Laura Rutter, Inspire Network Co-Chair & Lead STEM Ambassador

Nikki Kelly, SVP Public Sector & Health & Inspire Network Sponsor

“I strongly believe that creating a gender balance and equal opportunity is incredibly important. Despite what many people assume, gender equality is not strictly limited to creating advantages for women. “Gender equality” means simply that every person has access to the same opportunities and benefits, which is why gender equality is an “everyone” issue and ties in to the other diversity networks in Atos. The Inspire Network aims for our work environment to be both welcoming and inclusive covering a variety of elements supported by our diversity networks. It is important to me to help the next generation of women coming in to the workforce to understand opportunities available to them and to help the reach their potential, also to support gender balance in career opportunities and development within Atos.”

“Diverse organisations are more likely to see improved collaboration, greater staff retention, greater market share, more innovation and improved financial performance. With increasing pressure to attract and retain good staff companies simply cannot afford to ignore 50% of the potential workforce and so must look at ways to appeal to both men and women. With a STEM background and having started my career in IT 30 years ago, I have experienced the lack of gender diversity in the tech industry and earlier on in my career found myself in a team where I was the only woman out of 50. I am really pleased to see the changes that are happening across the industry to drive diversity and I am proud to be part of an organisation that values all types of diversity. My goal is that anyone should be able to take their careers wherever they want to, and I joined the Inspire Network to share my experiences to help others achieve their aspirations.”