SWiFT – Shifting the Dial

The most recent and second in a series of SWiFT events took place on 18 January at AECOM’s office in London, where members gathered together to hear from guest speaker, High Speed 2 (HS2), Chief Commercial Officer Ruth Todd CBE

For more information about WR visit https://womeninrail.org/.

Ruth shared her experiences and advice from a career which span 30 years and included roles as Commercial Director for UK Ministry of Defence; Programme Director for the Vaccine Task Force and her current one at HS2. Taking questions from the audience, Ruth shared personal examples around maintaining a healthy work life balance, combating workplace imposter syndrome, valuing leadership aspirations and making sure that every day counts at work.

Ruth said: ‘I really enjoyed engaging with the audience. SWiFT has attracted some genuinely interesting people and the twoway nature of the dialogue was warming and reinforcing for me too.’

The evening was hosted by Rajinder Pryor MBE, Senior Account Manager, Route Services Network Rail and Women in Rail (WR) Trustee, who said: ‘SWiFT has created a unique network for likeminded executive members to come together in an inclusive environment. Ruth was the ideal guest who spoke candidly, offering personal insights from her own life experiences which were both motivational and thought provoking for everyone present.’

Shamit Weinberger Gaiger, Managing Director for West Coast Partnership Development, who is the SWiFT lead and Women in Rail (WR) Trustee, said: ‘Ruth is such an inspirational person, and it was thoroughly enjoyable to listen to her career story, and her personal challenges and triumphs. She shared how she navigated the obstacles that a lot of women have to face when aspiring for senior leadership roles in any industry.

‘Those that attended were enamoured by what she was saying, and a lot resonated with me and some of things that I’m passionate about – ensuring that you are working with people that share in the same values and that the best conversations are when there is diversity in the room.’

SWiFT is an integral part of Women in Rail and was created by, and comprises as its core membership base, Senior Women in (or formerly in) UK rail or Transport and their male allies. SWiFT’s objective is to shift the dial in respect to the number of women in executive roles in the UK rail sector and, in line with the Women in Rail core values, to further promote equality, diversity and inclusion across our industry, with a focus on executive grades and roles.

SWiFT is open to professionals in senior management roles in the UK railway or transport industry who already have a significant level of responsibility and accountability to their Board and are looking to increase their network at an executive level and prepare themselves for Board level positions.

Members of SWiFT receive the following benefits:

• Access to professional networking events throughout the year.

• Have the opportunity to attend “Board Ready” development workshops.

• Access to Leadership Talks from male and female executives in their industries.

• Access to resources.

• Peer-to-peer networking events.

• Access to a platform to help progress your career and transition to C-Suite roles.

• Access to support for establishing yourself as a leader within the Rail sector.

• Automatically become a Women in Rail Member.

SWiFT’s well-attended inaugural event last year on November 17 welcomed journalist, author and strategist Alastair Campbell. Guests enjoyed an entertaining and informative evening at AECOM’s headquarters in London with Mr Campbell, best known for his role as former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy, sharing insights from his time in politics and as a political commentator and author.

Taking questions from the audience, Mr Campbell expressed his candid views on diverse topics ranging from the abuse of corporate power to social media and mental health.

The evening was hosted by Shamit who said: ‘SWiFT’s inaugural event, An Evening With...Alastair Campbell, was a huge success and we are extremely grateful to Alastair for being such an erudite, candid and thoughtprovoking speaker.’

The team at SWiFT would like to thank Newsom Consulting for sponsoring the evening. Managing Director Jim Newsom shared the company’s most recent gender diversity in transport and infrastructure leadership teams report which, as SWiFT already attests, the success of companies and business impact is proven to be linked to having a gender diverse executive.

Look out for the next SWiFT event on 21 March with guest speaker Nicola Shaw, who is Yorkshire Water Chief Executive Officer and previously held roles as the Executive Officer at National Grid, Chief Executive of High Speed 1 and Director of FirstGroup.

For more information on SWiFT, Membership or upcoming events, please email: swift@womeninrail.org – or visit https://swift.womeninrail.org/

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