Dr Nicole Ponsford is the multi-award-winning founding CEO of the Global Equality Collective (GEC) and a leading voice in education, technology and inclusion. She launched the GEC Platform in 2022 — the world’s first intersectional digital tool for inclusion, diversity and wellbeing in education — which now supports hundreds of schools, thousands of teachers and over a quarter of a million students worldwide. Nicole is the author of 26,000 Voices and creator of the UK’s largest intersectional dataset on inclusion, work that has informed Ofsted scorecards and Department for Education programmes. A frequent Schools Week contributor, she leads national EdTech initiatives and is widely consulted on policy and practice. Her advocacy and evidence-driven approach have established the GEC as a vital resource for educators seeking measurable, intersectional inclusion. In recognition of her impact, Nicole was named BESA’s Person of the Year 2025.