Join The Inclusion Initiative’s (TII) fourth quarterly roundtable event for 2021 on 22^nd November between 1-2pm (London time). This will be a joint session with the 30 per cent club.

In October we launched our latest cutting edge research: TRANSPARENT: Creating Organisations Inclusive of Black Women in Finance, Professional Services and Big Technology. The TRANSPARENT framework is the UK’s first cross-sector framework designed to remove the barriers blocking the progression of talented Black professional women in finance, professional services and big technology. The report describes actions that can be taken by firms, managers and individuals now to promote real change.

Dr Grace Lordan will be chairing an all-star panel, including Erika Brodnock, Odessa Hamilton and Pavita Copper, guiding a discussion on:

. The top actions that can be taken by firms, managers and individuals to promote real change.

. The role of narrative in moving the needle.

. Why the need for change is pressing at this particular point in time.

Meet our speakers and chair

Erika Brodnock (@ErikaBrodnock) is an award winning entrepreneur (including Female Entrepreneur of the Year and Intel's Global Business Challenge), founder of software companies Karisma Kidz and Kami; a Non-Executive Director of The Good Play Guide; and she serves on the advisory board of the APPG for Entrepreneurship. She is also an MBA, a PhD candidate at LSE, the Head of Research at Extend Ventures, and a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London. Through her work at the intersection of technology, wellbeing and product development, Erika has built products and services that disrupt and spearhead a path out of outdated systems. At TII, Erika is leading research that aims to understand and diversify access to venture capital and innovation finance for entrepreneurs who are diverse by way of gender, ethnicity or educational background.

Pavita Cooper is the founder of More Difference. She works with Boards and Executive teams to build culture and inclusion across their organisations. Pavita is recognised as a leading culture and diversity expert; she has over 30 years experience as an executive culture leader across a range of multi-sector global blue-chip organisations, including Shell, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group. Pavita mentors young people from ethnically diverse and socially disadvantaged backgrounds and regularly speaks at inner city schools across the country through Speakers for Schools. Pavita is the Deputy Chair of the 30 Percent Club. She is a Commissioner to the Board of the Equality & Human Rights Commission, the lead NED to an agency of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, a Trustee of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) where she chairs CMI Race and a Trustee of the Old Vic. Pavita was awarded Woman of the Year at the Asian Business Awards in 2017 and more recently presented with the President’s Medal by the British Academy of Management. 

A Behavioural Scientist by trade, Odessa leverages behavioural insights at LSE TII to advance the understanding of factors, on the sociodemographic intersection, that underpin inclusion. She is a Doctoral Researcher in Epidemiology and Precision Medicine at UCL, where, by appointment, she teaches post-graduate Biostatistics. Whilst pursuing BPS Psychometrics registration and MBPsS status, Odessa earned a MSc in Psychological Sciences with Distinction and a First-Class Degree with honours in Organisational Psychology – graduating among the top 5%. With experience that traverses Corporate and Government, Odessa also has notable multinational achievements in entrepreneurship, her work has been featured in top publications, and she holds multiple awards for innovation. 

Lorna Hinds-Sotomey has almost 30 years’ experience within financial services which includes over 15 years in progressively responsible financial leadership roles covering finance, strategy, regulation and technology. As an experienced finance professional, Lorna maintains a keen interest in Diversity & Inclusion with an emphasis on ensuring racial equity is incorporated into executive key decision making and is a member of the Executive Diversity & Inclusion (EMEA) committee in her current organisation across banking and technology. Founder and Chair of the Race diversity network for Nomura (EMEA), supporting and building out programmes to drive the full inclusivity for individuals in the workplace at all levels. She provides mentorship for young professionals - previously across mentoring programmes incl. WIBF, 30% Club and currently Amos Bursary. 

Ronel Lundall is the EVP heading up the Mastercard Transaction Services (MTS) business at Mastercard. Ronel’s career covers roles within Mastercard across International Markets, Operations & Technology and Product & Engineering. Before rejoining MasterCard MEA in 2010, Ronel also founded a payment consulting business, with a core focus on payment operations to support banks across Africa and proof of concept mobile solutions with select central banks across Africa. Notably, she was the first senior female representative to serve as a member of the MasterCard regional operating committee. While working in the Middle East Africa region, she represented Mastercard at the Junior Achievers South Africa Program and was the local Executive Sponsor for Mastercard’s Women Leadership Network. In 2018, Ronel was recognized by the Financial Times EMpower awards as a leading Ethnic Minority Executive. As current Executive Sponsor for the Mastercard business resource group, Leading Employees of African Descent, she finds the time to work with her colleagues as they build out the company’s In Solidarity Plan.

Dr. Grace Lordan (@GraceLordan_) is the Founding Director of The Inclusion Initiative (TII) and an Associate Professor in Behavioural Science at LSE. Grace is an expert advisor to the UK government sitting on their skills and productivity board. Her academic writings have been published in top international journals in economics and the broader social sciences. Think Big, Take Small Steps and Build the Future you Want is her first book.

More about this event

TII (@lse_tii) aims to bring behavioural science insights to firms to allow them to enhance the inclusion of all talent, and simultaneously produce academically rigorous and relevant research that links directly to TII’s purpose.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSETII