Our team

Our 50+ strong team is passionate about what we do and about supporting you on every step of your disability-smart journey.

We are here to help you with all things disability-inclusion, whether that’s reviewing a policy, speaking to our expert Advice Service to discuss a current issue for your team, a learning and development need or some cutting-edge thought leadership input.

Meet some of the team

Diane Lightfoot, CEO

Headshot of Diane Lightfoot, CEO of Business Disability Forum. She's a white woman with mid-length brown hair. In the photo she is wearing a black blazer and sitting at a desk.

Diane is responsible for leading and shaping all aspects of Business Disability Forum’s strategy and delivery and for representing the organisation at the highest levels of business and government.

Diane is co-Chair of the Disability Charities Consortium, a group of nine major national disability charities in the UK. She is Vice chair of the Disability Confident Business Leaders’ Group and also sits on the steering board for the Lilac Review, the CMI Everyone Economy Advisory Committee and the Steering Group for the Global Business Disability Network, hosted by the International Labor Organization. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is part of the Steering Group for the RSA Inclusive Work, Disability and Ageing Network.

Prior to joining Business Disability Forum in February 2017, Diane was Director of Policy and Communications for national disability charity United Response, where she also took on the strategic leadership of the organisation’s employment services as a whole. She is passionate about the role that good work has to play in transforming people’s lives.

Connect with Diane on LinkedIn 

Lara Davis, Director of Communications and Marketing

Headshot of Lara Davis, a white woman with short black hair wearing a brown top.

Lara is the strategic lead for communications and marketing activity to recruit membership and to market our products, services and events. She also leads our Changing the image of disability campaign.

Lara has over 25 years’ experience in marketing communications in the public, private and not for profit sectors. Previous roles include Head of Communications for national charity Citizens Advice, and working for a health and education specialist communications consultancy. 

Connect with Lara on LinkedIn

Adrian Ward, Director of Operations

Headshot of Adrian Ward, a white man wearing a navy business suit.

Adrian leads the teams responsible for all relationships with Business Disability Forum’s Members and Partners as well as overseeing our Advice Service, consultancy and Learning & Development services. He is an experienced disability consultant with experience of overseeing numerous disability inclusion consultancy projects with both public and private sector organisations.   

Adrian also has an extensive background in human resources and diversity and inclusion within the public sector. Before joining Business Disability Forum, Adrian led a diversity and inclusion experts team within a large Civil Service organisation specialising in all aspects of disability as well as leading on Public Sector Equality Duty work. Adrian has practical experience of developing departmental policies (including disability-specific policies) and procedures and overseeing effective implementation.

Adrian is also a qualified mediator with an extensive background in both employment and housing mediation.

Connect with Adrian on LinkedIn

Angela Matthews, Director of Policy and Research

Headshot of Angela Matthew, a white woman with long blonde hair and glasses.

Angela leads Business Disability Forum’s policy and research team and specialises in UK work, health, and disability policy.

She is an adviser to and research partner on several academic research projects related to health, disability inclusion, and inclusive employment. 

Angela regularly contributes to HR and disability ‘lifestyle’ publications. She has appeared on BBC Radio 4, speaking on topics including women’s work and care ethics, and the disability employment gap. She has given evidence at various Parliamentary Select Committee inquiries. 

Angela has professional experience in diversity and equalities management, disability and workplace adjustments, equalities data management, employee relations, and occupational health. She also holds several postgraduate research qualifications. 

Bela Gor, Director of Legal and Content

Headshot of Bela Gor, a smiling Indian woman in a black business suit.

Bela is a lawyer with over 20 years’ experience of disability discrimination law and best practice.

She advises on a variety of subjects ranging from the law and reasonable adjustments in both employment and customer contexts, to consumers in vulnerable situations, and mental health.

Before joining Business Disability Forum, Bela represented disabled clients in some of the earliest cases under the then new Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to test the new law and has influenced the development of the legislation. She continues to write and speak about how disability legislation might be failing disabled people and business and the need for revision and review.

Connect with Bela on LinkedIn

Ben Kelly, Director of Finance

Ben heads up our Finance, HR and Administration team and is also Company Secretary on our Board of Trustees. 

Lucy Ruck, Taskforce Manager

Headshot of Lucy Ruck, a white woman with long blonde hair.

Lucy is responsible for managing the Technology Taskforce, as well as the Customer & Service User Network, the Northern England Network and the Procurement Network.

Lucy is a regular speaker at events, including AbilityNet’s TechShare Pro, GEIS Summit for Hong Kong Social Services, AXSChat, and many more. 

Lucy has a lived experienced of disability for 30 years, after an accident that left her as a right leg, below knee amputee. 

Connect with Lucy on LinkedIn

Sarah Eason, Head of Memberships

Headshot of Sarah Eason, a smiling white woman with brown curly hair.

Sarah joined BDF in 2022 as the lead for the Business Partner Team and is now Head of Memberships, overseeing the successful delivery of our Member and Partner offers, ensuring all our stakeholders are maximising the benefits we offer, better including disabled employees, customers and service users in their organisations. Sarah is also responsible for the recruitment of new Members and Partners into BDF Membership.

Sarah began her career in education, teaching for more than 15 years in mainstream and special needs settings. She has significant experience of supporting people with disabilities to be successful in employment and enabling employers to create workplaces that ‘work’ for everyone.

Natalie Leister, Head of Practice

Headshot of Natalie Leister, a smiling blonde woman wearing a red top.

Natalie leads our Advice Service and oversees our internal upskilling programme, ensuring that our Member/Partner facing teams are continually improving the advice and information they provide.

She is an experienced senior leader with an extensive background spanning across operational, commercial and charity sectors in both Human resources and Diversity and Inclusion.

She has for many years led projects and teams at a senior level focused on removing barriers for people with disabilities.

Connect with Natalie on LinkedIn

Hazel Leighfield, Lead Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Hazel Leighfield, a white woman with short brown hair.

Having spent three decades leading Talent teams in largescale recruitment outsource programmes and managing HR and Technology transformation projects, Hazel now uses her experience to help guide our Partners to becoming Disability Inclusion leaders. 

As a long-standing School Governor Hazel has a particular interest in improving accessibility for Neurodiverse pupils and those with Mental Health challenges and how this needs to be supported through the transition to University, or into work. 

Daniel Cadey, Senior Business Disability Partner

Headshot of Daniel Cadey, a smiling white man with brown hair.

Daniel provides advice and support to several BDF Partner organisations to enable them to become disability smart. He also co-leads our Global Taskforce and co-hosts our podcast series, ‘If you don’t mind me asking’.

Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn 

Katie Coates, Senior Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Katie Coates, a white woman with long blonde hair and glasses.

Katie studied law at the University of York and has a continued interest in employment law, professional ethics, equality and human rights. In work, her passion lies in neurodiversity, accessible workplaces and disability representation and inclusion at all levels.   

Connect with Katie on LinkedIn

Emily Jackson, Senior Business Disability Partner

Headshot of Emily Jackson, a white woman with brown hair.

Emily works closely with BDF Partner organisations to enable them to achieve their strategic aims on disability inclusion and to adopt leading practice across all areas of the business.  

She has extensive experience advising public and private sector employers on disability best practice, inclusion, and the law.  

Her key interests are intersectionality, mental health, and making effective adjustments for employees. 

Connect with Emily on LinkedIn

Sandra Coley, Senior Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Sandra Coley, a smiling white woman with short blonde hair.

 Sandra’s career spans the private, public and education sectors. She is an experienced consultant and has worked with organisations across a range of sectors. She also has experience in the employability and skills arena including training and coaching, managing internship and degree apprenticeship programmes, and supporting disabled people to enter, return to and remain in work. 

Connect with Sandra on LinkedIn

Robyn Challis, Senior Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Robyn Challis, a smiling white woman with short blonde hair.

Robyn has experience of approaching disability inclusion from a number of different perspectives. She previously worked for Equality Challenge Unit and Disability Rights Commission.

Connect with Robyn on LinkedIn

Midge Blake, Senior Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Midge Blake, a white woman with short blonde hair and glasses.

Midge has a long history of managing relationships within the corporate and charitable sectors. She has a passion for creating barrier-free workplaces and a particular interest in neurodiversity. In 2020 Midge was awarded the Postgraduate Certificate in Health Research from the University of Stirling and is undertaking further postgraduate study with the University of Nottingham in Mental Health Research.

Connect with Midge on LinkedIn

Joel Young, Senior Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Joel Young, a smiling white man with brown hair wearing a blue shirt.

Joel has extensive experience of working to improve accessibility and inclusion.

He enjoys facilitating change and supporting businesses on their inclusion journey. He does this through education and collaboration.

His expertise lies in built environment accessibility, equality law in relation to the rights of disabled people and coaching for self-advocacy.

Connect with Joel on LinkedIn

Rachel Smitheman, Senior Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Rachel Smitheman, a white woman with short brown hair wearing a black top.

With over 25 years’ experience in HR & Employee Relations roles, Rachel has a good understanding of the barriers to disability inclusion that can exist within organisations and is passionate about working with our partners to identify these barriers and to remove them.

Rachel has a particular interest in mental health and neurodiversity and in addition to her Business Partner role, she is a qualified Integrative humanistic counsellor and workplace mediator.

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn

Rebecca Elliott, Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Rebecca Elliott, a smiling white woman with long black hair.

Rebecca brings diverse experience in law, social enterprise, and welfare to work to BDF. With a focus on employability and disability support, she is currently studying for an MSc in Strategic Human Resource Management. Outside work, she enjoys creative writing and crochet.

Connect with Rebecca on LinkedIn

 

Alan Collins, Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Alan Collins, a white man with short salt-and-pepper hair and glasses.

Alan joined the BDF team after many years in financial services. He also set up Ability First, a not-for-profit social enterprise supporting those with life-changing health conditions.

Connect with Alan on LinkedIn

Keith Harris, Disability Business Partner 

Headshot of Keith Harris,  a white man with short white hair and glasses wearing a shirt and tie.

Keith’s role is in building and maintaining effective business relationships with a wide range of BDF Members across the public and private sectors.

Connect with Keith on LinkedIn

Karan Snuggs, Disability Business Partner 

Headshot of Karan Snuggs, a smiling white woman with long ginger hair.

Disability Business Partner Karan has extensive experience of both building and maintaining relationships, and a varied background with 20 years within the NHS.

Connect with Karan on LinkedIn

Courtney Swaby, Disability Business Partner 

Headshot of Courtney Swaby, a smiling Black man in a grey business suit.

Courtney specialises in supporting and advising Member organisations within the finance, emergency services and law enforcement, IT, and insurance sectors.

Connect with Courtney on LinkedIn

Sasha Hailey, Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Sasha Hailey, a white woman with ginger hair and glasses wearing a white beret.

 In her prior experience as a Senior Account Manager within the Research & Development funding sector, Sasha developed an eye for change and improvement that she now applies to disability inclusion and access. She holds a first-class degree in Sociology from Warwick University, with a particular focus on Medical Sociology and Disability Studies. 

Connect with Sasha on LinkedIn

Val Cox, Disability Business Partner

Headshot of Val Cox, a white woman with black hair.

Val’s previous experience includes supporting individual professionals, mainly lawyers and accountants, with career planning and lifelong learning. She has coached and mentored people who were studying while working full time, or who needed adjustments due to disabilities.

Connect with Val on LinkedIn

Georgina Wright, Advice Service Manager

Headshot of Georgina Wright, a smiling white woman with short hair, wearing a black top.

George gives guidance to BDF Member and Partner organisation on all aspects of disability in the world of business.

Connect with Georgina on LinkedIn

 

Samuel Buckley, Campaigns and Engagement Manager

Headshot of Sam Buckley, a white man with short brown hair

Sam is responsible for communications related to our policy and research work, and his role includes producing content, supporting our responses to consultations, and representing the Policy and Research team at events and on working groups. Sam was previously Business Disability Forum’s Press Officer from 2016-2018, rejoining the team in 2023.

Connect with Sam on LinkedIn

Ruth Fisher, Learning and Development Manager

Headshot of Ruth Fisher, a smiling Black woman wearing a black top.

Ruth’s responsibilities include working with membership to determine their current and emerging development needs, designing learning programmes and managing a team of trainers. She has several years of experience working in learning and development both as an in-house specialist and a private consultant and has a background working in Diversity and Inclusion. 

Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn

David Goodchild, Membership Director 

Headshot of David Goodchild, a white man with glasses wearing a shirt and tie.

David’s focus is on introducing organisations to the benefits of working with Business Disability Forum, illustrating our whole-organisational approach to disability inclusion.

Email David to discuss membership options

Michelle Wickenden, Member Development Manager 

Headshot of Michelle Wickenden, a smiling white woman with long blonde hair.

Michelle joined BDF in 2013 after working in student finance and disability management. With experience in higher education, government, and specialist disability services, she brings a strong background in supporting disabled students and implementing equality initiatives.

Sarah Bartlett, Media Relations Lead

Headshot of Sarah Bartlett, a white woman with mid-length brown hair wearing a blue top.

Sarah oversees our media and press work. Sarah has also authored several resources for Business Disability Forum, such as the Inclusive Communication Toolkit.

Visit our Media Centre

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

 

Georgina Whitehead, Events Manager

Headshot of Georgina Whitehead, a smiling white woman with short brown hair.

George leads BDF’s events program. With over 20 years in events and marketing, primarily in the nonprofit sector, they have organized events from small receptions to large-scale conferences. Previous roles include UCL, Action for Children, Pancreatic Cancer UK, and Age UK.

 

Rick Williams, Head of Consultancy

Headshot of Rick Williams, a white man wearing black glasses. In the photo he is speaking onstage at an event.

Rick is an experienced consultant and trainer with a high level of expertise in disability issues and leads our consultancy team. He’s a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). 

 

Jan Loveless, Senior Consultant

Headshot of Jan Loveless, a white woman with blonde hair wearing a green scarf.

Jan is a registered occupational therapist with over 20 years in access and inclusive design. Her expertise spans cinemas, museums, offices, and the countryside. With a postgraduate diploma in Environmental Access, Jan offers practical advice to create welcoming environments for all.

 

Graeme Whippy, Senior Consultant

Headshot of Graeme Whippy, a white man with glasses and a beard. In the photo he is sitting in the audience at a conference.

Graeme is a leading expert in digital accessibility and disability inclusion. With a career spanning IT, finance, and disability management, he has shaped industry standards and government policy. Recognised for his contributions, Graeme received an MBE and is a trusted advisor to organisations seeking to create inclusive workplaces

 

If you require this content in a different format, contact enquiries@businessdisabilityforum.org.uk.


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