Cumbria's Top 12 Most Influential Business Women

From industry leaders to food pioneers; nuclear and engineering experts to tourism bosses and restaurant critics – we’ve taken a cross slice of the talent which is so prevalent in Cumbria.

This is our top twelve...in no particular order

Sam Plum is the Chief Executive of Barrow Borough Council, Interim Head of Paid Service and newly appointed Chief Executive for Westmorland and Furness Council - the biggest change to the county's governance since 1974

Your advice for women coming into the industry?

Believe in yourself. In meetings, in conversations, in your day-to-day role. If you do, this confidence will shine through and people will notice and listen.

Don’t be afraid to talk about the softer stuff – we have an important role in creating caring, compassionate services. Our response to Covid was one of my proudest career highlights and it was all about pulling together for the common good. To me that’s what this work is about. Enabling our residents to find their strengths and thrive, and wrapping an arm around them when they need it.

We can’t achieve the outcomes we want on our own – embrace partnerships, and not all partners are obvious. Collaboration and harnessing all our resources, whether ever they are is key. Also, stay curious. Keep asking the why questions.

Be you, stay authentic, you’ve got this.

Lessons learned along the way…

If you feel you’re right about something, have the courage to say it – go with your instinct. Be honest, all the time, even when it hurts. There are ways of getting difficult messages across in a caring way, but the message still needs to get across.

Everyone who works for me is better at their specific piece of the jigsaw than I am – they are the experts – listen as much as you can – and make time to do this.

Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness. This can be a lonely place if you let it. Make sure you look after yourself.

Anything really is possible, we just have to keep going, even if that means circling back and taking a different approach.

Jacqui Gale MBE is the Chief Executive Officer of Wax Lyrical /Chief Commercial Officer Portmeirion Group. She has worked there for four years and is responsible for the commercial aspects of the Group and its six brands which includes Wax Lyrical in Cumbria; Spode, Royal Worcester, Pimpernel, Nambe and Portmeirion including the licences (Sophie Conran, Sara Miller London, Wrendale Designs, Morris and Co, Fired Earth, RHS and Yvonne Ellen).

Your advice for women coming into the industry?

See people as people not by the definition of male or female or in any other way. Listen to your gut, it is usually right. Most things can be fixed you just have to find the way.

Lessons learned along the way?

• Use experience, expertise, passion, drive and futuristic/entrepreneurial attitude to support and identify opportunities.

• Do your homework and plan.

• Lead, be brave (do your research and manage the risks).

• Keep the entrepreneurial spirit, where there is a will there is a way.

• Resilience. If you fall over get up, dust off and get going again.

• Relationships. Work with people to help them achieve their best. We are all people no matter gender, colour race or preferences so I always treat people how I would want to be treated.

• COMMUNICATE. Often something that is complicated or emotionally charged is sorted out

very quickly by communicating.

• Pass on what you have learned to others. I hope I am a great sharer to those I mentor and to those I work with.

• Balance… I am still trying to find mine 😊

How different is your business now compared to when you were starting out?

Well, all those years ago I was told what size I had to be and make sure I had the right colour hair! We are much more “open” now. There is still bias and we all have to do our part in trying to eliminate it. Time moves on and the more diversity we have in any business the better the world will be.

Sarah Dunning is the Chair of the Westmorland Family which owns Tebay Services. She has worked at her family’s firm for more than for more than 20 years, first as CEO and more recently as Chair.

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success?

Being a woman in business (and therefore experiencing being in the minority at times) has motivated me to create a more inclusive team at Westmorland. I really believe that inclusivity creates better business and that in business we have both a responsibility and opportunity to make progress in this regard.

Your advice for women coming into the industry:

Find mentors and role models from whom you can learn and who have experience of some of the challenges you are likely to face.

Lessons learned along the way…

I have had some great mentors along the way, but in retrospect I would have benefitted from more female role models who could have helped me in particular navigate the challenges of balancing family and career.

How different is your business now compared to when you were starting out?

The business has got bigger and now covers a wider geography and of course markets change significantly over just a couple of decades, so our job is always to be at the forefront of that change. However, it’s important to know what should stay constant too – for us, it’s being a business which is a champion of its locality, where the needs of customers, suppliers, colleagues and community are as important as making profit; I truly believe that this approach creates a stronger and more sustainable business model in the long term.

Dianne Richardson  is the Chief Executive of Britain’s Energy Coast Business Cluster (BECBC). She has been in role for one year and is responsible for the operational performance of BECBC, supporting a team of staff, contractors and

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success? 

Allyship, both male and female has really helped me combat some of the barriers. There was one memorable moment where I gathered with fellow females in a staff kitchen and we said “Let’s keep an eye on each other” because the behaviours of some male leaders were leading to a culture where it was much more difficult for women to thrive. Thankfully I’ve seen more allyship than the latter.

Lessons learned along the way?

• Build your network. Doing the day job well isn’t enough, you need to build your network if you want your career to progress.

• Be curious. The successful people I see all keep a sense of curiosity.

• Help others every chance you get. Not just so they’ll help you back. I’ve gained so much in development and knowledge from helping others and it does us good as human beings to contribute.

What changes do you think are necessary in the future to help women realise their full potential in business? 

The changes needed to help women realise their full potential would actually benefit everyone but require a deep cultural shift in our societal norms. That doesn’t happen easily or quickly.

I’ve seen a huge increase in male allyship during my career, I’m hoping as we move forward that that will continue to build so we get a society where women realise their potential in business and men don’t feel they’re missing out on family due to being the breadwinner. I also hope to see more female allyship for women with colour and disability, who’ve often been left out of the historical story of feminism.

  Suzanne Caldwell is the Managing Director of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce. She was appointed in January 2021, and was a Deputy and a Board member before that. She runs the Chamber, managing projects and policy. She is also heavily involved with members and stakeholders.

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success? 

To be honest I’m not sure it’s impacted at all. Not in more recent years anyway.

Your advice for women coming into the industry? 

Whether it’s into my current industry or others I’ve worked in:

• Learn the rules of the game and use them

• Be yourself

• Be the best you can be (and try to be better than the men around you)

• Stand up for yourself and don’t hide your light

How different is your business now compared to when you were starting out? 

I’m not sure how different Chambers are other than that loads are run by women now. But if I look back to when I first started out in industry it was a whole other world. You called your boss’s boss “Mr” (it almost always was), computers were huge contraptions in special underground rooms (and there were still punched card operators), I was regularly mistaken for a secretary and my boss went out for really long lunches!

What changes do you think are necessary in the future to help women realise their full potential in business? 

I think that it’s often women who hold themselves back and women’s own attitudes that need to change. You need to push yourself forward and show your worth and that you can do things. Work’s never been more flexible and accommodating. It worries me that there seem to be so many younger women now looking for barriers and seeing difficulties that aren’t really there anymore. I’d love to be able to transport them back “Ashes to Ashes” style!

Shiby Bernard is the Chief Operations Officer, Shareholder and Board Member of McMenon Engineering Services Limited in Workington. She joined McMenon in 2018 moving from Scotland to Cumbria to manage day-to-day operations of the business, a global manufacturer and supplier of flow and temperature measurement instrumentation. She also sits on the board.

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success?

My mum (Sara) paved the way for me to be successful. As a single parent bringing up three daughters, she led the family’s automotive paints business. In India, where I grew up, the business world at the time was definitely a man’s world. My mum made it happen for herself - and she instilled that in me.

Your advice for women coming into the industry?

Believe in yourself. If you have the interest then pursue STEM subjects at school. To those women with a passion for engineering who may not have had the opportunity to pursue that during their early years, it’s never too late. Retrain and make the transition.

Lessons learned along the way…

Look after your customers. If you don’t look after your customers, then you don’t have a business. Problem solving is also a very rewarding experience.

How different is your business now compared to when you were starting out?

The business has grown in strength competing with the best in the world. We have achieved major milestones of winning Sellafield PPP contracts and recently acquired a German instrumentation business from a global corporation along with a long-term contract to badge the instruments on their behalf.

But what stands out is our commitment to give back to the community. Our social impact footprint has increased multifold involving significant investments into training and apprenticeships including brilliant young women with a passion for engineering.

What changes do you think are necessary in the future to help women realise their full potential in business?

I hope when girls and women see females in leadership positions that helps them to believe they can do that too. We still need more women in boardrooms to be the change and to effect the changes required to make businesses a more equitable environment.

Jo Lappin is the Chief Executive, Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, supporting economic and business growth in the county.

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success? I think that whether you are a woman is irrelevant to success. However, sometimes it feels that women have to work that bit harder to gain the same recognition as men. Having said that some of my greatest supporters have been men and what they all have in common is that they don’t see women as threats.

Your advice for women coming into the industry

Be yourself. You can never be anything other than what you are, so be an authentic leader. The other thing that I would encourage young women to do is develop a strong and supportive network, who will champion you and be your advocates.

Lessons learned along the way

Think seriously about what you want to achieve and commit to this. It’s also important that

you do something that you feel really matters, as then it’s very easy to keep going in challenging times. I would also encourage younger women to promote their achievements, as in my career I have delivered multi-billion investment programmes and just got on with it, which can lead to the scale of achievement being under recognised.

How different is your business now compared to when you were starting out? Things have changed but not as much I would have liked. If we look at the statistics from as recently as 2021, only 8% of FTSE 100 companies CEOs were female, with this dropping to 4% in FTSE 250 companies. There remains a gender pay gap of over 15% in the UK, despite having legislation to prevent this and we currently rank 23rd on the global gender gap index. However, more concerningly, I think that there has been an erosion in the way that women are treated – equality has come with a price that at times seems to be respect.

What changes do you think are necessary in the future to help women realise their full potential in business? We need to create workplaces that are genuinely inclusive and make everybody feel valued irrespective of gender or any other characteristic.

Emma Porter is the Managing Director of Story Plant and co-founder of The Rebuild Site

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success?

Can feel like you always need to prove your competence and can be harder to get your voice heard. But you bring a different perspective to the team and can see things others miss.

Your advice for women coming into the industry:

Go before you’re ready. You don’t need to wait until you can do 100% of a role perfectly before you can go for it. You’re never really ready before you try and you learn as you go. If you wait until everything is perfect you’ll be waiting forever.

Lessons learned along the way

Confidence, the value of feedback and the power of asking the right question

How different is your business now compared to when you were starting out?

We’ve always been hardworking and grounded and those values remain today. But there are far more women in male dominated roles now than when I started and more understanding of why the industry needs diversity and inclusion.

What changes do you think are necessary in the future to help women realise their full potential in business?

Too much to fit in to 200 but representation, flexible working hours, apprenticeships for over 25’s, more communication of why gender diversity is important and why it’s good for everyone, much stronger commitments to achieving gender parity, more representation of women in construction, far greater understanding of the barriers, biases and impact of workplace culture on career advancement and increased awareness in schools for the opportunities there are in construction.

Jayne Moorby is the Head of Marketing at the Oxley Group, an advanced manufacturer of LED lighting and electronic components based in Ulverston, which sells to 34 countries across the globe

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success?

Being a woman in a male dominated industry means you have to be knowledgeable and committed to stay ahead of the game. I’m privileged to work for an enlightened employer in Oxley, so it’s important for me to ‘throw down the ladder’ to the women that come behind me, I was delighted to be recognised by The Manufacturer as one of the UK’s 100 most influential people in the category of ‘Driver of Cultural Change’ for this work.

Your advice for women coming into the industry:

Always maintain your integrity and be professional, build a strong network of people you can trust and rely on. Be kind to other people, work hard but remember to retain your work / life balance.

Lessons learned along the way

Believe in yourself, don’t let imposter syndrome get the better of you, be proud of your accomplishments. Take every opportunity that comes your way, it may take you to an interesting and unexpected new place or learning.

How different is your business now compared to when you were starting out?

Oxley prioritises inclusion and has a 50 / 50 gender split, in the defence industry the average is only 17% female. Oxley is a proud and active supporter of the Women in Defence and the Women in Aviation and Aerospace Charters - modelling best practice in equality.

What changes do you think are necessary in the future to help women realise their full potential in business?

Businesses need buy in from senior leadership to build-in inclusion throughout the employee journey, including recruitment, the introduction of flexible policies and creating support networks and mentoring schemes. Everyone needs to address negative attitudes and behaviours regarding gender bias and gender stereotypes; these are fixed at a very young age so this work needs to start in primary schools.

‘You can’t be what you can’t see…’ young people need to see strong positive female role models to raise their aspirations and self-belief.

Gill Haigh has been the Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism for the past five years. Cumbria Tourism is the county’s largest membership organisation, the official voice of the industry worth £3.1bn to the economy and representing approximately 2500 member businesses.

How has being a woman impacted/played a part in your success?

I think it is less about being a man or a woman but more about who you are and the experience and skills you bring with you. In the early part of my career, a long time ago now, the workplace was perhaps a little more male dominated but I can honestly say that I have worked with brilliant men and brilliant women and learned so much from each along the way.

Your advice for women coming into the industry:

Be yourself, believe in yourself and your abilities, be ambitious, be determined, make strong relationships, have fun and enjoy what you do. Most of all be kind, to yourself as well as others.

Lessons learned along the way…

A serious one. I think as women we can be a little self doubting and perhaps not as confident in our decision making as we should be. To be honest a little bit of caution is no bad thing but my experience is that if you trust your gut, try your hardest, be brave and take people with you the rewards will come. And when things go wrong, don’t beat yourself up. That’s life. Put it behind you and use that energy into doing better next time.

What changes do you think are necessary in the future to help women realise their full potential in business?

One of the main barriers is often the perception that women still carry the burden of looking after children and how this might impact on their capacity and abilities. Whilst there has been much improvement in terms of maternity leave, pay, paternity leave and flexible working, I know some working women still feel guilty if they have to take time off to look after children or they feel unable to work in the jobs they deserve because of a perception employers might not be able to support them. My view is men and women are all incredibly valuable to our workplaces and, in today’s world, a happy and healthy employee, equals a successful business so be flexible.

Then there's Sarah Purdham who set up her award-winning company and is a regular on the podium at our in-Cumbria awards.

And finally, a woman who has a national influence on the restaurant trade. That woman is Carlisle-born Grace Dent who is the restaurant critic for the Guardian and Observer newspapers and website. Grace, who is a great advocate for the county, its food producers and its eateries, has reviewed many of Cumbria’s restaurants and her witty and incisive reviews have a huge impact on the places she writes about. She doesn’t just target Michelin-starred restaurants or well-established places either, she also highlights some of her favourite haunts which she visits with her family.

The owners of The Yan said when her review was published it had a huge impact. “It blew us out of the water! We’d only been open a month or two and were quite unknown tucked away up here, absolutely incredible and it still continues to bring people through the door,” said co-owner Jess Manley. That’s the power of Grace…