ACE chair stars in list of top 30 men tackling gender inequality at work

ACE chair and Mott MacDonald global managing director Mike Haigh has been named as one of the top 30 men tackling gender inequality in the workplace.

The Women’s Business Council and Management Today revealed their list of the top 30 men challenging the status quo and promoting gender equality in workplaces across the UK and Haigh was named as one of them in recognition of his outstanding work as the business representative of the Advance Employee Network at Mott MacDonald.

The 2017 Agents of Change power list celebrates 30 male leaders who are supporting women in business, driving gender equality initiatives and shattering glass ceilings. Over 150 men were nominated, from a range of sectors, including education; media; and the financial services industry.

Nominations were judged by Management Today’s editor Matthew Gwyther and features editor Kate Bassett alongside Cilla Snowball, chair of the Women’s Business Council, Helene Reardon-Bond of the government’s equalities office and Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of GlaxoSmithKline and co-author of the Hampton-Alexander Review on improving gender balance in FTSE leadership. 

The announcement of the list comes ahead of the government’s gender pay gap reporting regulations coming into effect this April. This will require all employers with over 250 staff to report their gender pay gap and their gender bonus pay gap.  

The gender pay gap is currently the lowest on record at 18.1%. The government has been taking action to tackle this gap by increasing efforts to get more women into the top jobs at the UK’s biggest companies, introducing shared parental leave and extending the right to request flexible working to all employers. 

Cilla Snowball, chair of the Women’s Business Council said: “This list champions the male leaders who are making a difference for women in many fields of work. We can’t empower women without involving men. We applaud all of this year’s nominees; every single entry showed gender equality in action and provided a brilliant bank of case studies on how to challenge the status quo.”

Matthew Gwyther, editor of Management Today said: “Women in business is now definitely a man's issue. From the biggest FTSE down to early stage SMEs, the Agents of Change campaign is now on the march.”

Minister for women, equalities and early years, Caroline Dinenage said: “Equality isn’t just a women’s issue. It is everyone’s business and benefits both men and women alike. These men – from teachers, to civil servants and chief executives – are all doing fantastic things to champion women in the workplace. This power list is a fantastic way to celebrate the good practice already happening in workplaces across the country. I hope it inspires even more men to get involved in smashing the glass ceiling so that everyone can reach their full potential and help us to eliminate the gender pay gap.”

Commenting on his listing, Haigh said: "I am delighted that our work to improve gender equality at Mott MacDonald has been recognised. However, I realise that both in the company and in the wider engineering sector, we still have a long way to go if we are to achieve true gender equality. We have just started that journey, and I look forward to actively supporting Advance and the EDI team in our continuing work on all fronts."

Haigh is in very good company, with organisations represented in the list including Lloyds Banking, the Financial Times, EE, Sky, Deloitte, BP, the MoD, PwC, Diageo, GCHQ, BAE Systems, Facebook, Vodaphone and many more.

The full list is as follows: 

1. Aki Stamatis, chairman, Fourfront Group

2. Andrew Bester, group director and CEO Commercial Banking, Lloyds Banking

3. Andrew Lawson, UK&I managing director and SVP North Europe, Middle East and Africa salesforce

4. Andrew Hill, management editor, Financial Times

5. Ben Black and Oliver Black (Joint nomination), Oliver Black My Family Care

6. Chris Norwood, headteacher at Northfleet School for Girls

7. Chris Stylianou, chief operating officer UK and ROI, Sky

8. Chris Brook-Carter, managing director, Retail Week

9. Chris Murphy, goup managing director (Europe, the Middle East and South Asia) ThoughtWorks

10. David Sproul, senior partner and CEO of Deloitte in the UK

11. Edwin Alford, VP business application services, BP

12. General Sir Gordon Messenger, vice chief of the defence staff, Ministry of Defence

13. Kevin Ellis, chairman and senior partner, PwC

14. Marc Allera, CEO, EE

15. Mervyn Davies, lord and ex-minister, chair of Corsair, SID Diageo

16. Mike Haigh, group managing director and business representative of Advance employee network, Mott MacDonald

17. Mike Putnam, president and CEO, Skanska UK

18. Neil Williamson, CEO, Jardine Motors Group

19. Nick Baughan, CEO, Maxus UK

20. Paul Kissack, director general, Civil Service

21. Philip Thomas, CEO, Cannes Lions

22. Richard Robinson, managing partner, Oystercatchers

23. Robert Hannigan, director, GCHQ

24. Roger Whiteside, CEO, Greggs PLC

25. Russ Shaw, founder, Tech London Advocates

26. Sir Roger Carr, chairman, BAE Systems, nominated by Speakers for Schools

27. Steve Hatch, regional director Northern Europe, Facebook

28. Steve Varley, chairman and managing partner UK&I, EY (Ernst & Young)

29. Tom Knox, CEO and president, Mullen Lowe and IPA

30. Vittorio Colao, chief executive officer, Vodafone Group