Tarig is currently leading on equalities for a workforce of around 7,000 employees. She has paved the way for equalities to be considered across each department by enhancing the structure and governance of diversity and inclusion to ensure it is embedded within each department.

Having recently been awarded Disability Confident Leader at Nottinghamshire County Council, Tarig is now keen to ensure that the council works to improve on more focussed areas – she has recently commissioned a review of every department in relation to ensuring that the needs of the deaf community are met.

Tarig is currently managing the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) pilot project – Nottinghamshire was one of 18 sites nationally to be selected for this project. Soon to become a WRES expert, Tarig is developing a wider race equality strategy within Nottinghamshire to eliminate barriers and eradicate racism within the workforce.

Tarig previously led on equalities within an NHS Trust during the height of the pandemic, she ensured that colleagues had safe spaces to voice concerns and initiated a campaign which promoted cultural competence and supported recruitment teams in the national campaign to recruit more Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority staff into senior posts.

Tarig’s area of expertise and studies is Human Rights, in particular the impact of religious symbols. At the University of Nottingham Tarig designed a programme to help address the under representation of Asian female students in certain subject areas. Tarig has always kept up her engagement with local gender equality projects and has been involved in improving the lives of women subjected to domestic abuse by delivering the Freedom course.

Margherita has 15 years of experience leading people and change programmes to promote inclusive policies and practices and to increase diversity. Margherita has worked in Canada and the UK, leading programmes, including with Aboriginal communities and communities living in poverty. 

Currently, Margherita is the Equality Diversity Inclusion and Talent Acquisition Manager at the British Medical Journal.

Passionate about building diverse communities and creating an equitable society, Mathurini is an experienced senior leader, ICF qualified coach, Chartered marketer and a regular speaker on EDI.

Mathurini has spoken using her lived experience and natural passion for equity, diversity and inclusion and has used this to challenge and change societal norms both within her community and globally. She is the founder of a social media movement focusing on diverse storytelling, which has propelled her career further in the EDI space.

Owen is the Senior Implementation Lead in the Race and Health Observatory. He joined the NHS in 2004 as a Mental Health Occupational Therapist (OT). Prior to working in the UK, Owen worked as an OT in his native Zimbabwe and Botswana. He is also an alumnus of the NHS Graduate Scheme (Health Informatics specialism). He has worked in various management/leadership roles for clinical, transformation, performance, and informatics teams. Owen sits on research advisory groups for various organisations including Barnardo’s. He is passionate about using data to reduce inequality, improve patient care and staff experiences. Away from work, Owen is a keen runner.

Jeff Greenidge is a highly experienced senior leader, with a reputation for independent, strategic thinking. He initially taught French, Latin and PE at Oakdale School in Gwent; was Head of department in Llanrumney High school in Cardiff, then worked in Government on the design and implementation of the National Curriculum. He has trained Post Graduate Teacher teachers at University College Swansea. Then followed 3 years working with European businesses on organisational development projects, before helping to set up The University for Industry (Ufi) in 1999; where he was first Director in Wales, then Northern Ireland and ultimately responsible for the UK delivery of learndirect on line learning.

Since leaving learndirect in 2015, Jeff has supported CEOs, senior managers , and organisations on their development and planning for growth. The approach is one of supporting the individual and organisation to make impact through clear expectations, accountabilities and goals; whilst maintaining a positive team culture.

Jeff brings over 25 years of senior level strategic leadership in large complex organisations within the public, commercial and not for profit sectors in UK and wider Europe. He uses this experience to improve individual and organisational performance. He is currently Board member of Learning and Work Institute , chairing the Wales Strategy Group and Board member of Groundwork UK and Chair of Groundwork Wales.

Rashik was till July 2022 the IBM Fellow and Vice President responsible for creating and driving IBM’s European technical strategy. His focus has been helping clients on the journey to becoming a cognitive enterprise leveraging Cloud, AI and IoT technologies whilst creating a dependable IT platform. Drawing on thirty-nine years of practical experience in IBM, he is uniquely placed in developing strategies that are realistic whilst providing tangible business impact. He has worked with financial, retail and manufacturing clients on IT transformation projects of all sizes. Overall, he specialises in ensuring the technical success of complex IT projects that transform business models. Some of his work is summarised in the HBR Article he co-authored – “New Patterns for Innovation” – Jan-Feb 2014.

Rashik was appointed to the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership Board and where he is Deputy Chair of the Employment and Skills Committee and helping develop innovative strategies to accelerate the growth of this £55bn marketplace.

Rashik also chairs the Board of Trustees for IVE is a progressive training company developing creativity as the path to social mobility.

Rashik was awarded an MBE as part of the HRH Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday honours for his contribution to business and innovation.