Alison is an experienced speaker, facilitator and adviser.
She has spoken on leadership, inclusion and diversity, and the changing world of work at online and in-person events around the world. She has addressed many public conferences as well as internal events at a wide range of global and national organisations, including the International Women’s Forum, BBVA, International Monetary Fund, PwC, Unilever and Sodexo.

Speaking at an inclusion event, sharing key messages from our book INdivisible, hosted by Cappfinity.
Alison’s advisory roles have included:
- Chair of the Executive Board of Bayes Business School’s Global Women’s Leadership Programme (2019-2022), and member of the Board (2017-2022)
- Board Director of International Women’s Forum UK (2016-2020), and Vice Chair (2019-2020)
- Director of The Conference Board’s European Council for Diversity & Inclusion in Business, a peer network of senior D&I executives from multinational companies (2007-2016). Also programme director and facilitator of TCB’s European Academy for Diversity, Inclusion & Culture Change
- Adviser to Tomorrow’s Company on research project ‘Tomorrow’s Global Leaders: How to ensure women reach the top’ (2009-14)
- Member of external advisory panel for O2 on sustainability (2012-14)
- Member of advisory group for Equal Opportunities Commission’s investigation into the Transformation of Work (2007)
Among her many engagements as a facilitator, Alison chaired two expert panels on diversity in Shanghai and London for ACCA, the global body for professional accountants, and the Economic and Social Research Council, and wrote the introductory and concluding reports.
She has also co-facilitated Collective Leadership two- and three-day programme retreats run by PresenceAtWork.
To book Alison for a speaking, chairing, facilitating or advisory engagement, please use the Contact Me form.
TESTIMONIALS
‘One does not often witness a fully engaged room full of lawyers, accountants, and property services professionals listening without distraction. Thanks to Alison, I witnessed such an impact at the recent annual RBS gathering of our professional services clients. The feedback has been uniformly excellent.
Alison’s core principles as represented in Future Work have a broad reach across all organisations trying to evolve their strategies in the modern workplace. Her thinking and rationale is compelling and relevant.
I also like Alison’s professionalism and empathy in tailoring her content to a particular audience. She is a strong and empathetic listener, not at all assumptive or intellectually adrift, and has a strong and collaborative personal style that allows her to really connect with her audience.
She also has an authoritative and thoughtful style of delivery and articulation of the challenges and solutions, driven by her own in depth subject matter expertise and experience. I would certainly choose to work with Alison again.’
Mike Littlewood, Managing Director, and Head of Professional Services, RBS
‘Alison provides imaginative insights into how 21st century organizations work. She’s a passionate speaker about modern, inclusive leadership, an astute facilitator of senior executives, and one of the smartest business writers of her generation.’
Andrew Tank, Executive Director, The Conference Board Europe
‘We were privileged to welcome Alison to lead one of the events of the Dive In Festival. Alison guided attendees through “adapting to the new world of work” with a natural confidence; it was clear that the audience was engaged from start to finish. Alison has a wealth of knowledge on how organisations are trying to engage with the concept of agile working, and therefore can address specific challenges businesses need to overcome. We would all certainly welcome Alison back in the future.’
Marianne Skinner and Sean Skea, Dive In Event Organisers
‘Alison Maitland participated as a keynote speaker at our Advance event on the topic “The future of work”. From the very first sentences, she captured the audience with her concrete, humorous and factual reasoning. She showed a deep understanding not only of organisations and how they evolve, but also of people and how they behave and what their needs are in the workplace. She connected these insights to people’s everyday life as well as to business performance.
It was an eye-opening speech that disclosed new horizons not only for Advance as a Swiss-based Association of Companies but also for each company member. I will use the learning in my company as well.’
Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO IKEA AG, Switzerland
TESTIMONIALS
‘The feedback has been uniformly excellent … Alison has a strong and collaborative personal style that allows her to really connect with her audience’
‘Alison has a wealth of knowledge on how organisations are trying to engage with the concept of agile working’
‘Alison is a passionate speaker about modern, inclusive leadership, and an astute facilitator of senior executives’
‘She captured the audience with her concrete, humorous and factual reasoning’