17 March 2025
This event is kindly being hosted and run in partnership with Imperial College London, thanks to Jenny Rae, their Chief Information Officer, who will be doing a short introduction to the event. After the panel discussion there will be chance to network with tea, coffee and cake as usual.
Date: Wednesday 23 April
Time: 14.00-17.00pm
Location: Imperial College London – Royal School of Mines Building, Kensington Campus
To register your interest in attending, please scroll to the end of the page to complete the registration form.
Allyship – what makes a supportive Ally?
Recent statistics state that 26% of the UK tech workforce is female, but only 3% and 2% are held by Black and Hispanic women respectively, and even less so for LGBTQ+ women. These statistics show there is still work to do to level the playing field with male counterparts, but also that there is more to be done to support all women into the world of tech.
Allyship in the workplace is crucial for inclusion and equity. Allyship refers to the actions, behaviours, and practises that we can all take to support, amplify, and advocate with others, especially those individuals who don’t belong to the same social identity groups as ourselves. As women, we must also acknowledge intersectionality, and that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression.
To be an intersectional Ally, you should be constantly aware and recognise the individual experiences people can face, all of which may be different. Recognise and honour identities, as well as work to rectify interlocking systems of oppression.
Femi Otitoju, Founding Partner of Challenge EDI, will be chairing the event and inviting our panellists to share their experiences, insights, and success stories, as well as opening the discussion to the attendees for their opinions and questions. We hope this will provide some fruitful discussion, and some great takeaways to improve allyship in all your workplaces.
In this AQ WiT event, we want to explore several different areas of allyship:
For this event we encourage the network to invite colleagues:
Because of the topic and feedback received from the WiT group, we know this will be a popular event. We encourage our members to invite their colleagues, both male and female junior colleagues; we may need to limit numbers per organisation, but we aim to accept as many people as possible.
Panellists include:
Danny Attias | Chief Digital & Information Officer at London Business School | LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-attias/
Danny was ranked #1 in the 2020 CIO100 for his transformative work at the blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan and has held technology leadership roles in the fintech and retail sectors. He currently leads the London Business School’s digital transformation programme, aligning it with the institution’s strategic goals.
Over the past decade, Danny has been a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in the technology sector. He has engaged with organisations such as Makers, Multiverse, Cajigo, and the Tech Talent Charter, and has been a mentor for multiple women in technology programmes. At London Business School, he mentors for the Black Employee Network and serves as the Executive Sponsor for Proud@LBS, the School’s LGBTQ+ and allies staff network. Danny also hosts the podcast “Sondership,” which focuses on diversity, inclusion, and female empowerment. Danny has successfully increased the proportion of women in technical and leadership roles within his teams and launched the LBS Data Academy, which has had over 100 participants, 75% of whom are female. The academy aims to develop or enhance staff data skills, furthering their careers and supporting the School’s digital transformation.
Gill Cooke | Mentor & Coach at Cajigo | LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmcooke1/
Gill is an award-winning Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) change-maker and thought leader with a background in HR, IT programme management and television production. Gill was named as one of 133 Women Changemakers in 2023 by Diversio, is a Tech100Women Winner, and has been a volunteer UK delegate for UN Women for the last 3 years, she has recently been nominated for a Rising Star award within Diversity and Inclusion. Gill works with organisations who want to be more inclusive and supports planning and delivering complex, cross-geography and cross-functional Inclusion strategies and programmes, she is a trainer, a speaker and a coach. She advocates for allyship; gender equality, inclusive leadership and how to create psychological safety.
Kavita Kapoor | Director of Digital Products at Imperial | LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kavitakapoor/
Kavita is an esteemed technologist whose career is defined by a commitment to harnessing technology for humanity’s benefit, particularly through innovative educational solutions and strategic leadership roles. Her professional journey began with a strong foundation in coding and software architecture, with early roles at prominent organisations such as the BBC, Channel 4 Television and Documentum. She gained expertise in product management during her tenure with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Kavita has achieved accolades such as; a BAFTA for her educational work with Channel 4, Luvvies for her role in London 2012 and the MIT Inclusive Innovation Challenge (ICC) Award for the BBC micro:bit.
Following her time at London 2012, Kavita has held several influential positions on a global scale. She has served as Chief Technology Product Officer (CTPO) for a Finnish education robotics start up, directed digital product strategies for several global organisations, and was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Micro:bit Educational Foundation. In addition to her executive roles, Kavita is deeply engaged in strategic and advisory capacities. She is a Founding Member and Strategy Director of the Federation of Humanitarian Technologists and a Senior Lecturer in Product Management for Emerging Technologies at Code University. Kavita also serves as a Trustee of Plant Heritage and was the Founding Chair of the British Computing Society’s Pride Specialist Group, reflecting her dedication to diversity and inclusion in technology.
George Greenaway | Group Marketing Director at Major Players | LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-greenaway-poole/
George is marketing professional with over 12 years commercial experience, having worked for a variety of organisations; including start-up’s, SME’s and global corporations. He has extensive experience in helping businesses grow their audiences through communications, digital marketing and sound business development strategies, with strong entrepreneurial commercial acumen. He is a passionate advocate for people and diversity, and is a proud member of the Major Players Inclusion Council, who’s aim is to build an inclusive, open, and collaborative organisation where everyone is able to bring their true authentic selves to work, celebrating one another, own our differences and enrich those around us.
Nadine Leighton | Marketing Director at Bright | LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadine-leighton/
Nadine has over 15 years of experience driving impactful marketing strategies, specialising in leading teams and initiatives that fuel growth, innovation, and brand transformation across diverse sectors, including technology, professional services, and education. She formerly held senior marketing positions with digital software giants; as the former Global Head of Marketing at LexisNexis and Marketing Director at Metapraxis, she has honed her ability to craft and execute high-performance go-to-market strategies, leading marketing efforts that exceed pipeline and revenue targets while creating lasting impact in international markets.
Beyond her professional experience, she is passionate about driving change in the marketing industry. As a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, she works tirelessly to ensure marketing reflects the diverse audiences it serves. She is co-lead of Bloom in Colour, the IAG for women of colour and their allies in Bloom UK, and co-founded Join Our Table, a platform connecting Black British women in advertising, communication, media and marketing. She is also a mentor at Lollipop CIC, supporting mid-level Black women in the industry.
Jenny Rae | Chief Information Officer at Imperial | LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyrae/
Jenny was appointed CIO for Imperial College London in October 2023, where she leads the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) division and is responsible for all aspects of Imperial’s Digital Plan, which will support the organisation to realise its digital ambitions. She was previous Director of Digital Products at Imperial, Chief Operations Officers at Found Tech leading the product, technology and business operations functions, and prior to this held several senior roles at both Vodafone and BT Group. Jenny is qualified with a first class honours degree in Business and Operations Management from Oxford Brookes and an MBA in Business Administration from Henley Business School.
Marsha Ramroop | Founder Director at Unheard Voice | LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marsharamroop/
Marsha is a global award-winning organisational inclusion strategist, Founder Director of Unheard Voice Consultancy Ltd and author of Building Inclusion – A Practical Guide to EDI in the Built Environment. She has formulated a culture and behaviours change methodology which has been recognised as successful with international prizes, from the International Federation of Training and Development Organisations, and with two Brandon Hall HRD Gold Medals.
As well as running Unheard Voice, Marsha works part-time as the Executive Director of EDI for Building People CIC, a hub that’s pulling together EDI resources and insight, as well as career pathways for underrepresented groups in the built environment. She originally had a 30-year career in broadcasting including 20 years at the BBC, where she led inclusion efforts across the Midlands and developed a pioneering inclusive recruitment pilot for presenting staff, and an inclusive reporter scheme. She was the inaugural Director of Inclusion and Diversity at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) where she ran RIBA Radio, a live week of radio programming about inclusion for the profession reaching 10-thousand listeners worldwide. She wrote and was lead facilitator behind the Diversity & Inclusion Charter for the motorsport, Formula 1, delivered through the Royal Academy of Engineering. She works with the Cultural Intelligence Center, the global headquarters of cultural intelligence (CQ) as one of their published and highlighted thought-leaders on impactful organisational change, as well as a worldwide trainer and facilitator. Marsha was also the Vice Chair and a Fellow of the Institute of Equality and Diversity Professionals (FIEDP), an institute which strives to verify and set standards for the growing vocation of EDI practitioners. She holds the Public Appointment of a Non-Executive Director of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee – which seeks to protect the biodiversity of the UK – she sits on the International Advisory Council of the Institute of Business Ethics, and is also a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA).
