support as the most successful way to achieve results.  

She co- founded Powerful Women, when as an energy minister she saw the lack of senior women in the energy sector, which has helped changed the way women are supported in the sector.  

She is Chair of UN Women UK, the national committee of UN Women the only UN organisation that focuses specifically on women and girls. 

She is Chancellor of Roehampton University and sits on the governing council of Southampton University.

Baroness Verma is an independent director on the Afrinex Stock Exchange of Mauritius and an advisor on a number of business bodies.

Elisabeth is Lead Accessibility Specialist at Scope. Her background is in content marketing and UX, content design and accessibility. Working across the private and public sectors.

Elisabeth now develops disability inclusion programmes for accessibility and workplace culture. She also designs and implements training for businesses. She works closely with various organisations, professionals and industries.

Elisabeth is also an upper body amputee from birth and lives with chronic migraines. She brings her lived experience into everything she does. And she works hard to raise awareness around the barriers other disabled people face. Elisabeth is passionate about her work. She hopes to inspire genuine and impactful change for future generations