The Speakers
Lee Chambers, Founder and CEO, Male Allies UK
After a diverse career, from corporate finance to building and exiting tech company, he is now focused on supporting organisations to engage men in inclusion and promote effective allyship. He has been featured on the Startups 100 Index, has received a Great British Entrepreneur Award, and sits on the board of CMI Women, Regenerage UK and the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. In 2024, he received the Freedom of the City of London for services to equality in business.
He is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences in the USA, the first Black British scientist to be awarded in its 33-year history, received for his work on health inequalities. He is the 2023 UN Women Changemaker of the Year, and is an ambassador for the UK Governments Lilac Review for Disabled Entrepreneurship. He speaks globally on allyship and intersectionality, having taken the stage at One Young World, ChangeNOW and the Bloomberg Global Equality Summit, and is the author of the upcoming book, Momentum: 13 Ways To Unlock Your Potential.
Personally, he shares his experiences as a Black autistic man, a stay-at-home dad, and his journey to learn to walk again after acquiring a chronic illness. He lives near Preston with his three children.
Stephen Whitton, Founder and Leader, [M]enable
Stephen Whitton is the Founder and Leader of the global movement for mental wealth in automotive - [M]enable. After a long career in the sector covering many roles, Stephen succumbed to his own Mental Health crises in 2020, leading to the break-up of his marriage, family and the loss of two businesses. However, he chose the road of hope over despair and formed [M]enable after concluding that the industry (culture and working practices) had contributed to his situation - and from this he set about creating a mission to raise awareness and education of the subject in a very masculine, often male dominated business. Having changed the language from Mental Health to Mental WEALTH, Stephen and the [M]enable team are now working extensively across the sector to use this far more positive narrative to influence cultures ensuring managers can lead with courage to put the wellbeing of everyone at the top of the agenda.
About this session
During their conversation, Lee and Stephen will reveal why they are both such advocates for gender-balance and inclusion, and why men benefit from it. They will explain that inclusive leadership and culture does not put men at a disadvantage, in fact they benefit hugely from positive outcomes including better mental wealth, being liberated from gender stereotypes, and feeling able to be more active parents. They will encourage men in the audience to be active and involved in building gender-balance, recognising the important role they play as the current majority.
Watch Online
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In this section…
- Conference (2025) Change the Game – Unlock Inner Potential
- Productivity Versus Presenteeism – Rethinking the Automotive Workplace For Today’s Top Talent
- Have the Courage to Try
- Women in Automotive Leadership – we can do it, so can you
- Unlocking the Potential of Working Mums
- How Inclusion Unlocks the Potential of Both Men and Women
- Unlocking the Potential of People with ADHD
- Practical Actions to Ensure Women Walk the Path to Management
- Conference Feedback Survey