Keith became IHG’s CEO in July 2017 and is a passionate advocate and believer that a balanced workforce is critical to the company’s success. Under Keith’s leadership, IHG’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) agenda has gone from strength to strength. In 2018, he established a D&I Board which he Chairs, to reinforce IHG’s ambitions in this space and to prioritise areas where the company can make a real impact, including addressing an under-representation of females in senior leadership roles. Since becoming IHG’s CEO, female representation on the company’s Executive Committee (EC) has increased to almost a third, and nearly 40% of the EC and their direct reports are women. This is in addition to the 36% female representation IHG has at Board level. IHG also has an external target to increase the percentage of diverse Senior Leaders (in terms of gender & nationality/ethnicity) and the percentage of females working in General Manager and Operations roles in managed hotels. To meet these goals, the company has launched initiatives including conscious inclusion training for the entire organisation, and a mentoring programme called RISE, which supports women who aspire to become hotel General Managers. Keith is a founding member of the Advisory Board for Women in Hospitality, Travel and Leisure 2020 group, and is a member of the 30% Club. He speaks regularly on the importance of D&I and uses social media and his internal blog to discuss the importance of D&I at IHG, and has hosted events dedicated to celebrating and championing D&I.