About the Event...
Creating Actionable Strategies to Address
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
"Start Where You Are"
Follwing on from our first successful Summit earlier this year we are reconviening and opening up to a wider audience.
If you're in anyway invloved in diversity and inclusion within your organisation this is your opportunity to network with other people involved in EDI delivery - whether you are an HR & People professional, a Business Leader or Founder, or an EDI Service Provider you'll be welcomed.
"It was so helpful listening and talking to other attendees to gather ideas and suggestions from people who already have a strong ED&I focus in their business, and the speakers were inspiring and thought provoking." Recruitment Director
Our second summit has a greater focus on creating actionable ideas and identifying practical steps that individuals can take to be better allys and create more inclusive work environments.
The day is structured into morning and afternoon sessions - each begins with a Keynote Speaker, followed by an interactive workshop session facilitated by industry professionals and subject matter experts.
A light lunch will be provided and there will be ample time to network with peers and EDI professionals, and the day will conclude with drinks in the Sky Lounge overlooking the historic New Walk in Leicester City Centre.
The summit is a safe space where we remove our egos and our unconscious, subconscious and obvious biases and talk. With candour, humility, and strength about what divides us and what unites us.
A thoughtfully selected group of facilitators will share their experiences and knowledge to encourage interaction to educate, inform and inspire.
Within each workshop you will be given the opportunity to explore topics that challenge our undersanding of important topics relating to the implementation of diversity and inclusion initiatives with organisations.
Our Speakers & Facilitators
We are incredibly proud to announce our line up for the day. Our diverse team of speakers and facilitators we have inspiring stories of their lived in experience to share.
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Jo is one of our facilitators at our breakout sessions. She is extremely passionate about women in STEM and brings lived experience of women in work.
Ian Mattioli MBE
CEO Mattioli Woods Plc.
Ian is Chair of our Advisory Board and Founder & CEO of Mattioli woods Plc. Ian brings his vast experiences of leading and growing Mattioli Woods - a business which has grown since founding in in 1996 to an organisation turning over in excess of £100min 2022.
Ian is proud of his home City
of Leicester - one of the most multicultural in the UK. This has shaped Ian's approach to business and society. Ian is also a philanthropist - along with his wife Clare they operate the Ian & Clare Mattioli Charitable Trust which focusses on developing opportunities for those in need to fully participate in a caring and compassionate society – they may be in need because of youth, age, infirmity, disability, poverty, or economic circumstance.
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Ian is also dyslexic and takes an interest in ensuring the organisations he works with are not only diverse but also inclusive.
Jo is one of our facilitators at our breakout sessions. She is extremely passionate about women in STEM and brings lived experience of women in work.
Lee Chambers
Founder & Chief Psychologist
Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing
After a diverse career in corporate finance, local government and elite sports, Lee launched Essentialise in 2020 with a desire to bring a focus to inclusive and accessible wellbeing. Essentialise featured on this year's Startups 100 Index for their work and as well as his Directorships Lee also sits on the Advisory Board of CMI Women. 
  
Lee is driven by the experience of his own journey; learning to walk again after illness in 2014, and the mental impact of scaling a videogame company across Europe in his twenties. In 2023, he became the first Black British scientist to receive the Kavli Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences, and was inducted into the Black Cultural Archives for services to Business and Health in 2022. 
  
He has been recognised for his work on allyship and equity by the Rising Stars, Marie Claire and the Northern Power Women Awards, and was featured at the Bloomberg Global Equality Summit. He is the author of the Millennials Guide to Wellness, a trustee for Age Concern, and a global speaker on male allyship and menopause. 
Lee who identifies as a black autistic individual with chronic health challenges, brings a unique perspective to the conversation on diversity, inclusion, and wellbeing. He will share his personal experiences and journey as an entrepreneur and wellbeing consultant, providing a first-hand account of the challenges and triumphs faced by those navigating multiple dimensions of diversity.
The keynote will emphasise the importance of allyship in creating inclusive environments, stressing that true diversity is incomplete without genuine inclusion. His insights will shed light on the fact that it's not enough to simply acknowledge and celebrate differences; it's imperative to actively foster an environment where everyone's unique backgrounds, abilities, and identities are valued and integrated.
One of the central messages is that intersectionality is not confined to specific domains; rather, it permeates every aspect of our lives. He will illustrate how intersectionality exists beyond the areas where our focus is most apparent, highlighting the interconnectedness of various aspects of identity and how they influence individuals' experiences and perspectives.
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Jo is one of our facilitators at our breakout sessions. She is extremely passionate about women in STEM and brings lived experience of women in work.
Wayne Bennett
Founder & Directro
Made4Tech Global
Wayne Bennett is the Founder and Director of Made4Tech Global, a technology recruitment consultancy specialising in recruiting professionals within the Technology, Business Change & Transformation markets. Wayne worked in recruitment for nearly 30 years, his experience in the industry encompasses, Marketing, Finance and Technology disciplines.
Recruiting within the Technology space, Wayne has witnessed significant change within the sector, in his role he has become a supportive advocate for female and diverse leadership, and advises businesses on effective inclusion strategies. Wayne has worked with organisations ranging from major corporates to SMEs, and technology-led start-ups, giving him exposure of placing professionals in positions ranging from senior management to “hands on” technical roles.
This has put him front and centre of the ever-evolving requirements of organisations when hiring talent with diverse and often niche skill sets.
Wayne’s passion for female empowerment and diversity in the workplace stems from his family background. Coming from a large family where he is the oldest of ten children, with two children of his own and six grandchildren, his family constantly reminds him what strong women can achieve and why inclusion is so important.
Amongst his most significant achievements have been being instrumental in building a diverse and inclusive technology recruitment team while working for a global recruitment agency. The team - which started with a team of 5 became a team of 28 at its peak, and was the most successful and profitable team within the organisation in the UK.
Wayne regularly undertakes speaking engagements and was selected to judge the Women in Technology category at the Inspire Women Awards 2019, he has written for Women in Leadership magazine, and his proudest achievement was being asked by the Charities Commission to be Chairman for a short transition period for Moss Side & Hulme Community Development Trust 2022
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Hosted by Anna Price,
Managing Director & Founder
Anna Price is a market, product and business development specialist with over 20 year’s international experience across multiple sectors and with organisations ranging from micro businesses to FTSE 100 organisations.
In every role she’s fulfilled people view Anna as positively different and she has embraced this difference to found human. to facilitate her long held desire to make the world of work accessible for all.
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Often described as a whirlwind Anna was diagnosed with ADHD in 2014 and is a passionate advocate for neurodiversity and workplace inclusion - or as she likes to call it “allowing people to be themselves”. She is also a parent to two disabled children - one who is autistic and one who has Down's Syndrome, championing inclusion is for them.
Supported by Sabrina Meadows,
Executive Assistant & Founder
Bree is passionate about the customer journey, ensuring it is accessible for all. Bree's drive, enthusiasm and unflappable organisational skills enable Anna to stay on track and get things done. With a background in sales Bree has worked all over the UK and experienced first hand what it is like to work in a male dominated sales culture.
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Event MC
Carol Ann Whitehead FRSA CMgr CCMI
Carol Ann joins us as our MC for the day - brining her unique blend of humour, authenticity and experience to support the smooth running of the Summit, ensuring we all keep to time and create a safe space in which to challenge perceptions and have some Big Bold Conversations!
Carol Ann is Founder of the Zebra Partnership, and is an events specialist and host and organiser. She is a Heritage Trustee for the historic Portico Library, 50:50 Parliament Board Member, Companion of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Deputy Chair of the CMI Women Board.
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Our Co-Creation Workshops
Taking Feedback you gave us from our First Summit we have remodelled the Second Summit to have a greater focus on generating actionable ideas and identifying practical steps that individuals can take to be better allies and create more inclusive work environments.
The day is structured into morning and afternoon sessions - each begins with a Keynote Speaker, followed by interactive workshop sessions facilitated by industry professionals and subject matter experts.
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You choose one workshop for the morning session and one for the afternoon.
The Say-Do Gap and how to close it
Avoiding Diversity Dishonesty – How communication is key and why transparency & candour matter
Beyond Compliance to Impact – using inclusion metrics as a measure of performance for managers & leaders
DEI Lighthouses – Highlighting five common success factors for impactful EDI Programmes