Not-for-profit organisation the Leasing Foundation has ramped up its industry development programme with the appointment of a marketing intern.
Gila Birk, who specialises in communication and marketing and is studying a Masters degree in management at London’s Brunel University, will focus on the Foundation’s Women in Leasing project to develop and encourage the role of women in what has been criticised as a male-dominated industry.
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Peter Thomas, a director of the Leasing Foundation and visiting professor at Brunel University, told Leasing Life the Foundation hopes to hire several interns over the course of the year from across Europe, Asia and Africa.
He added that he hopes, as the internship programme grows, the Foundation will gain access a pool of young people from a range of disciplines who can make a contribution to the leasing industry as well as develop their own careers.
Birk, whose role is unpaid and part-time, has a degree in communications management from the Universität Osnabrück, Germany and has worked in corporate communication and organisational roles for a diverse roster of institutions including Volkswagen and the Lindau Nobel Laureate group. She will use her communications experience to promote the Foundation’s annual conference as well as its development ambitions.
Thomas highlighted the Foundation’s Women in Leasing project in response to Leasing Life’s recent Power 50 list, which called attention to the lack of gender diversity at the top of the leasing industry.
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By GlobalDataHe said: "We have been talking about this issue from the moment the Foundation was created. The common sense idea we are pursuing is ‘why should the industry limit its talent pool to a specific group when there is such a diversity of people who can make a contribution?’"
"That’s why, going forward, the Foundation will look for opportunities to create diversity – in our Governors, through our Fellows, and importantly by creating ways for a diverse group of people to enter the industry through our educational offerings."
