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Poppy Jaman OBE

A respected icon in the international mental health space

Poppy Jaman OBE is a respected icon in the international mental health space—a global voice of authority on workplace mental health, working with leaders from across the world to create national policies that drive sustainable change forward.

She is the Global CEO of MindForward Alliance and, over the past 12 years, has created the world’s leading work place mental health organisation focused on transforming workplaces into spaces that support the mental health of their employees; partnering with global business leaders, initially in the financial services sector, to achieve her goal. Poppy is also working with the World Health Organisation (WHO), as part of a Special Initiative in Bangladesh, where she is advising on the implementation of the country’s national mental health strategy.

In addition to running a global organisation, she has recently co-founded two initiatives. The first is Re-Balance, a social impact business that seeks to address inequality by striving alongside global communities to provide skills, education and support. The second, Change The Race Ratio, is an association of UK business leaders collectively campaigning to increase ethnic minority representation on boards and in leadership positions within UK FTSE100 businesses.

Poppy was the founding CEO of Mental Health First Aid England. During her tenure, she led the development of the organisation from a small government initiative into an independent community interest company, recognised as one of the fastest-growing SMEs in Europe by the Financial Times (FT) in 2017. Poppy also served as an advisor on the Board of Public Health England for six years and was identified as one of the country’s leading mental health experts by the UK Secretary of State following her instrumental role in the creation of the NHS’s Every Mind Matters platform.

In 2018, Poppy was awarded an OBE in recognition of her outstanding achievements in the mental health sector. In addition, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Gloucestershire. One year later, she won Woman of the Year at the GG2 Diversity & Leadership Awards and was named a “game changer” in the FT’s Women of 2019 List. More recently, she was included in 2022’s Diversity Power List.

Poppy continues to work with a myriad of global leaders in both the private and public spheres as a trustee of the Centre for Mental Health and as a non-exec for the Guardian Council at Together all, as well as sitting on the advisory board for the Queen Mary Global Policy Institute and a Risk Steering group run by PwC. She speaks Bengali and some Hindi and can deliver talks in Bengali to community groups.

Poppy is a proud British Bengali and saree enthusiast, supporting sustainable fashion and artisans in South Asia. However, above all else, her personal point of pride is her family; she is the mother of four incredible children.

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