News & events
Joint O:pen and SPP event: inclusion in pensions with TPR Chair Sarah Smart in conversation with Daniel Gerring, followed by an expert panel
3 October 2024
Join us on Monday 11th November for an evening with Sarah Smart, Chair of Chair of The Pensions Regulator, to discuss inclusion and diversity within the pensions industry, hosted by Hogan Lovells.
The session will begin with a 'fireside chat' between Sarah and Daniel Gerring (Partner, Travers Smith). They will then be joined by Atul del Tasso-Dhupelia (Partner, PwC) and Shayala McRae (Principal, LCP) to share their own perspectives on EDI in the industry. Attendees will also have the opportunity to ask questions of Sarah and the rest of the panel.
This is a hybrid event, giving attendees the choice of joining us in person or viewing online, everyone is welcome. For those able to join us in person, a networking reception will follow the event.
Event timings:
16:30 - 17:00: Registration
17:00 - 18:30: Main session
18:30 - 19:45: Informal drinks
Places are limited so click here to find out more and to register your interest.
O:pen - post-Pride comedy with Sophie Duker
30 May 2024
Join us on Tuesday 2nd July for an exclusive O:pen event to wrap up your Pride Month in style!
We are welcoming award-winning comedy star Sophie Duker for an evening of laughs, drinks, nibbles and networking in a dedicated space at a thriving members' club in the vibrant heart of Soho.
The event will kick off with introductions and drinks from 6pm, followed by a set and Q&A with Sophie. Sophie won the PinkNews Award for Entertainer of the Year 2023 after being nominated alongside artists including Sam Smith, Rosie Jones, Self-Esteem and Rina Sawayama. She's starred in Taskmaster, Celebrity Mastermind, 8 out of 10 Cats and Mock the Week among many others, and the spring 2023 tour of her sell-out second show 'Hag' was extended into December 2023 to meet phenomenal demand for tickets.
Places are limited, so please register your interest on Eventbrite. For security reasons the listing will not show the location. Once registered for the event, we'll send you a separate confirmation.
O:pen drinks and networking event
12 March 2024
Calling our old and new members for a relaxed networking event on Thursday 11th April. We have reserved a space in a venue conveniently located in the City of London, where you will get a chance to meet the O:pen Organisers and chat to other members over a drink (or a few) and enjoy some delicious nibbles.
Places are strictly limited so please register your interest on Eventbrite.
Should you have any questions – please get in touch!
See you soon!
O:pen’s Pride Picnic
3 July 2023
Thank you all who joined us at O:pen's family-friendly Pride Month picnic to mark the London Pride march.
GiveOut's reception to celebrate five years of impact
26 May 2023
On behalf of GiveOut, we'd like to invite you to kick off Pride month at GiveOut's reception to celebrate five years of impact, presented through five stories of change, to see how the support they have received has made a tangible difference to the lives of LGBTQI people worldwide. Amongst the speakers will be our own Daniel Gerring who is one of GiveOut's trustees.
GiveOut launched five years ago with the mission to grow giving to support the global struggle for LGBTQI human rights. By the middle of this year, thanks to support from a wide range of individuals and organisations, GiveOut will have provided £1.75 million in new funding to LGBTQI organisations who are working tirelessly to defend LGBTQI communities, tackle inequalities and campaign for lasting change.
This support has never been more important as we see a range of anti-LGBTQI legislation and other measures being introduced around the world.
Save the Date: Thursday 1 June, 6:30 - 9:00pm
Where: Mother, 10 Redchurch St, London, E2 7DD
RSVP by registering here
O:pen is recommended in the Pensions Regulator’s EDI guidance
28 March 2023
We are delighted that the Pensions Regulator has highlighted O:pen in its new and incredibly useful EDI guidance for the pensions sector.
It is a great pleasure to be named alongside other leading initiatives such as the the Women in Pensions network, The Diversity Project, NextGen and Diversity in Pensions.
Opening Doors LGBTQ+ History Month 2023 Exhibition: Launch Party
14 February 2023
Please join us at an LGBTQ+ History Month 2023 Art Exhibition Launch Party, hosted by Opening Doors and the Bishopsgate Institute.
The theme for LGBTQ+ History Month 2023 is ‘Behind the Lens’ and to celebrate we would like to invite you to Bishopsgate Institute to view this exclusive exhibition. There will a be an opportunity to speak to the artists directly about their work and find out more about Opening Doors.
The evening will start at 6pm with the launch event and art viewing at the Bishopsgate Institute. Later in the evening, the O:pen group will move on for drinks and nibbles at a nearby venue.
This event is free; however, any donations are very welcome, which will go to Opening Doors. There will also be an opportunity to purchase some of the artworks, with some or all the proceeds being donated to Opening Doors.
Please book your place here: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/12188/lgbtq-history-month-2023-exhibition-launch-party
PASSWORD: ODEXHIBITION23
Speed networking event
2 December 2022
Thank you all who joined us for a speed networking evening last night hosted by LCP. We hope you had as much fun as we did.
This event was hosted in support of the National Aids Trust for World Aids Day and there were some great raffle prices.
We look forward to seeing you next year!
Staying O:pen to diversity and inclusion
25 November 2022
Andy Lewis who is a member of the organising committee, talks about the benefits of D&I and what O:pen does.
Read the full article on Pensions Expert website.
APL annual conference 2022
11 November 2022
Earlier this month, our Steering Committee members Andy Lewis, Zoe Burdo, Amol Chalisgaonkar and Daniel Jacobson, were speaking at the Association of Pension Lawyers' Annual Conference in Glasgow about O:pen as well as some of the D&I and LGBTQ+ issues affecting pensions.
O:pen end of summer drinks
6 October 2022
Thank you all who joined us last night at Juno Rooms.
We were really pleased to see you all.
Shining a light on the pension sector's LGBTQI+ network
22 September 2022
Francesca Bailey, who is a member of the organising committee, talks about what O:pen is and where the industry network goes next.
Read the full article on Professional Pensions website.
Andy Lewis | The Legal 500 podcast
6 September 2022
Our organising committee member, Andy Lewis, sat down with Legal 500 to discuss O:pen for the Legal 500 podcast.
He talks about how the network came to be set up, and discusses the importance of real diversity and inclusion in the workplace and the benefits sector-wide networks can bring to their members.
You can listen to Andy here: Podcast #13 – The Legal 500
O:pen - Pride Month panel and networking
8 June 2022
It was great to see those of you who came along to yesterday evening's Pride month panel and networking – thank you for coming.
Our stellar panel had a wide-ranging discussion on LGBTQ+ families, covering a huge range of topics including the different options for LGBTQ+ parenthood, the legal frameworks and experiences of being a parent of queer children, with the conversations continuing over networking drinks afterwards. We all learned a lot about a topic which doesn't tend to get a lot of airtime, so massive thanks to Daniel Gerring for chairing the panel, and to panellists Olivia Stiles, Richard Westoby, James Stenning and Max Curtis for sharing their amazing stories and insights. Huge thanks, too, to Danny Wilding, James Cheeseman and Sarah French at Barnett Waddingham for organising and hosting the event.
This Pride month, we're encouraging our members to make a donation to GiveOut. GiveOut is an international LGBTQI charitable foundation that pools donations received and makes grants to grassroots LGBTQI organisations worldwide, providing them with more resources to make an impact on defending our communities, tackling inequalities and campaigning for lasting change. Please do consider giving what you can.
Networking drinks and fundraising event for GiveOut
23 June 2021
Thank you all who attended O:pen's virtual Pride month event. During this fundraising event we supported GiveOut’s Pride with Purpose campaign that celebrates businesses that are marking Pride by supporting the movement for LGBTQI human rights worldwide.
Networking drinks
18 March 2021
This time around, we hosted an online social networking event for O:pen members. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did and we cannot wait to meet you, hopefully in person, soon!
Official launch
25 November 2020
After our soft launch event we were very excited to meet you all (virtually) for our new O:pen website launch. During this online event we introduced our vision statement and objectives, followed by numerous breakout rooms sessions chaired by O:pen's organisers on different topics such as:
Employee networks top tips.
Early careers.
Allyship.
Mental health.
Imposter Syndrome.
Intersectionality.
We were thrilled to see over 60 different individuals joining us throughout the evening and actively participating in our discussions.
Soft launch
23 January 2020
Our first event was a panel discussion exploring LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion within the pensions industry. The event began with a short introduction from Mike Birch (TPR) about the Pensions Regulator’s increasing focus on diversity and inclusion and support for an LGBTQ+ in pensions initiative.
Then panel chair Chris Edwards led a conversation between panellists - Harpreet Singh Boora, Zoe Burdo, Daniel Gerring and Joanna Matthews - each a founding organiser of our group. The panel covered a wide range of topics and experiences of LGBTQ+ inclusion in pensions. We also had an audience vote to choose the name and logo for the new initiative - with ‘O:pen’ being the clear winner.
The evening was rounded off with very enjoyable networking drinks and canapés which went on well into the evening. It was wonderful to see the best part of 100 people attending - both LGBTQ+ and allies - from all areas of the industry, levels of seniority and from across the country. This was a really positive show of support for the initiative, and something we hope will continue with further events.
