MAKING GENDER DIVERSITY AN ACTIONABLE PRIORITY

Duncan Hewett is an industry champion for the representation of women in business and technology. He is focused on driving actionable results for gender diversity in the workplace and has consistently driven acceleration for women across leadership levels. Duncan is helping people scale their Gender Diversity journey through enabling managers through his book, speaking engagements and YouTube video series. He was previously the Senior VP and General Manager for VMware's business in Asia Pacific & Japan for five and half years and has previously led IBM's Asia Pacific software business. 

With a passion for driving greater participation of women in the workforce, Duncan developed VMinclusion Taara, a program that VMware leverages to help women upskill and regain the confidence to back work in the technology sector in India. More than 18,000 women have benefitted through the program so far, and over 4000 have returned to work. The program has been awarded by 'Women Leading Change Awards 2020 for Asia Pacific', India's reputed Economic Times' ET Now – CSR Program of the Year 2019, JobsForHer's - Top 20 Most Innovative Practices Women Returnee Programs and Zinnov VMware India's Inclusion & Diversity Award. 

Duncan's philosophy on diversity takes an inside out approach by equipping women to succeed, helping with skills, practical tools to navigate the corporate world and help build their confidence. He believes this turns them into lifelong athletes in the workforce and allows them to forge their chosen path. An advocate for mentoring, Duncan has mentored more than 30 women and continues to help with guidance throughout their careers. His vision for the workplace is to be representative of society, which is 50:50 participation. As he says, "If it is not, we have work to do."