Holder of a Masters Degree in International Relations, and with 10 years of experience working across three continents and different sectors, including policy, mental health and law, Alex has a unique understanding of the intersecting legal, social, cultural, and psychological issues that must be addressed to embed EDI in workplaces.  

Committed to building a global movement on inclusive business for the 1.3 billion people in the world with a disability, over the past two decades she has set up several organisations and initiatives centred on disability business inclusion.  Her latest initiative, The Valuable 500, is an ambitious year-long campaign to get 500 businesses to commit to put disability inclusion on their leadership agendas. Launched at this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Summit, Casey succeeded in bringing disability inclusion onto the main stage at DAVOS for the first time ever with the support of global business leaders.  The Valuable 500 is supported by a host of global leaders including Sir Richard Branson, and Paul Polman, and global brands including Virgin Media and Omnicom.  Casey is also a TED speaker, Ashoka Fellow, Eisenhower Fellow, a past advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative, a One Young World Counsellor and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. 

Cynthia has worked within and recruited for some of the best known corporate, public and private sector organisations for Senior Executive positions up to Board Level where she continues to challenge the status quo. She has won numerous awards and received both national and international recognition for her entrepreneurship and determination to champion and campaign for a fairer and just society. She is Chair of the Board for a Children’s Literacy Charity and a fellow of St George’s College Leadership Fellowship, Windsor. 

She recently completed her PhD at the Centre for the Study of Group Processes, University of Kent, where she examined bias in assessments of others’ leadership potential. Co-author of a review on the effectiveness of unconscious bias training (Equality and Human Rights Commission), Fatima also co-authored the ‘Middle Research’ report for the Black British Business Awards (BBBAs) and contributed to a review for the General Medical Council on disproportionate representation in fitness-to-practise referrals.

He designed and delivered diversity training throughout the service at local and national level with particular strengths in conflict resolution, mediation and post-incident training. 

Herm was a sitting member of the National Executive Committee of the Black Police Association, chairing the BAME staff network and held the LGBT & Disability portfolios.  

Wellbeing and the progression of diverse people are Herm’s passions 

 As an International Keynote Conference speaker, Joanne delivers workshops, seminars, and engages with organisations to develop policy & best practises to be more inclusive for all people. Challenging Biases and helping them to develop a Vision and Strategy for Conscious Inclusion. She is an Advisory Friend of The Institute of Equality & Diversity Professionals, Member of The Rotary Club, Toastmasters International, The Professional Speaking Association, and she sits as an Expert by Experience member for Southampton University. As a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, she believes passionately that “people are people” and, no matter who they are, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Joanne was a contributor and featured in a Channel 4 (UK) documentary called “The Making of Me”, broadcast in February 2019. This documentary was filmed over a 3 year period and detailed her own personal gender transition and its impact on those around her. Joanne lives by the mantra of “Smile, Engage and Educate” in order to promote awareness and understanding to overcome people’s fear of getting it wrong, because the world isn’t only black and white!

He manages the national Time to Change hub initiative and devised the Champions Podcast to amplify the voice of campaigners. It’s available on Sound Cloud and iTunes. Previously roles: Group Marketing Manager (Reading Room); Campaigns and Marketing Manager (Media Trust ) and World AIDS Day Campaigns Manager (National AIDS Trust). Keith was on the London 2012 Disability Community Advisory Panel making the Olympic and Paralympic Games accessible to all including those experiencing mental health problems. He is a Digital Mentor for The Princes’ Trust.

 Since then, her role has grown into her current position of Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Future Talent, a role that she now realises has been at the heart of her values since childhood! In 2017, Nancy implemented a Mental Health Allies programme at MediaCom and this has evolved into a campaign with ‘The Book of Man’ whereby MediaCom Mental Health Allies are lobbying other companies to put similar schemes into place.  

2018 saw Nancy awarded as Top Champion by the ‘Investing in Ethnicity Awards’ and MediaCom also picked up a Festival of Media Gold award for their work in the area of Diversity and Inclusion. 2018 was also a year of focus on Gender issues and a number of initiatives have been put in place at MediaCom.   

Outside of MediaCom, Nancy is a mother of four young children and is Trustee of Bromley Brighter Beginnings, a charity that works with disadvantaged families and victims of domestic violence in the London borough of Bromley.  

Nancy has also recently been part of a small campaign group that has successfully lobbied government (persuading them to part with £1.8M!) to open a much needed State school in her area. On the back of numerous planning refusals, this involved generating media coverage and 3 local marches, so her previous Media experience came in handy!  

 In the last year Rukasana has worked with Executive levels teams to build inclusive leadership capability, led on D&I strategy build, developed a sponsorship programme curriculum to support the progression of women/ethnic minority individuals and has delivered cultural intelligence programmes.  Rukasana has also led on the delivery of organisational change for EY D&I internally through leading on change programmes in areas of the business acting as an Inclusion Coach.  

She is the founder of the UK’s official discount card for disabled people, the Asian Woman Festival and the Asian Disability Network. Shani founded the Diversability Card, helping to reduce the financial pressure faced due to the extra costs of living with an impairment or condition. Shani created the Asian Disability Network, which is both an educational platform and support network for people who often experience multiple types of stigma. The group works to break down stigma that can be found both inside and outside of the South Asian community. Shani has worked for over ten years as an award – winning events manager and recently founded the UK’s first Asian Woman Festival, smashing stereotypes and stigma to empower and celebrate Asian Women. Shani works with Virgin Media as a Workplace Adjustment Specialist, transforming the experience for their disabled employees. She is also a trustee of Leonard Cheshire Disability and an Executive Committee member of the Asian Business Chamber of Commerce. Shani is a member of the Greater London Regional Stakeholder Network bringing the voices of disabled people and their organisations, in policy development for the governments Office for Disability Issues. She an ambassador at Valuable 500, Parallel London; a role model at Scope; advisory board member for UnLtd, as well as being a speaker and columnist on disability and inclusion matters. Shani is named as one of the most influential disabled people in Britain, Shaw Trust Power List 2019 & 2018.

She remains an active coach and Board Advisor to businesses globally – from Asia to North America, Europe and South Africa, and is a proud finalist for Global Inspiration Role Model of the Year at 2016 European Diversity Awards and was recognised as a Freeman of the City of London in 2017.  

Since he launched the 56 Black Men campaign on 24th December 2018 it has taken off and has since been featured by The Guardian, Channel 5, Sky News, BBC, Metro, Al Jazeera amongst others. Cephas believes everyone should have a fair chance to change their narrative and so for Drummer Boy Studios in 2017, Cephas set out to merge his passion for architecture and his passion for the community in a bid to create physical spaces that cater to those who often suffer the brunt of gentrification. The studio runs as a creative hub conducive for growth innovation and collaboration for people interested in the creative sector including Music, Film, Media, Enterprise, Fashion, and Gaming.

Using data, storytelling and design thinking, colourfull has already worked with a range of clients including Depop, The Labour Party and Seedrs. Prior to this, Dee held HR Leadership roles in creative organisations inc. the BBC, Net-A-Porter and Girl Effect, and is currently a Trustee at Sour Lemons. Follow @wearecolourfull on Insta and Twitter.

Fiona is passionate about people and inclusion and works tirelessly for the implementation of a holistic strategic approach which underpins all aspects of people decisions in business.

After great success at HSBC she has established her own business and now the CEO and founder of FD2I, focused on two things, one driving action which aspires to move from diversity to inclusion, and two, actively ad-vocating for inclusion to be a core component of business strategic agendas.

Fiona sits on the UN Women National Committee UK, chaired by Baroness Sandhip Verma

It was a decision that Jacqui has not looked back on as she was able to combine her role as a respected transgender activist and directly working in the area of transgender equality at the heart of government. First of all as the first ever Chair of the Transgender Network within DWP followed by becoming a active Steering Group member of a:gender in 2010.

This was the launchpad needed as she became the the Vice Chair of a:gender in 2012 and in 2013 she became the youngest ever Chair and in March 2015 returned as the Vice Chair before returning as Chair in July 2016 to October 2016. It was at that time that Jacqui was given the opportunity to go out on secondment to the Financial Conduct Authority for five months. In February 2017, Jacqui returned to the Civil Service to head up the Diversity and Inclusion strategy for the Department of International Trade.

He set the accessibility standards and strategy for BBC Future Media, and authored the new International accessibility Standard ISO 30071-1 and its predecessor BS 8878 to help share this best-practice with other organisations to help them get more customers by making their goods and services easily available to disabled and older people. 

He leads Hassell Inclusion’s team of accessibility experts providing strategic accessibility transformation services to organisations worldwide. He specialises in: training and consultancy to embed accessibility strategically within the software development lifecycle process, leadership of innovative digital projects to make inclusion easier and cheaper to implement, and creation of best-practice international web standards. 

He has won awards for product managing: the accessibility features of ‘BBC iPlayer’; the accessibility personalisation tool, ‘MyDisplay’; the accessibility information site, ‘My web my way’; the innovative sign-language-recognition games, ‘Boris Games’; and the ‘Nepalese Necklace’ mobility games for blind and partially sighted children. 

Until 2017 he was Head of Group Social Media at Dixons Carphone, and prior to that held senior comms roles at Dixons Retail, David Lloyd Leisure and Disneyland Paris. Now splitting his time between upUgo as a Director and Shift.ms as Head of Comms, he also campaigns for equality, flexibility and diversity in the workplace. He was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2007. He has a funky wheelchair and jumps out of planes when he is not playing Wheelchair Rugby. 

He’s founded a service design business, worked with world-leading healthcare technologies, held senior commissioning roles in the public sector and built a consulting career within Capgemini and GE Finnamore.

At Plexal in Here East, Russell leads our social inclusion work, delivering our inclusion accelerator for social entrepreneurs and is an advocate for designing action-oriented programmes and solutions that work for real people.

Jungle HR works with Executive Boards and Leadership Teams during times of change, business transformation and provides expert guidance to help businesses increase inclusivity and increase their workplace sense of belonging. The Inclusion 247 hub provides tools, resources, webinars and the latest Inclusion and Diversity news and is currently open to join the waiting list.  Teresa is a UK Female Entrepreneur Ambassador, was named Most Influential Business Woman of the Year at the MBCC Awards 2019, is a Business Board Member of the Women and Enterprise and the Women and Work APPGs and a regular contributor to the media and public policy. Learn more at:
https://www.inclusion247.com/