As we reflect on the initiative, we are delighted to see the Limitless community continue to grow and are proud to facilitate such valuable exchanges alongside hugely inspirational speakers: 20-year finance veteran, India Gary-Martin, one of the most influential women in tech, Dr. Sue Black, distinguished Labour politician, Baroness Royall, editor-in-chief of Elle UK, Farrah Storr, Olympic gold-medallist Kate Richardson-Walsh and award-winning social entrepreneur Caroline Casey. Our next event will take place in March 2021, please keep an eye out for further announcements.
Online | 5th November
At ThoughtWorks, we advocate passionately for positive social change and greater equality in the technology industry and in wider society. As such, we believe it’s important to find space for women leaders to have open, meaningful discussions and share common concerns, experiences and learnings. We launched Limitless specifically for this purpose.
Latest Event
On the 5th November, we welcomed Caroline Casey as the keynote speaker for our last Limitless event of 2020. An award-winning social entrepreneur, Caroline is leading an inclusion revolution, working relentlessly to build a global movement on inclusive business for the 1.3 billion people in the world with a disability. In an incredibly inspirational keynote, she shared with us the story of her extraordinary life, citing her challenges, including the fact that she is registered legally blind, as part of her access to getting success. Caroline’s talk challenged our perceptions, encouraged us to move beyond the limits we may think we have and stressed the importance of including disability in the broader diversity agenda.
Keynote speaker
Caroline Casey
Caroline Casey is an award-winning social entrepreneur and founder of several organisations and initiatives centred on disability business inclusion.
Her latest initiative, The Valuable 500 is a campaign to get 500 businesses to commit to put disability inclusion on their leadership agendas. Launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Summit in 2019, Casey succeeded in bringing disability inclusion onto the main stage at Davos for the first time ever with the support of global business leaders.
The Valuable 500 is supported by a host of global leaders including Sir Richard Branson, and Paul Polman, and global brands including Microsoft and Sky.
Caroline is also a TED speaker, Ashoka Fellow, Eisenhower Fellow, a past advisor for the Clinton Global Initiative, a One Young World Counsellor and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Register to join our Limitless community
We will be in touch with further announcements about our 2021 events.
Discover Limitless - Highlights & Interviews
Christine de Largy Pt 1
A qualified Executive Coach, Christine started her career at John Lewis and progressed through a range of organisations at board level including divisions of Kingfisher, Sears and Arcadia. Most recently as Chair, UK Board Practice at Harvey Nash, one of the best global executive search organisations. In the first half of an insightful conversation, she shares experiences and learnings from her incredibly successful career.
Christine de Largy Pt 2
Having led research into how leadership and boards are changing in partnership with London Business School’s Leadership Institute, Christine is now undertaking a PhD in the psychology and practices that help build inclusive organisations. During this interview, she discusses the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, women representation in leadership (or lack thereof), her views on the board of the future, hierarchy and organisational structure.
Miya Knights
Head of Industry Insight at EagleEye, Miya Knights has 20 years' experience as a journalist, author, editor and research director specialising in enterprise technology use in retail. Consistently ranked as one of the top retail industry influencers, Miya shared her views on the state of the industry, the role of technology and how it's changed the customer and customer experience, and her views on Amazon - which she has written a bestselling book on.
Farrah Storr
Our first Limitless event of 2020 was hosted by Farrah Storr, award-winning editor-in-chief of Elle UK, former editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan & Women's Health, author of The Discomfort Zone and one of the capital’s most powerful change makers. Farrah shared experiences from her hugely successful career in publishing and her views on the role of the media in today's society.
Baroness Jan Royall
Principal of Somerville College Oxford, Baroness Royall is a distinguished Labour politician, Leader of the House of Lords and a member of the cabinet under the last Labour government and Leader of the Opposition for 5 years thereafter. We had the privilege of getting Jan’s views on politics, the role of women in the field, mentoring, technology, legislation and much more.
Dr. Sue Black
Award-winning computer scientist, Dr. Sue Black was awarded an OBE in 2016 for her services to technology. A digital skills expert, technology evangelist, government advisor, social entrepreneur and former London mayoral candidate for the Women’s Equality Party, Sue discusses the role of women in technology, mentoring, impostor syndrome and much more.
India Gary-Martin
25 year veteran of financial services and former Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for Investment Banking Technology and Operations at JP Morgan, India Gary-Martin hosted a powerful keynote session at our very first Limitless event. ThoughtWorks UK Managing Director Ruth Harrison sat down with India to discuss equality, leadership, accelerating your vision and much more.
Sally Penni Pt 1
An award-winning practicing barrister and experienced non-executive director of various boards, Sally Penni is also the founder of Women in the Law UK, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a companion of the Chartered Management Institute. On the first half of a thought-provoking discussion, Sally shares her views on diversity and inclusion in the law profession.
Sally Penni Pt 2
A practicing Common Law Barrister specialising in Public Law with an emphasis on vulnerability and Employment Law, as well as data protection breaches and GDPR, Sally Penni discusses the opportunities and challenges of technology in law - how the law can stay on top of technological advances and how technology can revolutionise the law profession.
Faye Roth Pt 1
A hugely experienced CIO/Chief Transformation Officer, Faye has worked for some of the world’s most reputable management consultancies and held permanent tech leadership positions for global businesses such as Centrica, M&S, Tesco, ITV and most recently River Island. Faye kindly shared her views on how to achieve a full digital transformation - from setting a leadership vision to achieving culture and people change.
Faye Roth Pt 2
Continuing an incredibly successful career in the retail sector, Faye has spent the last 5 years on a mission to help the industry survive the great revolution that is shaking it. In the second half of a fascinating interview, Faye looks back on her career, shares stories about female leadership in retail, advice for women building a career in the sector and the importance of recognising the diversity issues that still exist in the market.
Sabrina Del Prete
With 25+ years’ experience in the financial services industry, Sabrina has held senior roles at JP Morgan Chase, Barclays, Coutts and RBS. She is now the founder and CEO of Kore Labs, which supports FS organisations through digital transformation. In this candid, inspiring interview, Sabrina shared stories about her career in finance, being a woman and a working parent in the industry and establishing her own fintech company.