# Ian Tomney-Bell

Ian Tomney-Bell is a diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and talent-acquisition leader. In posts about work at giffgaff, Tomney-Bell describes building employee affinity groups, developing inclusive hiring practices and representing workplace inclusion at industry events.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/ian-tomney-bell/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iantomney-bell
- LinkedIn followers: 1,711
- Topics: recruiting, talent-acquisition
- Based on 13 dated posts, latest 2026-10-06

## Summary

Ian Tomney-Bell is most useful for DEI thought leadership on inclusive hiring, employee voice and workplace practice.

- Best for: A diversity-focused consultancy seeking a thought-leadership collaboration on inclusive hiring and DEI strategy.
- Not for: A consumer brand seeking a paid product post with broad reach targets and performance reporting.
- Check first: Confirm audience demographics, engagement and commercial terms before contacting them.

### Takeaways

- Inclusive hiring starts with manageable changes, listening to affected communities and acting on what they say.
- Allyship is collective action across companies, not a personal stance.
- Employee affinity groups can strengthen employee voice, alongside industry partnerships and public events.

## Main ideas

- **Inclusive hiring starts with small steps and improves by listening**: Inclusive recruitment can improve both a company’s hires and the customers they reach. The proposed method is incremental: start with the easy steps, then keep improving by listening to the communities involved and acting on what they say. The advice came from a working session, not just a statement of principle.
- **Allyship is collective action across companies, not a personal stance**: For International Women's Week, under the theme "Accelerating Action", Ian Tomney-Bell cites World Economic Forum figures putting full gender parity roughly five generations away (2158) and links that timeline to pay equity. The proposed response is collective: amplifying underrepresented voices requires action across employers. The post asks readers how they are accelerating action and urges them to "do something", without prescribing a route.
- **Put inclusion inside policy, employee voice and hiring**: A recurring priority is building affinity groups into genuine vehicles for employee voice, working with affinity leads and widening the remit into talent acquisition so inclusion is built into business policies. Strategy reviews are the moment to judge what worked and decide where to push next. Active allyship and inclusive management remain the focus, routing inclusion through hiring, policy and internal networks rather than messaging alone.
- **Representation should read as genuine, not performative**: Ian Tomney-Bell argues that when companies sponsor community representation, the display should reflect who the company actually is. They note having seen that up close at two organisations. Pride participation, award listings and industry stages are presented alongside the programmes behind them as evidence of the work.
- **A track record built in one role, with the next step openly explored**: The retrospective describes joining giffgaff in 2024 as the step into a DEI leadership role Ian Tomney-Bell had been working toward for years; the remit later widened into talent acquisition. The post says the milestone prompted a search for other DEI, talent or people leadership roles while they remain committed to their current role. The next move is undecided.

## Work to read

- [A two-year retrospective on building DEI and talent at giffgaff](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/iantomney-bell_opentowork-activity-7482385008834355200-XgEG)
- [A week of putting inclusive hiring on a public stage](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/iantomney-bell_this-week-was-a-proper-triumph-strategic-activity-7378409787337904128-iWPv)
- [Framing gender parity with data, a personal stake and a cross-company panel](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/iantomney-bell_internationalwomensweek-diversity-equity-activity-7302357527709569042-fpgz)

## Brand relationships

- **giffgaff** (employment)
- **Virgin Media O2** (mention)
- **Inclusive Companies** (disclosed_partnership)
- **ImpactMatch** (mention)

## Partnerships

Ian Tomney-Bell's three LinkedIn posts describe collaboration in two settings, but neither publish a sponsorship offer nor say sponsorship is off the table. At giffgaff, the mobile brand where they describe leading diversity, equity and inclusion and talent-acquisition work, they cover affinity groups, inclusive hiring practice and representing the brand at London Pride. On peer platforms, they joined an ImpactMatch panel on hiring for inclusion alongside other practitioners and a cross-operator discussion on International Stand Up to Bullying with people from giffgaff, Virgin Media O2, Tesco Mobile, Vodafone and LG. Both are employer-led or industry-peer arrangements. For a consultancy planning a thought-leadership collaboration on inclusive hiring and DEI strategy, any engagement would need to be negotiated directly with Tomney-Bell. Ask about terms, fees, audience data, content commitments, deliverables and turnaround expectations; their posts provide none of these. Their most recent post says they remain committed to giffgaff while starting to explore other DEI, talent and people leadership roles, so confirm which organisation the work would sit with before committing budget.

## Alternatives

- Philip Marsh Pr Eng FSAICE FICE FIET MIStructE: Choose Philip Marsh when the client needs to address a talent pipeline or gender balance in engineering, construction, manufacturing or the built environment, and wants a mentoring or professional-registration programme rather than a hiring-policy piece. The work documents long-running structured mentoring across Africa, with roughly 3,000 graduates through the main programmes and around 1,300 women currently progressing through newer initiatives spanning 16 countries; a signed cooperation agreement with the Institution of Engineering and Technology; collaborations with The 5% Club, AMRC and WMG at the University of Warwick, aimed at SMEs that lack HR resources or in-house mentors; and judging the Young Women in Construction category at the Women in Construction & Engineering Awards. Consultancies building a sector-specific pipeline programme, recruiting SME or supply-chain partners, or explaining how women can progress to registered professional status will find hands-on operational detail rarely found in general DEI content.
- Patrícia Souza: Choose Patrícia Souza for work on European digital-skills policy, women in STEM and cybersecurity, or the education-to-career pipeline, especially when the collaboration needs someone with standing in multi-country working groups. The posts describe pillar lead roles in two Connecting Women in Digital thematic working groups: one on vocational education and training as a bridge from skills to a sustainable digital career, following the journey through recruitment, onboarding, retention and progression; the other on whether girls see themselves belonging in STEM and digital careers. They also cover participation in the Digital Talent EU Days 2026 programme in Dublin, contribution to the Women in Digital Index 2026 for Luxembourg, and work with Women4Cyber Luxembourg. Consultancies selling pipeline interventions to public bodies, education and training providers, or technology employers will find a more directly relevant voice than in a single-employer DEI practitioner.
- Lynn Warneke LLM, GAICD: Choose Lynn Warneke only if the consultancy shifts its focus to board and executive governance of AI, digital governance or technology procurement. The posts set out a structured way for boards to oversee AI: building a strong data foundation, supporting integration within guardrails, weaving responsible AI into company culture, and improving board oversight. They then identify four further priorities: cybersecurity scope, AI procurement and supplier contract management, short-to-long-term workforce planning, and AI in sustainability strategy. A later post argues that vendor lock-in could become the third-party risk of the digital era as AI becomes embedded in CRM and ERP platforms. It points to a risk management framework for procuring AI systems aligned with the NIST AI RMF and the EU AI Act, plus a legal toolkit of AI contractual clauses. Consultancies advising directors, risk committees or procurement functions will find usable governance frameworks and a director-level audience.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/