Pro-Vice-Chancellor, it gives me great pleasure to introduce Sheila Flavell, CBE. Sheila has been a prominent entrepreneur and business leader in our digital industries, has advised multiple governments and continues to be a tireless champion for diversity and inclusion.
Sheila was born and raised in a small town outside Glasgow, began her professional life in the 1970s at a time when equal pay was not yet a legal right and experienced firsthand the challenges of inequality and discrimination. These early experiences instilled in her a fierce determination to champion fairness and opportunity.
Sheila’s journey as a technology entrepreneur and business leader started as the first employee of the now global technology consultancy, FDM. She led the company’s flotation on London’s Alternative Investment Market in 2005, a management buy-back in 2010, and their subsequent re-listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2014. Sheila has been instrumental in every stage of the company’s growth and is the Chief Operating Officer and President of its current configuration as a FTSE 250 company with over 7,000 employees in more than 90 countries.
At every stage of her career Sheila has been an advocate for the training and education of the next generation of engineers and leaders. She has also been a passionate champion of diversity and inclusion, founding, for example, FDM’s Global Women in Tech campaign and Returners Programme, which empower thousands of women, ex-forces personnel, and career returners to re-enter the workforce with confidence and purpose. Under her leadership, FDM has achieved a zero gender pay gap and a 50% female leadership team—remarkable achievements in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
It is perhaps no surprise that Sheila’s influence and recognition extends far beyond FDM. She is, for example, the President of the trade body, techUK, has advised multiple governments as a member of the Digital Skills Council and generously served as the Industry Board Chair of the Bath-led (national) Institute of Coding.
Over the course of her career, Sheila has been named Woman of the Year by Information Age and Leader of the Year at the everywoman in Technology Awards. She has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Scotland Women in Technology and has been inducted into Computer Weekly’s Hall of Fame. In the 2020 New Year Honours Sheila was awarded a richly deserved CBE for services to gender equality in technology and employment.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor, in recognition of her lasting impact on our digital industries, her leadership in development of diversity and inclusion and her contributions to both national policy and national life I present to you Sheila Flavell, who is exceptionally worthy to receive the degree of Doctor of Business Administration, honoris causa.