7th March 2024

The WLA International Women's Day Conference

We are delighted to once again be a headline sponsor and to be speaking at the WLA's International Women's Day Conference 2024.

Continuing our relationship with the Women Leaders Association, Sir Robert McAlpine is proud to once again be a headline sponsor for the International Women's Day Conference 2024.

The WLA’s Annual Conference coincides with International Women’s Day (IWD). IWD has been celebrated around the globe for over 100 years and adopted by the UN in 1977.

We know there is still much work to achieve gender parity. The World Economic Forum have suggested it will be over 150 years before that goal is reached. In terms of positives, there is great work happening around the world. Movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp together with many employers publishing annual DE&I reports all supporting the cause and we are seeing more women than ever in our boardrooms.

We are pleased to announce that our very own Grant Findlay will be joining a fantastic array of speakers on the conscious leadership debate panel. 

The WLA seeks to celebrate the achievements of women through their annual SHINE Awards, celebrated at the Conference.

7th March 2023

Emirates Cricket Ground, Manchester

All day

Event Details

Our speaker

  • Grant Findlay

    Executive Managing Director

    Grant Findlay is Executive Managing Director for Buildings at Sir Robert McAlpine, overseeing the successful delivery of projects within Commercial Offices, Healthcare, Industrial and Major & Special Projects.

    Grant is a chartered engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the engineering and construction industry. He has held project and business leadership positions in consultancy, clients and main contractors. He is passionate about transforming the construction industry to deliver a more sustainable built environment. He has served as a Trustee and Director of the Career Colleges Trust, LCIUK, UKBCSD, and in 2020 he founded the Construction Data Trust, a not-for-profit which aggregates data to transform project delivery. He is also a fervent champion of inclusion to drive greater diversity in construction.

Take a look at the 2023 IWD Conference...

we are super excited about our day today
it's our ninth International women's day
conference the WLA organised we've got a
packed agenda in fact it's a bit too
packed actually we have a range of
speakers talking about the future of
work that's our theme today and in
particular how are we inspiring the
leaders of tomorrow and what do we need
to do today as Leaders to change and
ensure that we meet the demands of the
future I think events like this are
really important because you can get so
consumed in your own business and your
own work and forget to look outside and
when you look outside about all the
different experience and things that
other people have got and different
perspectives that you get from lots of
different people coming together it
really helps you take that back into
your own workplace and make that a
better place to be there's so much more
power in the common good when we're all
together we can all learn from each
other we all have common challenges and
common struggles when we get the chance
to talk about them we actually realise
that they're not so isolating it's made
a massive difference to my life in terms
of accountability and goal setting it
actually makes you use your time much
more wisely you've only got a finite
amount of time on this Earth You may as
well be using it properly the whole
message today is about heart and also
the mind and how you actually bring both
together we should have more events like
this it's not just about women coming
together it's about learning how you
need to show up as a woman in you know
the workplace as a leader I've been into
workshops amazing presentations by a
group of very diverse and incredible
people who've achieved a lot in their
lifetime
kind of
me because all these women at some point
they were in the beginning of their
career also so it kind of shows me that
if I follow their advice and work hard
maybe one day I can be in their position
also
I found the day really inspiring I'm
going away with a hell of a lot of
things that I'm gonna do not only from a
professional point of view but also a
personal point of view to support my own
development and my team's development I
have learned so much everyone's been so
inspiring everyone's so willing to help
but if you want to Exile your career and
you want to be around powerful women at
different stages of their career and get
amazing advice and solutions to problems
that you may have in the future or you
may have now then it's it's a it's a
brilliant organisation to join my first
conference was this time last year and I
subsequently joined the WLA and it's
completely transformed me so the Boost
in confidence and being able to
recognize my strengths but also being
inspired by all these amazing women
behind me
I applied for three jobs I got three job
offers and I changed industry and so
it's just made the world of difference
to me it's enabled me to see what I can
do and help me shine I had the choice of
either going to Switzerland skiing today
on a team building Dave skiing but I
chose to go to the WLA and I have to say
I don't regret it it's been absolutely
fantastic a lot of things make sense it
really was eye-opening there's so much
to think about after today all the all
the speakers everyone then had something
that inspired me and made me think
it's it's informative it's fun but it's
informative and there's lots of
information it's a community and it
doesn't matter whether you're at a CEO
level whether you're aspiring to be a
CEO a senior leader or just starting on
your journey of where you want to go it
helps you focus it helps you get really
inside of what is it you want where do
you need to be what are your values and
it's a support network that we all
support each other celebrate successes
and help you on your journey to get you
to achieve wherever you want to achieve
because believe me with the WLA you can
achieve it
[Music]

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