About CMI Women

Diverse leaders with diverse teams deliver the best results

CMI is all about developing and enabling brilliant leaders; giving them the management skills they need to fulfill their own potential and unlock the potential of others. We have been advocating gender balance since 1969 when we first launched our Women in Management.

Comprising CMI Members, this network is not exclusive to women. We encourage our male counterparts to also be agents of change and to become everyday champions of women at work, and to help drive organisational strategies for balance.

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What do CMI Women do?

CMI is all about developing and enabling brilliant leaders; giving them the management skills they need to fulfill their own potential and unlock the potential of others. That's why CMI Women exists.  We want organisations to embrace gender diversity and put it at the heart of their agenda and business practice.

Here are our core objectives, as well as quick access to equality resources, research and events.

Enable organisations to create high performing, balanced teams 

Explore what diverse and inclusive workforces can achieve

Empower emerging women leaders to unlock their potential

Learn to unlock all leadership potential and better recognise ambition

Effect a change in the attitudes and behaviours of men and women

Help raise awareness that inclusion is a key management and leadership competency


Meet the CMI Women Advisory Committee

Meet the many inspiring voices within the CMI Women Board.

Anna Price

Tamara Box CMgr CCMI

Chair
Partner, Reed Smith

Carol Ann Whitehead

Carol Ann Whitehead CMgr CCMI

Co-Founder and Managing Director,
The Zebra Partnership

Maggie-Buggie

Maggie Buggie CMgr CCMI

Co-Founder and Managing Partner,
In This Together

Joy-Burnford

Joy Burnford CMgr CCMI

Founder and CEO,

Encompass Equality Ltd

Lee-Chambers

Lee Chambers

Founder

Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing

Stephanie-Edusei

Stephanie Edusei

Chied Executive,

St.Oswald's Hospice

Gideon-Franklin

Gideon Franklin CMgr CCMI

Chief Executive Officer,

Gideon Franklin Limited

name

Charlotte Hill OBE CMgr CCMI

Chief Executive Officer, Step Up To Serve

Mitali Gohel

Mitali Gohel

Senior Program Manager, Amazon

Co-Founder, Women@tech

name

Maria Luisa Liuzzo ACIM, FCMI

Global Product Marketing Manager, Veeam Software

Patrick Macdonald

Patrick Macdonald CMgr CCMI

Chair

Arcus, FM & Moneypenny

Pauline Miller

Pauline Miller

Chief Equity Officer

EMEA, Dentsu

Dr Jummy Okoya

Dr Jummy Okoya FCMI

Interim Dean

Office for Institutional Equity, University of East London

Amanda Pullinger

Amanda Pullinger

Founder

Female Investors Management LLC

Helene Reardon-bond

Helene Reardon-bond OBE CMgr CCMI

Management Consultant

Rebecca Robins

Rebecca Robins CMgr CCMI

Global Brand Advisor

Intergenerational Expert and Speaker

Sara Williams

Sara Williams OBE

Global Campaigns Manager

Social Value International

History of CMI Women

In 2020 we celebrated 50 years of CMI Women. Here is a brief look back over the last half a century.

In 1969, the CMI Women network was established as ‘Women in Management’ by Eleanor Macdonald, one of the first women to break into UK boardrooms as a director of Unilever group companies. She devoted herself to training in effective management and self-development, having a profound influence on attitudes to women’s education and roles in management.

The network was established in order to promote women in management and to put diversity and inclusion at the heart of great leadership. In 2016, we increased our focus on gender diversity and the benefits that it brings to business by relaunching the Women in Management under the new banner of CMI Women. Since relaunching as CMI Women, we have provided a ‘Blueprint for Balance’ to support our objective of producing the world’s strongest pipeline of women in management.

Gender balance is one of the most effective ways to maximise business performance. Besides obvious benefits for women and their careers, it expands the talent pool for a broader variety of skills and perspectives – allowing businesses to make more effective, well-rounded decisions, and ultimately improve results.

2020 was our year of reflection and projection

In 2020, the CMI Women network set out to celebrate their successes since the introduction of the 1970 Pay Act and to establish their aspirations for the next 50 years. Whilst impacted by the global pandemic, the network continued to highlight the economic gains to organisations that gender equality in management brings and showcase that gender equality is not just a woman’s issue but something that should concern us all.

In 2020, we saw just how essential this was for a strong economic recovery and to meet the major challenges ahead. CMI Women has supported managers and leaders to instigate and manage change throughout our 50 years, and 2020 was no exception. CMI made managers’ voices heard by calling for gender awareness to be factored into policy decisions taken during the Covid crisis. Through articles in prominent British media, including The Guardian and The Telegraph, we warned that advances made over the last 50 years regarding women in the workplace risked being set back. Speaking up for women in management in this way is a clear example of the important role that CMI plays in the national debate.

CMI Women - Celebrating 50 Years Badge