I am a civil servant
META - The Minority Ethnic Talent Association
Executive Committee
Chair: Claudette Sutton - B.Ed; MBA
Claudette is founder and Chair of META, the Minority Ethnic Talent Association for staff in the Civil Service. She has considerable experience of the issues involved in equality of opportunity for minority ethnic staff. Claudette spent 3 years as Team Leader of the Ethnic Minority Pupils policy at the DfES, having previously been Senior Lecturer at the Lancashire Business School, where she specialised in developing greater equality of access to university business degrees. Before joining the Department in 1999 Claudette was Vice-Chair of Preston and South Ribble Racial Equality Council.
Whilst working towards her MBA degree, Claudette researched approaches to diversity in US companies and saw how they developed diverse talent in order to increase their market share, turnover and profitability.
Claudette has broad experience within the DfES and elsewhere in the Civil Service. She is presently Deputy Divisional Manager at the Schools Improvement and Targets Unit (SITU) and has previously worked at the Cabinet Office on the development of coaching standards.
Vice Chair: Gloria Wilkinson – Solicitor, LLB, BCL, PgDip
Gloria is Vice Chair of META. She works as a legal adviser in commercial law at the Department for Communities and Local Government. Gloria has a range of experience of dealing with issues concerning equality of opportunity. Whilst at the Department of Constitutional Affairs she chaired a group of key stakeholders, which made recommendations to the Permanent Secretary on issues concerning equality of opportunity for minority ethnic staff. She also contributed to the setting up of a network for minority ethnic staff as well as organising some key inspirational events at DCA, and the Treasury Solicitor's Office. Gloria is interested in training and development and works as an assessor for the Fast Stream.
Gloria believes that the Government's 10 point plan is a particularly exciting opportunity to ensure that all talent is recognised.