Allison Seidlar has been appointed as the new director of Opportunity Now, an organisation which promotes gender equality and diversity in the workplace and represents a combined workforce of over 3.3 million.
Opportunity Now empowers employers to accelerate change for women in the workplace because it makes good business sense. It works with its membership of 350 employers, from the UK’s largest, to some of the smallest, in the private, public and education sectors to offer tailored, practical and pragmatic advice on workplace issues.
Allison joins Opportunity Now, part of Business in the Community, from BT where she was head of industry liaison. She is also a non-executive director of Hillingdon Primary Care Trust, is a Chartered Marketer and has degrees in environmental scienes, an MBA from Henley Management College.
She believes that the business imperative for creative inclusive organisations has never been greater. She said: ‘I firmly believe that workplace diversity creates competitive advantage. There is no doubt that having more diversity within organisations helps avoid identikit thinking and encourages a dynamic mix of experience, perspectives, attitudes and approaches.’
She added: ‘Research has proved that mixed management groups are more effective than homogeneous ones in making strategic decisions, and delivering better and more effective than homogeneous ones in making strategic decisions, and delivering better and more informative business results. However, there is currently a worrying leak in the talent pipeline which filters out many talented and high performing individuals en route to the corporate suite. I believe that increasing the number of women in leadership positions is not a ‘nice to do’, but something which can offer vital business advantage.’
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