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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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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.
Explore what diverse and inclusive workforces can achieve
Learn to unlock all leadership potential and better recognise ambition
Help raise awareness that inclusion is a key management and leadership competency
Blueprint for Balance
An innovative, open source tool to promote diversity in the workplace where you can contribute, download resources and benchmark your organisation to deliver diversity.
Broken Windows
In many organisations, there remains a gap between rhetoric and reality, with equality in the workplace, take a look at the research here.
CMI Women Events
CMI Women host a variety of events. Catch up with our events here.
Closing the Gender Pay Gap
There are many ways to work flexibly, and this can have an influence on closing the Gender Pay Gap. Take a look at CMI and The GEO's research.
Sponsoring Women's Success Report
Executive leaders’ views on sponsoring and mentoring
Meet the many inspiring voices within the CMI Women Board.
Chair Partner, Reed Smith
Tamara is the Partner, Structured Finance and a member of the senior executive team at Reed Smith, as well as sitting on the global board of the firm. She is the former chair of the firm's largest practice group, the Financial Industry Group, and a leading lawyer in our Structured Finance team.
Tamara is a founding member of the Steering Committee of the 30% Club, an influential group seeking to enlist Chairs and CEOs to bring more women into senior management and onto boards.
Co-Founder and Managing Director,The Zebra Partnership
A Non-Executive Director, Global Goodwill Ambassador and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Carol Ann is the award-winning Managing Director of The Zebra Partnership - a Publishing, Events and Marketing agency working with consultants, freelancers and performers on a project by project basis.
Executive Director and Presenter of National Diversity Awards nominated Your Manchester Media with a flagship magazine show streamed via Sky Glass and other platforms with viewing figures exceeding 1 million in 2021 and a 2.8 million reach in addition to spin off shows and podcasts.
Carol Ann is also founding member and start-up Board member of BURN (The Black United Representation Network) which is actively tackling persistent racial inequalities in Greater Manchester through economic empowerment of communities and businesses.
She is guest lecturer at the University of Manchester also part time lecturer for Events and ESPORTS.
Passionate about EDI, equity and belonging, Carol Ann is on the Northern Power Women Power List, on the Chartered Management Institute Women’s Board, Pankhurst Trust Ambassador and a member of the Manchester City Council Steering Committee for International Women’s Day.
She is co-founder of the Pankhurst Centre based Global Wikieditathon and an Action Partner for the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) campaign. Carol Ann was invited to deliver a lecture at the UN Youth Association in Denmark, mentored the UN Youth and was part of the 2019 UN Global Festival of Action in Germany.
Carol Ann was honoured with a Global Goodwill Ambassador title in 2018 and received a Certificate of Appreciation in 2022 by the Global Goodwill Ambassador Foundation.
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, In This Together
Maggie is a technology industry executive, adviser, and speaker. She has extensive experience building fast-growth digital businesses. Before becoming the COO for Normative, Maggie was SVP and Chief Business Officer at SAP, Chief Revenue Officer at Capgemini, and Director of Global Cloud Sales at Fujitsu. Maggie is a Non-Executive Director at Spirent (LON:SPT), serves on the International Committee of the UK Chartered Management Institute, and has previously served on the Board of Green Token by SAP. Maggie holds both a Master of Letters and a BBS Lang in Business and French from Trinity College, Dublin.
Founder and CEO,
Encompass Equality Ltd
Joy Burnford is the Founder and CEO of Encompass Equality and a recognised gender equality trailblazer. With over 25 years' experience as a business leader, non-exec director, podcast host and speaker, Joy helps organisations accelerate their journey towards sustainable gender equality by providing them with strategic advisory services, research and a range of practical solutions that create equitable places to work.As author of bestselling book ‘Don’t fix women: the practical path to gender equality at work’, host of ‘The Equality Conversation’ podcast and contributor of over 70 articles on Forbes.com, Joy has interviewed hundreds of senior business leaders, board members, CEOs, authors and experts, and has been cited in national, business and HR press.
Founder
Essentialise Workplace Wellbeing
Lee Chambers is the Founder and CEO of Male Allies UK. After a diverse career, from corporate finance to building and exiting tech company, he is now focused on supporting organisations to engage men in inclusion and promote effective allyship. He has been featured on the Startups 100 Index, has received a Great British Entrepreneur Award, and sits on the board of CMI Women, Regenerage UK and the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. In 2024, he received the Freedom of the City of London for services to equality in business.
He is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA, the first Black British scientist to be awarded in it’s 33-year history, received for his work on health inequalities. He is the 2023 UN Women Changemaker of the Year, and is an ambassador for the UK Governments Lilac Review for Disabled Entrepreneurship. He speaks globally on allyship and intersectionality, having taken the stage at One Young World, ChangeNOW and the Bloomberg Global Equality Summit, and is the author of the upcoming book, Momentum: Reboot Your Career, Unlock Your Potential.
Personally, he shares his experiences as a Black autistic man, a stay-at-home dad, and his journey to learn to walk again after acquiring a chronic illness. He lives near Preston with his three children.
Chied Executive,
St.Oswald's Hospice
Steph Edusei has been Chief Executive of St. Oswald’s Hospice since May 2020, is a Non-Executive Director of The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Director of the North East England Chamber of Commerce.
Steph is a strong supporter of her local community as a leader with Girlguiding UK, school governor and Co-Chair of The Angelou Centre. She is also a dance teacher.
She is a strong advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion and created the Black All Year events and podcast which highlight the challenges and issues faced by Black people as well as celebrates their successes and achievements. Steph was named Northern Power Women’s Transformational Leader in 2022.
Chief Executive Officer,
Gideon Franklin Limited
Gideon Franklin has been an investment banker for 40 years, working at large banks including UBS, Morgan Stanley (Managing Director) and Mizuho (Managing Director). He is CEO of his own company Gideon Franklin Ltd, a corporate finance advisory firm with a focus on Japan related M&A and integration. Gideon divides his time between the UK and Japan, and is a non-executive director of 2 large Japanese quoted companies – MCJ (computers) and Daifuku (material handling). A long-standing CMI Companion welcoming the chance to contribute to its activities.
Chief Executive Officer, Step Up To Serve
Senior Program Manager, Amazon
Co-Founder, Women@tech
Mitali’s professional career spans over a decade at the largest tech companies in the world, from Microsoft to BT and currently at Amazon. Mitali has worked in a variety of operational roles and is currently a Senior Program Manager spearheading the drive to improve customer experience for all UK & EU Amazon Sellers.
Mitali is a passionate advocate for gender equality in the workplace and has previously chaired BT’s Gender Equality Network and most recently has become a Cofounder of the Women@tech collective. To give back, Mitali has also recently joined the Board of Trustees at The University of Birmingham - Guild of Students. In her career, Mitali has won multiple awards for her commitment to D&I including the Allyship award, Rising Star and Graduate of the year at BT.
Global Product Marketing Manager, Veeam Software
Chair
Arcus, FM & Moneypenny
Patrick Macdonald has gained extensive international experience and expertise during three decades in business. A Founding Partner of the School for CEOs, Patrick is chair of call answering service Moneypenny and facilities management business Arcus FM. He is a director of NatureSpace Partnership, an environmental consultancy, and an angel investor in a number of startup companies.
Patrick is vice-chair of the Scottish Advisory Committee of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) and was previously the Chair of the Institute of Directors.
He started his professional career at the Ministry of Defence before working for Unilever and Boston Consulting Group, based in Germany and the UK. Patrick then joined General Electric (GE) in the USA before returning to the UK and becoming CEO of John Menzies plc, a quoted, family-backed logistics company. He has subsequently led a number of private equity-sponsored businesses, including waste management firm Reconomy.
Patrick holds a first class Honours degree in Engineering Science from Oxford University and an MBA with Distinction from INSEAD in France. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Manager, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute. He is also a Sainsbury Management Fellow.
Patrick enjoys watersports (rowing, sailing and canoeing), running, hillwalking and ‘extreme’ gardening – his description of horticulture in Edinburgh!
Chief Equity Officer
EMEA, Dentsu
Pauline Miller is Chief Equity Officer, EMEA for global advertising agency dentsu. In this position Pauline is responsible for shaping and leading the DEI strategy and execution across the region, reports to the CEO and is a member of the EMEA Executive committee.
During her previous tenure at Lloyd’s of London, Pauline held the position Head of Culture, with responsibilities spanning culture, diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, talent development and responsible business. Notable achievements at Lloyd’s includes leading Dive In, the festival for Diversity and Inclusion across the insurance sector globally and spearheading the cultural transformation of the Lloyd’s market, addressing issues such as lack of diverse representation, sexual harassment and bullying.
With more than two decades of experience holding a number of senior positions Pauline is highly regarded as a change agent and expert in her field. Prior to Lloyd’s, Pauline held a variety of positions at State Street, Barclays Wealth, Barclays Capital and Starcom Mediavest Group.
Pauline is an emeritus advisory board member for the UN Foundation’s Girl Up and current trustee for Romildamor, a women’s rights organisation. Pauline completed her MSc in Occupational and Business Psychology in 2020, with a research paper titled “The Missing Female CEO”.
Interim Dean
Office for Institutional Equity, University of East London
Jummy is a highly accomplished leadership and organisation development consultant with more than 2 decades’ experience. She is a highly experienced educator, trainer and researcher within the public and private sectors with experience of commissioning new and revalidating programmes.
She is a multisector HR & positive psychology consultant focusing on wellbeing and human flourishing. She is a qualified positive psychologist who uniquely integrates positive psychology interventions with HR tools to achieve a flourishing organisation and thriving employees. She has experience of working in Education, Health, Third sector, Aerospace and Professional bodies.
She is the project lead for CMI race 2020, associate Programme Leader for MSc Human Resource Management and Chair of the Women’s Network at the University of East London. She is a board member of CMI women, regional lead for Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (EDIB) for Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and a panel member for Global D&I initiative.
Jummy holds a PhD in Human Resource Management and Entrepreneurship, MSc in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology; she is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of Chartered Management Institute and a Chartered academic member of CIPD.
Jummy is very passionate about D&I and using her leadership experience to support women who are new to leadership. She was listed among top 50 inspirational black women in the UK in 2019.
Female Investors Management LLC
Ms. Pullinger is the Founder and Principal of Global Female Investors Management LLC, a global advisory firm focused on providing strategic and practical talent, career and business solutions aimed at increasing the number of female investors across asset classes. The Global Female Investors Network serves female risk takers across asset classes, enabling global connectivity to peers, and access to career and business opportunities. Global Female Investors Management LLC also offers Trusted Talent consulting to financial institutions who are seeking to source and elevate internal and external female investment team talent.
Ms. Pullinger is a former principal of Aquamarine Capital Management, where she was responsible, over a period of seven years, for managing marketing, investor relations and back office administration for two private investment funds.
Ms. Pullinger is Chair and Non Executive Director of the Board of FlyPlymouth, based in Plymouth, UK. She also serves on the Boards of the HALO Trust (USA), and as a Director on the Oxford University Alumni Board. She is Vice Chair of the Women’s Network Forum and an Advisory Board Member of the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance (Harambe).
Previously, she served as Chairman of the Board of The HALO Trust (www.halotrust.org) and served on the Board of Langone NYU Cancer Institute. She was on the founding Board of 100 Women in Finance, serving as its President for two years. She is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Ms. Pullinger graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford University in 1987 with an Honours Degree in Modern History. She earned an MBA from La Salle University, Philadelphia, in 1998, and received the Academic Award for MBA student of the year as well as the Beta Gamma Sigma designation.
Management Consultant
Helene is a highly experienced senior civil servant and political advisor known for her extensive work in gender equality and political service. She has held a number of prominent roles across both the government and political parties.
She was previously Deputy Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer. Before her role with the Labour party she was Strategic Adviser, Diversity Inclusion, for the Financial Reporting Council.
She served as the Interim Director of the Government Equalities Office and was responsible for key government equality strategies and legislation. During her time in this role, she led several high-profile programs, including gender pay gap reporting regulations
Global Brand Advisor
Intergenerational Expert and Speaker
A Global brand advisor & intergenerational expert, Rebecca has two decades of experience working with the world’s leading brands. Based in London, she works across Europe, The Americas and Asia, with experience across multiple industries in multicultural, matrixed organisations, such as AstraZeneca, Bugatti, Burberry, Dior, GSK, HUGO BOSS, LEGO, LVMH, RELX and Reuters, alongside founder and family businesses.
At an unprecedented time in history where we have five generations in the workplace converging with macro force factors across business and society, Rebecca has become a trusted sparring partner and advisor. She writes and comments on brands, culture and leadership for publications such as: The BBC, The Business of Fashion, The FT, The Guardian, The New York Times, Quartz, and WIRED. And she is co-author of two leading business books, including the FT acclaimed book Meta-Luxury: Brands and the Culture of Excellence.
Education is part of Rebecca’s DNA, having been central to transformative growth as Chief Learning and Culture Officer of the world’s leading brand consultancy, and having established and led a global centre for professional excellence and leadership development. She is a regular conference speaker at platforms such as The Times Center, New York, and is called upon for energising keynotes and innovation sessions for companies at strategic planning sessions.
The University ecosystem is an integral part of her commitments and work, including Cambridge University, Oxford University, and other leading Universities across the world, where she lectures, is involved in research and programme advisory. Education and access to education are at the beating heart of her non-profit commitments, including as Companion of the CMI and as Board Trustee and Committee Chair of The EY Foundation. She is a postgraduate of Cambridge University and speaks five languages.
Global Campaigns Manager
Social Value International
Sara has worked for over 30 years in Chambers of Commerce in the North West and the Midlands and, since January, is refocussing her career on non-executive and interim roles for organisations in the area of her passions: sustainability, businesses with purpose, equality and social enterprise.
Her current role as Global Campaigns Manager for Social Value International, means Sara is supporting company directors to ensure their accounts are true and fair in the context of sustainability by showing their use of carbon in their financial statements. A game-changer for showing the true costs of doing business by highlighting impact and dependencies on our environment.
Sara’s last full-time role was as Chief Executive of Staffordshire Chambers and she was recognised in the King’s New Years Honours list in 2022 for her services to the communities of Staffordshire. In 2023, Staffordshire Chambers also received the King’s Award for Enterprise. Sara has a wealth of experience working with the private sector, developing services for their needs, and lobbying for, and representing, businesses.
Her current non-executive roles include the boards of British Ceramic Biennial, the British Chambers of Commerce and UnLtd and she has recently been appointed as a Visiting Professor at Staffordshire University.
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.
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’s Level 5 qualification enables managers to understand the business case for equality, diversity & inclusion, and their role in creating inclusive cultures. Take a look.
CMI Members have access to our mentoring service. Showcase role models, develop a mentoring programme, become a mentee or find yourself a mentor here.
Our Community Networks are made up of passionate individuals who come together to advocate for real change in their organisations and industries, find out how.