Author and financier Baroness Helena Morrissey DBE has been confirmed by the Institute of Directors NI as keynote speaker at its 2025 Women’s Leadership Conference, which returns to Belfast’s Crowne Plaza Hotel on Friday March 7 to coincide with International Women’s Day.
Helena is the founder of the 30% Club, an initiative which aims to improve the gender balance on UK boards and has authored two very successful books ‘A Good Time to be a Girl’ and ‘Style and Substance, a guide for women who want to win at work.’
She is now chair of two companies - Fidelis, a specialist insurance company listed on the NYSE, and Altum Group, a fund services company based in Jersey. Helena has nine children and four grandchildren.
Also on the programme for the 2025 conference is BBC presenter, disability activist, and author of Blind Not Broken, Lucy Edwards.
Other speaking slots include Naoimh McConville, managing director of the Rathbane Group; Dorinnia Carville, comptroller and auditor general at the NI Audit Office; Fiona Tomlin, chief marketing officer at PepsiCo UK & Ireland; and Ruth McGuinness, head of data & AI at Kainos.
Herbert Smith Freehills will return as headline sponsor of the conference, which attracts around 500 delegates and is expected to sell out once again in 2025. Tickets are now available on the IoD NI’s website.
IoD NI national director Kirsty McManus said: “It’s our great pleasure to announce the line-up for our 2025 Women’s Leadership Conference and we are looking forward to bringing these inspirational women to Belfast.
“This will be the 17th year of the conference, and we are proud that it has now become an unmissable event for so many women and their male advocates in the workplace.
“Things have certainly improved in the decades since we first launched this event and while gender balance in leadership is in sight, more still must be done to achieve greater gender diversity, particularly when it comes to the progression of women from diverse backgrounds.”
Lisa McLaughlin, managing partner of headline sponsor HSF’s Belfast office, said: “This will be the seventh year we have supported this conference, which we view it as a great opportunity to focus on the importance of effective leadership for successful businesses.
“We get to learn from, and see examples of, the best practices of other organisations and shine a light on the powerful initiatives we have introduced within our own firm.”
Also returning in 2025 will be the ‘Pitch Perfect’ competition where female-led start-ups take to the stage for a live pitching competition with audience members voting on who should take home the £4,000 prize.
As well as Herbert Smith Freehills, associate sponsors of this year’s conference include NIE Networks, KPMG, Danske Bank, Henry Brothers, SONI, Cathedral Eye Clinic, Translink and the Irish News.
