Hayley Barnard is an expert on Diversity and Inclusion and Unconscious Bias. She is the Managing Director and Lead Strategist of MIX Diversity Developers and is a board level advisor to a number of FTSE 100 companies.
Hayley focuses on helping organisations become more innovative and profitable through developing both a more diverse workforce and diverse customer base. Her clients include Aspect Capital, BAE Systems, Diageo, Babcock and T-Systems.
After quickly rising to become General Manager of Sir Chay Blyth’s ‘Challenge Business’ at just 23, Hayley Barnard took the decision to start her own corporate communications and sponsorship business with her twin sister of which she is still a director. After over a decade and a half trading she went to co-found MIX Diversity Developers, alongside other non-exec director roles.
One of the most innovative projects that Hayley has headed up is the LeasePlan Women’s Arctic Challenge in which she co-led a team of women on a traverse of Baffin Island, trekking and camping for 11 days at minus 40 degrees C. MIX worked with LeasePlan to develop this unique platform to communicate the gender balance issue and challenge unconscious bias within their company.
Hayley is a professional speaker, consultant and media commentator on subjects including gender balanced workplaces, inclusive leadership, unconscious bias, harnessing greater ethnicity in business, Autism in the workplace and Age and Employment. She is passionate about inspiring business leaders to adopt the principle that diversity isn’t about difference, it’s about excellence. She tackles issues surrounding unconscious bias and inclusiveness with humour, ensuring that her ideas have real value for audiences’ working lives.