The Social Mobility Podcast

Kevin Ellis is Chairman and Senior Partner of PwC UK, and a staunch proponent of social mobility in business. Inspired by his father’s journey to become a qualified professional, Kevin joined PwC for a qualification of his own, and has stayed for nearly 36 years. He believes social mobility is not just a societal good, but also an economic necessity - serving as both a benefit to the company’s div...

Sandra Wallace is an employment law specialist and partner at DLA Piper global law firm. Passionate about advancing equality, Sandra is also co-chair of the Social Mobility Commission. Born in Birmingham, Sandra spoke Patois at home, and had her first glimpse of discrimination at the age of 5, when she was told to “stop speaking like you do”. Despite the negativity she experienced because of her d...

Tamara Box is managing partner of Europe and the Middle East at global law firm Reed Smith. She is also a founding member of the steering group for the 30% Club, which aims to improve diversity in UK boardrooms. Born and raised in Texas, Tamara was always encouraged to see education as a privilege. In a quest to learn alongside people from different backgrounds, she left Texas to study at the Lond...

Jo Whitfield is CEO of Co-op food, having previously worked for Matalan and George. Jo is the first female CEO of a major food retailer, an achievement she is both humbled and shocked by. Because of the lack of representation of female senior leaders in the food industry, Jo set up Grocery Girls, which aims to redress the balance. As a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, Jo has seen first...

Steven Cooper is CEO of Hoare’s bank, a role he took on after spending over 30 years at Barclays. He’s spent time living and working in Africa and India, holds a number of non-executive roles, and is a commissioner on the UK’s Social Mobility Commission. Passionate about advancing the agenda, Steven took the role at the Commission because he wants to pay forward the support he received from the pe...

Tom Ilube CBE is a technology entrepreneur and is CEO and founder of Crossword Cyber Security. Tom has many accolades to his name - he’s founded a number of other businesses, is a non executive director of the BBC, and he’s also an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford. In this gripping conversation, Tom explores how education differed in the various countries he’s called home over the years. A...

Dr Louise Ashley is a senior lecturer in organisation studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. She specialises in researching the diversity and inclusion practises of large professional services firms. After a surprise admittance to Cambridge, Louise began to see how varying degrees of privilege can affect a person’s life. But it wasn’t until she joined a large law firm that she truly saw...

Paul Cleal OBE is Vice Chair of Kingston University and also sits on the boards of a number of great organisations, including Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and the National Citizen Service Trust. Before this, Paul spent 16 years as a partner for Big Four professional services firm PwC. As a young man with African heritage, born in 1966 and brought up in a single-parent household in C...

Melanie Richards is deputy chair of KPMG UK and has been a board member since 2012, working to set its strategic direction. She was recognised in the 2018 UK Social Mobility Awards for an outstanding contribution to social mobility, an experience that was unexpected, humbling and emotional. Though she’s proud of the award, in this inspiring conversation she explains how she’s not in it for the rec...

David Martin is a corporate mergers and acquisitions partner at the Magic Circle law firm, Llinklaters, and also the company’s global head of diversity. David grew up in Pembrokeshire in south west Wales, one of the country’s poorest regions, and so his story of becoming a lawyer highlights perfectly the benefits of positive social mobility. He’s tasked with figuring out how to make one of the mos...

Laura Hinton is head of people at professional services firm PwC. She’s responsible for setting and delivering the company’s ‘people strategy’ in the UK and is an executive member of the board. Laura implements her passion for diversity by working with global clients to support them with culture change, performance management and talent related challenges. In this inspiring conversation, she recal...

Fiona Hathorn is the CEO of Women on Boards UK, an organisation which helps people achieve success at leadership level. With a network of 30,000 members, the organisation has helped more than 1,800 people onto boards. Her own board positions include a role as non-executive director at Spktral, a technology company which helps organisations to simplify the gender pay gap reporting process. Fiona sa...

Anna Smee is the new CEO of Youth Futures Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2019 to help disadvantaged young people find employment. Previously she was chief executive of national charity UK Youth. Anna’s approach to social mobility is simple; she believes all young people should be helped to reach their potential, with access to support, networks and opportunities to find meanin...

Professor Binna Kandola OBE is co-founder of Pearn-Kandola, a business psychology firm with a focus on diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Binna has been named one of the UK’s Top 10 Business Psychologists and has authored many books, notably a series which focuses on the unconscious, gender and race biases within organisations. In this in-depth and informative interview, Binna takes us th...

Lucy Martin is a weather presenter for the BBC. She is the first visibly disabled weather presenter at the BBC, and took on the role after completing a programme to help disabled people to kickstart their careers. Lucy is a role model for disabled people wanting to pursue their passions, and an advocate for improved diversity in the workplace. In this in-depth interview, Lucy reflects on her exper...

Dame Martina Milburn is the chair of the Social Mobility Commission. Her vision for the UK is that we can “live in a society where people have choices about the way they want to live their lives”. In this episode, Martina discusses her career, starting in journalism, becoming head of The Prince’s Trust and then moving on to lead the twelve members of the Social Mobility Commission. Her career has...

Jon Cruddas is MP for Dagenham, Rainham, South Hornchurch and Elm Park. During his time as deputy political secretary to Tony Blair, he helped introduce the minimum wage, and played a key role in improving a number of socio-economic issues in the UK. He’s also been hugely involved in trade union reforms and improving workers’ rights. Jon comes from a large family who benefited from being socially...

Sir Ian Powell is the chairman of Capita and former senior partner at PwC. In this episode, he talks about why, when it comes to social mobility, it’s important for leaders to set the right example to create a motivated workforce. His mantra in all of his roles, he says, is simply to ‘do the right thing’. As the first member of his family to graduate, Sir Ian says he was lucky to be offered the ch...

Carys Roberts is chief economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research. She heads up the IPPR’s Centre for Economic Justice, which was set up because they believe the UK’s economy needs fundamental reform. The centre offers radical and practical advice on how to achieve that reform. During this incredibly informative chat, Carys talks about the need for greater taxes on wealth, and why inher...

Sir Kenneth Olisa is the first black Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, chair of the Shaw Trust charity and chairman of Restoration Partners. He has more than three decades’ senior business experience, and was knighted in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for services to business and philanthropy. In this fascinating discussion, Ken talks about being brought up in a single-parent home in the backst...

Kwame Kwei-Armah is the artistic director of the Young Vic in London. An actor, writer and singer, he previously led the World Festival of Black Arts and the Center Stage in Baltimore. He received an OBE for his services to drama in 2012, and the Urban Visionary Award in 2016. In this in-depth conversation, he shares his early memories of racial injustice, from playground division to watching Root...

Justine Greening is MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields. She has held a number of posts in government, including Minister for Women & Equalities and Secretary of State for Education. Upon returning to the backbenches in 2018, she established the Social Mobility Pledge, a scheme aimed at broadening social mobility and opportunity in Britain. In this in-depth conversation, she reflects on...