ERGs and their work all year round

Speakers:

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  Chloë Davies

  Head of Social Impact
  Lucky Generals

  Chloe Davies is a proud bisexual woman, mother of two, a creative, global inclusion & belonging consultant, chef and entrepreneur. Her work sees her campaigning for inclusion and equality in social spaces, corporate organisations and the wider community. She spent over 15 years working in retail, artist management and PR before starting her own catering company in 2015. In September 2021 she took on the role of Head of Social Impact for Lucky Generals – the creative company for people on a mission. Where she will be responsible, in conjunction with management, for setting the company’s social impact goals and ensuring that they are met in the most effective and creative ways possible. The role will be focused on building a sustainable, diverse and inclusive company culture and output. Before this Chloe spent over two years working for Mygwork - The global recruitment and networking hub for LGBT+ students, graduates, professionals and organisations who believe in true workplace equality. As Head of Training & Engagement (Public & Community) she oversaw necessary internal and external conversations surrounding LGBT+ inclusion, training and external consultation. Chloe volunteers with UK Black Pride (UKBP) as the Head of Finance & Governance, working closely with the Executive Director and the Board of Trustees to help shape the future of UK Black Pride. She is the Head of Relations for the London Queer Fashion Show - An annual showcase of fashion, identity, and expression, a Trustee for the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre and an Ambassador for Mental Health First Aid England. She describes herself as a mental health survivor, openly discussing her own journey with depression and mental health and advocates on usualising these conversations both in and outside of the workplace and starred alongside Denise Welch in ‘Depression & Me’ – a short film produced by Mental Health First England which shines a light on lived experience of depression and recovery. In all of her work, which takes Chloe around the globe, she aims to further connect those within the community while educating allies to continue disrupting and push for increased visibility, understanding and appreciation of the communities she works to serve. In July 2021, Chloe was shortlisted out of 52,000 nominees as a finalist for The National Diversity Awards – Positive Role Model of the Year – LGBT..

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  Georgie Court

  Global Inclusion Specialist
  Clifford Chance

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  Annie Newman

  Senior digital content editor
  GSK

  Being able to make a difference to LGBT+ inclusion in the health & life sciences sector is of upmost importance to me. Having grown up identifying as gay, I like many in the LGBT community have had to deal with the challenges that that can bring but as an adult I am out and proud and passionate about doing what I can to help others. As the first female lead of GSK’s award-winning LGBT+ employee network group Spectrum, I feel privileged to be able to influence GSK’s LGBT+ agenda and to be in a position to support and be the voice for those within the organisation. During my involvement with Spectrum we have grown from strength to strength and I believe one of my biggest contributions to be enabling the community to connect better than ever before. I also see that through my day job as Senior digital content editor for GSK's internal and external corporate channels, I have been able to utilise my passion for bringing to life the diversity of employees across the company. As Company Director and Engagement lead for the Proud Science Alliance, a ground-breaking cross-company collaboration. I'm responsible for engagement across our member communities. To bring such a large and diverse group of LGBT+ employee groups together with one mission takes a robust strategy and great story-telling. It’s an honour to bring their stories to life and also to work across the organisations to ensure best practice is shared. I recently was named Role Model of the Year 2020 by Pink News. Over the past few years I have placed in the 2019 and 2020 OUTstanding LGBT+ Role Model list, LGBT+ future leader category and was a finalist in DIVA's Rainbow Honours LGBT Champion category.

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  Cheryl Lander

  Sr. Director, Release Management
  Oracle

  Cheryl Lander, San Jose, CA, is the Sr. Director, Oracle CX Industries Release Management, responsible for ensuring quality and compliance of industry-specific SaaS releases. During her career, she has managed nearly all aspects of product development including documentation, training and enablement, QA, release engineering, program/release management, and human factors. At Oracle, she also is Board Co-Chair of the Oracle Pride Employee Network (OPEN) – LGBTQ+ and Allies, a global Oracle employee resource group, and an executive sponsor for her local Oracle Women’s Network (OWL) group. She represents Oracle on the Silicon Valley/San Francisco Alliance of LGBTQ+ ERGs; has represented Oracle at Lesbians Who Tech, Out & Equal Executive Forum, and Out & Equal Workplace Summit; and is a charter member of the Silicon Valley Rainbow Rotary. She also is a facilitator with the South Bay Pachamama Alliance team, a group that promotes an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on our planet. She and her wife enjoy travel, photography, and volunteer with a handful of non-profits, including C.A.R.E. (a dog rescue organization from whom they adopted their two Carnoodles, Salt and Pepper), Stage One Theatre (local community theater), and Silicon Valley Child Advocates (advocate for foster children).

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  Jack Murray

  Talent & Development Lead
  Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I

  I'm passionate about inclusion in the workplace and how we can better develop our LGBT+ agenda in particular. Happy to share my experiences of being openly LGBT+ in the workplace, developing an integrated D&I agenda and working with our PROUD business resource group.

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  Arlene McDermott

  Portfolio Director
  LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group)

  Recently becoming Co-chair of London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) Proud LGBT+ network has made me realise that we all still have more to do to fully smash the corporate closet and show support for our community in the workplace. When I first came out, being out at work didn’t feel safe and was full of uncertainty. But now I have been out at work for many years because I assume that my management and my colleagues simply won’t care. And as far as I’m aware I’ve been right so far. But I’ve realised that’s not necessarily the case for everyone. I talk to people across the city who feel that LGBT+ issues may not be supported by senior executives. I also meet people who are unsure of how they would be received if they come out at work and are therefore filtering out a huge part of themselves. With enormous support, through our network I am committed to demonstrating the power of being out in the workplace. Being out at work is not only good for the individual, it’s good for teams, departments and whole companies. It’s good for productivity and it’s good for the bottom line. So I encourage anyone who may be afraid of being out at work to reach out to your network or to trusted colleagues and take a small risk for a huge reward.

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  Deena Fidas

  Managing Director - Chief Program & Partnerships Officer
  Out & Equal

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