Members’ Mini Summit (June 2026)

“Maximising Opportunities, Minimising Threats”

 

09.15 Arrival and Refreshments

Julia Muir (photograph)

10.00 Welcome - Maximising Opportunities and Minimising Threats.

Julia Muir – Founder Auto30Club.

The automotive industry is undergoing rapid transformation, adopting new business models, embracing AI technology and reshaping jobs. Julia will explain that leaders must maximise the opportunities whilst minimising the threats presented by this turbulent context by surrounding themselves with the very best people, who are in turn great leaders of their own teams. It is evident that we need to attract, promote and retain people with different transformational leadership skills and expertise to those we have traditionally favoured. Those skills will be found in a wide range of different types of people, many of whom have been excluded from our top teams in the past. The creativity, innovation and effective problem solving that stem from diverse thinking teams of people who are different from each other are essential to rise to the challenge of the environment up to 2030 and beyond.

 
Luigi Kasawery Luca’ [photograph]

10.10 Maximising Opportunities and Minimising Threats – The Toyota Perspective.

Luigi Ksawery Luca’ – President Toyota GB.

Luigi will share the Toyota perspective of the key opportunities and threats facing the UK automotive sector, leading us to need high performing teams of different people, and inclusive leadership and culture. He will explain why we must have transformational leadership and share insight into the changes that need to be made to achieve high performance in turbulent times. This is a keynote speech from an automotive President who is new to the UK and can give a fresh perspective on the challenges faced by leaders in the automotive sector, and how to ensure we have the best people to be able to rise to them.

 
Claire Roberts Co-founder and Chief Ethics and Strategy Officer at Full Fathom Five [photograph]

10.40 Opportunities and Threats for Leaders presented by AI Adoption.

Claire Roberts – Co Founder and Chief Transformation Officer - Full Fathom AI.

AI adoption at home and at work is accelerating. It may completely reshape industry processes, business models, job design and human resource allocation. Inclusive leaders must maximise the opportunities whilst minimising the threats to their values and culture presented by this new technology. Claire will encourage senior leaders to take an active role in AI adoption and raise awareness of the threat of discriminatory decisions being made through poor use, and the danger of replacing junior roles with AI tools leading to insufficient skilled supervision of the AI in the future.

 
Behaviour and Dynamics on the Board and ExCo [photographs]

11.10 The Impact of Board/ ExCo Behaviour and Group Dynamics on the Business.

Lakshmi Moorthy CEO Arval UK, Nick Williams MD Transport, Lloyds Banking Group. Hosted by Jane Cusdin Auto30Club Associate.

Lakshmi and Nick will explain that in these turbulent times of rapid transformation, companies must maximise opportunities and minimise threats through transformational inclusive leadership embedded at the top of the organisation, that is role modelled and demonstrated through professional Board/ExCo behaviour and positive group dynamics gained from diverse teams. Dysfunctional, homogenous top teams will not have a balanced approach to risk, may not spot opportunities and threats, and may succumb to groupthink. Prior to being appointed to the board, men and women should be given support and board readiness training to understand the role of the top team, particularly regarding contributing, scrutinising, questioning and healthy challenge.

 

11:40 BREAK

Annick Jourdenais, Luke Broad, Andrew Mallory and Julia Muir [photographs]

12.00 Building and Sustaining High Performing Teams.

Annick Jourdenais MD LKQ Synetiq, Luke Broad MD Renault Retail Group, Andrew Mallory COO Vantage Motor Group. Hosted by Julia Muir Founder Auto30Club.

In an ever-changing business landscape, senior leaders must create an inclusive culture and environment in which the best people of all types can thrive. They must focus on people management and leadership expertise as the most critical skill in the organisation, rather than legacy obsolete experience or task specialism. Each of these automotive leaders will give a 5 minute “elevator pitch” outlining the priority actions they are taking to build and sustain high performing teams. These actions are indicative of the transformational inclusive leadership we need in the sector. They will then come together to take questions from the audience.

 
Dr Lucy Ryan [photograph]

12.35 Revolting Women: Why Midlife Women Walk Out (and what to do about it).

Dr Lucy Ryan, Author and Founding Director of Mindspring Consultancy Ltd.

Female representation in automotive generally declines with the progression up each management level. One reason for this is the mid-life female exodus many companies experience: high performing women leave in their forties and fifties to seek more purpose or fulfilment, but the men stay. There are so many reasons for this: being overlooked for promotion, being asked to 'prove it again,' being kept at a level below their competence because a less capable person is blocking the promotional role for years, burn-out, menopause, or that the jobs above them are largely unfulfilling or designed to suit a very narrow candidate profile. In these turbulent times of rapid transformation, leaders need to promote and retain the very best people and so must intentionally avoid excluding high performing mid-life women. Dr Lucy Ryan will explain how the leaders can personally take action to stop the exodus...

 

13.25 Mini Summit Summary and Close

Julia Muir, Founder Auto30Club.

Julia will summarise the key learning points of the day and end with a call to action to improve leadership and people management skills as an urgent priority.

13.30 LUNCH

14.00 Mini Summit closes

Toyota (GB) [logo]
Arval UK (logo)
Lloyds Banking Group (logo)

With thanks to our sponsors: Toyota GB, Arval UK and Lloyds Transport.

Toyota (GB) [logo]
Arval UK (logo)
Lloyds Banking Group (logo)