Reimagining Agility with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The event is centered around presenting findings from a year-long BAI (Business Agility Institute) research study looking at the intersection between agility and diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI). The speakers shall reflect on empirical data collected from multiple organizations and individuals across the globe to provide recommendations on ways to harness the power of DEI in agile organizations. The participants will benefit from developing a holistic perspective of the field as well as gaining actionable insights which can be implemented in work settings.

About the Speakers
Ashay Saxena
Ashay holds a Doctorate in the field of Information Systems from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He has extensively pursued research on understanding management approaches adopted by software teams to succeed with agile methodologies in a globally distributed format. He has conducted in-depth case studies at global MNCs such as Intel, GE, Mindtree and ThoughtWorks. He has delivered talks as well as presented research on several international forums such as Australasian Conference on Information Systems, ACM Computers & People Research Conference, Agile Leadership Summit, India Agile Week and Software Product Management Summit.

On the professional front, Ashay is currently associated with IBM as a Business Transformation Consultant. In this role, he takes a strategic or tactical view of a company's total business. It involves working proactively with clients to refine their current business strategy or develop a new strategy in line with competitive and market forces. Ashay leverages tools to identify, align, and change the factors that affect performance, stability, and teaming to develop comprehensive transformation recommendations.

Deanna Spowart
Deanna started her career as a Certified Practicing Accountant working in Finance and Technology roles, in organisations such as BHPBiliton, BP, Brambles and PwC. She spent several years working in London, Europe, USA and Chile before returning home to Australia. Deanna was first introduced to Agile back in 2010 working for Telstra and led their IT People & Culture strategy. Since then, she has been immersed in Culture, Leadership, Performance, Talent, Capability and Diversity & Inclusion. Deanna is one of the Lead Researchers on “Reimagining Agile for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” and has been speaking at various international forums.