Katherine Bennett OBE, aerospace giant Airbus’s senior vice-president, is the next speaker a series of talks by high-profile business women staged at Bath’s Gainsborough Hotel.
Katherine, pictured, who is responsible for leading Airbus’s strategy and external relations in the UK and reports directly to the global CEO, will be at the hotel next Thursday as part of its Phenomenal Women series held in conjunction with the University of the West of England’s Bristol Business School.
Her role at French and German-owned Airbus that is becoming more important as the UK’s March 29 departure from the European Union draws ever closer.
Katherine, who has worked for Airbus for 13 years, is responsible for 10,000 staff at is sites at Filton, Bristol and Broughton, North Wales.
She has held roles in communications and spent several years based at Airbus HQ in Toulouse running the global public affairs function. Before joining Airbus, Katherine worked at US automotive manufacturer General Motors’ UK arm where she headed its government affairs function and prior to that worked for Hill and Knowlton Public Relations in London.
She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in June 2004 for services to industry and charity and has served on various boards of public/private enterprises focused on economic development in UK regions including the West of England LEP.
The series or talks, which was launched earlier this year, takes its name from the poem Phenomenal Woman by US poet Maya Angelou.
Tickets for each talk cost £15 and include prosecco and canapés. Each guest talk will be followed by a facilitated discussion based on leading-edge business and management research with a member of the Bristol Business School.
Previous speakers have included Severn Trent Water CEO Liv Garfield, University of Bath head of physics Carole Mundell, national clinical director for children at NHS England Dr Jacqueline Cornish OBE and Laura Marshall, the MD of Icon Films.
The five-star, 99-room Gainsborough Hotel, which opened three years ago, has been named as the number one hotel in the UK outside of London, number two in Europe and number three in the world by readers of the upmarket Condé Nast USA Traveler magazine. It is the first UK hotel to be opened by YTL Hotels, part of the giant Malaysian YTL conglomerate that also owns Bath-based Wessex Water.
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