Embracing equity

bp’s EVP of people & culture, Kerry Dryburgh, spoke of her journey from apprentice to the bp leadership team during a showcase event to mark International Women’s Day at the UK’s House of Lords

Twelve years ago, I joined bp. When I looked up at the leaders above me, there were not enough women. To my surprise, the executive leadership team had precisely zero women. Today, as head of people & culture, I am proud to say I am now one of six women on the executive team – in fact, women currently outnumber men – six out of 11. 

But there’s more to this story

Our leadership team backgrounds are changing too, with several of us coming from untraditional or working-class upbringings. Our head of innovation & engineering, Leigh-Ann Russell, grew up on an Aberdeen council estate. She was one of the first in her family to go to university – as was our CEO, Bernard Looney. 

And then there’s me. I am the daughter of a former dockworker. When the dockyard closed in the 1980s, my father got his degree at night school and became a teacher. He was my role model – and gave me the courage to pursue a different type of career path. I left school at 16 to become an apprentice at an insurance company. I worked my way up the career ladder and managed to get my A-levels and even an MBA. 

Because of my own journey, I understand what it is like to question your ability to get ahead when you have a different start. And as a mother of two strong daughters and a teenage son, I want them to see that gender and background aren’t reasons for anyone to be held back. 

At bp, we have made progress – but we are aiming to do better

We aspire for women to make up half of our top 120 leadership roles by 2025 – an ambitious goal. But it’s not enough to have strong gender ambitions alone. If we are truly to embrace equity, we must create workplaces where individuals have a chance to thrive, regardless of their backgrounds.

That’s why bp has strong aims around social mobility, too. A diversity of backgrounds is something we want to see reflected across the whole company. Not only because we believe in it, but because diverse teams perform better. 

For me, our work in Teesside in the northeast of England has really brought our efforts on social mobility to life

This is an area that was historically an industrial heartland, which went into decline, experiencing high levels of deprivation and unemployment. 

This is where we have a project that would develop the UK’s first decarbonized industrial cluster. We’re aiming for these efforts to bring new jobs and help regenerate the area.

And we’re investing in the broader community funding to build a new education hub tailored to the local economy’s needs. Giving others the opportunity to reskill – just like my father had.

International Women’s Day is both a day to celebrate the amazing accomplishments of women and it’s a reminder. A reminder that no woman should be left behind in our progress – no matter what your socio-economic background. 

There is work still needed to create more diverse teams. But we can use our voices to challenge the status quo. 

It is often said that you can’t be what you can’t see. And, together, we can role model the teams we want the world to see.