Social Mobility in the Workplace Conference 

Dr Louise Ashley is senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, and a fellow of its Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences. She specialises in researching diversity and inclusion in large multinational organisations and ‘elite’ occupations with a particular focus on social mobility and class.

Dr Ashley has published articles in leading academic journals and her research has been widely covered in media, both in the UK and internationally. She has led teams appointed by the government’s Social Mobility Commission (SMC) to understand barriers to entry on the basis of socio-economic background in law, accountancy and investment banking, and is a Research Fellow for the Bridge Group, a leading consultancy offering research and thought leadership on social equality. Her recently published book, Highly Discriminating: Why the City isn’t Fair and Diversity Doesn’t Work, explores why City firms generate classed inequalities, how they benefit, and what they can do in response. She sits on several advisory committees in the area of social mobility and in 2022 was a working group member for the City of London Corporation’s Taskforce on Socioeconomic Diversity. 

Kobi Rahman is a Senior Vice President at Citi, working in Treasury & Trade Solutions Sales as a Client Executive, covering the day-to-day relationship and cash management/liquidity needs of some of the world’s largest multinational corporates. Prior to this he spent 6 years within Markets Sales & Relationship Management at Citi and 2 years at JP Morgan. He was recently featured in a Guardian article around Social Mobility recruitment programmes within the workplace and is a co- chair of the Citi Social Mobility Network employee group.

Kobi is born and bred in the West Midlands but now resides in South-West London with his wife and two young children.

Grace Osborne is a Social Mobility expert and practitioner. Her career has focused on improving life outcomes for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds, starting as a science teacher before moving into charities and then corporate social responsibility. She has led entries to the Social Mobility Employer Index for a number of years, most notably taking PwC to number 1 in 2023. Before working at Browne Jacobson she was the first Social Mobility Inclusion Manager at PwC, leading the firms’ approach to socio-economic inclusion. She now leads Browne Jacobson’s social mobility strategy across outreach, recruitment, inclusion and advocacy. Grace is also a trustee for State2Bar, a charity working to improve social mobility at the Bar, as well as a school governor and mentor for Zero Gravity and the Social Mobility Foundation.

Sarah is Chief Executive of the Social Mobility Foundation, a leading UK charity working to unlock potential, broaden horizons and create opportunities with and for ambitious young people held back because of their socioeconomic background. The SMF runs programmes for young people, campaigns on social mobility, and advises and influences business to create more diverse workplaces including through the highly regarded Social Mobility Employer Index.

Sarah joined the SMF in January 2020. Before that she worked for the Charity Commission where she was director of policy, strategy and communications, and started her career in the private sector in communications and public policy. She is a board member of ACEVO, the membership body for charity leaders, and has previously been a trustee of Endometriosis UK, the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, and Womankind Worldwide. Sarah is a volunteer mentor for the Leaders Plus Fellowship and has previously served on the City of London taskforce on socioeconomic diversity in financial services and the Charity Tax Commission.

Monica Stancu leads the Diversity and Inclusion work at Lloyd’s, the world’s biggest insurance and reassurance marketplace. Previously, she has worked in diversity and inclusion at the Royal Academy of Engineering, Sodexo and F. Hoffman La Roche.  

Monica has also worked in international affairs and human rights at the European Medicines Agency (EU agency) and the United Nations. She is the author of the book “Building Diversity and Inclusion: From Commitment to Action.”  

She holds an MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College, USA and was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality at Columbia University in the City of New York.  

Monica has been selected as a Global Champion for Women’s Economic Empowerment by UN Women, has won a WeAreTheCity 2020 Rising Stars award and has been listed as a 2022 D&I Inspirational leader by D&I Leaders. She is also a One Young World Ambassador and a mentor at Migrant Leaders.  

Dr Sumeetra Ramakrishnan is an Associate Professor at the Surrey Business School, University of Surrey. Her research interests lie within social sustainability in service sector organisations and education, with a particular focus on gender and ethnicity influences.  She has led projects on inclusive education with higher education institutions and partnered with social enterprises towards creating equitable work opportunities for women entrepreneurs and business leaders. Sumeetra sits on the Board of the Institute of Travel and Tourism’s Education and Training Committee and is a core working group member of LearnHigher, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education. She sits on the University of Surrey’s Race Equality (RE) Steering Committee and is a consultant for Religious Literacy Partnership. She contributes to BBC Surrey/Sussex on diversity in education and acts as an expert advisor for Skill Boosters on inclusive work practices. She has been a keynote speaker and chaired conferences around social sustainability and inclusion in employment. Her work has been published in various academic journals and trade magazines.

Dr Louise Ashley is senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, and a fellow of its Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences. She specialises in researching diversity and inclusion in large multinational organisations and ‘elite’ occupations with a particular focus on social mobility and class.

Dr Ashley has published articles in leading academic journals and her research has been widely covered in media, both in the UK and internationally. She has led teams appointed by the government’s Social Mobility Commission (SMC) to understand barriers to entry on the basis of socio-economic background in law, accountancy and investment banking, and is a Research Fellow for the Bridge Group, a leading consultancy offering research and thought leadership on social equality. Her recently published book, Highly Discriminating: Why the City isn’t Fair and Diversity Doesn’t Work, explores why City firms generate classed inequalities, how they benefit, and what they can do in response. She sits on several advisory committees in the area of social mobility and in 2022 was a working group member for the City of London Corporation’s Taskforce on Socioeconomic Diversity.