EVENT NO.2

We know that design agencies badly need greater diversity in their leadership teams, but what role (if any) do clients have to play in that journey?

With the gender pay gap in the UK still running at 80%, and only 11% of creative directors being women, we need to do more to promote gender equality in our industry. With such a slow rate of organic change, perhaps it’s time to look outwards and involve our greatest influence in the challenge?

After all, when clients demand things, things happens. On the down side, this can play a big part in those long, anti-social studio hours. Yet, in the extreme positive, if they insist more women are present at the table, by heck do they get them.

Join us for this lively panel discussion, where we bring clients and agencies together to share their experiences of equality, and debate how we could learn from one another across the client/agency relationship, and maybe even move the needle quicker for both industries.

Meet the Panel:

Celia Pronto

Celia is the Digital Integration Director at Casual Dining Group, where she is responsible for driving business transformation across all areas of the business. Prior to this she spent a number of years at Ford Retail Group as Group Marketing and E-Commerce Director, where she was the first female appointed to the board. She is a founder member of the London Chapter of the 2% club and Guardian Women in Leadership, as well as an active mentor and advocate of growing the pipeline of female talent.

Adrian Wheeler

My purpose is to help creative business owners. By this I mean achieving a balance between the ‘Yin’ (literally ‘shady side’) of winning work, growing the business, making a profit and reaching your ‘corporate’ goals – and the ‘Yang’ (literally ‘sunny side’) of creating a culture that is congruent with fulfilling your deepest desires for your life and career.
Adrian spent thirty years in the design industry, solving complex communication and branding problems for international clients. He has since founded the ‘Fairlight’ Project in which he helps creative business owners attain ‘wholeness’ in their businesses through coaching and mentoring.
Adrian holds associate memberships of the Association for Professional Executive Coaching and Supervision, The Association for Coaching and the International Coaching Federation. He is one of the Design Business Association’s registered experts. His specialties lie in Behavioural Change, Executive Coaching & Mentoring, Leadership Development, Brand Strategy, Information Design, and Strategy.

Scarlett Brown

Scarlett Brown is a social researcher, specialising in gender and diversity, work and organisation, and corporate governance. She is currently undertaking a PhD at King’s College London, examining gender differences in how non-executive directors are appointed to corporate boards in the UK. This project aims to open the ‘black box’​ and understand how the board appointment process may treat men and women differently.