Elizabeth Leiba

Founder, The Center for Black Women, Work, and Power

I lead a research-driven initiative examining labor, leadership, and institutional accountability at a critical inflection point in the American workforce.

My work focuses on how Black women experience power inside organizations, how institutions respond to economic and cultural disruption, and how leadership norms, policy decisions, and workplace structures shape outcomes over time. I approach these questions through long-form research, narrative analysis, and applied inquiry grounded in lived professional experience.

I have published multiple books that function as field-based research, documenting patterns in voice, silence, leadership evaluation, and institutional behavior across corporate, educational, and policy-adjacent environments. These works serve as qualitative evidence informing my ongoing analysis of workplace systems rather than as prescriptive or self-help material.

The Center for Black Women, Work, and Power provides a formal home for this body of work, supporting sustained scholarship, public-facing analysis, and institutional engagement. It is intentionally structured as a lightweight research entity to preserve independence, rigor, and publication focus.

I am currently engaged in research, writing, and advisory work related to workforce transformation, leadership dynamics, and organizational accountability.

For research inquiries or institutional correspondence:
info@centerforblackwomenworkandpower.org

Podcast Host

Host of Black Power Moves, a weekly deep dive podcast that is part of the Ebony Covering Black America Podcast Network. Episodes inform about Black culture, empowerment, entrepreneurship, and history.  

The podcast format exemplifies a casual, get-to-know-you conversation, rather than an interview. This  expresses the mission and goals, which are simply to amplify the voices of Black people across the Diaspora.

To that end, there are no prepared questions, to recreate the tradition of oral storytelling through a historical African lens. Guests tell their own stories in a way that feels comfortable and natural, with the host guiding the conversation in the framework of an authentic, culturally sensitive and relevant narrative that has a goal to amplify Black voices and inspire, educate and motivate listeners. 

Guests include Black tech leaders, college presidents, community leaders, trail blazing business and social entrepreneurs, educators, and cultural icons.

Notable Guests Include: 
- Qaadirah Abdur-Rahim, the City of Atlanta’s Chief Equity Officer
- April Walker, General Manager of the US Microsoft Technology Centers
- Glenn Woods, Senior Brand Social Media Manager for Hulu
- Kimberly Evans, Vice President for JP Morgan Chase & Company
- Sheldon Louis, Partner Manager for Twitter Sports
- Jacqie McWilliams, Commissioner of the CIAA
- Adjoa B. Asamoah, Co-Founder of the CROWN Coalition
- Manuel Godoy, CEO of Black Sands Entertainment 
- Dr. Kevin James, President of Morris Brown College
- Dr. Hadiyah-Nicole Green, Founder of the Ora Lee Smith Cancer Research Foundation
- Natalie Miller, Owner of the Historic Magnolia House 
- Jackie Iloh, Diversity & Equity Strategist at Lyft 
- Donna Dozier Gordon, Head of Inclusion & Diversity in the US at H&M
- Sue-Ann Robinson - Attorney for Ben Crump Law and CJ Lawrence - CEO of Black with No Chaser

Quilter

• Lead HR Business Partner to the Chief Distribution Officer, responsible for Quilter’s Platform, Investment and Advice business — a core part of the Group’s commercial strategy.
• Manage a team of three HR and DEI professionals, overseeing delivery across employee relations, performance, retention and organisational effectiveness.
• Align people strategy with Quilter’s commercial priorities, embedding inclusion, wellbeing and equitable decision-making across the Distribution business.

Head of HR - Chief Distribution Office

Board Trustee

• Partner with ExCo to design and deliver Quilter’s Inclusion & Diversity Strategy, embedding DEI into business, culture, and risk management.
• Built Quilter’s data foundation for change: increased diversity disclosure completion to 80%+, enabling robust gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religion and socioeconomic reporting and strategy.
• Advanced wellbeing transformation - launched Menopause & Health policy (2022), and Wellbeing Support Guide (2023) accessed by 1,000+ employees.
• Established Quilter’s Inclusion & Diversity Forum (avg. 200–350 attendees) covering various topics from woke and cancel culture to suicide prevention, with consistently high ratings (8–9/10).

Drove measurable progress 
	- Senior leadership female representation increased from 35% (2020) → 44% (2024), surpassing 2025 target.
	- Ethnically diverse senior leadership increased from 2% (2020) → 9% (2024), exceeding Parker Review targets early.

Recognition:
• Winner – Best DE&I Initiative (PIMFA Awards 2024)
• Highly Commended – Best D&I Initiative (Professional Adviser Awards 2025)
• Shortlisted – D&I Champion of the Year, Women in Investment Awards 2024

Group Head of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing

GSMA

• Partnered with HRD and C-Suite to design GSMA’s global DEI strategy, providing advice across EMEA, APAC, LATAM and North America.
• Built frameworks for leadership accountability: including the inclusive language guide (adopted company-wide), and reporting dashboards.
• Founded the OneGSMA Forum (employee-led) and supported various networks.
• Delivered educational sessions on race equity, colourism, ageism, and inclusive language to global leaders and staff.
• Recruited across the full spectrum of talent, from early careers to senior marketing executives, ensuring fair and inclusive hiring processes.
• Achieved measurable progress in diversity engagement scores (Qualtrics survey): 2018 – 61% favourable → 2019 – 77% favourable → 2020 – 83% favourable.

Global Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Senior Recruitment Business Partner

Alexander Mann Solutions

Redeployment Lead

NYSE

Sourcing UK Lead

HSBC

Recruitment Team Lead

Credit Agricole

HRIS Analyst

UBS Investment Bank

Recruitment Resourcer

Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking - SGCIB

HR Client Services Assistant

My entry into the corporate world began through a social mobility charity, The Brokerage, which gave me my first internship at Société Générale in 2006, and entry into the world of financial services.

I’ve built my career on tackling what others often find hardest to face, working on closing performance gaps, and creating equity in pay and progression. My approach is always to pair data with humanity, using evidence to shine a light on inequities, then partnering with leaders to remove them.

When I joined Quilter, my first three years were dedicated to building the foundations, turning diversity data into a tool for strategy, accountability and change. Today, that data spans gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background and more, and it shapes how we make decisions at Board and ExCo level.

Over four years in this role, I’ve seen what happens when data is combined with bold people leadership. Our diversity and inclusion scores now outpace the industry, leadership representation is shifting, and colleagues are experiencing fairer and more supportive workplaces. This progress has been recognised externally, with Quilter winning Best DE&I Initiative (PIMFA Awards 2024) and being Highly Commended (Professional Adviser Awards 2025).

Now in my dual role as Head of HR for the Chief Distribution Office and Group Head of Diversity, Inclusion & Wellbeing, I bring the same evidence-led and people-centred approach to every aspect of the people agenda, whether it’s retention, early careers, equitable decision-making, or equipping leaders at all levels to be more inclusive.

For me, success is simple, use data to reveal the barriers, use leadership and management to remove them, and create an environment where both people and business thrive.


My favourite quotes 

“Train people well enough so they can leave; treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” ~ Richard Branson

"When you've worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed." ~ Michelle Obama

Tosin James-Odukoya

taplio

The Battle

Elizabeth Leiba

Tosin James-Odukoya

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?