Chief Executive Officer

Diageo PLC

Since becoming the CEO of Diageo in 2013, Ivan has been passionate about driving inclusion and diversity at the company. In 2020 he launched a new 10-year sustainability action plan titled ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’. The plan laid out goals including increasing the representation of ethnic minorities in leadership positions to 45% by 2030, as well as increasing the percentage of Diageo suppliers from female and minority-owned businesses year-on-year. 2020 also saw the roll-out of a new learning intervention ‘Confronting Racial Bias Learning’, and the opening of Diageo’s fourth global ‘INC’ week; an employee-led, grassroots movement encouraging employees around the world to celebrate diversity. In addition to his work at Diageo, Ivan is on the Board of ‘Movement to Work’ which operates to break the vicious ‘no job – no experience’ cycle that is preventing young people from stepping onto the career ladder.

Global Chief Digital Officer

VMLYR Commerce (VYC)

After establishing the VYC Roots network in the UK three years ago, Debbie exported the initiative successfully into North America in 2020 alongside a VYC Incubator work experience program for 16–18-year-olds. Students on the UK Incubator program from a Black, Asian or Mixed Ethnicity background, or a lower socio-economic background, were eligible for a £10,000 grant to study Business Administration thanks to the partnership Debbie set up between VYC and the Hult Business School. The North American version ran its first 3-month Incubator program last year in partnership with the Bronx Community School. Under Debbie’s leadership VYC achieved the status of ‘Advanced Employer’ from Investing in Ethnicity, and at the 2020 Ethnicity Awards Debbie was listed in the Inspirational Leader Category. Through her connection with the registered charity, Inspiring the Future, Debbie regularly speaks at schools to give insight into the industry and her career pathway.

Chair

KPMG UK

Bina’s appointment as the first female chair of KPMG in its 150-year history, made headlines across the UK and international press earlier this year. As well as serving as a mentor to BAME colleagues herself, Bina was responsible for introducing a reverse mentoring scheme in which KPMG’s executive board received mentoring from junior BAME staff. Outside of KPMG, Bina’s promotion of diversity in business includes mentoring women working in large corporates on behalf of the 30% Club, serving as a member of the Advisory Group for the Fawcett Society with a focus on the Pay and Progression of Women of Colour, sponsor of KPMG's India club and an ambassador promoting female founders and investment in under-represented entrepreneurs.

Partner, Linklaters LLC

Linklaters LLP

Tom was recently appointed the next General Counsel and Company Secretary of Diageo plc, making him a member of the Executive Committee and the only Black GC within a top FTSE company. While he was at Linklaters, Tom was a member of the Linklaters Executive Committee and the co-chair of LEARN, Linklaters’ affinity group related to race and ethnicity, Tom was a driving force behind the Linklaters Race Action Plan. He was also integral to the development and implementation of the firm’s ‘INspire Programme’, which builds understanding and sponsorship for talent from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds. When it came to the company’s U.S. strategy, Tom made sure that D&I was at its cornerstone, helping set up the firm’s U.S. BANA network and contributing to its activities. Externally, working on behalf of the Parker Review, Tom has placed himself at the forefront of the discussion on increasing the presence of diverse candidates on the Boards of UK companies.

Group Audit Director

Tesco

Jasvinder reinvigorated Tesco’s BAME colleague network as its Director Sponsor within head office, initiating check-in sessions which inspired open conversations and support amongst all office colleagues following the tragic death of George Floyd. The initial success of these sessions led to their wider roll-out across the company and catalysed the creation of a unique online forum where colleagues could, for the first time, openly discuss topics surrounding diversity and inclusion in a supportive environment. Jasvinder founded ‘Coffee and Conversation’ sessions for network members, which saw internal and external guests reflect on their background and heritage and how it had shaped their personal and professional identity. Guided by the premise that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’, guests such as EMpower alumni Albertha Charles and the #IndiameetsGhana bi-racial YouTube couple, were invited to speak as part of the series.

Group Chief Commercial Officer

News UK

After instigating the creation of a company-wide Diversity Board at News UK, Dominic now sits as its Chair, leading the team to deliver a comprehensive D&I strategy for News UK based on three pillars: a recruitment function ensuring more diverse young talent joins the business; the creation of new pathways to leadership for existing diverse talent; and a renewed focus on ensuring diversity across the company’s brands (The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, Virgin Radio, Times Radio). Together these programs constitute News UK’s commitment to achieving 50:50:20 male:female:ethnic minority representation. Dominic was also responsible for setting up a Cultural Diversity Network as a forum to freely debate how D&I issues affect News UK’s employees, and a means of challenging perceived wisdom in leadership. Other projects which Dominic has been involved with include sponsoring and supporting Sachini Imbuldeniya to set up Studio PI, a new photography and illustration agency promoting underrepresented talent.

Head of Customers & Products, Europe, Channel Islands and Isle of Man

HSBC

An entrepreneur turned international finance executive, Christina has 18 years’ experience as Founder, Board Member, and Global Director across 4 continents. In 2020, she was named Top 10 Customer Experience Professionals in UK. Christina’s worked to drive diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on HSBC’s Global Ethnicity Steering Committee and as champion to multiple employee resource groups. She launched STRETCH45, an internal venture to cultivate ethnic minority talent, co-founded the Black Action and Advisory Council to keep pace and conviction to HSBC’s Race Commitments, and hosted 20+ executive exchanges giving voice to lived experiences of black employees and customers. Externally, Christina is Executive Trustee at Justice, a law reform and human rights organisation who has challenged Racial Disparities of Children in the Youth Justice System (2021) and championed Increasing Judicial Diversity (2020). She advises minority-owned ventures, founded organisations supporting women of colour, and is a regular speaker on DEI issues globally.

Chief Marketing Officer

Kantar

Dionne is the Global Executive Sponsor for I&D at Kantar Profiles, and joined the UK&I I&D Ethnicity Steering Committee as a member in February 2020. Upon joining she played an integral role in formulating a strategy enabling them to win the hearts and minds of the business, and she now co-leads the committee, balancing this commitment with her primary role as Chief Marketing Officer. Feedback on the work of the I&D SteerCo, including its Ally Programme of over 100 individuals who champion Kantar’s Race and Ethnicity Initiatives, suggests it has had a significant impact on the business. Dionne also mentors individuals outside of her organization, and is a frequent participant in panels and events including a Psychological Safety Webinar and a ‘Not Racist to Anti-Racist’ Learning Session for Race Equality Week. She was winner in the category of Professional Services at the 2020 Baton Awards.

Managing Director, Energy Marketing & Trading (EM&T)

Centrica plc

In his role as the Co-Executive Sponsor of VOICE, Centrica’s ethnicity network, Cassim has worked to contextualize diversity data, believing that a data-driven approach is critical to understanding how colleagues are represented across the business and putting in place interventions that will materially shift the dial. To this end Cassim advocated Centrica’s #CountMeIn campaign, an initiative to improve colleague preparedness to share diversity information across the business. In order to improve senior leadership diversity at the firm, Cassim has invested heavily in generating a strong talent pipeline, successfully improving representation in the Energy Marketing & Trading graduate program in recent years. Speaking openly about his experiences to external organizations Staffing Match and Eight Wealth Management as a means of supporting knowledge sharing and best practices, and taking part in the cross-company mentoring program Mission INCLUDE, are other ways Cassim demonstrates his commitment to promoting diversity and inclusion.

Partner

Oliver Wyman

Together with the Managing Partner of Oliver Wyman, Rupal ran the roll-out of a new mission to change the company’s approach with clients, exploring racial diversity and its place in interactions. ‘MissionINCLUDE’ was another initiative cofounded by Rupal; a cross-company mentoring movement endorsed by the 30% Club which began with 10 firms but has now grown to cover 47 companies and 900 employees. As a BAME Employee Network leader Rupal collaborated with the Global I&D Lead and the Executive Committee on ethnicity targets, and invited external BAME guests to speak at events to broaden representation. Her work with the company’s design department helped them to recognize racial biases in imagery, ensuring diverse representation is now embedded in the company’s ‘standard’ iconography. Beyond her role at Oliver Wyman, Rupal is also a member of the government’s social mobility taskforce, where she is focusing on the intersection with race.

Fund Manager and Head of Retail Multi-Asset Funds

Legal & General Investment Manangement (LGIM)

Justin manages £6bn in one of the UK’s most popular fund ranges; the L&G Multi-Index Funds. As a founding member of #talkaboutblack, Justin has led numerous initiatives aimed at increasing representation across the corporate sphere. This included the international, cross-industry allyship campaign #IAM which Justin co-founded following the BLM protests of 2020. Justin also founded EnCircle, a mentoring network connecting industry newcomers with senior Black professionals. Within LGIM, Justin sits on the Global Diversity and Inclusion Council and co-chairs the Legal & General Inclusion Team (LEGIT), heading up nine employee networks within the firm and overseeing several initiatives including a shadowing program for staff, which led to many ethnic minority employees being given access to otherwise exclusive areas within the organisation. Justin also facilitates regular Insight Days to give ethnic minority students opportunities to connect with investment professionals. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2020.

Chief Medical Officer

Bupa Group

Paula recognizes that having a representative and inclusive workforce is critical to Bupa’s success. With this in mind, she places a focus on increased belonging amongst ethnic minority groups through schemes like ‘Be You at Bupa’, which empowers employees to bring their whole selves to work. Paula’s priorities involve making leaders accountable and empowered so that they can role model inclusive leadership behaviors, and engaging employees to share their experiences to increase awareness and encourage openness. The recently launched ‘Bupa Include’, which she supports and champions, is a mentoring scheme to help support underrepresented groups. It sits alongside the company’s apprenticeship programs as another example of efforts to develop diverse future talent. Paula is a vocal advocate for inclusivity whether on the Brilliance Resilience podcast series she co-hosts, in her blog posts for LinkedIn exploring issues affecting those from BAME backgrounds, or in her position on the Advisory Council of the Black Women’s Leadership Network.

Partner and Vice Chair

KPMG UK

At KPMG UK, Richard worked with the Managing Partner to set up the Black Heritage (BH) Working Group, bringing together senior stakeholders to deliver a strategy which builds on the inclusion of BH colleagues. Results of this working group have included the creation of a Black Lives Action Plan comprising of commitments to double the number of BH leaders in the firm and to increase the number of BH graduate recruits. The group has also been reviewing and changing how projects are allocated to ensure BH colleagues have greater exposure to good quality experiences, and has delivered a Black Lives Allyship Programme which has reached over 700 colleagues. As the Partner Sponsor for the African Caribbean Network (ACN), Richard has hosted events to understand challenges and showcase a roadmap of how to succeed. His work setting up the KPMG Black Leaders Network has led to improved networking, mutual support and collaboration within the Black community.

Managing Director of Relentless Records

Sony Music UK

As a Ugandan refugee amidst the Idi Amin influence, moving continents not only ensured Shabs’ safety but allowed him to get his big breakthrough DJ-ing at house parties and club nights. Shabs is now the founder and MD of Relentless Records. He serves as an empowering voice that champions diversity whether through talent and music or through his efforts to recruit and retain a workforce that is inclusive. In 2020, Shabs was involved in Sony’s company celebrations for South Asian Heritage Month. Shabs also co-owns the Notting Hill Arts Club: an academy that aims to showcase young local talent and create a space for future creative pioneers, entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders within the music industry. The academy offers vocational courses to get young people into the sector, supporting them to learn all the elements of the fast-changing music industry, to receive professional advice and mentoring, and to make contacts.

Managing Director - Accenture Operations

Accenture

African Caribbean Network (AACN), Andrew works on Accenture’s D&I agenda to further the retention, progression and development of Black talent, as well as being accountable for all annual network events, including the AACN’s series of prominent Black History Month events. Other undertakings of Andrew’s include supervising the Accelerate Leadership Development Programme and sponsoring the Accenture UK Operations Black Advocacy program. He is currently the UK Chair of the Executive Leadership Council, the membership organization for the development of global Black leaders at C-suite level.

Apple

Karol is the founder of the BLIX network: Business Leaders for Inclusion & Diversity through Knowledge eXchange. BLIX has over 50 senior leaders from the tech industry who offer their knowledge to mentor, coach and connect diverse aspiring leaders. BLIX provides advisory sessions and tools to help increase the representation of the underrepresented, helping candidates to get hired, grow in their current role, take on new career challenges or start a business. To date, the network has delivered over 250 advisory sessions and has run several TED-style talks on Inclusive Leadership from industry experts. BLIX alumni have gone on to secure new jobs in leading technology firms and launch their own businesses. In his 15 years in Big Tech, Karol has championed diversity in product development by building inclusive product features in the products used by millions everyday. Karol works at Apple where diversity is not an afterthought but core to the company’s values and where difference is not just celebrated but seen as essential.

Head of Charities

Barclays Bank Plc

Nazreen has been co-chair of Barclays’ multicultural Embrace network for the past five years, during which time she has supported the establishment of Asian and Black professionals' forums as well as working with the firm’s faith forums. Membership of the network has grown considerably expanding across the UK, delivering events, training, mentoring and development sessions. As a ‘Race at Work Champion’, Nazreen is responsible for driving the race agenda across her business. She also supports the Network of Networks to promote inclusion and intersectionality, and serves as a mentor to many junior colleagues. Nazreen is committed to voluntary service, previously serving as National Council Member for the Women’s Portfolio for the Ismaili Muslim Council UK, enabling access, support and empowerment initiatives for women and their families. Nazreen is currently on the board of a school and has recently been appointed as a Lay Trustee for King’s College London Student Union.

Director, Product and Solutions Group

PwC

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd last year, Tunji and 2 colleagues held a livecast with the chairman of PwC to talk about Black Lives Matter, their lived experiences as Black leaders, and what changes they would like to see. This was watched by almost all of PwC’s 22,000 employees and had a profound effect on attitudes towards systemic and structural racism in the workplace and in society. Being one of PwC’s ‘ColourBrave Champions’, Tunji leads a group of 23 ‘ColourBrave Advocates’ within his function, supporting the firm's ‘Everyday Inclusion’ agenda around ethnic diversity. The group provides a support platform for staff to discuss race, and hosts events to inform, celebrate and embrace inclusive culture. Additionally, as the founder of Ilesha Charitable Trust, Tunji has helped provide financial support to 100 Black Men of London, The Sickle Cell Society, and the Black Cultural Archives among others.

Senior Vice President - Pearson, BTEC & Apprenticeships

Pearson

Cindy’s leadership of Pearson’s global DEI taskforce as one of two Executive Sponsors resulted in a plan which included a threefold increase in the DE&I budget, allowing for initiatives including the roll-out of a ‘Let’s Talk about Race’ training program; the appointment of a new Chief Diversity Officer and the introduction of quarterly reporting on employee representation. In 2020 Cindy served on the CBI Race Charter Group and facilitated Pearson becoming an early signatory. One of the Group’s actions was championing the 'It's Time to Change the Race Ratio' campaign, which seeks to increase ethnic minority participation in senior leadership. Cindy has been proactive in raising BAME visibility through her mentoring and sponsorship of talent both within and outside Pearson. She is a Patron of the BAME Apprenticeships Awards, a Board Member of The Speaker’s Trust, and an Honorary Lifetime member of The Children’s Society.

Executive Director- Employee Experience

Virgin Media

As the Lead for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Virgin Media, Jay works with the company’s Underrepresented Ethnic Minority Network to provide coaching and support. His other efforts to promote D&I at Virgin Media include establishing a decision-making framework whereby every decision must have equity in mind; setting up a complete review of recruitment processes to eliminate any bias; bringing the focus onto ethnic minorities in graduate and apprentice recruitment (which has already yielded positive results); identifying ethnic minority talent through the first ever organization-wide talent review, and implementing mentoring and development programs in partnership with INvolve. Many of Jay’s speaking engagements focus on intersectionality, because as a lifelong wheelchair user he recognizes that the challenges he faces are different, and wants to openly role model for disabled ethnic minorities through his own corporate success story.

Vice President, Islamic Marketing

Ogilvy Consulting

As the Vice President of Islamic Marketing, Shelina champions Muslim engagement and expression within Oglivy. By bringing more diverse clients into the organization on projects as varied as relationship apps, content production and Ramadan consumption, Shelina’s work benefits staff and also consumers in developing inclusive and representative ways of working. In addition to sitting on WPP’s Inclusion Board and serving as a member of the WPP Roots Steering Committee, Shelina dedicates an official proportion of her working time to improving diversity and inclusion and ensuring pastoral care of junior talent from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds. She also works with the comms team to establish a calendar of religious and cultural events. In regular columns for Campaign magazine Shelina writes about culture and diversity, and for the British Film Institute and the AMAL foundation she advises on better representation of Muslims in the Arts.

Partner

Finsbury Glover Hering

Dorothy has been involved with promoting diversity and inclusion at Finsbury, now Finsbury Glover Hering, since their diversity committee was formed in 2014. In the last two years, the committee has supported efforts to promote and increase the recruitment of ethnic minorities through continued sponsorship of the Taylor Bennett Foundation, as well as working to diversify the firm’s recruitment lists. Material improvements in the talent pipeline have led to ethnic minorities now making up a third of employees at the Managing Director level in her market. The company’s 2020 efforts to formalize their D&I commitments included introducing revised policies for qualifying, sourcing and advertising for candidates; setting up a firmwide inclusion training curriculum; providing direct financial support and pro bono services for BLM charities; instituting a dedicated racial injustice awareness and education day, and expanding their cultural content to include a book and film club, with guest speakers discussing social justice and racism in society.

Senior Vice President, Strategic Distribution and Development

Sompo International Insurance

Maxine is an award-winning champion for greater inclusivity across the insurance industry. Maxine sits on the Executive Committee of the Insurance Cultural Awareness Network as well as that of Race Action Through Leadership. She spearheaded the creation of the iCAN-INspire cross-industry mentoring platform. At Zurich Insurance Maxine was the Chair of the BME ERG, where she spearheaded the network’s reorganization, raised its profile, pushed for tangible actions, and significantly widened its national reach to 12 branch offices and 5000+ employees. Her work raising awareness of the challenges faced by BME staff, holding listening sessions, educating middle management, and garnering C-Suite executive sponsorship, enabled her to get the C-Suite Executive Board to volunteer as mentors to a range of BME employees. Monthly ethnicity data reviews contributed to industry-wide ethnicity pay gap consultations. Additionally, in the summer of 2020, Zurich became the first P&C insurer to publish their ethnicity pay gap.

Global Head of Data Governance

Chanel

Since joining Chanel in March 2020, Sathya has become the Global Finance D&I lead for the function. Working with the Finance D&I forum she launched, she is now delivering on its action plan by running colleague events, engaging senior finance leaders through D&I sessions, and drawing up a 5-point strategy. Sathya’s work connecting data, HR and D&I brought focus on how Chanel can better use data to influence change, and in November she set up a Data and D&I cross-industry forum, driving best practice on data collection and reporting. Sathya is also the Founder of My Skin My Story, a community focused on connecting, empowering, and elevating women of color globally through authentic meetups and panels. Following support from allies of MSMS, Sathya went on to create the Allyship Alliance, an informal educational space on WhatsApp, where content is shared to drive reflection on race, gender and intersectionality.

Managing Director, Group AI and Data Solutions

BT Group

Adrian is the Executive Co-Sponsor of the Ethnic Diversity Network (EDN) at BT, which has over 100,000 employees. His achievements include publishing recommendations on BLM to BT’s CEO, coaching the chairs of the EDN and presenting to the Executive Committee on ethnic diversity progress, which led to a review of the plan. He is supporting the CEO of OpenReach to double the mix of ethnic minority hires in 2021 and produced a joint video with the CSTO which improved declaration rates with ethnic minorities significantly. In 2020 he Ideated and co hosted a major ethnic diversity event with Business in the Community which BT sponsored, attracting 300 senior executives and increasing the BITC Race at Work Charter signups by 35% to over 500 organisations. From 2015-2020, Adrian was also a NED to the UK Home Office where he sat on the Race Board and regularly contributed to the D&I Strategy. Adrian is also on the Board of Direct Line Group as a Non Executive Director and a member of the UK AI Council.

International Relations, Corporate Affairs and Co-Partner for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Director

The Football Association

Edleen is a British-born Sierra Leonean, who grew up in South-East London, attending non-selective comprehensive schools in Lewisham, before completing her MA (Cantab) in Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She started her career as an Investment Banker and has held a variety of revenue-generating and support-function roles across Financial Services. Besides her day job, Edleen is a multi-industry Diversity and Inclusion Consultant, a Governor at Greenvale School, a Director of Tech Talent Charter, an International Trustee for Restless Development, an NHS NED and sits on the DIAL Global Advisory Board and the McKenzie-Delis Packer Review Committee. At the Football Association, Edleen remains committed to ensuring a game free from discrimination, having recently driven the launch of the Football Leadership Diversity Code and the #StopOnlineAbuse boycott. She’s overseen the creation of an internal Black Lives Action Plan, an Employee Network and the update to the Asian Inclusion Plan.

Co-President of Since'93

Sony Music UK

At Sony Music, Glyn is the Co-President of Since’93, where he is now responsible for a diverse roster of British artists including Fredo and British-Somali singer-songwriter Amun. Glyn sponsors Sony Music UK's Internal diversity Employee Resource Group Helping Unite Everyone (HUE), formed in February 2020 with a mission to promote equity and inclusion at the company. As well as using his position to spearhead diversity committees, Glyn has worked with a Diversity expert to manage and deliver key agenda points, such as rolling out mandatory diversity and unconscious bias training to all employees. He has also facilitated the sharing of positive experiences, through events, activities and celebrations, to promote a culture of inclusivity so that all employees feel respected and represented. In 2020, Glyn was appointed to the board of the South Bank Centre where he is a 'Diversity in Music Champion' designed to bring together a new generation of audiences after Covid-19 closures.

Senior Director, Marketing, EMEA & LATAM

LinkedIn

Andrew is co-founder and EMEA lead of Embrace, LinkedIn’s ERG supporting under-represented racial groups. Andrew’s record on driving the D&I strategy at LinkedIn includes leading the largest ever set of listening sessions in the UK, following the death of George Floyd. These sessions saw the number of allies increase by four times, and the findings were shared at the executive level to shape the UK D&I strategy. Andrew’s work developing this D&I strategy provided a vision to empower allies to take action across the region. The ‘Allyship’ education series he led, including events with high profile speakers like John Amaechi, helped allies to understand how low levels of belonging and forced assimilation impact internal mobility among people of colour. Andrew’s team also led diverse hiring initiatives, such as "The Changing Face of Technology: Why Black Representation in Tech Matters" which created more racially diverse pipeline for the business.

VP Finance Marketing

Shell International Petroleum Company Limited

As a visible role model for employees from minority ethnic backgrounds at Shell, Roland participated in a variety of engagements including acting as a panel member on UK wide employee webcasts exploring issues of race, and writing a blog to all staff globally reflecting on the importance of diversity and inclusion. The initiatives Roland has worked on for Shell include implementing a global review of organizational practices to investigate how they impact upon the careers of employees from ethnic minority backgrounds and overseeing the publication of Shell in the UK's inaugural Ethnicity Pay Gap report in November 2020. Roland also provides support and guidance to two employees from Ethnic Minority Backgrounds and was part of a sub-committee of the Business in the Community (BITC) Race Equality Leadership Team, working on the development of a series of executive sponsor toolkits for race which launched in November 2020.

Group Enterprise Risk Director

Aviva plc

Following the 2020 global social events, Chika provided counsel to the CEO and organisation on external and internal comms, as well as speaking at a whole organization global live stream. She proposed and led calls for all-staff conversations and closed calls with Black colleagues to help them through the trauma. In developing the Black Professionals Network as a subset of the BAME network, Chika added a louder voice to the organization and saw the confidence of the group growing visibly as a result. She also provided her input on both the Aviva Black Action Plan and the Aviva Black History Month arrangements, and continues supporting initiatives such as anti-racist training and reverse mentoring. Outside Aviva, Chika has been engaged in multiple initiatives and education and discussion sessions in the insurance sector and the actuarial profession to promote and support Black talent and inclusion.

Global Head of Risk Operations

HSBC

As the former Global Business Lead for D&I for HSBC's Wealth and Personal Banking (WPB) group, Rekha was responsible for shaping the global WPB D&I strategy, working diligently to create an inclusive culture that reflected her personal journey. With her strong belief that unconscious bias awareness is key to the acceleration of inclusion, Rekha launched an unconscious bias campaign with the WPB Executive Committee in 2020, which will be rolled out as learning for the whole organisation in 2021. Rekha was also the global Co-Lead for the WPB Ethnicity taskforce, and after listening to the voices of many BAME colleagues, she led the creation of a two-tiered plan with specific commitments globally and at a country level on race and ethnicity. She is now continuing the D&I drive in her new role with the Digital Business Services part of the bank. Chairing the Citizens Advice Bureau for Croydon, London, where more than 50% of the population are BAME, is another way Rekha has promoted racial equity outside HSBC.

Executive Director

Morgan Stanley

Dr Bijna Kotak Dasani MBE, FRSA is an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley. For almost two decades – with a career spanning the UK, the Americas and Asia – Bijna has been a passionate advocate of promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, with a strong track record of championing gender-equality. She is an active proponent of creating a culture within companies whereby employees can bring their ‘authentic selves’ to work. At Morgan Stanley, Bijna champions change through her commitment to the Diversity and Inclusion Council, the Women’s Business Alliance, the Network of Women in Operations (NOW) and the Black Employee Network, to name a few. She is also spearheading initiatives to support social mobility and the hiring, retention and promotion of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. In October 2020, Bijna received a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) award for services to diversity and inclusion in financial services.

CEO & Founder

Jomas Associates (Engineering & Environmental)

Roni is the UK's only Black female CEO in the engineering and construction industry running a business of Jomas’ size. She champions D&I across Jomas, with strict company policies against discrimination and bias. Roni is currently working with universities to encourage diversity in order to fill the existing gap in the industry. She is also a regular speaker at schools, universities and international events, and sits on various boards, including the YMCA SPG, the Diversity Subgroup of The Chartered Institution pf Building, and a board advising the London Mayor on social mobility and D&I. She has been honored with several awards including the Construction News InspireMe award for her contribution to D&I in the industry. For the last three years she has been listed on the Top 100 Financial Times HERoes: Champions of Women in Business in the UK.

Head of Human Resources, UK

Standard Chartered Bank

Fenil’s promotion of diversity and inclusion at Standard Chartered Bank has included launching a toolkit called ‘How to have Conversations about Race’, and hosting listening sessions in which BAME colleagues have an opportunity to openly share their experiences. Fenil also wrote the firm’s 2021 Ethnicity Strategy for the UK and US and was responsible for making D&I training mandatory for all UK employees. Another of her roles is as Senior Sponsor to the ‘Futuremakers RISE’ program; a BAME mentoring program for young adults with the firm’s community partners. Fenil is also active in the wider sector, contributing to a D&I working group to ensure Financial Services are future ready and can attract and retain a diverse talent base, as well as serving on the City HR Ethnicity EDI Taskforce with the goal of helping all City HR members on ethnic inclusion metrics, data insights and shared best practice.

Partner & Co-Head of East Africa

Clifford Chance LLP

Jennifer sits on Clifford Chance’s UK Inclusion Committee, which collaborates closely with affinity networks works to drive institutional change across all aspects of diversity and inclusion. Since June 2019, she has influenced advancements including the publication of ethnicity pay gap data. Reverse mentoring the firm’s Global Managing Partner over the last two years has allowed Jennifer to use her voice as one of two female Black partners in the firm to challenge the status quo. Through conversations with her mentee and with the firm's leadership team she has influenced decisions including 2020’s diversity targets, which included ethnicity targets for the first time. In 2019, Jennifer set up a monthly breakfast club for Black female associates and trainees as a forum for them to discuss challenges that are unique to Black women at the firm, and as a way for senior Black female lawyers to provide mentorship at scale.

VP Strategy & Business Development EMEA

Glint

Ritu is the only ethnic minority leader on the global leadership team at Glint. In her previous role for IBM she was a highly regarded and lauded Diversity Champion and an Executive Sponsor for several diversity groups, and now she is continuing that work at Glint, helping change the internal agenda to prioritize Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB). Through this Glint has adopted color and gender-blind hiring, ensuring this approach is mirrored in performance measurement too. As the senior Glint leader within EMEA, Ritu invests in mentoring upcoming and talented ethnic minority employees in and beyond her region, advising them on career management. Meanwhile, outside of Glint she walks the talk , regularly meeting with CEOs and CXOs to advise them on talent strategies, making the case for D&I not by just talking about it but by embodying its values and benefits in her actions. Ritu also publishes article and hosts roundtable discussions to further the DIBs discussion among senior HR Leaders in the UK and Europe.

Seconded CEO and Founder Urban Synergy Talent

Refinitiv

Leila is currently seconded from Refinitiv to Urban Synergy where she is Founder and CEO. Urban Synergy is an early-intervention mentoring charity, supporting thousands of diverse young people between 10-18 years, to reach their full potential. Leila is also a steering group member of the Black Employee Network at Refinitiv. Setting up inspirational role model seminars with support from Refinitiv volunteers and professionals from other organisations. Urban Synergy simultaneously helps inspire the next generation and deliver a diverse work-ready talent pipeline. Leila’s work is guided by the belief that showing students relatable role models, that look and sound like them, will enable them access valuable work experience opportunities that will help them to take their next step into the world of work. The number of corporate Role Models Leila has built up through Urban Synergy has risen to over 600, reaching over 10,000 students, from more than 100 schools.

Head of Enterprise Indirect Business

Vodafone plc

Kathy recently featured in Telecoms channel press articles around the importance of D&I in the Telecoms sector and the role leaders can play to make it more inclusive. She was also involved in participating in sessions on how to talk about race at the London Transport Museum, where she serves as Non-Executive Director. Since becoming Chair of Vodafone’s Multicultural and Inclusion Network in 2019, Kathy has re-shaped its strategy, igniting a new action-oriented program to support employees. Working closely too with D&I teams across the business to trigger new policies. Also led on online webinars, which gave a platform to the voices and faces of the network, raised awareness of the benefits of diverse teams and led to a significant increase in network fellowship. The Black Lives Matter virtual discussion she participated in resulted in several new initiatives including a ‘Diversity Portal’ and the deployment of race education programs.

Marketing Director, EMEA & LATAM

LinkedIn

Embrace is the LinkedIn Employee Resource Group, co-launched by Darain, which has been a leading light in terms of reviewing existing practices, evaluating challenges, and setting out a measurable plan of action. Darain was involved in initiating unconscious bias training for the UK business, and hosting events discussing issues of race and intersectionality. Darain is also leading LinkedIn’s involvement in the Black Representation in Marketing (BRiM) program, rallying the UK Marketing and Communications functions to launch a framework to improve Black representation. Darain has hosted workshops over 8 years for the Taylor Bennett Foundation, an organisation set up to address the underrepresentation of Black & Minority Ethnic people in the Marcomms industry. Last year he co-founded, together with his brother Sheeraz, People Like Us, a networking group to celebrate and support Marcomms professionals from underrepresented backgrounds. Outside of their events, People Like Us support the individuals and the industry at large with D&I consultancy, job placement and personal branding - all for free.

Partner

Slaughter and May

Nilufer is one of Slaughter and May’s two D&I partners, and as such plays a leading role in the firm’s overall D&I strategy. Since occupying this position she has accelerated progress against the Race Fairness action plan by establishing and leading a partner working group focusing on race and ethnicity. A framework has also been embedded to analyze diversity data in order to improve recruitment, retention and promotion of BAME employees. It will also be used to examine structural processes so that the firm can advance change, with best practice being shared with clients and other law firms. Nilufer spearheaded the launch of a new bursary scheme, that will support a number of BAME students who come from less-advantaged backgrounds. In 2019, Slaughter and May also launched the company’s ‘Inclusion Allies’ initiative, with a series of workshops including training specific to BAME inclusion.

Partner

PwC

Some of the major changes Albertha has pushed for in PwC’s D&I strategy over the past five years include the introduction of coaches to drive Black and ethnic minority groups progression; the initiation of ‘Fair Allocation of Work’ programs; Ted Circles to encourage open conversations about D&I topics and the ‘One Action’ campaign, which asked everyone to commit to one action they would take personally to embed behavior change. As Chair of the Staff Diversity Council Albertha also gathers feedback across the firm’s networks on D&I priorities and actions taken so far, bringing recommendations to the Partner Diversity Council in response. At 2020’s Anti-Racist Manifesto for Action, Albertha contributed by sharing insights on how PwC reached disclosure rates of over 90% and used the data to drive inclusion actions such as fair work allocation and sponsorship programs.

Partner in Charge, UK

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Segun is a founding member of BCLP's Global Inclusion & Diversity Action Board. He was also appointed Co-Chair of the firm's global diversity initiative shortly before the death of George Floyd, after which the role took on a new level of urgency. In these capacities Segun has championed the introduction of firmwide ‘Aspirational Diversity Goals’, which are among the most stretching in the legal industry, including a US 18% and a UK 22% Black, Asian and minority ethnic partner goal. He has also led and informed the introduction of an ‘I&D Cultural Foundation’, against which all BCLP partners’ performances are assessed, and introduced ‘Hours Gap reporting’ in the firm’s US and UK offices, allowing them to monitor, highlight and drive accountability around disparities in hours billed by lawyers of color, and specifically disparities between Black associates and their white counterparts.

Partner

Deloitte LLP

In his position as a member of Deloitte’s Ethnicity Council, David helps define, drive and monitor initiatives to promote better representation and outcomes for ethnic minorities. He is a key partner supporting and launching Deloitte's Black Action Plan (BAP), and chairs a steering group ensuring voices of Black colleagues are being heard as BAP is implemented. After collaborating with colleagues firmwide to formulate this comprehensive plan, David then worked with the Executive Committee to gain its commitment and sponsorship. The objectives of BAP are firstly: to systematically examine processes across the employee lifecycle and make improvements to reduce potential opportunities for bias, and secondly: to evolve organizational culture allowing colleagues of Black and ethnic minority backgrounds to realize their potential and thrive. Initiatives already underway at the firm include a leadership development and mentoring program, a multicultural allies’ network, and mandatory race fluency training.

Commercial Director - Wholesale and Convenience

Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I

Jessica is an influential voice and champion for many D&I initiatives at work. While initially focused on gender equality in the brewing industry, last year Jessica realized the need to highlight another side of D&I. Drawing on her experience as an ethnic minority in the UK, Jessica used her voice as a force for good inside Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I. Jessica established several Listening Groups to ensure colleagues had the space to channel their thoughts in response to BLM. Following this, Jessica established, and now is Executive Sponsor for, a Racial Equality Employee Resource Group working to drive change within the company. Jessica was also responsible for securing management support to appoint a partner to gather and analyze the company’s D&I data. Additionally, Jessica is a mentor, works with Bath University to ensure stronger representation in the firm’s scholarship program, and established the company’s relationship with Diversity in Grocery.

Global Head of Technical Product Experts, Search Ads 360

Google

After serving as leader of a local chapter of the Black Googler Network (BGN) Employee Resource Group, Martin went on to become Regional and then Global Co-Lead of the group. During the time of highlighted racial injustice in 2020, Martin worked within Google's Black Leadership Advisory Group, with guidance from Google and Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai to input into Google’s Commitment to Race Equality. In addition, Martin is coach and mentor to BGN EMEA Chapter Leads on career development, leadership and engagement of senior executives. Driving his focus on expanding the reach of the Employee Resource Group across different locations, Martin played a critical role in the recent launch of new chapters in Zurich as well as supporting the group’s growth in Northern Europe (across Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden & Benelux). For the UK Government Department for Work and Pensions BAME Mentoring Circles Pilot Program, Martin served as a consulting mentor.

Group Head of Talent

London Stock Exchange Group

As the Group Head of Talent at LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group), Jignesh is accountable for building a more diverse leadership team and accelerating internal progression. He led a series of projects in 2020 covering a range of areas, such as Leadership Development, Wellbeing, Hiring and Progression and Mentoring, each with its own appointed executive sponsor. Resulting progress in these areas has included the improvement of resources such as counselling and coaching; the evaluation of hiring activity to eliminate bias; the collection of data to ensure meaningful advancements; the introduction of reverse mentoring for the Executive Committee; and the implementation of unconscious bias training for all employees. Jignesh is also a member of the Race Equality Leadership Team at Business in the Community, the aims of which include promoting the Race at Work Charter and growing the number and capability of executive-level D&I champions. He is also on the advisory board for Baxter Neumann and HR Grapevine. Jignesh is a board member for the UK ICF and a trustee and non-executive director for Roffey Park Institute.

London Zone Managing Director

Sainsbury's

Sarah founded and chairs Sainsbury's ethnic minority network, 'I AM ME'. Last year, she played a pivotal role in increasing corporate confidence in race fluency. She personally delivered the ‘Let’s Talk About Race’ ethnic diversity training to the PLC board and Operating board. This was then delivered to the top 250 leaders at Sainsbury’s and has now been rolled out company wide. She was influential in Sainsbury’s decision to change its language from ‘BAME’ to ‘Ethnically Diverse’. Sarah has worked with the business to lead a number of positive actions, including encouraging partnerships with charities that support the Black community, such as the Sickle Cell Society; supporting commercial teams to drive incremental sales on the World Food range at Sainsbury's; led the internal and external narrative for Black Lives Matter; and played a role in driving the agenda of the 2020 Christmas advert, 'Gravy Song', which featured a black family. She has been instrumental in creating the strategic priorities for Sainsbury's and influencing the business’ overall inclusion targets as an organisation.

Chief Counsel

AXA Health

Under Sam's sponsorship, the Employee Resource Group REACH has advanced racial equality across AXA, in particular by developing initiatives such as a 'Let's Talk About Race' program, which has been engaged with over 700 times in its first six months. Sam also represents REACH at AXA’s D&I Board, providing leadership which has resulted in initiatives such as the Inclusion Allies program which has had over 2,000 engagements. Sam also played a fundamental role in developing AXA's response to the Black Lives Matter movement, leading both external and internal communications, consulting on the development of an Ethnicity Action Plan, and speaking to hundreds of business leaders and employees at team meetings on the topic of race equality. Another way Sam promotes diversity at AXA is by mentoring ethnic minority talent, something he also does for Business in the Community’s Cross Organisational Mentoring Circles.

Group Head of Talent & Diversity

Selfridges Group

As an activist for inclusion, Pauline believes we all have an obligation and a role to play in driving real and sustainable societal change. Her role as Group Head of Talent & Diversity has given her a vehicle in which to support and sponsor ethnic minority inclusion by challenging white privilege in all processes of recruitment, talent management and promotion. As the Head Judge of the European Diversity Awards for the last four years, Pauline has worked closely with various organizations both in the corporate world and in charities promoting and championing ethnic minority inclusion. This has involved group presentations to senior leadership teams as well as coaching and mentoring Black students one-to-one. Pauline regularly travels to universities throughout the UK, specifically targeting non-Russell Group universities, promoting various career opportunities and giving advice to students on their CVs and interview preparation techniques.

Director, Segmentation & Propositions

Lloyds Banking Group

Since joining Lloyds Banking Group in 2008, Tanvi has passionately driven the inclusion agenda. She is a key Diversity Sponsor for the Retail Bank, a member and speaker for LBG’s Inclusion and Diversity Forum and Inclusion Strategy Working Group, and LBG’s Ethnic Diversity Network, REACH. Tanvi founded the Chief Customer Office’s Diversity Committee, increasing colleague disclosure rates and advocate involvement, and leads Customer Inclusion within LBG’s Race Action Plan for greater inclusivity of diverse groups. She pioneered “Ask Me Anything” sessions, encouraging diverse colleagues to share experiences and be more confident. Other initiatives include a hiring and retention programme for diverse talent and reverse mentoring programme. Tanvi was invited to the ‘Deloitte Academy Diversity on Boards Programme’ and is a regular panel speaker at industry diversity events. Tanvi heads up the development and roll-out of LBG’s consumer propositions, and her career has spanned strategy and commercial executive roles across divisions.

Chairman

Shaw Trust

In his role as Chairman of the Shaw Trust, Kenneth oversees the creation and implementation of D&I policies within the organization’s overall strategy, which commits to a fully diverse and representative workforce. As part of this strategy Kenneth proposed partnering with the National Equality Standard (NES) to ensure that Shaw Trust was at the vanguard of the not-for-profit sector when it came to D&I. Outside of the Shaw Trust, Kenneth speaks regularly and participates in panels to promote ED&I and its competitive advantages. He has recently been hosted by City University, Barings, Nat West Bank, the Armed Services and the Black FE Leadership Group, and was a keynote speaker on the BT-sponsored Business in the Community Manifesto for Action event. Kenneth also champions inclusion in his position as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, and through the Aleto Foundation he founded to identify and equip young leaders.

Head of Specialist Business Units

Santander UK plc

Manroop is the Executive Sponsor of Ethnicity at Santander UK. His key accomplishments include launching the Santander Black Inclusion Plan, with the objective of doubling Black representation in senior leadership roles in two years and championing the first ever Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting at Santander UK in 2021. Manroop was also responsible for delivering the roll-out of listening programs across the organization, which were set up to understand the challenges and issues ethnic minority colleagues face. He also ran six panel sessions, each with up to 2,500 attendees, featuring both internal and external role models, such as Akala and Baroness Amos. Beyond Santander, Manroop has been a speaker and panelist at engagements for the City of London’s ethnicity conferences. He is part of the Black in Tech’s taskforce for the Confederation of British Industry and sits on the Race Leadership Board for Business in the Community.

Chief Compliance Officer

Cairn Capital

Following the raft of developments in the US, including George Floyd’s death exposing racial injustice, Ansumana contacted Cairn Capital’s Executive Management Committee and was asked to set up a D&I committee. Now serving as the Chair of the committee, Ansumana has started creating a new level of awareness of D&I issues within the firm, including advising the EMC on its strategy. In October 2020, the EMC agreed a broad suite of D&I initiatives that the committee would work to implement over the coming year. These included establishing more diverse hiring processes; securing the assistance of a D&I consultancy firm; launching a mentoring scheme, and giving to diverse charities and organizations. In March 2020, the committee completed the firm's first ever D&I staff survey, the results of which will be shared with management to inform the Cairn Capital’s strategy and the committee's activities going forward.

Head of Corporate Communications EMEA

State Street

One year ago, Noreen wrote a story on her father's experience of workplace racism and posted it on LinkedIn. It received 200,000 views and an outpouring of responses. The feedback to this post, as well as to the whitepaper Noreen wrote based on interviews with kiddigrant professionals (children of immigrants), led her to set up a not-for-profit group, reboot.,with fellow senior communication professionals as a way of ensuring these stories would continue to be told across the UK. Since reboot’s launch in January, it’s had lots of media coverage and is gaining momentum, especially in financial services. reboot. started off with 10 powerful interviews with senior minorities and is now focusing on its 2021 strategy with the help of an advisory panel. Noreen has also been pushing for change within State Street by participating in roundtables, presenting to senior management teams, and sharing recommendations on race dynamics in the workplace.

Partner

Reed Smith LLP

Gautam is one of very few UK-based ethnically diverse senior partners in global law firms the size of Reed Smith LLP. He became a partner in the firm in 2000, and since 2017 has been a member of the firm's Executive Committee, its global board, which, amongst other things, oversees the promotion of Reed Smith’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion objectives and is responsible for the successful implementation of its Racial Equity Action Plan. He is also a Partner Champion of the firm’s Multi-Cultural Network, its PRISM (LGBTQ+) group, and its Disabilities Group; as well as acting as a male partner champion for the firm’s Women's Network. As a mentor, Gautam shows young and up-and-coming diverse lawyers that Big Law is not out of bounds to anyone, with his mentees’ success over the years testifying to this message. Gautam regularly speaks about careers in the law, ways to succeed, and overcoming obstacles for numerous organizations such as The Brokerage, Speakers for Schools, IntoUniversity and Aspiring Solicitors.

Commercial Director (Head of Diversity & Inclusion)

Levy UK (Compass Group UK & Ireland)

‘Within’ is the Cultural Diversity Employee Network which Rak founded at Compass Group UK&I. Now sitting as its Chair, Rak has laid out the group’s aims to develop plans to improve diversity within Compass and be a voice for the firm’s employees. Believing dialogue is essential to making change happen in the right areas, the network introduced listening groups where ethnic minority employees’ experiences can be heard. The impact of the company’s D&I program has seen increased visibility of D&I across all sectors through comms and educational work, including a new program of InclustiviTEA sessions. Rak is also the UK&I representative for the Compass Group Global D&I Champion Committee, sits on the Board of WiHTL (the Festival of Inclusion in Hospitality, Travel and Leisure), and serves on both the Deloitte D&I Committee and CMI Race Advisory Committee.

Director of Strategy & Wholesale; Member of Executive Board Vodafone UK

Vodafone UK

Whilst serving as its Executive Sponsor, Vishal re-launched Vodafone’s Multicultural Inclusion Network in 2019. With a specific focus on race and ethnicity, Vishal spearheaded key initiatives to drive systemic change. These included propelling the #CountMeIn campaign aimed at capturing ethnicity data to help enhance diversity across all areas and levels, pioneering a new ‘Inclusive Leadership Training’ module that will be mandatory for senior leaders, and developing a comprehensive Roadmap for Race & Ethnicity, with a structured series of policy, training and communications improvements over the next 12 months. Vishal has also been coaching 10 key Regional Chairs of the MIN Network as part of a ‘Speak Out and Speak Proud’ initiative; participating in monthly all-company webinars on race and ethnicity; encouraging Executives to participate in listening sessions, and bringing allies into Vodafone’s employee networks.

Chief of Staff

Network Rail

Following George Floyd’s death in 2020 and the subsequent protests, Anit used the increased focus on racial injustice to push the issue of ethnic diversity at Network Rail right to the top of the agenda. His willingness to be bold in starting uncomfortable conversations about white privilege with his peers on the Executive Team has resulted in D&I becoming a whole organization objective. Anit is committed to investing more and working harder with minority groups over coming years to redress the inequality that exists. He recognizes racial justice not just as something we must make a business case for, but as a fundamental right which should not be up for debate. Some of the panels Anit has spoken on over the last few years include the Ethnic Diversity in the City summit and a rail industry panel discussion during Race Matters week.

HR Influencer & thought leader, previously VP Global Talent

Zebra technologies

As one of the most senior members from an ethnic minority background in the organizations she has worked in, Kally is a role model for others to drive change. Serving in HR roles for nearly 30 years in the technology space, her passion and resilience has allowed her to champion diversity. She has developed and driven Zebra’s inclusion and diversity strategy, including diversity-driven mentoring and sponsorship for internal talent. Kally also helped remove barriers to entry, such as getting leaders to re-examine the need for a college degree for varying roles, eliminating biased language in job descriptions, and helping build a strong internal Inclusion Network for employees, creating a diverse Global team. In addition, she was involved in the launch of an externally sponsored STEM program for ethnic minorities in EMEA. After a rewarding corporate career, she is now developing her own consultancy business to help companies drive change and inclusion within their organizations.