Page 6 – Business in the Community

Councillor Satvir Kaur

Councillor Satvir Kaur

Leader,

Southampton City Council
Place Taskforce

Satvir Kaur is Leader of Southampton City Council. Born and raised in Southampton, Satvir graduated from both the University of Southampton and Solent University. She has a professional background in various sectors, from managing a small family business to working in the B2B publishing sector with international experience. Satvir is passionate about social mobility, housing and culture. She has had several cabinet portfolios in her 13 years as a local councillor. She has led on the city’s largest council home building programme, started community initiatives to tackle poverty and build resilience. Satvir is responsible for launching and leading Southampton’s bid to become City of Culture in 2025 in which the city were finalists.

Business in the Communty’s place programme

Business in the Community’s (BITC) Place Programme is about bringing everyone together in a place to act collaboratively. To act on long-term goals, based on a common agreement of the challenges, opportunities and solutions and drawing on the strengths of everyone in that community, whether they are a business, a community organisation or from the public sector.

Our mission

To facilitate meaningful connections between businesses, communities, and local councils to reset economic ambitions and collaborate on new, innovative solutions that will deliver long-term, transformative impact.

David Schofield

David Schofield

Sustainability Director,

Aviva
Place Taskforce

David Schofield has a background in the third sector, e-commerce and financial services. He leads on Social Action and Sustainable Business working on strategy, governance and implementation to support Aviva’s Sustainability Ambition. This includes it’s Net Zero by 2040 goal. David also sits on the board of trustees of the United Nations Global Compact UK Network and International Consortium for Street Children. He is a regular speaker at CR & Sustainability conferences.

Business in the Communty’s place programme

Business in the Community’s (BITC) Place Programme is about bringing everyone together in a place to act collaboratively. To act on long-term goals, based on a common agreement of the challenges, opportunities and solutions and drawing on the strengths of everyone in that community, whether they are a business, a community organisation or from the public sector.

Our mission

To facilitate meaningful connections between businesses, communities, and local councils to reset economic ambitions and collaborate on new, innovative solutions that will deliver long-term, transformative impact.

Julie Hillman

A picture of Julie Hillman smiling at the camera

Julie Hillman

Transformation Director,

Worldline UK&I
East Midlands Leadership Board

Julie Hillman has worked across multiple disciplines and roles throughout her career based in the IT Industry. A key part of her role as Transformation Director at Worldline UK&I is to champion and lead the Apprenticeship Programme. Worldline UK&I have recently been awarded ‘East Midlands Region National Apprenticeship Award for Large Employer of the year 2023′, a personal passion for Julie, the organisation also holds Times Top 50 Employers for Gender Equality and Great Place to Work 2022 recognition.

Julie began her career through the then Youth Training Scheme (YTS) going on to gain her MBA from Loughborough University in 2003 whilst maintaining a demanding career alongside the birth of her eldest daughter. Julie has a wealth of experience across the many facets of corporate life which she draws on in her Transformation Director role, always with a lens on the people and the culture of the organisation.

In her spare time Julie enjoys spending time with her two daughters – Rhea & Jodie, is an avid reader and loves a long walk in the forest or along a quiet beach with her Rough Collie Azlan.

Justin Onuekwusi

Justin Onuekwusi looking at the camera

Justin Onuekwusi

Chief Investment Officer,

St. James’s Place (SJP)
Race Equality Leadership Team

Justin Onuekwusi is the Chief Investment Officer at St. James’s Place (SJP). His role sees him lead the development of SJP’s investment proposition, asset allocation approach and selection of external fund managers. A CFA charter holder, Justin holds more than two decades’ experience across investment management as Head of Retail Investments, EMEA and Head of Retail Multi-Asset Funds at LGIM in a team managing over £60bn. Justin has also held previous roles with Aviva Investors, Merrill Lynch and Aon Consulting.

Externally, Justin is a panel member of the Premier League’s Equity Diversity and Inclusion Standard (PLEDIS). Justin is a judge of the Investment Week Women in Investments Awards, and was listed on LGBT Great’s Project 1000 Role Models. Justin has won several awards for his work within driving societal change including the 2020 Portfolio Adviser Wealth Management award for Outstanding Contribution to Inclusivity and the 2021 Investment Week Fund Manager of the Year award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion. Justin founded EnCircle which is a monthly mentoring circle initiative and the Black Leaders Programme in conjunction with the Investment Association and Diversity Project. In addition, Justin featured on the 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 EMpower Senior Executive Leaders List, he was a winner of the Invest in Ethnicity Awards Future Leaders Award in 2018, Justin was also a finalist in the 2019 Black British Business Awards and in 2020 he was awarded the honour of the Freedom of the City of London.

About Business in the Community’s Race Leadership Team

Each area of work Business in the Community (BITC) undertakes is led by a group of senior executives who provide strategic guidance and support us in achieving our objectives.

The purpose of BITC’s Race Equality Leadership Team is to support employers to help break down the barriers that prevent the progression of ethnic minorities in their workplaces and show how an inclusive organisation better serves its customers, clients and communities.

Find out more about BITC’s work on race equality.  

Sarah Black-Smith

Sarah Black Smith smiling at the camera

Sarah Black-Smith

General Manager Motion Control and Sustainability Lead

Siemens
North West Leadership Board

Sarah Black-Smith is passionate about helping UK Manufacturers become more productive and has led the Motion Control business in Siemens Digital Industries since June 2022.  Prior to this, Sarah led the Factory Operations at the Siemens Digital Industries factory in Congleton since December 2018, having previously been Head of Manufacturing. Sarah has worked for Siemens for 21 years and prior to working in Congleton, held several operational positions within the Siemens Energy business in Lincoln. 

Sarah graduated from Loughborough University in 2004 with a BEng (Hons) in Manufacturing Engineering and Management. Sarah completed an MSc in Operations Excellence from Cranfield University in 2016 and completed her Global MBA at Alliance Manchester Business School in 2023.

Sarah loves working with people. She is passionate about manufacturing in the UK as she believes we have amazing people in the UK who are innovative and highly skilled. Sarah believes that diversity is key to unlocking our potential in engineering and manufacturing industries and believes that we need greater diversity in our businesses and engineering courses to drive new ideas and ways of doing things. Sarah was born in 1982 in Dundee, Scotland and lives in Chester.

Charis McLean

Charis Mclean smiling at the camera

Charis McLean

Head of Bid & Commercial Excellence

Sodexo Corporate Services
North West Leadership Board

Charis McLean is a Head of Bid & Commercial Excellence at Sodexo Corporate Services. Charis specialises in all things growth, commercial excellence and sales/bid excellence. Her background covers marketing, commercial and sales leadership roles within multiple markets such as defence, professional and financial services, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, FMCG, media and telecoms.

Charis specialises in Integrated Facilities Management services including technical maintenance, workplace services and customer/community experience. Leading a team of experts in their field in Commercial Excellence, Technical Services, Soft FM and Food Pricing Analysts, Bid Directors and Bid Managers, she relishes the leadership of her team and seeing them develop and grown personally and professionally.

She has lived and worked in/near Manchester her entire career, excluding five years in London.

Since joining Sodexo, Charis has grown her leadership skills in areas of interest such as Social Impact, ES&G (Environmental, Social and Governance) and DE&I (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).

In her spare time, Charis enjoys adventure motorcycling (BMW GS800),  walking her best fiend Pepper the Patterdale and is partial to the odd shopping trip followed by a cocktail with her husband and two older girls.

Craig Wright

Craig Wright

Craig Wright

Partner

KPMG
North West Leadership Board

Craig Wright leads KPMG UK’s Enterprise Risk Services Practice for Sectors Consulting (Forensic, Governance, Risk and Controls Transformation, Internal Audit, Risk Assurance, Cyber, Resilience and SOxcompliance).

Based in Manchester, he oversees a large, national team and a varied client portfolio that ranges from large privately owned businesses to large listed businesses.

Having spent a career within professional services, Craig has advised major corporations, regulators and funding bodies in risk,internal controls, governance, compliance and forensic accounting matters for over 20 years. Throughout his career, he has gained experience delivering domestic and global engagements across a range of sectors, including, retail; e-commerce; technology; construction; manufacturing; utilities; nuclear; oil and gas; automotive; and the public sector.

Craig currently acts as the UK partner lead on risk, controls, and SOxtransformation engagements, as well ongoing compliance engagements, with clients. Craig also sits on KPMG’s UK Internal Controls Steerco and is close to all that we do in response to the BEIS and FRC led internal controls and audit reform agenda.

In a voluntary capacity, Craig has previously taken up non executive and audit committee appointments at one of the UK’s largest, research intensive universities, a registered provider of social housing and a college of further education. He is currently Chair of the Employment Advisory Board at Buckley Hall Prison.

Steve Sankson

Steve Sankson smiling at the camera

Steve Sankson

Regional Director

Natwest
North West Leadership Board

Steve Sankson is the Regional Director for NatWest Corporate Banking. Steve has spent the vast majority of his career working with businesses across all sectors and sizes, from family owned and high growth scale ups, through to large international corporates.

Steve also leads on sustainability and climate change for NatWest in the North of England. Steve is passionate about supporting enterprise and entrepreneurship and the role business can play in improving social mobility.

Danny Hope

Danny Hope outdoors

Danny Hope

Regional Director, North West

Hydrock
North West Leadership Board

Based in Manchester, Danny Hope is the Regional Director for Hydrock, a British-owned integrated engineering design, energy and sustainability consultancy. Danny is responsible for overseeing the operations and performance of the firm’s team in the North West, which is 125-strong across offices in Manchester, Hale, Stoke-on-Trent and Birchwood.

With a clear purpose to be a ‘Force for Good’ in the world, Hydrock helps shape places, communities and infrastructure that inspire, respect the environment and, ultimately, deliver societal and asset value for everyone.

As a specialist brownfield regeneration practitioner working right across the built environment, Danny has amassed over 20 years’ experience of working in academia, local government and professional consultancy.

Throughout his career, Danny has worked on projects across a wide range of sectors and has had leading roles on some of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects. These include roles as the lead contamination specialist on the Mersey Gateway and Greater Manchester Waste PFI Projects.

This broad range of experience has led to Danny building strong relationships with developers, public sector clients, contractors, consultants and regulatory bodies across the region.

Recognising the natural synergies with Hydrock and the power born of collaboration, Danny joined Business in the Community’s (BITC) North West Leadership Board in April 2023 and is now contributing to its goals to work fairer; work greener; and work together.

Outside of work Danny enjoys spending time with family, fellrunning and cycling.

Gary Shuttleworth

Gary Shuttleworth at a table

Gary Shuttleworth

Strategic Development Director

Morgan Sindall Infrastructure
North West Leadership Board

Gary Shuttleworth, Strategic Development Director, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, leads within the business on growth, social impact and external engagement.

Joining in 2019 as Framework Director for the company’s Highways business, Gary became Business Development Director within its Nuclear business in January 2021 before being promoted to his current role in April 2022.

With more than 25 years of multi-sector experience, Gary has a wealth of knowledge in building long-term strategic relationships with customers, identifying and developing future opportunities and understanding market conditions. A founding member of the All Together Cumbria social enterprise and a key supporter of Morgan Sindall Infrastructure’s legacy ambitions, he was appointed to the board of Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster in 2021.

Outside work, Gary enjoys spending time with his family and supporting his local football team.