Series 2
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP: MIND THE CONFIDENCE GAP
Kat Stewart, Partner within the HR Practice at Eton Bridge Partners is joined by Cecilie Soendergaard Nielsen, executive coach and founder of the leadership consultancy CN8, to promote confidence in the workplace for women, and to discuss a few of the main issues female leaders encounter in their rise to more senior positions in the workplace.
Cecilie has an impressive track record of working with senior leaders to identify and change the dynamics that stand in the way of delivery and progress. With a special interest in supporting women in senior leadership positions, Cecilie is an advocate for diversity in leadership, and has extensive experience with issues surrounding female leadership in traditionally male-dominated industries.
As an executive search, interim management and consulting firm, we are in a privileged position of being able to meet many senior leaders across lots of different organisations in the UK, as well as internationally. Through these conversations, we have identified that women in leadership roles struggle to change themselves to fit a ‘mould’ of what they feel is expected of them, often questioning themselves, pushing themselves harder and often never quite feeling ‘enough’. Despite the progress made in recent years, with females in senior leadership roles, there’s still work to do.
Series 1
INCLUSION MATTERS: SHARING EXPERIENCES TO CREATE A MORE INCLUSIVE WORKPLACE
As an executive search, interim management and consulting firm, Eton Bridge Partners are in a genuinely privileged position, meeting people from all walks of life, across lots of different organisations.
Through these conversations, we constantly hear the importance of inclusivity and the distinct lack of diverse role models at the C-Suite level. So, we’ve invited people from our network to share their story and experiences in the workplace, how they became a C-Suite executive and what can we all do to help create more inclusive work places.
Nimesh Patel is an experienced Chief Financial Officer, currently at Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc. Before joining the Group in 2020, he was Chief Financial Officer of the De Beers Group and prior to that, he was Group Head of Corporate Finance at Anglo American plc, leading a team based in London and Johannesburg. Previously, Nimesh spent 14 years in investment banking at both JP Morgan and as a Managing Director at UBS.
Marcus Shah, Partner within the Interim Finance Practice, speaks to Nimesh about his story as the first generation of his family to be born in the UK, and the first in his family to have a career in finance and investment banking. His parents immigrated from India and East Africa and he grew up in Croydon with a modest upbringing where attitudes to open discrimination weren’t as rare as they are today.
Elaine Grell, Global HR Director and Chief People Officer, has worked in HR for over 20 years in organisations such as British Airways, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and The Collective.
Elaine is passionate about people and is a Trustee for The Springboard Charity – helping young people achieve their potential. She is a mentor for aspiring HRDs at the CIPD, as well as a mentor for WiHTL – Women in Hospitality, Travel and Leisure.
Elaine shares her experiences with Gavita Phull, Partner within our Executive Search Finance practice, of growing up in Preston, Lancashire to parents who came over from the Caribbean in the 1950s who were often in the ethnic minority. Elaine and her 4 siblings were raised solely by her mother, who shaped who she is today and is a huge inspiration to her. Elaine started her career at 16 in a Travel Agency straight from high school, then when she was 18, British Airways offered her a job in London which laid the foundation of her impressive career as a senior HR professional and mother of two.
*Since the recording of this interview, very sadly The Collective have gone into administration citing reduced occupancy levels caused by the pandemic.
Seema Talwar is a Senior Operational Executive with 20 years of global team leadership across all aspects of both a physical and digital business focused on supply chain through planning, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, vendor managed inventory, demand planning, P&L management and driving cost efficiencies.
Most recently, Seema was Senior Vice President International Operations for Twentieth Century Fox, a division of The Walt Disney Company. She started her career as a temporary administrator at Twentieth Century Fox and worked her way up to become the Global Lead for Operations and was a key sponsor and change agent, guiding the business through the acquisition by Walt Disney, and the subsequent merger.
Here she shares her journey with Ross Dawson, Partner within Operations, Procurement & Supply Chain at Eton Bridge Partners; from her family background to her impressive career spanning over 20 years as an Operational Executive and how her husband and family have enabled her to have the career and experience she has today.
ETON BRIDGE EVENT SERIES
Eton Bridge Partners host many events; from small roundtables, to large scale panel discussions where we invite our network to join us at these discussions.
Keep up to date with our recent events here:
ETON BRIDGE PARTNERS’ 5TH ANNUAL WELLBEING EVENT
Purpose, Resilience & Connection: A Psychologically Healthy Workplace
It’s been five years since Eton Bridge Partners hosted its first external mental wellbeing discussion and we are proud to have played a part in driving the conversation forward.
Year on year this event brings evolving and more diverse perspectives on this subject to our network within the HR community and beyond. At Eton Bridge we have also been passionately working hard to build an internal culture where our people can thrive and be themselves.
Eton Bride Partners were delighted to be able to hold their 5th Annual Mental Wellbeing Event in person, where we discussed the role of leadership in mental wellbeing and its relationship with organisational performance in October at The RSA in London.
As always, we would like the thank our outstanding panel of industry leaders for sharing their insights and experiences, and to our host Olivia Sharp.
- Karen Jackson, Managing Director and Lawyer at Didlaw
- Nathan Clements, Chief People Officer at SSP Group PLC
- Lauren Chiren, Founder of Women of a Certain Stage
- Jen Smith, Head of Inclusion at the British Film Institute (BFI)
- Tom Cross, Chartered Performance Psychologist
- Jay Muthu, Director of Organisation and People Capability at Entain Group
Meet the Team
At Eton Bridge, relationships really are at the heart of all we do and that starts with our own team
Eton Bridge Partners Ltd
Windsor Office:
Riverside House,
Riverside Walk,
Windsor,
Berkshire.
SL4 1NA
Tel: +44 (0)1753 303 600
London Office:
6-8 Greencoat Place,
Victoria, London.
SW1P 1PL
Tel: +44 (0)20 8059 4443
