Mazda UK is celebrating double award success at the 2023 Reuters D.R.I.V.E Honours, a prestigious annual event which recognises automotive excellence from around the world and praises innovation, commitment, real impact and standout leadership across the automotive industry.
Included in this year’s awards, Laura Brailey, Head of Retail Operations at Mazda UK (soon to be Sales Director effective from 1st November) has been honoured as one of the five ‘Empowering Women’ for her standout leadership, vision and dedication for driving greater diversity within the automotive industry with Mazda’s Gender Balance Initiative.
Recognising that change needs to filter down from the very highest level, the Gender Balance Initiative was introduced in 2022 and is comprised of CEOs, Managing Directors and senior leaders from leading dealership groups within Mazda’s UK network to collectively address and tackle the gender balance across the automotive industry. With the cohort now influencing 53 Mazda dealer points – 44 per cent of the UK dealer network – and continuing to grow, the collaborative group aims to share valuable learnings to build successful gender-balanced businesses, while influencing other dealership groups to rethink representation and culture within their own dealerships across all the brands they represent.
The expert judging panel at this year’s Reuters D.R.I.V.E Honours, said: “Laura Brailey’s experience in leading the initiative to address gender imbalance across Mazda UK’s dealer network can serve as an inspiring example for other women in the automotive sector.”
Commenting on the award, Laura Brailey, Head of Retail Operations, said: “I am thrilled to have been selected as one of the five Empowering Women. I am very proud of the work that we’ve delivered at Mazda to increase awareness and making practical changes to remove barriers for a more inclusive workforce, all with the aim of achieving a better gender balance within our dealer network. The progress we are making is thanks to the support of the whole senior management team here at Mazda UK and it’s brilliant to be recognised on a global level at the Reuters D.R.I.V.E Honours.”
In addition to the ‘Empowering Women’ award, Mazda UK has also been honoured at this year’s awards for driving diversity, equality and inclusion within the automotive industry. Praising Mazda’s Gender Balance Initiative, the expert judging panel continued: “This program is a great example of real world, actionable change. It is a model that can be spread throughout the world.”
Commenting on both awards, Jeremy Thomson, Managing Director at Mazda UK, said: “We all believe that delivering this will help secure an inclusive culture and work environment that attracts more diverse and talented people and ensures we reflect all our customer values as well. The work we are doing at Mazda UK will hopefully inspire a new generation of people to want to work in the dealer environment, people that maybe would not have considered a career in the automotive sphere in the past.”
