Buy Tickets

Tickets

29th of September, 2023

7:30am - 5:00pm

Clarion Hotel The Hub

Biskop Gunnerus Gate 3,
0106 Oslo, Norway

Amplifying Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Nordics

Diversify Nordics Summit

Group Discounts available!

Fancy a team excursion to develop your DEIB awareness, knowledge and network?

5-9 tickets: 20% discount
10+ tickets: 25% discount

The relevant discount will be automatically applied to the checkout when you select 5 or more tickets

Please feel free to reach out  if you have any questions, or issues with purchase – we are just an email away and will always be happy to assist you.

contact@diversify.no

Abu Bundu-Kamara picture

Abu Bundu-Kamara (He/Him)

Senior Director, Global Inclusion and Diversity at Expedia

Abu is a globally recognised equity, inclusion and diversity expert and strategic thinker with strong business acumen.  He is passionate about helping leaders and companies embrace change in a New World Marketplace. With a proven record and over 20 years of career experience in global business sectors and senior HR leadership roles. He works with executives to embed inclusion & diversity in their decision-making process through system redesign and leadership development. 

In October 2021, Expedia appointed me Senior Director, Global Inclusion and Diversity. In this role, he is responsible for driving the development of a global vision and effective strategy for inclusion and diversity for EMEA, APAC and LATAM. He also led their Global Inclusion Business Groups.  Our Inclusion Business Groups (IBGs) are one way we support employees and their sense of belonging at Expedia Group. IBGs are self-organized communities, sponsored by the I&D team, focused on advancing inclusion, awareness, development, and a sense of belonging for underrepresented identities at Expedia Group.

In addition to his fantastic role at Expedia, he supports several organisations and sit on the board of Catalyst, NCTJ (The National Council for the Training of Journalists) and the Journalism Diversity Fund. He is also a founding member of the National Equality Standard (NES), the 30% Club working group, and chair a UK Network for Diversity Practitioners. He speaks regularly at conferences on the topic of inclusion. Previously, Abu has worked for global brands such as Pearson, Financial Times, The Economist, Penguin Books, BAE Systems and Boeing.

Tina Gaardsøe Albrechtsen

Tina Gaardsøe Albrechtsen (She/Her)

Director Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at Ramboll

Tina has for a long time been the creative Center of Excellence Lead at Ramboll, currently becoming the Director for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. She has a strong drive and flair for pushing the boundaries of current thinking.

Leading the global work on Equality, Diversity, she prefers to work across functions, organizations and business and thrives working with leadership and developing strategies for the future. She has a strong focus on people and stakeholder management. Her point of departure is always to lead the strategic people agenda that supports the right outcomes for the business.

She has many years of experience within consulting including HR advisory work for business units and organizations undergoing significant transformation as well as operational change.

Her primary focus today is within Equality, Diversity & Inclusion but she has a strong background in Leadership Development and Learning.

Abel Buko

Abel Buko (He/Him)

Sustainability Manager at Zimpler

After spending nine years in university studying philosophy, feminist theory, and linguistics (+ a brief fling as a technical trainer at Apple), I spent the nine following years in advertising in NYC and Stockholm.
In the fall of 2021, I returned to my roots and now work as the Sustainability Manager at Zimpler. In this role, I aim to drive real change where it matters by discovering how the business affects its surrounding environment/society and then asking where our responsibilities are.
Ama Afrifa-Tchie picture

Ama Afrifa-Tchie (She/Her)

Global DEI Specialist Adviser at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
Culture & Inclusion | People Experience & Engagement Specialist, The Inclusion Agilist

Ama Afrifa-Tchie is a valiant cultural builder, who’s specialism spans across people experience, workplace culture, diversity & inclusion, mental health and wellbeing and corporate responsibility. She is experienced in leading the design, analysis, and implementation of people-centric products/services, inclusion & wellbeing initiatives.

She works with senior leadership, management teams, and employee engagement to embed and integrate organisational culture through behaviour, processes and systems, and seeks to promote a positive, inclusive, supportive work environment and company
culture by developing and evolving programmes and initiatives that support the organisation’s mission and values.

As Global DEI specialist Adviser for NRC, she is responsible for leading NRC’s work to become an even more inclusive and diverse organisation and is responsible for defining and implementing policies and measures to promote and embed an organisational culture that embraces and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in NRC. This includes designing, creating and implementing plans to promote diversity and inclusion within the organisation and to ensure a common understanding amongst managers and employees about what diversity, equity and inclusion mean throughout NRC’s country and regional offices, representative offices and at the Head Office.

Ama has built her career and expertise (over 15 years ‘experience) within different industries such as – start-ups, tech, professional services, legal, financial services, media & entertainment. She is the founder of The Inclusion Agilist (a culture and inclusion consultancy).

Ama has an LLB in Law and a MA in Public Relations and Public Communications. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce UK.

As well as serving on MAC-UK’s Board of Trustees as vice-chair, she is also a Governor on the Board of The Boxing Academy. Previous Board roles also include former Mentoring Chair of Women in Cable & Telecommunications (WITC UK), and Trustee Board member at Artswork.

Ama’s passions and interests include travelling, fitness, outdoors activities, theatre and movies, animation, and interior decor. She is an avid foodie and loves spending time with her family and socialising with friends.

Navid Ostadian-Binai picture

Navid Ostadian-Binai (He/Him)

Head of Green Vessels & Fuels at Maersk Tankers

Navid Ostadian-Binai helps drive the green transition, while advocating for freedom and equitable opportunities for all. He has spent his career at top-tier corporates, global technology startups as well as innovation consultancy firms. In his role as Head of Green Vessels & Fuels at Maersk Tankers, Navid explores new opportunities to work with customers and partners on accelerating pathways towards commercialisation and scale of green shipping.

Sarah Reynolds picture

Sarah Reynolds (they/them)

Chief Marketing Officer at HiBob

Sarah Reynolds (they/them) is a creative, award-winning marketing executive and advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). A veteran of the HR software market, Sarah is currently Chief Marketing Officer at Hibob, where they bring their deep industry knowledge, passion for storytelling, and keen eye for performance insights to bear in scaling HiBob’s global reach.

A proud champion of inclusive, people-centric growth strategies, Sarah has a strong track record of delivering transformative results. Prior to joining HiBob, Sarah was Chief Marketing Officer at Udacity, where they led global brand, marketing, and communications across the Company’s consumer, enterprise, and government go-to-market motions. Previously, they were Head of Commercial Marketing at PTC, where they focused on pipeline generation, value-driven messaging, marketing operations excellence, team culture, and talent development, and Vice President of Marketing at Salary.com, where they oversaw global marketing.

An openly non-binary executive, Sarah writes and speaks widely about diversity and inclusion, pay equity, the future of work, and the intersection of bias, ethics, and technology. They have contributed to Forbes, Campaign US, Yahoo Finance, Training Industry Magazine, and the Society for Human Resources blog, and frequently speak at live and virtual events hosted by the National Association of
Manufacturers, the Manufacturing Leadership Council, the Manufacturing Institute, WorldatWork, SHRM, HR Dive, AICPA, and more. You can find them shouting about equality, equity, and inclusive language on Twitter @fairpaymonster.

Wenche Fredriksen picture

Wenche Fredriksen (She/Her)

SVP Head of Inclusion & Diversity DNB

Wenche Fredriksen is the Head of Inclusion & Diversity and at DNB. She has worked at Accenture for 30 years, having roles within consulting, HR and as Nordic Inclusion & Diversity Lead for many years. Wenche is an inspirational storyteller who actively uses her life experiences to open people’s hearts and minds, and to build a more diverse and inclusive world.

Thomas Henriksen

Thomas Henriksen (He/Him)

Client Partner – Head of Leadership Development at Korn Ferry , Assessment & Succession, Nordics

Thomas is an experienced leader and partner for C-suite and CHROs in aligning HR’s value creation towards meeting business imperatives and has designed and delivered Succession Planning, Talent Management, People Analytics and Executive assessment / -development processes for mid size and large global organizations.

His experience includes business sectors like retail, energy, life sciences, industry, professional services and public services.

Thomas is passionate about documenting value add and utilizes new research, technology and science to design and develop state of the art solutions that push boundaries and enable organizations to win.

Geert De Wael picture

Geert De Wael (He/Him)

Co-Founder & Managing Partner at The Forge

Geert’s career started in the media where he soon became director of a trilingual TV channel. Cross-cultural communication was daily business. In the meantime, his good friend Michaël Van Damme was doing his PhD on how teams/companies can optimally cooperate. It turned out there was a big difference between what science indicated as the best idea and what occurs in practice. After 15 years in the media, he decided together with Michaël to found a spin-off of Ghent University (Belgium) to bring this scientifically based knowledge to the business world in a comprehensible way. 
Because behavioural change is not at all obvious, they developed a number of games in order to create a positive affect about sustainability, diversity and inclusion, among other things. For their SDG Game, they are creative partner of United Nations Regional Information Center for Western Europe. 
With The Forge, they have guided about 100+ companies in their cultural transformation process over the past years. In addition, they also provide science-based advice to entrepreneurs in building their businesses with a sustainable culture in the broadest sense. 
Michaël Van Damme picture

Michaël Van Damme (He/Him)

Co-founder & Managing Partner at The Forge

Michaël Van Damme is an experimental psychologist. In context of his PhD at Ghent University he studied and experimented on innovation and creativity in teams. Michaël has a unique expertise on the science of innovation in teams and organizations, group dynamics, charisma, humor and behavioural change.
Michaël is also an experienced Keynote speaker throughout Europe (eg. TEDx, the London BA Conference Europe, Technopolis Science Comedy Night, …). For the last seven years he has been delving more specifically into group dynamics and how to get the full potential out of diverse teams. 
 

Marlon Brown (He/Him)

Co-Owner/Consultant at Racial Equity Consultants LLC

Marlon Brown is a black man with over 13 years of professional experience leading and facilitating workshops, conversations and cohorts in Racial Equity and Social Justice. As a certified Equity and Social Justice practitioner, Marlon specializes in leadership coaching, facilitation/training and organizational development with an emphasis on racial equity and customer service. Marlon is also very skilled and experienced in “change agent” mentoring, racial caucusing and policy development/implementation as well as creating and advising equity committees/teams and anti-racist curriculum development.

Marlon is skilled in developing lasting relationships with staff and leadership, unionized and at-will workforces. Relationships are vital to change work in any capacity. Marlon’s ability to coach clients through developing better relationships with their coworkers and teams allows for a greater impact.

Marlon wears many hats – spouse, business owner, activist, singer, radio show host, strategist, board member and 20-year career in IT to name a few. Marlon has a wealth of knowledge and life experience that informs his practice.

Racial Equity Consultants LLC is expanding, opening a business in Sweden as Anti-Racism Consultants AB to continue the work with firms, companies, organisations or groups in Sweden and Europe who are interested in becoming more inclusive and anti-racist.

Tor Andreas Bremnes

Tor Andreas Bremnes (He/Him)

Managing Director at InClue as

Economist, leader, entrepeneur, with a great passion for creating a world where we unlock the potential in each of us. 

Working for the re-humanization of recruitment-processes. InClue’s vision is paving the way for inclusive recruitment targeting PwDs way into the workplace! My greatest strength is curiosity and drive. Won NHO Norway’s speaker of the year in 2021. I also happenes to have cerebral palsy, some hearing and sightloss, and engaged to Thomas.

Sarah Freiesleben picture

Sarah Freiesleben (She/Her)

Digital Transformation Lead at Ramskov Consulting Group

Sarah Freiesleben helps purpose driven organizations sustainably innovate by harnessing and applying human insights to technology development. With an advanced degree in linguistics and 15 years working on global, cross functional enterprise tech projects in a wide variety of industries, she has come to believe that tech needs the humanities to develop tech for humanity. Her passion is shaping more holistic ecosystems so groups of people who want to bring change into the world can find the coherence & agency to be able to do so. 

She works as a consultant at Ramskov Consulting Group and as an Industry Fellow at DTU. Sarah contributes to the diversity conversation by exploring the role variety plays in fostering dynamic quality. As an autistic woman, working in a male dominated industry, she observes patterns of failures that occur due to prematurely ordering complex matters by systematically excluding non-dominant narratives. 

She has recently written about her intersectionality in The Art of Active Allyship, by Dr. Poornima Luthra and enjoys connecting the conversation about diversity and inclusion with conversations around collaboration, innovation, organizational design and product design.

Chanel Björk Sturludóttir picture

Chanel Björk Sturludóttir (She/Her)

Diversity advocate, Broadcaster and Co-founder of Her Voice

Chanel Björk is a diversity advocate and broadcaster with a passion for raising awareness on the challenges facing people of foreign origin in Iceland. With a BA degree in International Media from the University of Nottingham, Chanel developed a passion for diversity matters, equity, and mediating stories of marginalised groups. 

She is the co-founder of the organisation Her Voice, which aims to increase public awareness about the status of foreign women in Icelandic society. She also runs the educational platform Mannflóran and visits schools and workplaces to give lectures on multiculturalism and anti-racism.

Chanel is currently working on the production of a TV series called Mannflóran, set to air on RÚV in the spring.

Ulkar Aghayeva picture

Ulkar Aghayeva (She/Her)

Sustainability Consultant and DEI -specialist at DNV, Chair of Fem-R

Ulkar is a Sustainability Consultant at DNV. She has an extensive knowledge of Human rights policies and due diligence, diversity and inclusion work. Ulkar has worked on various diversity-focused projects that promote an inclusive and diverse society. Prior to joining DNV, Ulkar has worked at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, The Peace Education Institute, and MEP Heidi Hautala’s cabinet at the European Parliament.

Ulkar has been involved in various volunteer and leadership positions, including as Chair of Fem-R and Vice-chair of The Finnish League for Human Rights. With a passion for making positive change, she has dedicated her career to advocating for anti-racism, DEI, and sustainability issues, and has gained a reputation as a well-known public speaker and trainer on these topics. She has also organized and facilitated various events related to human rights, anti-racism, diversity and inclusion.

Ulkar is multilingual and holds an MA degree in Social Exclusion from Åbo Akademi and a BBA degree from Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences.

Hatem Ben Mansour (He/Him)

Director of the Norwegian Center against Racism/Antirasistisk Senter

Director of the Norwegian Center against Racism/Antirasistisk Senter, established in 1983.

Ben Mansour has a law-degree from the University of Oslo, specialized in the field of International Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law and International Refugee Law. He has broad experience in Human Rights Law and anti-racist work as board-member, professional and essayist.

Michael Watson (He/Him)

People Business Partner at Nordea, Large Corporates and Institutions.

Michael’s original background is in banking, finance and trading. For 20+ years has was a senior leader in Nordea’s Capital Markets Division, leading teams across Nordic countries and international capitals. Inspired by Gestalt psychology he later changed career priorities and the latest 15+ years he has been People Business Partner in Nordea’s Capital Markets Division, working with leadership, culture, wellbeing, psychological safety and D&I.

Michael is passionate about the interaction between people that – if done well – can inspire each other to develop and to live life to the fullest, also in a business context.

Emil Novák-Tót image

Emil Novák-Tót (He/Him)

Head of Research at Develop Diverse

Emil Novák-Tót (he/him) is a researcher and DEIB practitioner with about seven years of experience in linguistic and socio-psychological research in speech, stereotypes, charisma, power, belonging and related workplace dynamics.
He has worked as a researcher at Develop Diverse almost from its founding, where he has built much of the theoretical and practical frameworks of the flagship software and surrounding services. He has contributed to designing, writing and delivering inclusive language workshops at universities and global companies alike. He is also dedicated to contributing to employee-led initiatives and advising leadership on DEIB, both internally and as an external advisor at CBS.
At the dynamic and ever-changing overlaps of various marginalised and privileged identities (white, trans, immigrant, disabled, neurodivergent), Emil strives to combine lived experience expertise and research in ways that are ethical and sustainable. He tries his best to approach topics of DEIB with bias-consciousness, an open and inquisitive mindset, radical honesty, and from a place of critical sensitivity to how today’s inequalities have been shaped by a still ongoing history of violent Western colonisation. 
His current fixation is trans liberation and why it’s one of two major prerequisites to gender equality. (The other one is anti-racism, and the short answer is “because of white supremacy”).
Gabriella Bossman image

Gabriella Bossman (She/Her)

Co-Founder of Sustie

Gabriella is a strategic thinker who takes a people centred approach to problem solving and solution design in transformational delivery.

With experience in the public, private and third sector respectively, she has held programme and leadership roles internationally, placing people and authentic relationships at the centre. Gabriella is driven by seeing people and programmes, especially those with evident potential and planned benefits to society, achieving their goals. 

Gabriella has worked towards this both in her professional career but also as a mentor for many young people, a trustee on various charitable boards and as a host and speaker at international events. She is committed to being an active contributor and change agent in any community she is in and strives towards creating curious and inclusive teams. Gabriella is a start up leader in sustainable fashion, building a product to change the way we shop online!

Sirine Fodstad image

Sirine Fodstad (She/Her)

Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Sirine is a partner at Boston Consulting Group where she leads the People & Organization Practice (POP) area in Norway. She has 25+ years of international work experience and has spent 17 years living abroad in 7 countries.
She has deep expertise in the People Agenda and Large-scale Transformation programs delivering major change and significant profit improvement with focus areas that include People Strategy, Performance, Change and Talent Management; Communication & Stakeholder Engagement; Diversity & Inclusion; and Leadership. In this regard, she has supported a broad client base in the public and private sector in cross-sectoral industries such as oil & gas, finance,  asset management, shipping, aquaculture, airlines and retail. In these capacities, she has held leadership and management positions up to CEO level.
Her hobbies include some retail therapy especially within the pink sections of fashion stores, cooking, downhill skiing, tennis and golf. She enjoys spending time with loved ones over food and wine.
Salamatu Kamara image

Salamatu Kamara (She/Her)

Special adviser and activist | Kamara’s Utopia

I light up when I talk about the things I’m most passionate about: disabled rights, anti-racism and women’s rights. Originally from Sierra Leone, I’ve been raised in Norway since the age of three where I’ve always been outspoken about the things that are most important to me . Through my business “Kamara’s Speech” I also work as a motivational speaker and most recently spoke at the 2022 Global Disability Summit about disability rights.

Already at the age of 13, I established my very first business, called “No Boundaries”. A physical education class for able-bodied students to experience the daily obstacles faced by wheelchair users. The program toured several secondary schools in Oslo and more than 400 students took part in the program.

In 2018, I independently published my first book “What do you Wear Under your Clothes?”. For many years I have been a champion and advocate in the disability rights movement, as well as a board member of the Norwegian Association of Disabled (NAD).

Since 2021 I’ve been a news anchor on Supernytt on NRK Super TV channel, a part of the Norwegian Broadcasting Cooperation. And in 2023 I’ve joined the team at Medvind Assistanse.

Frances Partridge image

Frances Partridge (She/Her)

Co-Owner/Consultant at Racial Equity Consultants

Fran Partridge is a white woman from the USA with 30 years of experience facilitating conversations about Racial Equity with an intersectional lens. For 20 years, she worked in Seattle Public Schools to support educational leaders to become anti-racist. She also worked at SPS to ensure that educational practices and educational policies were becoming anti-racist. She holds a Master’s Degree in Educational Policy and Administration (M.Ed.).

Fran has facilitated over 300 professional development sessions, workshops and racial caucuses focused on historical and systemic racism, implicit bias, racial identity, micro-aggressions, and organisational change. Fran is co-founder of Racial Equity Consultants LLC and since 2016 has impacted cultural change in many companies and organisations by designing and facilitating high quality culturally responsive professional development based on adult learning principles.

Fran is interested in learning about and contributing to the discussion of anti-racism in the Nordics, because Racial Equity Consultants LLC is moving to Sweden. They are opening their business as “Anti-Racism Consultants AB”, and Fran will be moving to and consulting with firms, companies, organisations, or groups in Sweden who are interested in becoming inclusive and anti-racist.

Fran is particularly passionate about working with people and groups who society racialises as white. She supports white people to recognise, unpack and deconstruct our internalised racism, and at the same time collectively work with the broader community to become effective co-conspirators in creating a healthier, inclusive, anti-racist society.

Mark Ivan Serunjogi image

Nico Blier-Silvestri (He/Him)

Partner at Dreamcraft Ventures

Close to 20 years experience in HR, 10 years in fast growing startup/scaleup I have held Leadership roles in 6 Unicorns.

Ex-founder of Platypus.io (now Valuebeat.io) turned VC building P&C & platform for Dreamcraft Venture as a Partner.

Originally from France, I’m now based in Copenhagen since 2012 after living on 3 different continents.

I am the father of 2 and the husband of Danish/Italian Wonderwoman. Living in a home that is a bit of a tower of Babel with 4 languages being spoken on a daily basis.

I find my zen when I cook, build Lego, practice rugby with my LGBTP+ team in Copenhagen or play Civilization on my computer.

I am driven by creating a personal and professional world where diversity and equity are the norm.

Mark Ivan Serunjogi

Mark Ivan Serunjogi (He/They)

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager - Europe at Bitly

Mark Ivan is a specialist in DEI branding and change management, exploring how management processes affect organizational cultures and employee attraction value and retention power. His point of departure is that an authentic employer brand is built from employee experiences and that an attractive workplace is inclusive at worst and equitable at best. 

With a MSocSc in Management of Creative Business Processes from Copenhagen Business School, Mark Ivan has 15 years of experience in strategic communications & marketing, employee representation, and empowerment of marginalized groups in business and products.

Uduak Amimo (She/Her)

Founder of Uduak Amimo Coaching & Consulting

Uduak Amimo is the founder of Uduak Amimo Coaching & Consulting. As an executive coach and facilitator,  she works with individuals and organisations to advance social impact. Her career started in the media and spans over 20 years as a journalist and broadcaster with Reuters, the Voice of America, the BBC and Citizen TV in Kenya, the United States, the United Kingdom and Ethiopia. 

She founded Ramani Life Group to offer career guidance to students in low-income secondary schools in Kenya. She is also the founder of The Comms Table, a professional development program for young communicators. Uduak has an MA in Communication and Public Affairs and a BA in International Relations (cum laude). She is currently pursuing an MA in Business and Organisational Psychology. She is a a BMW Foundation Responsible Leader, Tutu Fellow, a Bloomberg ALI Media Fellow, Aspen Global Leadership Network Fellow, a Boehm Media Fellow and a Global Social Impact Fellow. She is the chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Baraza Media Lab and a board member of the Junior League of Nairobi. 

Miriam Hardarson (She/Her)

Agency Director and LGBT+ lead at Sopra Steria

Miriam Hardarson is a trans woman, a mother of two children, a leader, and an activist for LGBT rights. At the consulting firm Sopra Steria, she is a director and part of a management team responsible for over 1.000 consultants and technology experts. She is also the leader of the company’s LGBT+ network across Scandinavia and involved in many initiatives centered around diversity and inclusion. 

She transitioned in 2021 and has quickly become a trailblazer for trans rights and trans representation in Norway. Miriam has been featured in national business news and national television because of her openness and approach to using the workplace as a safe space for galvanizing her gender expression while building the courage to transition. She has also been featured in documentaries, interviews, and podcasts, and has inspired organizations in Norway by telling her story. 

In 2022, she enabled Sopra Steria to be the first company in Norway to guarantee paid welfare for absences due to gender-affirming care for all transgender employees. As a result, Sopra Steria became the only private company to be invited to engage with government officials to create a more including society for LGBT+ individuals in Norway.

Aminkeng A Alemanji (He/Him)

Program Director and Senior Lecturer for the Master of Social Exclusion at Åbo Akademi University

Aminkeng A Alemanji (Amin) research on race, racism, antiracism and antiracism education in Finland. His research focuses on developing different strategies and methods of antiracism education in and out of schools. In January (2022) he released Finland’s first Antiracism mobile App – Finland without Racism, available for download on the Google play store and iOS store. Besides being a Docent in Sociology with specific expertise in Studies in Diversity, he is currently the Program Director and Senior Lecturer for the Master of Social Exclusion at Åbo Akademi University.

Aaron Kroon (He/Him)

Founder & CEO of Black Batman

Aaron Kroon is one of Sweden’s most influential people in the field of diversity and inclusion. He has more than 20 years of experience in leading organizational and cultural change journeys at companies such as ICA, Vattenfall and now at Schibsted where he is Nordic HR director. In 2022, he was named one of the top three role models in Sweden and has also been praised for  creating Sweden’s most inclusive workplace.

Torstein Lerhol (He/Him)

Regional Head, East Norway at Medvind Assistanse
Torstein Lerhol has Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and he was given a life expectancy of 2 years. But with a well-developed health care system, and a strong will, he has defied all expectations and odds.
Today, the 36-year-old, is a local politician, a public speaker all while working full-time at the private national health company, Medvind Assistanse AS, that provides user-controlled personal assistance, as the branch manager of eastern Norway.
Vanessa Akpore

Vanessa Akpore (She/Her)

Director, Capital Project Portfolio Lead, Small Molecule OpU at Takeda

Vanessa Akpore is a Director of Capital Projects and Portfolio Management at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.  In her role, she supports global engineering teams across South America, Europe, and Asia to successfully implement technology solutions for the manufacture of treatments for rare and chronic diseases.

Vanessa holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering, is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and received her MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Throughout her career, she has made it a personal priority to dedicate her time to encourage and uplift the next generation of minority engineering leaders; from her regular speaking engagements at the Society of Women Engineers on topics such as mentorship and leadership, as a mentor through the Johns Hopkins Diverse Leadership Mentoring Program, to serving as Chair of the Engineers Without Borders Project Management Standing Content Committee. This same passion also extends to her professional sphere where she serves and counsels on her organization’s DE&I team to build awareness of DE&IB through training, best practice sharing, and open dialogue.

Guðrún Hildur Ragnarsd

Guðrún Hildur Ragnarsdóttir (She/Her)

Former President for BEAM EMEA at Expedia Group/Founder of Keeps

Guðrún Hildur Ragnarsdóttir served as a President for I&D group, BEAM, which stands for Black Expedia Allied Movement at Expedia Group. Through her work, she dedicated to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion within the travel industry and beyond. 

 After leaving the company in 2021, she continued her work in in Iceland, by promoting DEI at her current workplace Controlant and has become one of few expert on this matter in Iceland. Resulting in her becoming a public speaker about DEI. Gudrun has also her startup, Keeps, and has insights into funding statistics that female founders are battling against, although awareness has been raised.

Justin Hester (They/Them)

Vice President of Customer Value, Insights, & Industries at Cognite

Justin Hester (they/them) is Vice President of Customer Value, Insights, and Industries at Cognite, leading a global team that empowers industrial companies to view data through the lens of business outcomes, with a specific focus on helping executives effect strategic change and drive top-line and bottom-line improvements across their organizations. 

Prior to Cognite, Justin led a global team at PTC that consulted on digital transformation strategies, leveraging their 17+ years of manufacturing innovation and leadership experience to provide hands-on recommendations resulting in $1B+ in new revenues and cost improvements for partner firms. Justin is passionate about intersectional workplace inclusivity and LGBTQIA+ issues, and is a firm believer that everyone should work in a team and environment that allows them to freely be their authentic self at work. Justin holds an MBA, a Master of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and a BS in Computer Engineering & Industrial Robotics.

Miriam Petra Ómarsdóttir Awad (She/Her)

Anti-racism educator / Inclusion Officer

Miriam Petra Ómarsdóttir Awad is an Icelandic anti-racism educator and activist. Miriam has lived her entire life in Iceland and has a mixed background, as her mother is Icelandic and her father was originally from Egypt. Her experiences of not fitting into the „mold“ of what it means to be Icelandic has greatly influenced her life. 

During her master‘s degree Miriam studied Nordic exceptionalism, colonialism and the Icelandic national identity in relation with prejudice in Iceland. There, her research subject centered on the effects of racism and prejudice on self-identities of Icelandic women with Middle Eastern backgrounds. Miriam currently works at the Icelandic National Agency for Erasmus+ where she is the agency‘s Inclusion and Diversity officer. 

Since spring 2021 Miriam has hosted workshops and lectures on racism and cultural prejudism in Iceland in her personal time, but as an Icelandic person with a mixed background she draws from my own personal experiences as well as her professional experience working with the subject of inclusion and diversity. Miriam has written for Icelandic newspapers and magasines on the subject of intersectionality, racism and prejudice and has been consulted on national TV on the subject.

Nivikka Witjes (She/Her)

COO at Siu-Tsiu

I have a BA in Social Education and a Master of Arts in General Education. I have worked 3 years for the National Board of Health and Welfare. Today, and for the past 2 years, I am the COO in Siu-Tsiu – in the first registered social enterprise in Greenland.

Mads Qvist Frederiksen (He/Him)

Executive Director at Arctic Economic Council

Mads Qvist Frederiksen is the Executive director of the Arctic Economic Council (AEC) that is located in Tromsø, Norway. The AEC is a pan-arctic independent business membership organization established in 2014. It delivers policy advocacy, networking and outreach related to the Arctic. The organization facilitates Arctic sustainable economic development throughout the Arctic region.

Prior to joining the AEC in March 2021, Mr. Frederiksen worked as a Senior Advisor in the Global Trade and Investment unit at the Confederation of Danish Industry. Here he was responsible for Arctic business development and policy. Before he has worked in manufacturing, communication and as a journalist.

In addition to Arctic policy and trade promotion, his previous work has been within sanctions and export control, development work, foreign investments, communication strategy, journalism, training and capacity building.

Mr. Frederiksen is originally from Denmark. He has an Executive MBA from Harvard Business School, a Master degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Southern Denmark and a Bachelor degree in Journalism and Contemporary history from City University and Queen Mary, University of London.

Mr. Frederiksen has lived and worked in Denmark, Norway, Algeria, United Kingdom, Iran and Afghanistan.

Umair Shamsi (He/Him)

Vice President People Excellence

Umair Shamsi leads Telenor’s group-wide agenda on Diversity & Inclusion, Performance Mgmt, and Employee Experience Surveys. He has 22 years of experience in different aspects of Human Resources in North America, Asia & Europe. His higher education is from United States and during his years of experience he has received executive education from some of the top global institutions.

Winta Negassi (She/Her)

Head of HR, Northern Europe at Google and is a part of Google LCS’ Northern European leadership board.

Winta Negassi previously worked at Warner Brothers Discovery as Vice President, People and Culture for the Nordic region. She brings international experience, having studied and worked in London for 13 years. Winta has a Bachelors in International Relations and a Masters in International Human Resource Management from Kingston University.

Winta’s main focus has been around digital transformation, change management and DE&I. The experience of growing up as a second generation immigrant in Oslo, Norway has inspired her to increase the visibility of minority groups in business, so that the coming generation can see that, impossible is nothing!

She has featured in the 1st edition of the book “Voices in the shadow” by Black Women in Tech and sits on the board of the Norwegian Media Association.

Nathalie Håkenstad (She/Her)

Account Manager & Glamazon co-lead for Nordics

Nathalie Håkenstad (she/her) is an Amazon Web Services Enterprise Account Manager, Glamazon co-lead for Nordics and board member for women@Amazon Nordics and BEN Nordics, driving ID&E discussions and initiatives forward not only internally within Amazon Web Services but also with partners and customers.

With more then 20 year experience within IT, she is also active campaigning for Human Right Rights focusing on LGBTQ+ community and a board member of FossePride, which was founded by her then 14 year old daughter Isabella.

Thandi Dyani (She/Her)

Regional Network Organizer, Africa and The Nordics – BMW Foundation

Thandi Dyani is an independent consultant, and external Network Organizer for Africa Region & the Nordics in the Emergent Team of the BMW foundation working with Leaders to inspire responsible leadership and catalyze change aligned with the SDGs.

She is a fiercely passionate advocate for gender and racial equity and works with different organizations to foster justice, equity, diversity and belonging. Thandi loves humanizing spaces and designs strategy and programs, provides training, keynotes and awareness for those that want to start their EDB journeys.

Thandi co-initiated The UnLearning Journey for racial equity as well as the Gender Alliance, both platforms for reflection, awareness, training, leadership transformation and deep listening for a more just future. She has also been a DJ for more than 20 year and splits her time and work between the Nordics and Sub- Saharan Africa.

Meryn Willetts (She/Her)

CEO and co-founder of Umbrella

As the CEO and co-founder of Umbrella, Meryn operates at the crossroads of innovation, recruitment, inclusive leadership, and systemic change. Her unique professional journey has seen her consult on a wide range of business endeavours, from formulating organisational strategies and culture initiatives to devising innovative blueprints for sustainable business growth, all grounded in fostering a diverse and thriving workforce.As the CEO and co-founder of Umbrella, Meryn operates at the crossroads of innovation, recruitment, inclusive leadership, and systemic change. Her unique professional journey has seen her consult on a wide range of business endeavours, from formulating organisational strategies and culture initiatives to devising innovative blueprints for sustainable business growth, all grounded in fostering a diverse and thriving workforce.

Meryn’s diverse portfolio encompasses the private and public sectors globally, from strategy formation in corporate settings to third-sector innovation and leadership, policy transformation for governments, to spearheading startup accelerator programs. With a wealth of experience, she has counselled new ventures, corporations, the public sector, and the third sector on go-to-market strategies, product management, inclusive leadership, DEI+, and innovation systems.

She is also co-host of Modern Idealist Podcast, a community for ambitious professionals seeking to make a positive impact in the world while navigating the complexities of modern life, and is also a keen theatre enthusiast. Her passion for the performing arts is evident in her ongoing endeavour to co-write a play exploring the paradoxes of Norway.

Meryn’s ultimate goal is to reimagine the global workforce and create a fairer, more equitable world- Driven by her passion for transformation, she believes that by reimagining and modernising the underlying systems of business, as well as communicating through art, we can establish an inclusive society where everyone feels valued, respected and truly belongs.

Dr. Poornima Luthra (She/Her)

Author | Educator | DEI Expert | Tedx Speaker | Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2023 | Board Member

Dr. Poornima Luthra is the author of ‘Diversifying Diversity: Your guide to being an active ally of inclusion in the workplace’ and ‘The Art of Active Allyship’, the author of the HBR articles ‘Do your global teams see DEI as an American issue?’ and ‘7 ways to practice active allyship’.

She is the founder and CEO of TalentED Consultancy ApS as well as Associate Professor at the Copenhagen Business School. Poornima has spent the last fifteen years researching and teaching university courses in the field of talent management, with a focus on Diversity and Inclusion. Poornima’s work in DEI focuses on expanding the dimensions of diversity we address with an emphasis on intersectionality, empowering individuals to be active allies of inclusion and enabling inclusive leadership.

Poornima is the recipient of the Professional Women of Colour Denmark 2021 Impact award, and a finalist in the Trailblazer category of the 2022 Nordic Blaze Inclusion Awards. Most recently, Poornima been recognised as one of the world’s 30 up-and-coming thinkers whose ideas will make an important impact on management thinking in the future by Thinkers50.

Poornima has worked with and spoken at numerous Danish and International clients/ partners that include Carlsberg; Novo Nordisk; A.P. Møller Maersk; Reckitt; Accenture; KPMG Nordics; Danske Bank; FedEx; Google Denmark; Amazon Web Services; Nordea; Total; Telia; Maersk Tankers; Deloitte; Wilhelmsen; Nothvolt; Ørsted; Medicines sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders); McCormick APZ; McCormick UK; SimCorp; Visma amongst others.

Astrid Sundberg (She/Her)

Director of Diversity & Inclusion

Astrid Sundberg has 20 years’ experience as a Director and C-level Leader, specialising in the Startup and Scale-up climate. With a background in Tech, Consultancy, Sales, Retail and Recruitment, she’s a champion for change who delivers results.  Specialising in Diverse and inclusive Leadership Strategies, Astrid’s an advocate for building equitable and inclusive workplace eco-systems.

As the Global Director for Diversity and Inclusion at Online Grocery Retailer Oda, she curated a number of high impact campaigns to elevate the global DEIB programme. One of her biggest achievements was to design and curate a bespoke Leadership Training programme called ‘All-Inclusive.’ 

Astrid has a strong track record for driving organizational change and transformation, alongside fervent support for Inclusive Leadership and Workplace Wellbeing. She recently joined NGO Humans for Humans as a Board Advisor and dedicates her spare time to mentoring women and mental health advocacy for Gender Based Violence survivors. Last year she was recognised as a Diversity & Inclusion Trailblazer for Norway and this year she’ll be back on stage at DNS to share more thoughts and insights on Gender Equity.

Chi Lee

Chi Lee (They/Them)

Resident Carpenter

Chi Lee has a Masters Degree in Museum Studies from Harvard University.  For over two decades, they have been a freelance consultant for design/build studios working with global retail companies. Chi previously worked as a liaison and organizer for Arts for Humanity, a non-profit bringing the arts to underserved communities. They have also served as a translator for Four Seas Group, a Chinese-American non-profit increasing accessibility to the performance arts for local communities.

Lawrence Akpore (He/Him)

Business Excellence Lead (Director) – Global Engineering

Lawrence Akpore is a Nigerian American citizen. His background is in Chemical, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering. He holds multiple academic degrees including a Bsc., MSc. and an MBA. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Organizational Management at Harvard University (class of 2022). He also holds various certifications including Lean Train the Trainer and 6 Sigma Greenbelt/Blackbelt. Lawrence has held various management and leadership positions at companies such as General Electric, 3M, and Georg Fischer. 

Currently, he is the Director of Business Excellence at Takeda. Takeda is a leading science-driven biopharmaceutical corporation with headquarters in Japan and the U.S. Lawrence enjoys an active lifestyle. Lawrence is passionate about engineering, efficient business processes, and unlocking the cross-functional benefits of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We are excited to have Lawrence as a panelist and look forward to learning how he intentionally creates space for diversity and inclusion at Takeda.

Chisom Udeze (She/Her)

Economist | Founder of Diversify, Diversify Consult and HerSpace

Chisom is an Economist, a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Strategist, and a 3 times founder of impact driven companies. She has over 14 years of experience working with organizations like the European Commission, The United Nations, ExxonMobil and The Economist Group. Chisom is analytical and a data enthusiast. She is passionate about interrogating the cross-sectoral relationship between society’s inhabitants, resources, production, technology, distribution and output. She efficiently and effectively unlocks complex systems, interprets data, forecasts socio-economic trends and conducts research.

Having lived and worked in 7 countries across 3 continents, she is highly adaptable to different circumstances and people, and thrives in uncertain environments.

As the founder of Diversify and Diversify Consult, Chisom and her team work with companies, institutions, governments and civil society to develop sustainable DEIB strategies and embed measurable diversity and inclusion initiatives in the workplace and society. In addition, in 2022, Diversify launched the Diversify Nordics Summit, the largest conference in the Nordics that gathers cross-sectoral stakeholders to amplify DEIB in the Nordics and beyond.

In 2020, she founded HerSpace, a diverse and inclusive co-creation community for all genders, with particular focus on women and non-binary people. In 2022, HerSpace launched HerTech, Women in Tech incubator, for women-led companies, with a focus on the inclusion of diverse founders.

Chisom is a thought-leader in DEIB and a passionate advocate for mental health and wellness. She writes often on DEIB and justice related topics, some of her work is published on Forbes.