Business Disability Forum Global Conference 2025

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  Abi James - Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant

  Barclays (UK)

  Abi is a Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant at Barclays, bringing over 20 years of experience assisting public sector organisations, developers, and companies in enhancing digital accessibility and advancing their support for assistive technologies. Her role at Barclays includes optimising accessibility processes and standards across the organisation to comply with regulations such as the EAA, as well as improving the accessibility of Barclays’ websites and applications.
  
  Abi serves as the Barclays representative on the Business Disability Forum Technology Task Force and has previously worked with the British Dyslexia Association and University of Southampton to advance accessibility standards, training, and policy initiatives.

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  Adrian Ward - Director of Operations

  Business Disability Forum (UK)

  Adrian leads the teams responsible for all relationships with Business Disability Forum’s Members and Partners as well as overseeing our Advice Service, consultancy and Learning & Development services. He is an experienced disability consultant with experience of overseeing numerous disability inclusion consultancy projects with both public and private sector organisations. Adrian also has an extensive background in human resources and diversity and inclusion within the public sector.
  
  Before joining Business Disability Forum, Adrian led a diversity and inclusion experts team within a large Civil Service organisation specialising in all aspects of disability as well as leading on Public Sector Equality Duty work. Adrian has practical experience of developing departmental policies (including disability-specific policies) and procedures and overseeing effective implementation. Adrian is also a qualified mediator with an extensive background in both employment and housing mediation.

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  Amy Whalley - CEO

  Australian Disability Network (Australia)

  Amy joined Australian Disability Network as the Chief Executive Officer in September 2025. She previously served as Deputy CEO and Relationship Manager between August 2012 – February 2022. She has extensive experience working with business and government influencing disability inclusion practice and policy, in Australia and UK.
  
  Before rejoining AusDN, Amy was the Head of Strategy for Valuable 500 in the UK. Amy’s passion for disability inclusion stems from personal experience, shaping her career in independent living service for adults with intellectual disabilities in London and sport development at Special Olympics Australia. A strong believer in the power of collaboration for change and impact.

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  Carolanne Minashi - Global Head of Inclusion

  HSBC (UK)

  Carolanne is a renowned D&I expert with a track record of making an impact. Throughout her career, she has held leadership roles in Talent Management, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Employee Relations and Health & Wellbeing. Carolanne joined HSBC in April 2021 from her role as Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at UBS, previously she was at Citi where she started her career.
  
  Carolanne is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has been recognised by Women in Banking and Finance with an Award for Outstanding Achievement and listed as the 2019 Working Mother Champion.

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  Christina Jones - VP Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

  Shell plc (USA)

  Carolanne is a renowned D&I expert with a track record of making an impact. Throughout her career, she has held leadership roles in Talent Management, Leadership Development, Executive Coaching, Employee Relations and Health & Wellbeing. Carolanne joined HSBC in April 2021 from her role as Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at UBS, previously she was at Citi where she started her career.
  
  Carolanne is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has been recognised by Women in Banking and Finance with an Award for Outstanding Achievement and listed as the 2019 Working Mother Champion.

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  Christopher Patnoe - Head of EMEA Accessibility and Disability Inclusion

  Google (UK)

  Christopher Patnoe is the Lead for EMEA Accessibility and Disability Innovation at Google. He leads Google’s efforts around the accessibility of product, policy and partnerships across EMEA - with a particular focus on Emerging Markets. He has almost 30 years experience in Tech working at companies like Apple, Sony Ericsson and Disney where he’s built hardware, software, games, and services.
  
  Christopher is the founder of Google's Accessibility Discovery Centres, the founder and chair for the W3C Immersive Captions Community Group and is Trustee of the board for SCOPE. Christopher has a degree in Music from UC Berkeley.

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  Diane Lightfoot - Chief Executive Officer

  Business Disability Forum (UK)

  Diane is responsible for leading and shaping all aspects of Business Disability Forum’s strategy and delivery and for representing the organisation at the highest levels of business and government. Diane is co-Chair of the Disability Charities Consortium, a group of nine major national disability charities in the UK. She is Vice chair of the Disability Confident Business Leaders’ Group and also sits on the steering board for the Lilac Review, the CMI Everyone Economy Advisory Committee and the Steering Group for the Global Business Disability Network, hosted by the International Labor Organization.
  
  Diane is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and is part of the Steering Group for the RSA Inclusive Work, Disability and Ageing Network. Prior to joining Business Disability Forum in February 2017, Diane was Director of Policy and Communications for national disability charity United Response, where she also took on the strategic leadership of the organisation’s employment services as a whole. She is passionate about the role that good work has to play in transforming people’s lives.

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  Donna Bungard - Director of Accessibility

  Indeed (USA)

  Donna Bungard is a global strategic leader who builds and scales human-centered programs that deliver business impact. She has a proven record of launching cross-functional initiatives that integrate advocacy, partner engagement, learning, and technical conformance to embed inclusion into organizational culture worldwide. Donna has represented organizational strategy on international stages.
  
  Known for fostering trust, inspiring teams, and cultivating high-impact partnerships, she aligns human-centered work with business goals to drive innovation, engage diverse audiences, and achieve lasting results through thought leadership, cultural transformation, and strategic collaboration.

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  Jenny Lay-Flurrie - Chief Accessibility Officer, Vice President

  Microsoft (USA)

  Jenny Lay-Flurrie is Microsoft’s Vice President and Chief Accessibility Officer, a technologist and operations leader with over 25 years in tech. Since 2016, she’s led company-wide efforts to build accessible products, services, and workplaces. She joined Microsoft in 2005, initially working on Hotmail, then across domains like Advertising, Privacy, and Digital Safety before pivoting to accessibility. Jenny oversees accessibility across 6,000+ products, websites, and tools, and champions disabled talent.
  
  Jenny sponsors the Disability Employee Community and serves on Microsoft’s Inclusion Council. Identifying as deaf and disabled, she brings a user-centered lens to innovation, launching initiatives like the Disability Answer Desk (1.5M+ supported), Neurodiversity Program, and the Microsoft Ability Summit (20K+ attendees). She serves on the boards of Disability:IN, ITV, and Team Gleason, and has earned honors including the White House Disability Employment Champion of Change, Forbes Future of Work 50, and multiple lifetime achievement awards. Jenny holds an MBA and a B.Mus Hons, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Engineering in 2024.

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  John McCalla-Leacy - Head of Global Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)

  KPMG International (UK)

  John is the Head of Global ESG KPMG International and ESG Vice Chairman in the UK. He is a member of KPMG International’s Global Extended Leadership Team and is responsible for embedding Sustainability practices into the Global firm’s strategy and its execution, including the delivery of ESG: engagements, solutions, services, technology and AI products to clients. John is an international thought leader who frequently speaks at global forums on Sustainability.
  
  John has been featured and quoted extensively in national and international mainstream media. John is featured in the Empower Role Model List, the Powerlist and amongst the Top 50 most influential people in Sustainable Finance in the UK.

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  Jürgen Menze - Disability Inclusion Specialist

  International Labour Organization (Switzerland)

  Jürgen Menze is a Disability Inclusion Specialist in the Gender, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Branch of the International Labour Organization (ILO) – the United Nations specialised agency for the world of work. He is the coordinator of the ILO Global Business and Disability Network – a worldwide platform of more than 40 multinational enterprises and over 40 national business and disability networks working jointly for disability employment in the private sector.
  
  Jürgen has worked for the ILO both in its Swiss headquarters and its office for Central America. Before he joined the ILO in 2013, he had worked for the Austrian federation of blind people, the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Philippines as well as for the German Technical Cooperation Agency GIZ in Kenya. Jürgen holds a master’s degree in economics and another one in political science and history.

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  Lucy Ruck - Taskforces Manager

  Business Disability Forum (UK)

  Lucy is responsible for managing the Technology Taskforce, as well as the Customer & Service User Network, the Northern England Network and the Procurement Network. Lucy is a regular speaker at events, including AbilityNet’s TechShare Pro, GEIS Summit for Hong Kong Social Services, AXSChat, and many more.
  
  Lucy has a lived experienced of disability for 30 years, after an accident that left her as a right leg, below knee amputee.

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  Marc Powell - Global Accessibility Centre of Excellence Lead

  Unilever (UK)

  Marc is a multi-award-winning leader in accessibility and accessibility innovation, with over a decade of experience driving transformational change across global organisations. Registered blind since birth, he combines professional expertise with lived experience to champion inclusive design and systemic change. As Global Accessibility Centre of Excellence Lead at Unilever, Marc embeds accessibility into brand strategies, product development, and global experiences. Previously at RNIB, he led internationally recognised initiatives that advanced inclusive design for major brands.
  
  A Paralympian who represented Team GB in Judo at London 2012, Marc is passionate about using technology and collaboration to create a more inclusive world.

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  Neil Milliken - Vice President & Global Head of Accessibility & Digital Inclusion

  Atos (UK)

  A leading strategist and community builder with over two decades of experience within the Accessibility and Assistive Technology fields and served as invited expert for the W3C Cognitive Accessibility Taskforce and on the Global Leadership Council for the IAAP. Neil is a member of the Board of Directors for World Institute on Disability, Non Exec Member of the Board at Genius Within, member of the advisory board of the Valuable500 & Served as Chair of the Diversity Board for Institute of Coding.
  
  Neil is co-founder of AXSChat, a Social Media Community & Podcast with a focus on Accessibility & Inclusion.

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  Paula Aitkenhead - Disability Inclusion and Accessibility Global Lead

  Schneider Electric (France)

  Paula Aitkenhead is the Global Disability Inclusion, and Accessibility Office Lead at Schneider Electric, where she integrates inclusive design, accessibility, and well-being into global strategy. With a background in HR, innovation, and positive psychology, Paula brings a human-centered approach to digital transformation.
  
  Paula is a passionate advocate for equity, care, and systemic change, helping organizations create environments where everyone can thrive.

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  Surali Siriwardene - Global Co-Chair of Ability ERG

  HSBC (Hong Kong)

  Surali (Su) Siriwardene, is Head of Private Bank Change Execution and COO Wealth Premier Solutions, for HSBC. Su globally leads key strategic initiatives, drives product risk oversight, and enables technology initiatives globally in alignment with our strategic priorities and overall Group Wealth and Private Bank ambitions.
  
  Beyond that she is also a Global Co-Chair for the Ability, ERG group in HSBC that focuses on promoting inclusivity and support for employees with disabilities by driving initiatives that empower individuals to thrive professionally and personally.

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  Wolfgang Kowatsch - Managing Director

  myAbility Social Enterprise GmbH (Austria)

  On a mission to create equal opportunities for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in the labor market, Wolfgang co-founded an inclusive jobs platform that became the largest for people with disabilities in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. This led to the founding of myAbility, a verified social enterprise that helps companies build inclusive corporate cultures and foster an inclusive economy.
  
  With over 15 years of experience in career development and two decades in management, Wolfgang is passionate about social entrepreneurship. He advances this mission as co-founder of the Social Entrepreneurship Network Austria (SENA) and as a board member at Tech2People.

We often receive feedback from attendees that options to connect would be welcome. To meet this need, this year we introduced four 30-minute breakout sessions at 2:50 pm (GMT).

These will operate as a regular Zoom meeting and will open up in a browser outside of the event platform. Once you have joined the meeting, you will be able to choose a Breakout Room to join. You may need to press to ‘more’ button on the bottom menu bar to find the Breakout Rooms. You will be muted until you join a Breakout Room.

Members of the BDF team will introduce the topic of the breakout and then facilitate the discussion, meanwhile you will be able to communicate with other attendees in the zoom chat.

The breakout rooms and facilitators are as follows:

AI: Friend or Foe

• Katie Coates, Lead Senior Disability Business Partner
• Lucy Ruck, Taskforces Manager

Inclusive Language and Culture

• Jean Tennant, Technical Writer
• Laura Martin, Senior Disability Business Partner

Mental Health at Work

• Rachel Smitheman, Senior Disability Business Partner
• Courtney Swaby, Disability Business Partner

Ask Us Anything: The Global Assessment

• Victoria Harker, Head of Content
• Daniel Cadey, Senior Disability Business Partner
• Brooke Mauro, Senior Disability Business Partner

The Zoom joining details can be found below:

Meeting ID: 831 9993 0430
Passcode: 657819

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More detailed join instructions can be found here.
Joining Instructions (link)