Jo Davis, Group HR Director at Mitie, has today been announced as one of the top 100 Most Influential Women in the Engineering Sector. The list, produced by board appointments firm, Inclusive Boards, in partnership with the Financial Times, will be officially launched at the Inclusive Boards: Women in Engineering Leadership Conference on 22 October 2019.

Since Jo joined the business, Mitie has made several commitments to improve its gender balance across all areas of the organisation. This included a commitment to increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) roles by 20% – a target that has already been hit, and subsequently built on, with a pledge to increase the number of women recruited in to STEM roles by a further 20% by the end of the financial year 19/20.

Mitie has also committed to ensuring at least a third of its Board members are female. This target has also already been surpassed, as Mitie’s Board now has an equal balance of male and female Board members. Similarly, Mitie is also striving to improve pay equality within the business and has already achieved a significant reduction in its gender pay gap in both 2018 and 2019.

Jo’s HR career spans 20 years across several sectors, including banking, consulting and retail, with roles across multiple countries throughout Europe and Asia. Jo joined Mitie in January 2018 as Group HR Director, having previously held senior HR positions at leading UK brands including Sainsbury’s and Santander.

Elizabeth Oni-Iyiola, Development Director, Inclusive Boards said:

“Engineers have an impact on almost every area of our day to day lives. Jo and those featured today are role models who inspire those around them and demonstrate leadership and influence in the work that they do.”

Jo Davis, Group HR Director, Mitie said:

“It’s an honour to be included among this year’s 100 Most Influential Women in Engineering among so many other inspirational leaders in the sector. Since arriving at Mitie, I’ve been passionate about increasing the number of women in STEM roles within our business, both by nurturing our existing talent and encouraging the next generation of female leaders. I’m proud to receive this recognition by Inclusive Boards and the Financial Times.”

Inclusive Boards will also be publishing extensive research into engineering in the UK as well as the results of its diversity survey of the UK’s top 500 engineering firms by revenue.

Notes to editors

About Mitie

Founded in 1987, Mitie is the UK’s leading facilities management and professional services company. It offers a range of specialist services including Security, Engineering Services, Cleaning, Landscaping, Energy and Property Consultancy, and Custody Support Services.  

Mitie employs 48,900 people across the country, looking after a large, diverse, blue-chip customer base, from banks and retailers, to hospitals, schools and government offices. It takes care of its customers’ people and buildings, by delivering the basics brilliantly and by deploying advanced technology. It is pioneering the Connected Workspace, using smart analytics to provide valuable insight and deliver efficiencies to create outstanding work environments for customers. 

About Inclusive Boards

Inclusive Boards is the UK's leading board appointments firm, specialising in attracting high level diverse talent through a network of over 60,000 professionals. It operates across sectors including sport, to charities and social investment. Inclusive Boards’ cutting-edge research has featured in the Independent, Guardian, Daily Mail and more.

Inclusive Boards has also conducted a detailed diversity survey, analysing the gender, ethnicity, age profiles, and educational and socioeconomic backgrounds of Boards, directors and executives of the UK’s 500 largest engineering firms by revenue. 

The list has been published today and will officially launch at the Inclusive Boards: Women in Engineering Leadership Conference in Central London on October 22nd, hosted by expert in gender and diversity issues in STEM, Dr Jan Peters. Inclusive Boards is the UK’s Executive Diversity Experts with a network of over 60,000 diverse professionals across the STEM, sport, not-for-profit and public sectors.  www.inclusiveboards.co.uk