People First! Kay Formanek

Kay is founder and CEO of KAY Diversity & Performance B.V., a global company committed to embedding diversity of talent into the transformational purpose of companies so as to unleash more creativity, more innovation, more growth, more engagement and better financial outcomes. Kay's roots are in South Africa where she worked with companies to transform their business hand-in-hand with the transformation that was occurring politically and socially during the post-apartheid period. Kay was Executive Director and Partner in Accenture for 25 years, leading the Health and Life Sciences Industry Line in Europe and Africa and Latin America. Within Accenture Kay was for many years responsible for the Diversity and Inclusion Practice in The Netherlands, and assumed multiple leadership development roles within Accenture, including being one of the Sponsoring Partners for the Global Leadership Development Program, Chairing the Diversity Forum, Participating in the Unconscious Bias Task Force and acting as mentor and coach and sponsor for rising talent.Kay's new book - Leading Diversity with Purpose and Inclusion is published December 2nd and provides powerful insights into D&I. D&I is not about legal compliance or HR box-ticking, in fact every organization needs  a diversity and inclusion strategy to achieve peak performance and sustainability.  #MeToo, #BlackLivesMatter and the ballooning consequences of Covid-19 to minorities have made it even more necessary to plan a concrete D&I agenda. Whether you’re a leader, HR practitioner, sponsor of a D&I initiative, or an employee who wants to see your organization benefit from more inclusivity, Kay explains the strategic case for diversity and can share practical steps for locking in diversity gains and closing key performance gaps.