The genesis of the London International Trip was a conversation that took place at the 2006 TIAW Global Partnership Forum in Atlanta between TIAW President Stephanie MacKendrick, 1st Vice President Diane Morris and Haifa Al Kaylani, President of the Arab International Women’s Forum (AIWF) and keynote speaker at the Forum. That led to an invitation to join AIWF at its annual dinner and conference as they work to build economic and networking bridges between members across the Arab nations to other women and organizations throughout the world.
Diane Morris immediately recognized the potential for further activities, particularly in the area of women on boards and sprang into action to organize a series of meetings and activities. Thus was born the TIAW London International Trip.
Capitalizing on TIAW’s leading role as an advocate for Women on Boards, Diane organized a luncheon on March 7th at the Arts Club in Mayfair and invited key London and European leaders to discuss progress, best practices and next steps.
A key concern identified by Sue Vinnicombe, Professor of Organisational Behaviour & Diversity, Director of the Centre for Developing Women Business Leaders, Cranfield School of Management, and Co-Author of the Female FTSE Index report, was moving beyond tokenism toward critical mass that maximizes the benefits to boards and increases the sustainable involvement of women at the board level. There was considerable discussion about how to support the attainment of critical mass, comparing legislative efforts in Scandinavia to a variety of non-legislative strategies in other countries.
Women at the luncheon represented networks throughout Europe and the result was a useful and practical sharing of information.
Of key interest was an update from Peninah Thomson from Praesta Partners on the cross-company mentoring program that Women Directors on Board has been running for over a year. At a separate meeting, Diane and Stephanie met with Jacey Graham, a co-founder of Women Directors on Board and facilitator of the cross-company mentoring program.
Earlier in the week, TIAW connected with members of City Women’s Network, which hosted their monthly networking wine and cheese gathering at the Commonwealth Club near Trafalgar Square and it was an opportunity to brief a high-powered organization on the activities and programs of TIAW.
But the real highlight of the trip was the annual AIWF dinner, an elegant black-tie affair held at the Mansion House, the historic and opulent residence of the Lord Mayor of London. Amidst the silver candelabras and exquisite food, the guest heard not only from Haifa Al Kaylani, President of AIWF, but also from the Lord Mayor, the Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of Amwal, HH Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser bin Khaled Al Thani; the Chairman of Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas, Mr.Hamid Dhiya Jafar; and Mr. Willem Brocker, Partner and Senior Global Advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers, all of whom spoke on the theme of globalisation, trade and entrepreneurship as it relates to women throughout the Arab world.
The exchange of ideas continued the following day, on International Women’s Day at the annual AIWF conference. A variety of speakers provided a fascinating glimpse at the economic, social and cultural realities of a wide variety of Arab nations and highlighted the importance of women connecting to foster greater opportunities for advancement for one another.
This very busy and significant day ended with an International Women’s Day reception at Asia House in Marylebone featuring remarks from Sung Joo, who heads the high-end handbag manufacturer SungJoo Group and a musical performance by Chi2
Although it was all crammed into four short days, the London Trip provided immeasurable value in connections, friendships, greater
|
