TOP 8 - CHAMPIONS (ALLIES) 2018

COLETTE COMERFORD

HEAD OF INCLUSION AND CULTURE, LGIM

Colette joined LGIM in 2018 from M&G Investments where she spent nearly a decade working to create and maintain a balanced workforce. During her tenure, she helped grow and implement M&G’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) strategy addressing gender, ethnicity, nationality, LGBT, cultural diversity, social backgrounds and mental health/wellbeing. During her career, she also held senior roles in employer brand, talent attraction and retention, delivering innovative solutions to ensure a diverse candidate pipeline.

Colette is responsible for driving the achievement, evolution and continuous improvement of LGIM’s culture, as well as LGIM’s diversity and inclusion objectives. Colette works closely with the Executive Team, LGIM’s diversity and inclusion team (LEGIT), and Legal & General’s Group Diversity and Inclusion team.

​Colette is a member of the Diversity Project’s Steering Group – an initiative which aims to accelerate progress towards an inclusive culture and achieve diversity across all dimensions in the investment profession, and an LGBT Great Role.​

EMMA CODD

MANAGING PARTNER FOR TALENT, DELOITTE

Emma is the Managing Partner for Talent for Deloitte NWE and Deloitte UK and sits on the Executive Committees for both. Alongside these roles, Emma leads a client service team of over 50 people within the firm’s Financial Advisory practice.
Since being appointed to the UK Executive Committee in 2013, Emma has led significant change to the firm’s talent agenda – most notably in relation to agile working, gender balance, respect and inclusion, BAME and social mobility.

More specifically, she commissioned the award winning ‘Ask Yourself…’ film; rolled out unique mandatory inclusive leadership workshops to over 6,000 senior leaders in the business (and is now in the process of rolling out follow up workshops to all partners); created a network of Respect & Inclusion Advisors to provide all employees with a safe channel to confidentially raise concerns and call out inappropriate behaviour.

​Emma has introduced BAME mentoring schemes and has led the firm’s voluntary disclosure of the ethnicity pay gap. She established a BAME Advisory Council to seek open and honest feedback from employees to shape our BAME action plan. She has also introduced a BAME reverse mentoring programme, pairing 24 junior BAME individuals with some of our most senior leaders.
Emma is a member of the Patron Group for Access Accountancy and also sits on the Business in the Community gender leadership group. Emma lives in London with her husband and their twin 9-year-old daughters.

GEORGIA ARNOLD

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, VIACOM

​Georgia Arnold is Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility at Viacom International Media Networks and the Executive Director of MTV Staying Alive Foundation.

Ms. Arnold was instrumental in establishing the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in 2005, and was appointed Executive Director in October 2007. MTV SAF is a global charitable body that provides grants to grassroots, youth-led organisations to set up HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns in their communities, and have supported 207 organizations, totaling over $6million. MTV SAF also produce the multi award-winning MTV Shuga – a 360-degree mass-media HIV prevention edutainment campaign.

KAREN VENN

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION PROJECT MANAGER, NETWORK RAIL

Karen has supported the creation and set up the Diversity and Inclusion Department with the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Network Rail. She works closely with the Director, Programme Manager and Access and Inclusion Manger to establish new practices, systems and direction for the Diversity and Inclusion Team. She has established many of the core practices, systems and principles under which it will operate through its next five-year plan including the set-up of six employee networks and the Built Environment Accessibility panel.

Karen has over 20 years’ experience in Diversity and Inclusion and was an integral member of the multi award winning Equality, Inclusion, Employment and Skills team at the Olympic Delivery Authority and acted as the focal point for the development, co-ordination of the Equality and Diversity Teams extensive programme of work by providing effective and timely project management, research assistance and administration of programmes.

KEVIN ELLIS

CHAIRMAN AND SENIOR PARTNER, PWC

​​Kevin Ellis, PwC’s Chairman and Senior Partner, joined the UK firm’s Executive Board in 2008, first as Head of the Advisory business and from 2012, as Managing Partner. He was elected Chairman and Senior Partner with effect from 1 July 2016. He joined the firm in 1984 on the graduate training programme and qualified as a chartered accountant (ICAEW). Kevin specialised in providing turnaround and crisis management support to businesses in the public and private sectors for over 25 years.

MARJORIE STRACHAN

GLOBAL HEAD OF INCLUSION, RBS

Marjorie has 25 years experience of working cross industry in people, change and organisational development roles.

Following a variety of line management roles, predominantly in financial services and utilities, Marjorie spent five years running an internet services business before joining Accenture as an Executive in their Talent & Organisational Performance Practice. During her time there, Marjorie led the Change Management Practice for Accenture’s UK Financial Services client group and had responsibility for all Human Capital consulting across Capital Markets in the UK and across all industry groups in Scotland.

Marjorie re-joined RBS as a COO for HR in 2011, following a period where they were her client. She has global responsibility for RBS’ inclusion agenda and is driving change across the organisation to ensure RBS is an inclusive organisation for their customers and their people.

Specialising in organisational effectiveness and performance optimisation, Marjorie has degrees in Industrial Psychology and Business Administration from The University of Strathclyde and has qualifications in Human Resource Management and Culture from Napier University and The University of Harvard. She is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

Marjorie is married with two teenage daughters and a toddler son.

NANCY LENGTHORN

HEAD OF DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND FUTURE TALENT, MEDIACOM

​Nancy Lengthorn has been in the Media Industry since 1999, spending much of this time at MediaCom. Having worked on clients such as Sky, Direct Line and Cancer Research UK, a passion for people and equity meant that she began to focus her attention on internal projects and set up the industry’s first Apprentice scheme in 2011. This is a role that evolved into her current position of Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Future Talent. Nancy is a mother of 4 young children and is Trustee of a charity that helps Mothers who are living below the poverty line.

NEIL PRIME

DIRECTOR, JLL

Neil Prime is Head of Central London Markets & UK Office Agency and member of the UK Board at JLL. Alongside having been involved in some of the most significant major office developments in Central London, Neil is the board level sponsor for the JLL BAME network ‘Race for Change’. In this role he has worked actively with the co-chairs to shape the agenda, providing senior leadership guidance and insights to ensure that the Network closely aligns its objectives with the corporate strategy, helping improve its visibility and engagement across the business.

​Neil is a strong advocate for diversity, he strongly believes that diverse businesses are better businesses, he is keen to act as an advocate and ally to ensure that every individual regardless of who they are has the chance to fulfil their potential.