Finding Your Path

Dr Karl George MBE

Dr Karl George is a thought leader, author and internationally established consultant in governance. He is Managing Director of the governance forum (tgf), creator of The Governance Framework and the Effective Board Member Programmes. He works with boards and senior executives in the private, public and voluntary sectors and has over twenty five years’ combined experience in accountancy, business and strategic development.

Karl is passionate about community development and utilises his expertise in governance by sitting on a number of local, regional and national boards. Having previously held a number of community and other sector board appointments, Karl is currently the Vice Chair of the  Finance, Risk and Audit Committee for the -Housing Group and Chair of the West Midlands Branch of ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute.

He pioneered the national Diversity in the Boardroom Campaign, with support from the Birmingham Post, which encourages organisations beyond the FTSE100 to pledge to improving diversity in boardrooms.

He started the first international chapter of 100 Black Men, a mentoring programme with over 10,000 members in the United States. As a Reach Role Model, Karl was one of only twenty individuals from across the UK selected to deliver this government led national activity aimed at raising the aspirations of men from BAME backgrounds.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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Herman Stewart is recognised as the UK’s leading expert in youth mentoring with over twenty years of experience mentoring. Herman is an author, TEDx speaker and his flagship mentoring programme has won an award for improving student morale, well-being, performance and attainment.

Herman’s mentoring expertise has been sought by many organisations both nationally and internationally, including government, businesses and education establishments. He was the city of Birmingham’s Lead Mentor; and his work has been regarded as ‘High Quality’ by Ofsted and his Mentoring work has been included in a white paper for policy on social inclusion.

Before embarking on his mentoring career, Herman was a keen sportsman who played football for Great Britain under 15's and he was a professional musician who featured on national radio, TV and MTV.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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Likhon Muhammed was born in a remote village in Bangladesh. Neither of his parents had been to higher education and aspiration was limited by the boundary of the village. Early in secondary school, Likhon was challenged by his Science teacher to dream bigger, which he did. His dreaming led to him winning a national scholarship that funded the rest of his secondary education.

Likhon’s scholarship enabled him to move to the capital of Bangladesh to study in a private school following a British curriculum. He completed A-Levels in Physics, Pure Maths and Applied Maths which led to Likhon gaining a full scholarship to study Physics at the University of Oxford.

Likhon, is now a Headteacher in one of the most prominent academy chains who has helped students to secure apprenticeships at Mercedes McClaren and Coca-Cola along the way.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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After studying law at the University of Edinburgh Sylvia qualified as a solicitor in 1997, after several years working at Shepherd & Wedderburn, Sylvia moved in-house, and to London, she has worked across three industries; telecommunications at colt, life sciences/healthcare at ThermoFisher and international risk management and private security with Aegis, and GardaWorld where she led by example, not only on commercial and corporate issues but also working with governments, industry and civil society.

Sylvia has contributed to the regulation of the private security industry, with the International Code of Conduct and the development of an industry ISO 18788 (with respect for human rights at its core). After leaving the industry 2018, Sylvia has worked for a range of companies as an outsourced GC and is also working with a number of charitable initiatives, she has a passion for doing the right thing.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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Michael Grant was installed in October 2012 as the new master of the Information Technologists’ Company, the 100thCity of London livery company.  Previously, he was a Senior Warden of the company, a post in which he worked closely with the Lord Mayor of London.

In his role as Warden, Grant represented the ITC as a member of the Financial Services Group, alongside eleven other modern livery companies. They jointly assist the Lord Mayor by providing access to expertise and experience for planning his outbound and inbound visits across the world.

Amongst his other City interests, Grant frequently attends State and other visits to the City, dressed in his armour, as a Pikeman of the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers, the Lord Mayor’s private bodyguard. He also frequently acts as chairman of IT conferences on both sides of the Atlantic or as a Master of Ceremonies at a range of industry events including the eGovernment Awards and the Intellect Annual Ball.

Previous to that, in his role as ITC Clerk (CEO), a post he held for five years, Grant incorporated three companies, the last of which was by Royal Charter, and acted as company secretary to two of these. Running a small team of 13, Grant managed and attended ten company committees, and was responsible for helping to manage numerous City events, a £5 million trust fund as well as the ITC’s own Livery Hall.

During his 23 years as a member of the company, Grant has also provided management and consultancy to a team running IT4C (IT for communities), matching the needs of 1,000 charities to the pro-bono help of 10,000 IT volunteers across the UK. He was ITC company secretary for five years and acted as a trustee for three years during the planning and building of the Hammersmith Academy for 700 children.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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Swifty joined the British Army in 1982 leaving school at 16 and joining the 1st Battalion Royal Green Jackets. He served 10 yrs. before being medically discharged as a result of injuries received in an IRA IED explosion in Belfast. He lost both legs above the knee, a couple of fingers and received various other blast injuries.

On leaving HM Forces, Swifty continued with his passion for travel and also found work as an Extra/Supporting Artiste in Film and TV. He continues to do this work and has been fortunate enough to get the opportunity to become an actor in Theatre, TV and Film productions.

Over the last 29yrs and in between work opportunities Swifty has become involved in various expeditions both research and adventure and has taken up several outdoor sports and activities. These include Canoeing, Hand-Cycling, Skydiving, Sit-skiing and Snowboarding.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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Barry is the CEO of LexJam Consulting and formerly the Director of Legal Affairs and Third Party Sales at ITV Plc. He also sits on the Board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and assisted in the creation of the Social Mobility Pledge.

During the decade spent working as volunteer youth worker at the childhood trauma charity, Body & Soul, Barry became increasingly concerned by the number of young people from low income backgrounds, although academically capable, were not considering a career  in law. All too often the fear of the unknown was the key factor in putting these students off even attempting to enter the solicitor profession. Barry wanted to change this.

Recognising that in-house counsel do not readily have access to dedicated legal CSR project management resource nor large teams to deliver work experience he set out to devise a model which unlocked the latent goodwill which existed in the in-house community,  in turn, enabling students to experience multiple work places meeting a diverse range of professionals.  Hence, in 2014, with the help of a number of law firms and corporates the Legal Social Mobility Partnership was created offering places to 20 students in London. 

In 2017, Barry secured the financial backing of 23 organisations to evolve the LSMP in to a registered charity and broadened its scope to showcase law and accountancy side by side with business – a first in the UK. In doing so, SMBP is able to offer  over six hundred places across 19 clusters in 13 different locations nationwide.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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Sharon is a former television presenter and motivational speaker who presented at Tedx Norwich 2019.   She is the founder of the Dot Com Children’s Foundation and creator of a range of resources which empower children to speak up about issues that frighten or worry them.   

Sharon is an adviser to the police nationally about the safeguarding of children and is currently working to turn the range of paper-based resources which have a strong track record with schools into a digital wellbeing programme.   The new digital resource has already been cited in DFE guidance for teaching online safety. 

In 2014/15 as a journalist and survivor of child abuse, she was appointed media spokesperson and panel member advising the government on the setting up of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse under the Home Secretary Theresa May.  She is currently a consultant on the safeguarding group to the Chief Constable of Essex, Steven Kavanagh who leads the national strategy on digital crime.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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Manley was schooled on leadership through a mix of practical and academic. He twice served as an Officer in the Royal Navy, re-joining for the first Gulf War and in between Manley was an Inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Marine Police.

In 2000, he was selected as a skipper in the BT Global Challenge round the world yacht race, leading a team of volunteers, including novices, for 9 months in a 32,000 mile journey, the “wrong way”!

Manley continued his adventures as part of the 3-man team that won the inaugural race to the Magnetic North Pole. The team faced polar bear attacks, and sub-zero temperatures, learning huge lessons about both surviving and competing in very difficult circumstances.

Their record time of 10 days and 9 hours still stands. With many more adventures ahead, Manley is always a “leader, in learning".

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

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A Nottingham native, Ken is an IT businessman and philanthropist with a 40 year international career at IBM, Wang and Interregnum (which he founded and floated in 2000).

A Past Master of the Information Technologists’ Livery Company, he is known in the Square Mile as an outspoken proponent of good corporate governance. He chairs leading governance advisors, Independent Audit, and his expression - “More Soviet than City” - describing his treatment as a director of ENRC is rarely out of the business pages.

Ken has advised or invested in some of the UK’s more interesting computer technology entrepreneurs. A diversity pioneer and enthusiastic mentor, he became the first British born black FTSE100 Director when he joined Reuters (now Thomson Reuters) in 2004 and regularly appears in the Powerlist most influential black people in the UK.

Hermans LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hermanstewart/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.