We are delighted to announce that our annual ‘Making Diversity & Inclusion a Business Reality’ event will be running for a third year in partnership with Auto Trader UK.
HR directors, MDs and CEOs from many of the leading retail and manufacturing brands, as well as trade bodies, will come together to share their D&I experiences and identify practical solutions to driving greater diversity within their businesses and across the wider industry.
For safety and comfort, this year’s event will be held online. The two-hour digital seminar will feature panel discussions, brand new research findings, and guest speakers from outside of automotive, and forms part of a collective ambition between Auto Trader, Ennis & Co. and the attending brands, to drive greater awareness of the fundamental need to encourage a more diverse array of talent into the industry.
Daksh Gupta, Marshall Motor Group CEO, who has been closely involved with the event since its launch in 2017, commented on the need to inspire and encourage a balance of gender, races, and backgrounds into automotive roles:
“I am very much looking forward to being involved in the Making Diversity and Inclusion a Business Reality in partnership with Ennis and Co and Auto Trader. Whilst we are starting to see some real traction on gender diversity across the sector, and certainly within Marshall, there’s clearly more work to be done to make our businesses more accessible, attractive and inclusive to a wider talent pool than we have today. With our combined commitment and drive from across the sector, I have every confidence we really can make Diversity and Inclusion our business reality.”
Marshall Motor Group’s HR director (HRD), Jo Moxon, will join other people leads on a panel to discuss the impact of the pandemic on their D&I strategies, and why it’s more important than ever to focus on their diversity commitments. She’ll be joined by Mandeep Dhatt, HRD for McLaren Automotive, Penny Weatherup, HRD for Volkswagen Group UK, Laura Haskins, HRD for CitNOW, and Alison Fisher, HRD for Cox Automotive International.
Auto Trader’s group sales director, Rebecca Clark, who’ll be hosting the panel, said: “At a time when the industry has faced so many unprecedented challenges, and been forced to undergo such a significant transition, we wanted to bring together the leading brands and thought leaders to understand just how vital diversity and inclusion will be to the future success of the market. The huge response we’ve received from the industry’s most senior stakeholders speaks volumes about how much a priority this issue is for businesses, and their ongoing commitment to bring about change in the automotive industry.”
Leading a second panel discussion, Al Clarke will be speaking with Nissan UK’s managing director, Andrew Humberstone, Facebook’s Global Category Director, Automotive, Geraldine Ingham, and Member of the Board for People, Digitalisation and IT at Bentley, Dr Astrid Fontaine, about the integral role D&I will play in the future health of the automotive market
Lynda Ennis, founder and director of Ennis & Co, added: “Bringing back Making Diversity and Inclusion a Business Reality this year is extremely important to Ennis & Co for several reasons. Firstly, it allows us the chance to revisit core diversity and inclusion themes that emerged in 2018 and 2019 – and secondly, to benchmark how far we have come as an industry during this time. Thirdly, and importantly – it also allows us to be together, albeit virtually, to discuss the subject we feel so passionate about. As automotive and mobility continue to experience change at an alarming rate – I feel confident that positive aspects of diversity and inclusion have accelerated over the past couple of years, and I am looking forward to delving into this in further detail.”
