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.

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.

With a distinguished career spanning 25 years across Sports, Media, and Hospitality, Deepa has mastered the art of uncovering and sharing the stories of extraordinary individuals. As the host of the acclaimed podcast ‘Thinking Deepa’, she delves into transformative conversations, extracting powerful insights that inspire growth and change. Deepa has hosted trailblazing guests, including global icons like Usain Bolt and Shaun Wright-Phillips. The podcast’s impact speaks for itself—one of its standout episodes ranked #1 on Spotify, a testament to the powerful conversations and game-changing insights that have captivated audiences worldwide. Renowned for its focus on self-development, Thinking Deepa uncovers life-altering lessons and cutting-edge strategies, equipping listeners with the tools to elevate their lives.

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. Kirsty is also founder of ‘Renewed Narrative’ a fledgling women’s group which seeks to empower women through community, asking the questions that get to the heart of patriarchal overreach and providing space for women to gather and share their wisdom and experience.

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.