Celebrating Women's History Month
WiHTL & Diversity in Retail
Supporting companies across the HTL and Retail industry to create diverse and inclusive environments
As we come to the end of the second week of Women's History Month, we hope you have enjoyed all the Women's stories we have celebrated and shared so far from our Collaboration Community. Throughout the month of March we will continue to share inspiring stories and resources to support your own celebrations.?
As part of our celebrations for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month we were delighted to bring together so many wonderful Women and allies at an event in partnership with The MBS Group and very kindly hosted by the team at AlixPartners .
The afternoon's event was one of inspiration and celebration as we brought together all those who have been featured in our ‘Women To Watch and Role Model for Inclusion in HTL’ Index or who have been a part of our Global Women Leaders and NED development programmes over the last 4 years.
Special thanks to our keynote speaker Paula MacKenzie , Group CEO of PizzaExpress and to our panellists Emma Banks at 希尔顿全球酒店集团 , Shanika Trotman at easyJet and Monique Samra at Fuller's Brewery who took part in our panel conversation.
Our Founder and Chair? Tea Colaianni ?said of the event?“It was wonderful to see so many talented and gifted Women join us today to celebrate their own achievements as well as mark International Women’s Day. It is crucially important to highlight the breadth and depth of talented Women across the sector to inspire others to join and thrive in our industry”.
Closing the event we shared a video capturing some of the Women and Men who featured in the index over the last 4 years and what it meant to them. Watch the video below.
We are delighted to welcome the new members of the Advisory Board.?
Joining us will be? Paula MacKenzie , Group CEO at PizzaExpress . Paula has over 20 years’ experience in transforming Food & Drinks businesses by unlocking the power of brand and joined PizzaExpress as Group CEO in 2022 to spearhead its growth agenda.?Paula has worked for some of the world’s most recognised and valued companies including KFC, Diageo, GSK and innocent. As well as a NED at B&M retail and a member of the advisory board for Pennies.
As Saga plc. Travel Group joins the WiHTL Collaboration Community, CEO John Constable will also be joining our WiHTL Advisory Board. Speaking on the announcement John said?“I am delighted that Saga are joining the WiHTL community and that I have the privilege of taking up a position on the Advisory Board".
We are thrilled to announce we offered two graduates from our Ethnic Future Leaders (EFL) or Ethnic Senior Leaders (ESL) programmes the opportunity to apply for a seat on our Advisory Board for a year. We are delighted to announce Jyoti Tailor from 希尔顿全球酒店集团 and Hamza Durrani from Revolution Bars Group PLC have been successful and will join our WiHTL Advisory Board.?Our founder & Chair Tea Colaianni said,?"I’m delighted to welcome Jyoti and Hamza to the WiHTL Advisory Board. They will both bring a unique perspective and challenge to the Board discussions and will help us grow the Collaboration Community in terms of impact and reach”.?
When the FTSE Women Leaders Review was released we were delighted to see the target of 40% Women on Boards across the FTSE 350 has been achieved 3 years ahead of the deadline.
Congratulations to the following Members of our Collaboration Community who have already met or exceeded the new 40% target for Women on Boards;? Domino's ,? Dunelm , International Airlines Group (IAG) , 洲际酒店集团 , JD Sports Fashion , John Lewis Partnership , Kingfisher plc , Pets at Home , Sainsbury's , SSP Limited , TUI , Watches of Switzerland Group PLC and WHSmith .
The average for Women on Boards across Hospitality, Travel and Leisure was 34.6% - time to keep our focus and make sure we meet the 40% target as an industry across the FTSE 350 by December 2025. The retail sector has continued to build momentum increasing representation year on year and currently sits at 40.5% Women on Boards however, we cannot be complacent. Much remains to be done to continue the progression for Women to the most senior levels of leadership across our industry, particularly in the roles of CEO and CFO.
The theme for Women’s History Month this year is 'Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories' and throughout the month of March we will be celebrating and sharing the stories of some of the fabulous Women in our Collaboration Community who have graduated from our Global Women Leaders Programme (GWLP).?
To start our series we were delighted to speak with Mel Harrison , Director of Operations at 麦当劳 UK&I who graduated from our Global Women Leaders Programme in 2021. During the conversation, Mel talks about the inspiration she gained on the GWLP alongside some of the challenges she has faced in her career and how she overcame them.?
To also mark International Women's Day (March 8th) we shared one of our ‘5 Ways To' guides to support a better understanding of the intersectional experiences of Women in organisations.
For the first time last year we invited graduates of our Ethnic Future and Ethnic Senior Leaders Programmes to nominate themselves for a 12-month rotational place on the WiHTL Advisory Board. Recently WiHTL Founder & Chair, Tea Colaianni, held a Fireside Chat with the outgoing Advisory Board Members Tieran Bhuhi-Siva , Senior Corporate Communications Manager at 洲际酒店集团 and Halina Khan , HR Business Partner at 麦当劳 .
Thank you to Tieran and Halina for their time as Advisory Board Members.
领英推荐
We are one week away from our Employee Network Groups Conference and we hope you are as excited as we are!
During the virtual conference, our speakers from our Collaboration Community will share their insights and experience on the challenging as well as rewarding aspects of their ENG journey so far.
Panel 1 - Connecting the Community:?How to drive employee network group engagement with Carly Tait from JD Sports Fashion , Lee Dasilva from TUI and Matthew Case from Whitbread .
Case Study - Structuring for success:?The role and upskilling of employee network group leads with Tieran Bhuhi-Siva from 洲际酒店集团 .
Panel 2 - Intersectionality:?Maximising inclusivity through employee network groups with Taks N. from Compass Group UK & Ireland and Christina Lewis from Deliveroo .
Panel 3 - Executive sponsors:?Measuring the success and business impact of employee network groups with Fraser Longden from Wickes , Dominique Sidley from Merlin Entertainments and Nicholas Tatum from Moto Hospitality .
Don’t miss your chance to join delegates from over 100 different companies who have already booked by registering below.
Last month we celebrated the graduation of our first Women NED programme. Our unique programme is specifically designed to prepare Women senior leaders for non-executive director (NED) roles within the Hospitality, Travel, Leisure and Retail sectors?giving them a fantastic opportunity to understand the requirements of the role in more depth before taking on a NED appointment.
We were delighted to receive such positive feedback from our recent graduates about their time on our 6-month programme and the impact their experience has already had on their careers.????
Last week our team ran a fantastic session on Inclusivity in Leadership with Hospitality undergraduates from 英国牛津布鲁克斯大学 . Thank you to the students who attended and for the questions and contributions.?
We held another great roundtable conversation as part of the current cohort of our Global Women Leaders Programme (GWLP) last week, this time with Sophie Lawler , CEO of Total Fitness .?Sophie shared with the Delegates many insights into her personal career journey and tips and pieces of advice based on her experience. One thing Sophie shared that really resonated with the group was that?“Senior leadership is humility in the extreme because it’s just not about you (at all). While you’re accountable for everything, you’re responsible for nothing”.?
Coming Up
Member News for the Hospitality, Travel, Leisure and Retail Sectors
Bourne Leisure Ltd shared a video called 'Inclusion is...' where their team share their thoughts on what inclusion means to them.??Click here to view the video. Greene King has set out an ambitious goal to have 50% Women in senior management roles by 2030.? John Lewis & Partners has released its latest Inclusion Report.?The report reveals the Partnership’s key insights across a number of areas of diversity and inclusion from the past year.?Click here to view the report.?