Our Committees

We are responsible for the selection of new members; from encouraging nominations for prospective members by other IWF UK members, considering all nominations received and approving those that meet the membership criteria. All prospective members are invited to one of our Signature events to meet existing members and get a sense of who we are and what we do. In addition, we help to integrate new members via specific events and a buddy system. These guide them through our many offerings and introduce them to other members. Sponsors also play a vital role here too.

The Committee is chaired by Gwen Jones.

By leveraging our connections, we create a diverse mix of in-depth programmes that educate, inspire, enlighten and entertain. Our membership represents a diversity of industries, roles, leadership and communities enabling us to tap into the most exciting happenings, ideas and people of the UK and beyond. IWF UK members share an intellectual curiosity, passion about women’s leadership and impacting our community. Our robust calendar of topical events is complimented by our Signature events that bring the values of our IWF UK to life. Also access to conferences, inter-forum exchanges on a regional and international basis add to our unique shared experiences.

The Committee is chaired by Lara Leigh-Wood.

Leadership, engagement and communications are inextricably linked. We reflect and highlight the diversity of experience, expertise and ethnicity of our members. We not only inform and report on the issues, topics and events that fulfil our mission to advance women's leadership and champion equality worldwide, we shine the light on each other's achievements and what we care about to have an impact on our society.

From a Community Engagement perspective, our aim is to ensure we understand and encourage member engagement in ways that bring value to individual members and help members connect to the wider IWF community. To ensure that IWF is the place where women in senior roles come to share expertise, listen deeply to each other, expand their horizons, develop friendships, laugh together and support the next generation. It is about embracing difference and helping to accelerate and support women in society, collaborating across IWF to exchange and implement ideas which make your membership worthwhile.

The committee is chaired by Christine Brown-Quinn.

We aim to explore intellectual as well as cultural themes about the human need to tell stories as well as providing events that show practical applications of storytelling to career development, self-development and entertainment. We also capture and preserve the IWF UK heritage through written, oral and video stories of our members' leadership journeys. These develop a greater awareness of individual members and enable us to more fully connect with each another. Through the advice shared we provide a resource for emerging women leaders and our mentees.

The group is co-chaired by Susan Young and Sylvana Caloni.

We aim to give IWF members a safe space to explore the ethical challenges and opportunities facing boards. We reflect on what questions to ask ourselves and our board colleagues before making board decisions. We pick current and practical ethical challenges and explore how boards are addressing them. We bring together different stakeholders so we can see the ethical leadership challenges from different perspectives. We all aspire to Ethical Leadership and that it will be at the heart of the new social contract between organisations and individuals as we seek to create shared value for all.

The group is led by Oonagh Harpur.

Data, in all its various subtexts and applications particularly in AI, is now constantly in the news and boardroom discussions. It explores the ethical implications of gathering various types of data and using it for decision-making at every level in the Board room and across society.

The group is led by Kathryn Pretzel-Shiels.

Our purpose is to build an intentional allyship with mid-career women from marginalised ethnic groups. Racism, and particularly Racial Inequity, is a lived reality for most ethnic groups in the UK, and as professional women, we are in a unique position to influence organisations, institutions and individuals in the UK to have a far-reaching impact. We will develop and execute key initiatives that will allow IWF UK members to play a dynamic role as supportive allies and positively stimulate sustainable change.

The group is co-chaired by Alexandra Thomas and Janet Collyer.

There are various common elements that entrepreneurs face, at the beginning, the middle and towards exit. We use a broad, inclusive definition of entrepreneurship, as creating something new that is of value to others through trial and error, and through taking financial risks in the hope of a profit. The purpose of the IWF-UK Entrepreneurs SIG is primarily to bring like minds together to discuss common issues and share best practice. Along the way, we provide value to the membership in the shape of events, blogs or other outputs, and showcase our work to wider networks.

The group is led by Jenny Burns.