Caroline Waters OBE
Sustainable Care Programme Advisory Board Member
Currently Deputy Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Vice President of Carers UK and Founder and CEO of CW Consulting Box, Caroline Waters was also Director of People and Policy at BT and has a distinguished record on equality, inclusion, and human resources. She has been the driving force of many diversity-focused groups where she has routinely set the agenda and demonstrated real thought leadership.
Seen as one of the most influential Senior leaders and practitioners in the original movement to create new ways of working and a leader of the nascent flexible working agenda in the 1990s Caroline works with a wide range of stakeholders and clients to build new ever more inclusive approaches to people, space and productivity.
Caroline routinely works with and advises policy makers and contributed to the Department of Work and Pensions publication of ‘The Disability and Health Employment Strategy: the Discussion so Far’ Chairing the Task and Finish Group on Young Disabled people and Employment. Caroline also Co-Chaired the Department of Health’s Task and Finish Group which launched the ground breaking report ‘Supporting Working Carers: The Benefits to Families, Business and the Economy’ in autumn 2013. As a key opinion former in the business community she also chaired Employers for Carers from 2001 to 2013, was founder and inaugural Chair of the Employers’ Forum on Belief, and Chair of the Lone Parents working group. Caroline has also acted as the independent panel member on a broad range of senior appointments including chair of the Judicial Pensions Committee and Commissioner of Law.
She was awarded HR Director of the Year in the 2009 HR Excellence Awards and has also judged a number of prestigious diversity awards including the CRE Race in the Media Awards and Help the Aged’s Living Legends. She was awarded the OBE for services to progressive HR practice, diversity and equal opportunities in the New Year’s list in 2010. Caroline’s work at BT was recognized by several diversity awards including best ethnic minority recruitment programme awarded by Race for Opportunity. BT is the only company ever to top seven leading diversity benchmarks at the same time. An accomplishment achieved for three consecutive years. An experienced NED she is a Director of Roffey Park, Project Fortis and Wilson James and a member of the Whole Education Board. Caroline was recently listed in the top 100 Disability Power List 2018 and voted one of the most influential HR practitioners of the last decade by HR Magazine Excellence Awards 2015 and the HR Movers and shapers of 2018.
As Founder of CW Consulting Box Ltd. Caroline provides high-level support and guidance across the private, public and charitable sector. Recent activity has included Board Effectiveness reviews, board coaching, Business and strategic HR guidance, OD design, flexible working strategy, behavioural action planning, capacity building and strategic communications.