Progress Together is delighted to report the appointment of Interim CEO, Sophie Hulm
Sophie leads Progress Together, a new membership body chaired by the Lord Mayor, Alderman Vincent Keaveny. Progress Together aims to level the playing field for employees from all socio-economic backgrounds.
Focusing specifically on equity of progression and retention, Progress Together supports UK financial services employers to share best practice with peers and clients, and benchmark against each other in a safe environment. Progress Together is the output of a Government commissioned taskforce, designed and led by Sophie, to boost socio-economic diversity at senior levels in UK financial and professional services.
Prior to joining Progress Together, Sophie was Assistant Director of External Affairs and Head of Skills Policy at the City of London Corporation. During this time, as well as leading the City of London’s socio-economic diversity taskforce, she designed and led an initiative to increase the supply of skills to decarbonise Central London’s built environment, which includes a focus on increasing workforce diversity.
Sophie currently sits on the SteerCo for the 30% Club. Previously, Sophie was a diversity and inclusion working group member for the Financial Services Skills Commission and a charity trustee for Governors for Schools. Sophie has led several research projects, including Skills for the Future, Who Gets Ahead and How? and ‘Investor perspectives on social enterprise finance’.
Sophie will be known to many of you as Head of Skills Policy at the City of London Corporation and a key driving force behind the Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce. Sophie brings a huge array of experience and knowledge in this area as well as a passion for social mobility. She will be a tremendous asset for the organisation and help us build on the very evident enthusiasm in the FS sector to drive socio-economic diversity and take Progress Together to the next level.
Alderman Vincent Keaveny , Rt Hon The Lord Mayor & Chair, Progress Together In Partnership with The CityHR Association, Sophie delivered ‘Apprenticeships in the City’, supporting levy paying small and medium sized banking and asset management firms in developing apprenticeship programmes. Sophie also developed the past Lord Mayor Alderman Peter Estlin’s digital skills coalition ‘Futuredotnow’. Sophie oversaw the City Corporation’s partnership with Investment2020 and the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI), supporting students from diverse backgrounds to gain CISI’s ‘Fundamentals of Financial Services’ qualification, followed by employability support.
Sophie has a Masters in Corporate Responsibility and worked in this field for several years. Sophie started out at ‘Heart of the City’, a charity advising employers on Corporate Responsibility. Sophie then headed up the City Corporation’s Corporate Responsibility team. This included developing the City Corporation’s first responsible procurement strategy, as well as leading on the City Corporation’s Social Investment strategy. Sophie led the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Awards, an internal employee volunteering programme, and a volunteer brokerage programme for City businesses. Sophie secured seed funding for the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability and sat on the preliminary Advisory Panel, as well as securing seed funding for the world’s first Social Mobility Employer Index.
After graduating with a marketing degree, Sophie worked as an employment advisor supporting long term unemployed people off benefits and into work. Sophie attended a comprehensive school and a further education college in West London. Her dad is a working-class East Londoner and her mum a retired academic with immigrant parents.
Sophie lives in Wimbledon with her partner Subhan ‘Subs’ and two mixed-race children who are big fans of Pokemon and Paw Patrol.
