On 9 and 10 October, Travers Smith was pleased to sponsor and moderate a panel discussion focused on social mobility at the 2019 BVCA Summit, a major event for the private equity and venture capital community.
This year's Summit took place at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone and featured a number of high-profile speakers, topical panel discussions and over 10 hours of networking for the 700 delegates in attendance.
Senior Partner Kathleen Russ moderated a panel discussion on day 2 of the summit titled "Social Mobility: D&I's poor relation?" Panellists in the session included Ian Connatty, Managing Director of British Patient Capital, Deborah Oklena, Founder and CEO of YSYS and Tim Farazmand, Impact Fund Chairman and Partner of Palatine Private Equity. The session explored the importance of corporate culture on promoting social mobility, including the importance of role modelling and case studies, and addressed structural barriers to access to the private equity industry, including the high cost of entry for GPs.
Diversity and inclusion is one of the key strategic objectives for our firm, and we were very pleased that the subject was a major theme throughout the Summit.
The firm also joined a number of other organisations in the Summit's exhibition hall where attendees had the opportunity to talk to a number of partners and associates from across the firm, find out more about the work that Travers Smith is doing in the D&I space, and also see the firm's recently launched refreshed brand.
If you would like to find out more about our ongoing diversity and inclusion programme, you can do so here, or by contacting our CSR & Diversity Director Chris Edwards.
