As O2’s Chief HR Officer Ann has led the business in achieving a majority female board, ensured gender parity across its annual apprentice and graduate recruitment programmes and ingrained a flexible working culture into O2’s DNA. Ann has been instrumental in leading key initiatives encouraging gender parity and driving positive change at O2, including increasing paid paternity leave to 14 weeks for all permanent employees, for heterosexual and same-sex couples and partners welcoming a baby via adoption or surrogacy. She led O2’s development of a Career Returners programme which saw 100 percent of its latest cohort of women accepting offered roles at O2. Ann is an advocate for getting young women into challenging roles early in their careers. As a result, she was appointed a trustee of Step up to Serve, providing opportunities for millions of young people and giving them the skills to be successful in their careers. Ann is also passionate about improving social mobility in the workforce. Ann is both Chair of the Advisory Board and Visiting Professor of HRM & Employability at Sheffield University Management School, and is a trustee of research charity Breast Cancer Now.