B.I.D.E Workforce Summit delegates and speakers
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B.I.D.E Workforce Summit 2026

Meet the voices moving equity from evidence to action

Hosted by Bernadette Thompson OBE, the Summit brings together clinical expertise, research, policy influence and lived experience to challenge established practice and help leaders build safer, fairer and more accountable workplaces.

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Date

Thursday, 17 September 2026

Programme

10:00 am - 4:30 pm

Venue

Leonardo Royal Hotel St Pauls, London

Portrait of Summit Host Bernadette Thompson OBE

Summit Host

B.I.D.E Workforce Summit 2026

Bernadette Thompson OBE

Director of People and Culture

North Middlesex University Hospital and Communities, part of the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust

A respected keynote speaker and facilitator, bringing decades of leadership in culture change, inclusion and organisational transformation to guide the Summit conversation.

About Bernadette

Bernadette Thompson OBE is an accomplished Human Resources leader with specialist expertise in culture change and inclusion. She is currently the Director of People and Culture at North Middlesex University Hospital and Communities, part of the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust. Her previous NHS leadership roles include Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at King's College Hospital and Associate Director of Inclusion at Barts Health Trust.

Before moving into the NHS, Bernadette built an outstanding 23-year career in the Civil Service, where she left a lasting legacy across major Government Departments and Agencies including the Ministry of Justice, Home Office, HM Treasury, Legal Aid Agency, Cabinet Office, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Renowned for driving organisational transformation, she has developed and delivered strategies that embed inclusion, reshape workplace cultures, and expand talent pipelines. Her five-year tenure as co-chair of a cross-Government race network secured multiple accolades and positioned the network as a powerful catalyst for change across the public sector.

A respected keynote speaker and facilitator, Bernadette is recognised for her compelling insights on leadership, culture, diversity, employee engagement, and wellbeing. Her influence has been acknowledged with numerous prestigious awards: Workplace Hero at the Investing in Ethnicity Awards (2020); the We Are the City Rising Star Champion Award and an OBE for services to Diversity and Inclusion (2021); a place on the UK's Top 100 D&I Inspirational Leaders Powerlist and the Women for Africa D&I Award (2023); and the Zenith Global Healthcare Leadership Award and Nigerian Magazine Award for Culture (2024). In 2025, she received the RKY Careers Diversity and Inclusion Legacy Award, celebrating her enduring impact as one of the UK's most influential voices in inclusive leadership.

Her thought leadership extends to contributions in publications such as Still Breathing and SHE2's Wonder Women, where she continues to redefine what inclusive leadership looks like in modern workplaces. In 2025, she published Silent Echoes, a book aimed at breaking the silence on workplace bullying.

Alongside her professional achievements, Bernadette has dedicated over 20 years as a Community Governor at a local infant school and has volunteered at global events including the 2012 Olympics, 2017 World Athletics Championships, and the 2022 Commonwealth Games. She also serves as a Trustee for Black Inclusion Week and sits on advisory committees for BWHR and Career Nuggets, continuing to champion meaningful change within and beyond the workplace.

2026 Speaker Line-up

Experience that can shift systems

Alongside our host, ten speaker places have been curated around the Summit theme, Race to Equity: Workforce Justice, Power and Protection in Health & Care. Meet the leaders, practitioners and changemakers contributing to this year's programme.

Portrait of Karen Bonner MBE, HonDSc, MSc, BSc (Hons), QN

Featured speaker

Karen Bonner MBE, HonDSc, MSc, BSc (Hons), QN

Nursing Leader, Equality Advocate & Board Trustee

Prostate Cancer UK and Helpforce

Karen Bonner MBE is a highly respected nursing leader with extensive experience across major NHS organisations in London and the South East. As Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention and Control at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, she led significant improvements in patient safety, quality of care and workforce culture, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. A passionate advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion, Karen has contributed nationally through the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard Advisory Group and helped establish the Mary Seacole Trust. She holds an MSc in Advanced Practice Leadership from King's College London and received an Honorary Doctorate from Buckinghamshire New University in 2025. Recognised among the UK's leading ethnic minority healthcare leaders from 2021 to 2025, she was also named by Nursing Times as one of 75 nurses who have shaped the NHS. Karen received an MBE in 2024 for services to nursing, is a Fellow of the Queen's Nursing Institute, and serves as a trustee of Prostate Cancer UK and Helpforce. Her recent honours include the Livingbridge Executive Leader Award at the CAHN Healthcare Leaders Awards.

Portrait of Dr Nnenna Osuji

Closing keynote speaker

Dr Nnenna Osuji

Chief Executive Officer

NHS North East London Integrated Care Board

With more than 20 years' experience in the NHS, Dr Nnenna Osuji became Chief Executive Officer of NHS North East London Integrated Care Board in March 2026. She previously served as Chief Executive of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, where she oversaw the transfer of Enfield Community Services, embedded the Patient First Management System and led sustained improvements in staff engagement. Before this, she was Deputy Chief Executive at Croydon Health Services NHS Trust. An experienced consultant haematologist who continues to practise, Nnenna has held influential system and regional leadership roles, including co-chair of the London People Board and its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, North Central London ICS Lead for Community Services, and chair of London's Best Value Medicines Steering Group. Her earlier clinical leadership roles include joint clinical lead for the South West London Sustainability and Transformation Partnership and Red Cell Improvement Lead for North Central London. Outside the NHS, she is a trustee of the Nuffield Trust and Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, serves on the GS1 UK national healthcare advisory board, and is an Honorary Professor at University College London's Global Business School for Health.

Portrait of Rohit Sagoo QN

Featured speaker

Rohit Sagoo QN

Children's Nurse, Researcher, Educator & Community Health Leader

Founder and Director, British Sikh Nurses

Rohit Sagoo QN is a Children's Nurse, researcher, educator, and community health leader with over 30 years of experience across healthcare, academia, public health, and policy. He is the Founder and Director of British Sikh Nurses, an award-winning organisation promoting health equity and community engagement. A Queen's Nurse and recipient of the Freedom of the City of London, Rohit is a member of the Race Equality Engagement Group, chaired by Baroness Doreen Lawrence, and the APPG for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. He is completing his PhD at the University of Bedfordshire, focusing on community-based maternal and child health interventions and reducing health inequalities.

Portrait of Dr Zeshan Qureshi

Featured speaker

Dr Zeshan Qureshi

Paediatrician, Academic & Author

University of Cambridge

Dr Zeshan Qureshi is a paediatrician and academic, currently pursuing a PhD in Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. His research explores how racism operates within healthcare systems and how it can be meaningfully addressed. He co-edited Anti-Racist Medicine (Elsevier, 2026) with Dr Mehrunisha Suleman, supporting UK healthcare professionals to understand how race and ethnicity should be operationalised across clinical care, research, education, management, and policy. He has edited and co-edited several previous textbooks, including the Oxford Textbook of Global Health of Women, Newborns, Children, and Adolescents. Widely published on ethnicity, race, and health, he has contributed to anti-racist policy development with the BMA, GMC, UK government, and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. He is also a media commentator and TEDx speaker.

Portrait of Roger Kline OBE FRSA

Featured speaker

Roger Kline OBE FRSA

Research Fellow & NHS Race Equality Expert

Middlesex University Business School

Roger Kline OBE FRSA is a Research Fellow at Middlesex University Business School and a leading authority on race equality, fair employment and workplace culture in the NHS. He authored The Snowy White Peaks of the NHS (2014), co-authored Fair to Refer (GMC, 2019) with Dr Doyin Atewologun, designed the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES), and served as joint national director of the WRES team from 2015 to 2017. His influential work also includes Being Fair (2019), The Price of Fear (2018), No More Tick Boxes (2021), Difference Matters (2021), Too Hot to Handle (2024), and Investigating the Investigators (2025). He is currently researching good practice in NHS disciplinary and investigation processes and is co-author of the forthcoming HPMA report Leadership in HR (2026). HR Magazine named him among the UK's 30 most influential HR thinkers in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

Portrait of Tista Chakravarty-Gannon

Featured speaker

Tista Chakravarty-Gannon

Head of Outreach Strategic Delivery & National Engagement

General Medical Council

Tista Chakravarty-Gannon is a senior leader at the General Medical Council, where she co-leads the Outreach team and heads the Welcome to UK Practice programme for internationally trained doctors. With more than 25 years of experience supporting survivors of abuse, she continues to champion safeguarding, medical leadership and inclusion in healthcare. Tista is a peer reviewer for BMJ Leader and the Sushrata Journal, and a recognised voice in tackling misogyny in medicine. She received the BAPIO President's Award in 2022 and BIDA's Special Award in 2024, and is currently co-authoring a textbook on anti-racism in medicine.

Portrait of Graeme Caul

Featured speaker

Graeme Caul

Chief Operating Officer

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust

Graeme Caul has served as Chief Operating Officer at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust since 2022. He joined the Trust's Camden services in 2010 and progressed through Borough Director and Service Director roles before taking on his first Managing Director position in 2017, with responsibilities that included services in Milton Keynes. Before becoming Chief Operating Officer, Graeme led Goodall, the Trust's largest division. He has also chaired the Camden Integrated Care Partnership and led several system-wide programmes across North West and North Central London, bringing extensive operational and partnership leadership experience to the Summit.

Portrait of Owen Chinembiri

Featured speaker

Owen Chinembiri

Assistant Director and Workforce Adviser

NHS Race and Health Observatory

Owen Chinembiri is Assistant Director and Workforce Adviser at the NHS Race and Health Observatory, with expertise spanning health informatics, digital transformation and workforce equality. An alumnus of the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme, he has held senior roles at Macmillan Cancer Support and within the national Workforce Race Equality Standard team, where he led data-driven strategies to advance workplace equity. Originally from Zimbabwe and Botswana, Owen is passionate about using data to improve both patient care and staff experience. Outside work, he is a keen runner.

Portrait of Alex Gild

Featured speaker

Alex Gild

Deputy Chief Executive

Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Alex Gild is Deputy Chief Executive at Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health and community services provider with 6,000 staff. His leadership purpose is to improve equity of outcomes for staff, patients and communities. A partner member of the Frimley Integrated Care Board, Alex co-chairs the system Mirror Board with Safina Nadeem. He is executive sponsor of the Trust's health inequalities programme, including a community and system partnership focused on reducing Mental Health Act detentions among Black people with support from the NHS Race and Health Observatory. Alex also leads the Trust's anti-racism programme, recognised with a Race Equality Matters Trailblazer Award. Building on shared system-wide commitments, he and Safina are engaging health and care partners to develop an anti-racism alliance.

Portrait of Safina Nadeem

Featured speaker

Safina Nadeem

Executive Lead for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

Thames Valley Integrated Care Board

Safina Nadeem is an award-winning equality, diversity and inclusion, anti-racism and organisational culture leader with more than 30 years of experience across the NHS, local government, higher education and the voluntary sector. An accredited Executive Coach with a master's degree in Promoting Equality and Managing Diversity, she helps organisations embed inclusion and anti-racism into leadership, governance, workforce strategy and culture. Safina was among the first specialist advisers to the Care Quality Commission to assess the Workforce Race Equality Standard within the Well-Led domain and contributed to the University of Sheffield's national evaluation of WRES. She is Executive Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Thames Valley Integrated Care Board and works independently as a leadership, culture and inclusion consultant. Safina is also a Non-Executive Director on the Lancashire Cricket Foundation Inclusion Advisory Board and a University of Surrey Co-Investigator researching the impact of wellbeing interventions across the NHS.

A carefully curated programme

Different perspectives. One shared challenge.

The line-up connects evidence with implementation: what the data shows, where systems create harm, what meaningful accountability looks like, and which actions leaders can take now.

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17 September 2026 | London

Join the conversation. Take practical action back to your organisation.

Hear from people working with the evidence, influencing policy and developing practical approaches to change across health and care.

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