The speaker line-up and the full programme for the Institute of Directors (IoD) Women’s Leadership Conference has been confirmed.
The event, which celebrates International Women’s Day, takes place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belfast on 6th March 2020 and is expected to be attended by more than 450 men and women from organisations across Northern Ireland.
Speakers will include diplomat Anne Anderson, the first female Irish ambassador to the United Nations, France and the US.
She will be joined by award-winning astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, journalist and disability rights activist Joanne O’Riordan, and Breege O’Donoghue, matriarch of Penneys and Primark.
The conference programme, which will encompass keynote and panel sessions, also features Dame Rotha Johnston, Chair of Northern Ireland Screen, and Sinead Rocks, Regions & Nations Managing Director at Channel 4.
Joining them will be Jo Aston, Managing Director of SONI, Sara Venning, Chief Executive of NI Water, and June Burgess, developer of the Fitzwilliam Hotel, Belfast.
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The event will also include a start-up pitch competition which will provide entrepreneurs with an opportunity to secure £4,000 in funding for their business.
Last year's winner was Sarah McAnallen, the creator of Ezi-Sock, a device that makes putting on socks easier for people with reduced mobility.
“With a line-up of speakers positively brimming with talent, this year’s programme for the IoD Women’s Leadership Conference illustrates why it has become the most anticipated event celebrating female leadership on the Northern Ireland business calendar," said Heather White, Business Development Manager, IoD NI.
“From areas as diverse as retail and international diplomacy to media, utilities, and physics, there is one thing that unites all our speakers. They each are ‘Leading the Way’ in their chosen field.
“With hundreds of tickets already sold, many to large delegations of senior executives at our best-known companies, I very much look forward to meeting with them as we join together to learn and gain genuine insight.”
The event is open to IoD members and non-members and is expected to once again see an increased number of male attendees.
Source: written based on press release
