Julia Muir is the CEO of Gaia Innovation Ltd and Founder of the Automotive 30% Club, a network of automotive CEOs and MDs working to close the gender gap. She is a Vice President of the Automotive Fellowship International and speaks regularly at automotive events such as the FT Future of the Car summit. She has been a judge for various sector awards, and is often approached for comments and contributions by the motor trade press.

Named in the Financial Times and HERoes top 100 Women in Business Global Champions of Diversity in 2017, 2018 and 2019 for her work as the Founder of the Automotive 30% Club, Julia provides advice to members and directs the club’s digital communications and activities such as the ‘Inspiring’ e-zine; a digital lifestyle magazine for the women of the sector to which she contributes comment and opinion pieces. She is also a steering committee member of the Global 30% Club, which is working to appoint more women to FTSE 350 boards.

Julia has over 25 years’ experience in automotive retailing, manufacturing, marketing and consulting. She has a Business Studies degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Development, and has worked in the UK, Germany and Spain. She helped to establish the BSc in Automotive Retail Management at the Loughborough University School of Business and Economics’ Centre for Automotive Management, and recently taught modules covering authentic leadership on their executive programmes. In 2018/19 she was the lead on Employment and Skills and the Equality and Diversity Champion for the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership Board.

Julia designed the Inspiration for Innovation programme to help automotive employers and universities create gender balanced talent pools, aiming to achieve the best employment destination for every child, and she was awarded the Mary Lou Carrington Award by the City of London Worshipful Company of Educators for her work with the charity Speakers for Schools.