REG Connects 2026

Tom Stannard is Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, leading one of the UK’s largest Core Cities and a highly performing organisation. He brings more than 27 years’ local government experience and is recognised for his work in regeneration, inclusive growth and public service reform. Tom also leads Manchester’s role in the Greater Manchester economy, business and international portfolio, and oversees the city’s integrated health and social care system.

Professor Erinma Bell MBE is a Manchester peace activist recognised for her work tackling gun crime and supporting safer, more inclusive communities. She co-founded CARISMA after witnessing a fatal shooting, creating positive alternatives for young people. Erinma now works within a wider network of community leaders and volunteers across south Manchester. She was honoured with a sculpture in Manchester Town Hall, recognising her lasting contribution to the city.

Nazir Afzal OBE is a trailblazing legal expert, social justice advocate, and influential public figure with over 30 years of ground-breaking work in criminal justice. As the former Chief
Crown Prosecutor for North West England and Director in London, he led the prosecution of some of the UK’s most high-profile cases, including the pivotal prosecution of the Rochdale grooming gang, a case that reshaped the landscape of child protection. Nazir has personally overseen more than 100,000 prosecutions annually, advocating for justice on critical issues
such as child sexual abuse, violence against women and girls, and honour-based violence.

Helen Robinson is the Inclusion and Community Manager at Autotrader. Helen has successfully led numerous employee networks from inception and has spearheaded Autotrader’s inclusive culture development programmes, which include the Diverse Talent Accelerator programme and Inclusive People Management. Her strategic vision connects internal community-building with broader social impact, ensuring colleagues can support the charities close to their hearts. Known for her collaborative approach and driving meaningful cultural change, Helen continues to champion initiatives that make Autotrader an industry leader in workplace inclusivity and community engagement.

Khurram specialises in Board-level and executive appointments, including Chair, NED, CEO and ExCo roles, working across a wide range of governance models spanning UK and internationally listed businesses, private equity-backed organisations, privately owned companies and social-impact organisations.  He has a strong track record of identifying and engaging exceptional emerging leadership talent in the UK and internationally, supported by a diverse and well-established network. A committed advocate for diversity, Khurram has led numerous Board and senior leadership appointments aimed at improving the representation of underrepresented groups within some of the UK’s most prominent organisations.

Zahoor Ahmad is Group Head of Social Mobility, Inclusion and Belonging for the Co-op group with over two decades of experience in equality, diversity and inclusion practice garnered across and range of industries, including the public, private and charitable sectors. He currently serves as a member of the Co-op Group’s Exec Board.

As a graduate of psychology, he fosters a behavioural approach, and has been instrumental in pioneering approaches to tackling non-inclusive behaviours and structural inequalities.

Iffy is Head of Race Equality & Inclusion at The Premier League, appointed in April 2021. He also chairs the PL’s Black Participants Advisory Group and leads the No Room For Racism action plan and Player to Executive Pathways Scheme.

Before that, he spent nine years at the PFA in roles focused on coaching and equalities, and also served as a Trustee of Kick It Out and on the FA Council’s Inclusion and Advisory Board.  He holds degrees in Economics and Law, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bradford in July 2025.

Ngozi Weller is a strategic leadership advisor and Director at Aurora, a leadership and organisational effectiveness consultancy. She works with senior leaders, executive teams, and boards to strengthen leadership judgement, decision-making, and organisational systems in complex environments. With over 20 years’ experience across corporate and advisory roles, including senior leadership at
ExxonMobil, Ngozi brings a calm, rigorous approach to leadership behaviour, governance, and organisational design, supporting leaders to act with clarity, accountability, and consistency over time.

Catherine Millan is a leading advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, shaping change across education and business. As Founder and Director of Be What You See Consultancy Ltd, she challenges discrimination, amplifies marginalised voices and drives systemic impact. Catherine has designed award‑winning initiatives that tackle bias, reshape curricula and deliver industry‑leading EDI training. A powerful speaker and educator, she inspires organisations and individuals to move beyond good intentions and take meaningful action towards a more inclusive world.

Martina Witter is a Director of Award Winning Rapha Therapy & Training Services, BABCP Accredited Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, Keynote Speaker, Confidence coach ,Health and Wellbeing Consultant, Author , Podcast Host ( Rivers to Resilience), Blogger, Resilience Expert, Founder of Black Mental Wealth and Cofounder of Black Women in Business and Professionals Network. She is a Vice Chair of Greater Manchester Combined Authority Race Equality Panel CIPD Manchester Committee Member (Student Lead ) and Co-Chair Pro-Manchester Wellbeing Champions Committee. Martina has over 20 years experience working within the wellbeing and mental health field empowering diverse Individuals (children and adults ) and organizations to leverage resilience, reduce stress and develop sustainable strong mindsets that allows them to turn bottlenecks into breakthroughs, increase performance and productivity in organizations.

Angela leads on the execution of the Thales UK National Security Account is to ensure strategic alignment with Thales largest customer security customer the Home Office.

Angela is a talented strategic leader and has gained trusted relationships with the private sector. She is the chair of Thales’ Race, Ethnicity, And Culture Heritage (REACH) and has a strong passion to give back her employment skills to black and ethnic communities so that they can see someone who has applied themselves and can have the confidence to apply themselves to achieve things they don’t see possible.

Deepa is a presenter, host, creative consultant and creator of Think Deepa — a reflective podcast and live conversation format known for emotionally intelligent interviews that blend insight, intuition and personal development. With 25 years’ experience across sport, media, hospitality, events and digital PR, she has built a reputation for uncovering the human story behind high-profile guests, brands and experiences.

Alongside her presenting and podcast work, Deepa works as a freelance consultant with Brazen PR, supporting major clients including Manchester Airport across aviation, retail, and hospitality campaigns. Her work brings together strategic storytelling, brand experience, content, events and audience engagement — helping campaigns feel more human, relevant and culturally connected. She has worked with brands such as Turkish Airlines, Juneyao Air, Audemars Piquet, Bruntwood to name a few.

Rachel Cashman is a strategic advisor and facilitator known for building trust and navigating complexity in high-stakes environments across government, healthcare, defence, and the life sciences. Described as a “Fearless Facilitator”, she supports leaders to steer through the most complex people dynamics, contentious policy issues, and increasingly polarised public and organisational debate. Rachel is also the co-host of the Fearless Diversity podcast, a rapidly growing series exploring the most challenging conversations in modern workplaces and public life. Blending psychological-safety science, behavioural insight and real-world leadership experience, the show helps leaders contain complexity, protect people, and navigate uncertainty with confidence. Her presence on the podcast reinforces her reputation as a trusted, principled, and balanced voice on culture, risk, and human behaviour.

Simon is a diversity consultant, broadcaster and author. He is the co-founder of the leading consultancy Diversity by Design. He and his colleague Rachel Cashman have the top ten business podcast “Fearless Diversity”. He was one of the six co-founders in 1989 of the lesbian and gay equality campaign Stonewall – a key influencer in the strategy to create legal equality for lesbians and gays, which was completed by the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act in 2014. He has long been involved in campaigns for equality and positive social change and has served on the Board of companies and organisations in the private and charity sectors for over thirty-five years.

Bethany is the Head of Purpose, Inclusion and Impact at Bruntwood and Bruntwood SciTech, where she works with colleagues from across the business to design, implement and measure diversity and inclusion and social impact initiatives that deliver against Bruntwood’s purpose.

Bethany has a background in international human rights law and her previous experiences have included working with public and private sector partners to generate change and embed equity locally, nationally and internationally in various roles in the charitable and NGO sectors.

Kirsty is a teacher of more than 20 years who moved into SEND provision in 2022 with the hope of providing a purposeful and engaging environment for students with neurodiversity and disabilities who can, very often, be let down by mainstream provision. Passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion Kirsty has been a UK delegate to the UN Conference on the Status of Women for the last two years.

In her current role, the focus is developing digital skills in ND interns, removing barriers to work and promoting good mental health. This involves creating partnerships with employers across Manchester who share the values of DISC and are keen to change the employment landscape for students with SEND. As an ND individual herself and raising sons with ND, the work is important personally and professionally.

Wayne Bennett is a Founder and Director of Made4Tech Global, a technology recruitment consultancy specialising in recruiting professionals within the Technology, Business Change & Transformation markets. Worked in recruitment for nearly 30 years, his experience in the industry encompasses, Marketing, Finance and Technology (23 years) discipline.

Recruiting within the Technology space, Wayne has witnessed the change within the industry, encouraging him to advocate for female and diverse leadership and advise businesses on effective inclusion strategies in his role. Wayne has worked with organisations ranging from major corporates, SMEs, and technology-led start-ups, giving him exposure to placing professionals in positions ranging from senior management to “hands on” technical roles.

James is a long-time technology leader, speaker and advisor with over 35 years’ experience in the technology field, 18 of which were spent at Microsoft helping businesses of all sizes to grow and gain success adopting the latest technologies. Today, James works on the latest AI and developer tools to create digital products and uses his expertise to help businesses of all sizes to accelerate change with technology.

As Head of Programmes at Agent Academy, I’m privileged to lead strategic programme design and coordination across Manchester and Liverpool. What drives me is simple: nurturing North West talent who feel locked out of creative, tech and digital opportunities. My two decades in education, across secondary state and independent sectors, has given me a panoramic view of young people’s potential, and I love using that experience to create real, tangible opportunities.  We are fortunate to work with brilliant partners including CGI, Everton FC, Liverpool Race Equality Hub, Salford City Council, and Electricity North West to design programmes that genuinely transform lives. Working with our growing team to expand and strengthen what we do is genuinely rewarding. At its heart, my work is about people and possibility. It’s about creating genuine pathways, and I’m proud to do that work.

Chen is currently a Corporate/EOT (Employee Ownership Trusts) Paralegal at Brabners LLP. She will start her Training Contract (also at Brabners’ Manchester office) in September 2026. She read English Law with German Law at New College, University of Oxford and also holds an LLM from the University of Bristol.

Prior to her legal career, Chen tutored English as a Second Language and GCSE Maths and English as well as widening participation courses in law to students from varied backgrounds. She also coordinated sports and social events and provided 1:1 support for young people with Down’s Syndrome and autism and wheelchair users at KEEN. Her lived experiences as a first-generation migrant, FSM girl who went on to study at a historically all-male Oxford college has shaped her ethos of challenging assumptions and giving back to the Greater Manchester community.

Simon is a lead assessor for EY’s National and Global Equality Standards, where he has helped refine the EDI strategies of more than 100 businesses across 40 different countries. Beyond his work with Equality Standards, Simon has held several prominent positions in the EDI world, such as being a member of the Parker Review Committee and writing the supporting guidance for companies looking to respond to it via its Director’s Toolkit. Simon also led the independent review of the Premier League Equality Standard and assisted England Cricket in developing and reporting on their Anti-discrimination strategy for DCMS.