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Board

We are proud that our board includes senior representatives from our Partner and Member organisations, key figures in the business community and disabled experts. The board provides oversight and strategic leadership of all our work.

  • Honorary President:  Sir Ian Cheshire.
  • Founder of Business Disability Forum and Honorary Vice President:  Susan Scott-Parker OBE.
  • Chair:  Stephen Miller, Appreciate Group
  • Company Secretary:  Ben Kelly

Governance

Business Disability Forum is a company limited by guarantee with charitable objects. Our charity registration number is 1018463, our company is registered in England, registered number 2603700. Our registered address is Business Disability Forum, Nutmeg House, 60 Gainsford Street, London SE1 2NY.

Our board members

Image of Stephen MillerStephen is Group Chief Information Officer at Park Group. Before taking on his current role he was Head of Global FX Operations at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, with responsibility for technology and operations activity, and previously held the post of Group Head of FI Derivative Operations at Standard Chartered Bank, based in Singapore, and a Senior MD at JP Morgan/Bear Stearns. Stephen studied at the Universities of Bristol and Oxford.

Rachel Gray

Rachel is a former 20-year veteran at Cisco and subsequently the Sales Director, TUPS (Telco, Utilities & Public Sector) at Experian.  She has recently joined Adobe as the Sales Director in EMEA for the Education Sector.

She is known for challenging herself, her team and her peers to think differently about how we engage to better understand customers’ business priorities to drive innovative business solutions and competitive advantage. Rachel studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University where she achieved a BA Honours degree and a MA. Rachel lives in Godalming, Surrey with her husband and three children. In her spare time (of which she has little), Rachel sings with a local choir, and is actively involved with running a local youth football club

Hari Sundaresan

Business Disability Forum Board Member Hari Sundaresan was appointed BT Chief Procurement Officer in September 2010. Starting out at BT as a graduate research scientist in lasers, Hari then moved into IT Programme Management. Subsequent moves took Hari into Business and Contract Management and he became Chief Operations Officer for BT Global Services in the UK, before moving into Procurement.

Hari holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Hari has been appointed as the BT-wide sponsor for disability. He is passionate about volunteering and volunteers as a judge in the Debating Matters.  Hari was appointed as Non-Executive, NHS London Procurement Partnership in 2013.

Paulette Cohen

Paulette is Barclays Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, joining the team as a D&I director in April 2016. She leads the D&I strategy and campaigns across the business with a focus on supporting a diverse talent pipeline and building a culture of inclusion. She led the global roll-out of This is Me, Barclays campaign on disability, mental health and wellbeing, now adopted by over 200 companies. She engages with external partners and clients on a broad range of D&I initiatives including the power of diversity allies, and impact of dynamic working.

Previously, Paulette was Barclays’ Director of Global Programmes, responsible for the flagship community investment partnerships with INGO’s across 13 markets, focusing on financial inclusion, women’s economic empowerment and youth employability.

She joined Barclays in 2010, following 6 years as Deputy CEO of Windsor Leadership running leadership development programmes for senior leaders across society. Previously, she was Head of Communications at Save the Children, VSO, and, at the start of her career, The Conservation Volunteers where she became a board member for 7 years. She currently sits on the UK Government’s Disability Confident Business Leaders Group and the boards of the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, Business Disability Forum and International Broadcasting Trust.

Janet Hill CBE

Before retiring in 2020 Janet was a career Civil Servant who spent her first 10 years in operations before moving onto a series of corporate and policy/strategy roles.

Roles included: Corporate Finance; Housing Benefit Reform; leading a series of Private Pension Transformation White Papers; designing a National New Deal for Disabled People and a Flexible New Deal Programme for Jobseekers. Publication of 6 cross-Government White Papers to drive integration of the National Skills & Employment Systems followed and then work on a new cross-Government Social Justice Strategy.

Latterly Janet’s role working on Civil Service Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) strategy involved overseeing the development of cross-Government initiatives such as piloting a new Corporate Workplace Adjustment Service, expanding the D&I learning portfolio and developing a new Positive Action Talent & Inclusion Pathway – ‘Levelling the Playing Field’. Finally, she supported Sir Philip Rutnam, who was Permanent Secretary at Home Office and Civil Service Disability Champion, in the delivery of an ambitious vision to create a disability confident culture to help position the Civil Service as the UK’s most inclusive employer.

Janet has also been a volunteer Ex-Offender Exec’ Coach with St Giles Trust, a Trustee of enei, a founding member of the Executive Board of RIDI (Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative), Non-Executive Director Vercida.com.

Janet is currently:

  1. Trustee of Business Disability Forum where she serves as Chair of the Policy Committee
  2. Non-Executive Advisor, Ambitious About Autism ‘Employ Autism’ Impact Group
  3. Non-Exec’ Advisor, Metropolitan Police Diversity & Inclusion Board, Member of the Met’s Operations Diamond & Drayfurn
  4. Associate Fellow of St George’s House Windsor Castle
  5. Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Iain Wilkie

Iain, who stammers, brings extensive leadership experience of helping to change disability culture in the workplace.

He is the chair and founder of 50 Million Voices, a global campaign to transform the world of work for people who stammer. He has co-created several mentoring schemes for executives with disabilities and is a regular speaker internationally on unlocking the talent of people with disabilities at work.

Iain is also an accredited executive coach. His coaching focusses on working with quieter senior leaders in business and in professional services firms. He is the founder of PathMaker Consulting, a member of Sherwood PSF Consulting and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (England & Wales).

As a former partner at EY, including as a member of the firm’s UK & Ireland Leadership Team, Iain was the senior sponsor for the firm’s disability and mental health networks. In 2017, the firm awarded him a life-time impact award for his leadership in this role.

In 2014, Iain was the first winner of BDF’s Senior Executive award for his leadership for stammering in the workplace.

Victoria Cleland

Victoria Cleland is the Executive Director for Banking, Payments and Innovation at the Bank of England. She leads the teams responsible for the operation and strategic development of the Bank’s payment system services, including the UK’s real‐time gross settlement infrastructure as well as the Bank’s wholesale and retail banking operations, including the provision of emergency liquidity assistance

Throughout her career at the Bank Victoria has held several senior positions in a range of areas. Mostly recently, as Chief Cashier she was responsible for banknotes (including the introduction polymer notes with tactile feature) and led the Bank’s work on digital currencies.

Before that she was Deputy Head of the Special Resolution Unit, and previously Private Secretary to the Deputy Governor. Her previous roles also included overseeing payment and settlement systems, policy analysis on financing small businesses and graduate recruitment.

Victoria is the Executive Sponsor of the Bank’s staff disAbility Network and Bicycle Users Group.

Victoria has a degree in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from Oxford University and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Imperial College London.

Rebecca Hitchings

Rebecca is a highly accomplished senior leader with 8 years of extensive experience operating at board level in a variety of roles within a highly complex, values led, FTSE 100 business. A seasoned executive with P&L responsibility and a proven track record of success in leading transformational change that has delivered outstanding business performance. A critical thinker who demonstrates commercial acumen, tenacity, and drive; Rebecca is recognised for her straightforward leadership style that has allowed her to inspire her team to deliver excellent results whilst maintaining a culture based on honesty, trust and professional integrity.

In her career, Rebecca has gained experience across of formats of retailing, from High Street to pure online players. Having joined Sainsbury’s 8 years ago, she has held several roles, the most current being Trading Director for Tu and Habitat. Responsible for £2.5bn turnover, trading across Sainsburys

Dr Shaun Davis One of a relatively small number of Chartered Directors and a Fellow of The Institute of Directors Shaun has a wide portfolio of responsibilities across the Royal Mail Group; his responsibilities include safety, health, wellbeing and sustainability. He is also a Chartered Fellow of The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, a Chartered Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Fellow of The International Institute of Risk and Safety Management and a Fellow of The International Compliance Association.

Joining Royal Mail Group in September 2012 Shaun has led many improvement programmes across a range of areas – contributing to improvements in accident prevention and a reduction in road traffic collisions. Shaun has led an organisation wide attendance improvement programme as part of a broader wellbeing and health promotion agenda, with particular attention being paid to mental health, musculoskeletal issues and issues affecting an ageing workforce.

Prior to joining Royal Mail Group, Shaun worked in the construction, refurbishment, infrastructure and waste management sectors and led organisations to achieve significant improvements in performance – most notably achieving ISO:9001, ISO:14001, OHSAS:18001 and ISO:45001 alongside British Safety Council ‘Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit’ across two FTSE listed organisations. Shaun has also led culture change programmes and achieved a variety of awards and accolades for the organisations he has worked in.

Shaun holds six Masters Degrees; a Master of Arts (MA) in Leadership & Culture Change, a Master of Business Administration (MBA), an MA in Marketing & Innovation, a Master of Science (MSc) in Workplace Health & Wellbeing, an MA in Strategic Human Resource Management and a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Commercial Law. He also holds a Doctorate in Coaching and Mentoring his research having explored the relationship between coaching, well-being and organisational culture.

Shaun is a trained and experienced Board member, Chair, Trustee, and school governor. He is currently a Trustee of three charities; The Men’s Health Forum, The Rowland Hill Fund (Deputy Chair) and The Society of Occupational Medicine. He is also a member of the Business in the Community (BITC) Workwell Leadership Team and a Member of the National Forum on Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace. Shaun also acts as Vice Chair and Director of Strategy for the pan-European mental health campaign ‘Target Depression in the Workplace’ . Shaun was appointed as Honorary Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham, School of Medicine in February 2018.

Voted as one of the 15 most influential in health and safety and a winner of The Institute of Directors ‘Director of the Year – 2018‘ award Shaun regularly contributes to contemporary debates, thought leadership and campaigns.

In 2019 Shaun was awarded The REBA (Reward & Employee Benefits Association) Vanguard Award for outstanding contribution to health and wellbeing.

A published author in many respected journals and practitioner publications Shaun also co-authored two books “Positive Male Mind” and “Positive Mental Health” in 2018 and 2019 that explore mental health management strategies.

Ian CallaghanIan Callaghan is currently the Finance Director for Group Corporate Treasury (GCT) at Lloyds Banking Group.

Ian’s team is responsible for co-ordinating and consolidating GCTs monthly reporting of balance sheets, P&L and regulatory reporting. The team is also responsible for planning and forecasting and contributing to group-wide stress testing exercises, and supporting the business with financial analysis for strategic business activities.

Ian trained as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and has worked across Investment and Commercial Banking for 20+ years in a number of Senior Finance roles. Ian is an active Trustee of Mind in Mid Herts.

Jackie Beer - Diversity & Inclusion Director, BTJackie joined BT in 2019 as Global Diversity and Inclusion Director, bringing her extensive experience and breadth of knowledge to the role.

Through her leadership, Jackie has galvanised the collective efforts of leaders, specialists and inclusion experts across BT to deliver on the bold and ambitious Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, reaching over 100,000 colleagues working across more than 50 countries.

Prior to joining BT, Jackie held roles in a range of sectors including leading Diversity & Inclusion at London Underground, Ernst & Young and the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Jackie researched gender inequality at Cambridge University and has a Masters in Human Rights from the University of London.

Outside of BT, Jackie’s shares her D&I experience and wider business insights as Strategic Advisor to the Global Disability Innovation Hub, as a trustee of a large Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Academy in North London and as a Board member of a disability charity.

Angela Whitty - Managing Director, Partner Sales UK & I, CiscoAngela is the Managing Director responsible for Cisco’s UKI Partner Organisation. A long-term employee, she has been at Cisco for 28 years during which time she has held many leadership positions.

Angela is known for her decisiveness, clear-minded customer focus and proven track record as a leader with the ability to build and run diverse teams.

In recent years she has indulged her passion for talent development spending time coaching and mentoring future industry leaders both internally and across the wider business.

A mother of two boys, she balances her career with a fulfilling family life as well as a desire to improve her golf skills! She describes herself as an enthusiastic golf novice, never missing the opportunity to be out on the course!

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