Poggy Murray Whitham | London, UK
D and I Consultancy
Poggy Murray Whitham is a multi-award-winning DEI consultant, researcher, TEDx speaker, bestselling author, and former senior automation engineering leader working to transform inclusion, psychological safety, and organisational culture, especially across engineering, manufacturing, construction, energy, and wider STEM industries.
Beginning their career in automation engineering, Poggy spent over a decade working across highly technical and safety-critical environments, progressing from field sales engineering into strategic industry management and senior leadership positions within global engineering organisations. During this time, they led multidisciplinary teams, managed multi-million-pound projects, and developed strategic growth initiatives across the UK and internationally.
Alongside these achievements, Poggy was also navigating the realities of being a Black, Queer, Disabled, and autistic professional in industries where representation remains extremely limited. They became, to their knowledge, the only Black Queer professional in their discipline working at a senior level in the country. Throughout their career, they experienced and witnessed racism, homophobia, ableism, toxic workplace cultures, and the pressure constantly to prove their competence in environments where difference was often treated as weakness rather than strength. These experiences became a catalyst for change.
Whilst still working within engineering leadership, Poggy was leading on DEI initiatives internally and conducting research into engineering culture, masculinity, psychological safety, and LGBTQ+ inclusion in STEM. Their research highlighted significant challenges within engineering, including extreme levels of discrimination, exclusion, mental health stigma, and unsafe cultures that disproportionately impact marginalised communities. Recognising the need for meaningful sector-wide change, Poggy transitioned into full-time DEI leadership and consultancy. They joined a leading UK engineering-focused DEI consultancy, becoming part of the Senior Management Team leading strategic growth, consultancy, research, partnerships, diversity networks, training, and other national programmes.
Poggy is now the Founder and Director of OutEngineered, a consultancy focused on “engineering inclusion” rather than improvising it. Combining technical engineering credibility, strategic leadership experience, lived experience, and evidence-led practice, they work with organisations to design inclusive cultures that improve innovation, retention, productivity, wellbeing, and psychological safety. Poggy is also COO of Divrsity, the UK’s leading DEI survey and analytics platform, helping organisations move beyond assumptions by using data and AI-driven insights to identify barriers, measure culture, and create meaningful action plans.
Their consultancy and advisory work spans multiple sectors, but specialises in engineering, manufacturing, energy, construction, transport, offshore industries, education, and more. One particularly impactful project involved working with Expert Self Care Ltd and HeliOffshore to conduct a comprehensive inclusivity review of a wellbeing initiative designed for offshore maintenance engineers. Poggy produced detailed recommendations far beyond the original scope, focusing on accessibility, representation, trust, usability, psychological safety, and inclusion across multiple marginalised communities, with the work being described as central to the initiative winning a prestigious digital health award.
Poggy holds a number of strategic advisory and leadership roles as part of their consultancy. They are a Research Advisory Group Member for the Royal Academy of Engineering, member of the Engineering Council’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Fairness Working Group, advisor to the LGBT Foundation, member of the Engineering Professors Council’s Expert Working Group, Advisory Board Member for an inclusive recruitment organisation, ambassador for the Farm Safety Foundation, and contributor to multiple other industry and professional body initiatives focused on DEI. Poggy is also Co-Chair of InterEngineering, a cross-discipline LGBTQ+ engineering network, and Co-Chairs the Women in Manufacturing UK’s Industry Advisory Board.
A professionally registered engineer, Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, Poggy regularly delivers talks, workshops, and training sessions for organisations, universities, and industry conferences, including the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Government & Public Policy. Alongside this work, Poggy is also currently undertaking a Doctorate (DBA) focused on DEI in engineering and is the author of the Amazon bestselling book Inclusion Moments: Insights, Reflections, and Actions to Inspire Change.
Their work is rooted in a simple belief. Inclusion should not be improvised, it should be engineered.
