Isabel Berwick
Work and Careers Editor, Financial Times

Isabel Berwick is work and careers editor, overseeing a department that covers management, leadership, working life, graduate careers - and the huge issue of the future of work at the Financial Times. She has a particular interest in workplace diversity and inclusion and is an editorial co-lead on the 50/50 Project, which works towards equal numbers of men and women being quoted in the FT.

She joined the personal finance team at the FT in 1999 from the Independent on Sunday, where she was personal finance editor and then business editor. She held several senior editing roles on FT Weekend and the Opinion desk before taking up her current post in 2018.

Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE DL,
President, CBI and Chairman, The Cobra Beer Partnership ltd

Karan Bilimoria is the founder of Cobra Beer, chairman of the Cobra Beer Partnership Limited and chairman of Molson Coors Cobra India. Karan is the Founding chairman of the UK India Business Council, a deputy lieutenant of Greater London and a former chancellor of Thames Valley University. He was a former senior non-executive director of the Booker Group now TESCO PLC (2007-2016), and he is a founding member of the Prime Minister of India’s Global Advisory Council.

In 2006, Karan was appointed the Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, making him the first ever Zoroastrian Parsi to sit in the House of Lords. In 2008, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharti Samman by the President of India. He is an honorary fellow of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge and was chair of the advisory board of the Judge Business School, Cambridge University from 2015-2020. In July 2014, he was installed as chancellor of the University of Birmingham, making him the first Indian-born chancellor of a Russell Group University in Great Britain, and he is the president of the UK Council for International Students Affairs. Since 2017, Karan has been a Bynum Tudor fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. He is an honorary group captain in 601 Squadron Royal Air Force. In June 2020, he was appointed president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). In September 2020, he was appointed as a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford based at the Centre for Corporate Reputation

Heather Melville OBE,
Director and Head of Client Experience, PwC 

Having held a number of senior positions across a range of high profile organisations (RBS/NatWest, IBM, Daiwa Europe Bank and most recently PwC), Heather Melville has established a purpose values-driven reputation, together with a gentle, focused yet persuasive style that is known for supporting both individuals and businesses to be successful.

Her most recent appointment as director of Client Relationship Programmes (a programme specifically designed for C-Suite clients) and head of People Business Networks, has provided the firm with a strong foundation to continue to engage with our 65,000 clients, 22,00 alumni and 22,000 employees through a clear vision and strategy that brings them together to solve critical business problems.

Heather is also very passionate about the progression of both female and BAME talent from the early entrance into the education system, right through to that very first role they may have secured in the corporate workplace.

In 2017 Heather was awarded an OBE for her services to female entrepreneurs, diversity in business and gender equality. In July 2019 she was awarded with an honorary Doctorate by the University of Portsmouth for her contribution to Diversity in Business.

She is the chair of CMI Women, trustee and board member of Enfield Enterprise, patron of Women In Banking & Finance and in a personal capacity has contributed to ongoing independent reviews for the Labour Government recreating an inclusive culture.

In 2020 Heather became a member of the PwC Colour Brave Charity Committee.

Sir John Parker GBE FREng,
Chairman, Laing O’Rourke Group

Sir John Parker is the chairman of construction and engineering company Laing O’Rourke, a non-executive director of Carnival Corporation, a senior adviser to Spencer Stuart and a visiting fellow of the University of Oxford.

Last year, John stepped down as the chairman of Pennon Group plc and South West Water Ltd. He has been chairman of National Grid plc, Mondi, BVT Joint Venture, RMC Group plc and P&O plc. He has served as chairman and CEO of both Harland & Wolff and Babcock International and was on the board of Airbus Group. He was a senior non-executive director and chair of the Court of the Bank of England, deputy chairman of DP World and president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.

John has served as non-executive director of the Industrial Development Board of Northern Ireland, British Coal Corporation, GKN plc, BG plc and Brambles Industries plc.

He is widely recognised for his policy work on the value of diversity in the boardroom, having chaired the Government’s review on Ethnic Diversity on UK Boards in 2017.