Over 100 representatives from local businesses and organisations attended a DEI Forward event held by Liberty IT, in partnership with Working with Pride, to gain insights and strategies from a panel of local and global thought-leaders on advancing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace.
The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Micky Murray gave an opening address at the event, which took place in The MAC in Belfast, where he shared more about his commitment to making Belfast a more inclusive and caring city.
Attendees also heard from Melanie Foley, the Executive Vice President and Chief Purpose and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer of Liberty IT’s parent company, Liberty Mutual Insurance; Caroline van der Feltz, HR Director at Danske Bank; Liz Skelcher, Workplace Programmes Manager at Stonewall; Jude Copeland, Associate at Cleaver Fulton Rankin and Emma Patterson-Bennett, Portfolio Manager - Diversity & Inclusion of BBC. The panel was facilitated by Laura Lavery, Co-Chair of Working with Pride and Consulting, Community & Engagement Lead at PA Consulting.
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The event, which was attended by guests from various sectors and industries including tourism and hospitality, tech, education, voluntary, legal and media, celebrated some of the achievements local businesses have been making in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion as well as examining the challenges and sharing actionable steps towards enhancing DEI in the workplace and the need for collaboration amongst professionals and business leaders.
Emma Mullan, Senior Director of Talent at Liberty IT said: “Creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment where everyone feels they can be themselves is a shared responsibility and we all have a part to play. At Liberty IT, we are proud of our DEI journey, and we are committed to learning from others. As part of this, we are active members of community led group, Working with Pride, and together we were delighted to welcome over 100 people to our DEI Forward event, bringing the business community across Northern Ireland to connect and learn from each other’s DEI journeys.
We had a fantastic panel of speakers, from a range of industries, and they each very generously shared about DEI within their company’s. It was great to hear more about the huge variety of initiatives that have been implemented, both the successes and the challenges, and I am confident that our guests left with lots of information and ideas on how they will be able to further DEI within their own organisations – for the benefit of their colleagues, business and the wider community.”
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