WIREDGOV

National Awarding organisation, NCFE, celebrates women’s achievements every day, and is hugely proud of being an organisation with a largely female leadership team. 74.3% of the senior management team at NCFE is female, and out of the 721 total employees, 64.1% are female.

The campaign theme this year for International Women’s Day is #BalanceForBetter, with the aim to forge a more gender-balanced world. Taking action against inequality, raising awareness against bias and celebrating women’s achievements are all steps to building a better balanced world.

In January, Lisa Forrest joined NCFE as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining NCFE, Lisa worked in a wide variety of organisations throughout her career as a chartered accountant, from Business Analyst at Rolls Royce, to Finance Manager at Viasystems Tyneside, along with several financial roles in social housing.

Lisa said: “Being a woman in business is different to being a man in business but it’s a good difference. Balance is so important in business and equality in the workplace is how we can really make a difference and promote success. I’m proud to join NCFE, an organisation that is passionate about its people and whose values run through everything it does. I’m excited about being part of NCFE’s continuing journey and look forward to contributing to its further growth and evolution.”

Director of Sales and Marketing, Sian Wilson, leads the growth and diversification of the awarding arm of the business, overseeing the business development, marketing and customer experience functions across both the NCFE and CACHE brands. During her career, Sian has held a number of senior positions across the UK, including Head of Corporate Sales at JHP Group, Director at BWB Group and Head of Apprenticeship Services at the Tech Partnership.

Sian commented: “I am proud to be part of the NCFE leadership team which has a strong female presence and we are all supportive of each other. I think it is really important, whatever role and business you are in to set an example and have women lifting other women up and being advocates for each other.

There is still a lot of work to do; the number of women holding the most senior jobs in the boardrooms of Britain’s biggest companies has fallen, according to a recent report by Cranfield University that criticises the lack of progress made by businesses in getting more women to the top. Businesses needs to ensure that they are representative of our society in order for them to connect with their customer base.

To change this, I think it’s vital for women in leadership to lead by example and be role models for internal colleagues as well as women outside the organisation. Nothing is out of reach, all women in business are capable of speaking up, challenging the norm, negotiating and influencing – we just need to help each other to do it.”

In the UK, only 1 in 10 IT leaders are women, and at NCFE Lindsey Gibson is proud to lead its growing IT workforce, spearheading exciting developments in technology.

“I am incredibly proud to be in this role, not only for myself, but as a woman in the field of IT and Technology.

“I believe we can improve the statistics of women in IT and work towards a more gender-balanced industry, if we as IT professionals take action to recognise the importance of diverse tech talent in a sector where IT skills are in high demand.”