Member Article

IoD appoints four ambassadors to support Oxfordshire directors

The Institute of Directors has appointed a quartet of new ambassadors to its Oxfordshire team.

Aduke Onafowokan, founder of Inclusivitii and The Sister Sister Network, is the branch’s new vice-chair and Inclusive Leadership Ambassador.

Following careers in law and project management, Aduke launched Inclusivitii to plug the gap between diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) aspirations and tangible change in organisations. Aduke is also the founder of The Sister Sister Global Network, a social enterprise contributing to women’s empowerment through personal development capacity-building programmes for women throughout their leadership journeys.

IoD ambassadors are leading figures from the business community, who each represent a specific industry sector or issue. Ambassadors drive greater connectivity with members, support learning and development and give a local voice to the Institute, while ensuring that IoD national policy reflects local issues.

Mark Anderson, Head of Customer Experience at Southeastern Railway has been appointed as Travel and Tourism Ambassador.

Mark has more than 15 years’ experience across the visitor attraction and public transport sectors having held strategic roles at Warwick Castle and LEGOLAND Windsor before moving to Go-Ahead Group to head up commercial strategies. He was recently promoted to Customer and Commercial Director on rail and bus contracts in the UK and overseas.

As a non-executive director for destination management company Go To Places, Mark supports the development of winning place making strategies to drive the visitor economy through event planning, consultation, research and thought leadership.

Nick Gowens, managing director of NG Analytics, is the branch’s new Marketing, Events and Sponsorship Ambassador.

Nick is an experienced executive board director, business consultant and coach with more than 30 years’ experience in the analytics, retail, real estate, leisure and food services industries across the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

His specialist knowledge of analytics and retail technology solutions, along with deep market insight and commercial focus, have delivered consistently successful and profitable outcomes across complex global environments.

Tagore Ramoutar, co-founder and director of The Oxford Artisan Distillery is IoD Oxfordshire’s new SME and Start Up Ambassador. He is a director of the embryonic English Whisky Guild, a new association representing English whisky and an ambassador for Investors in Community.

In June 2021 he became a director of start-up Ten Hides Distillery in Wiltshire and he continues to advise several craft drinks companies on their journey. Tagore has also authored several children’s books. In 2019 he won IoD London and South Director of the Year awards for start-ups.

IoD Oxfordshire now has a leadership team of nine, including branch chair, Mark Johnson who was appointed in January 2021.

Mark said: “I am delighted with the addition of these new ambassador posts. We are building a strong and experienced team to engage and support leaders, directors and businesses across Oxfordshire.”

The IoD is the UK’s number one organisation for directors, providing connections, influence and world-class professional development.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Richard Abbott .