Christophe Beck

1
CEO & Chairman
Ecolab

Christophe Beck is CEO & Chairman at Ecolab, the world’s water, hygiene, and infection prevention company, where he advocates for a culture where all 47,000 associates belong and thrive. As a founding member of Ecolab's DEI Council, he actively shapes strategy, prioritizes initiatives, and sponsors Employee Resource Groups. He advocates for ERGs by engaging and supporting their initiatives and attending Ecolab’s quarterly Black Leaders Forum meeting to listen and learn. Under his leadership, Ecolab has made significant progress towards its 2030 DEI goals, including a 50% increase in female and BIPOC executives since 2016. Christophe also joined the Minnesota Business Council in 2020, where he established a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, and launched a CEO pledge to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion at Ecolab. Christophe is also a Catalyst CEO Champion for Change, demonstrating his commitment to advancing gender diversity and inclusion within Ecolab and the business community.

Jon Lewis

2
Chief Executive Officer
Capita

Jon Lewis has been CEO of Capita since 2017, where he has overseen the transformation of Capita from a traditional outsourcer into a consulting, transformation and digital services business with purpose, values and inclusion at its core. He’s sponsored multi-year ethnicity targets at senior leadership levels and made anti-racism training mandatory for over 30,000 UK colleagues as well as his plc Board. He also launched a mutual mentoring program focused on developing inclusion and allyship, in which he has participated as a mentee. Since 2021, Jon has also chaired Capita’s Black Lives Matter employee network group. Jon is a BITC Race at Work charter founding member, sharing Capita's commitments for race equality in the workplace openly. He is also the Chair of BITC’s Employment and Skills Committee. Moreover, he is deeply committed to promoting social mobility across all protected characteristics, including ethnicity, and is a regular advocate on this topic.

Anne Richards

3
Chief Executive Officer
Fidelity International

Anne joined Fidelity International as CEO in December 2018 and was appointed a Director of FIL Limited in September 2019. Anne has almost three decades of experience as an analyst, portfolio manager and CIO and is a strong proponent of ESG investing.  Her career path spans many blue-chip global names in the financial sector including Alliance Capital and JP Morgan. Anne is a Chartered Engineer and began her career as a research fellow at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research.  She is a former chair of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s Practitioner Panel and was appointed a board member of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in December 2020. Anne was appointed a Dame Commander (DBE) in June 2021 for services to Financial Services, Women, Education and Science. Anne holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BSc (Hons) and an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh.

Jason Tarry

4
UK & ROI CEO
Tesco

As the Executive sponsor for the Race and Ethnicity colleague network Jason leads the agenda on race inclusion at the most senior level within the organisation. Visibly role modelling allyship he works to create a safe, supportive, and connected space which colleagues can feel proud to be part of and a place where they can get on. Through sponsoring the Diverse Talent Community initiative, Jason has cemented his commitment to accelerate change through targeted interventions ensuring increased ethnically diverse representation across all levels at Tesco. 81% of ethnically diverse colleagues agree they have had the “opportunity to learn and develop over the last year” 9% increase year on year. Jason continues to steer conversations with the wider Executive Committee to ensure Black inclusion is discussed at board level providing updates on our Black Action Plan which sets to bring about fair and equitable change for the Black community.

Donna Milrod

5
Executive Vice President, Chief Product Officer
State Street

Since joining State Street as Executive Vice President in 2019, Donna has been an active member of State Street's Professional Women's Network, which supports women's professional growth through networking, coaching, and development opportunities. Donna is also a member of the company's Executive Committee, the senior team responsible for implementing DEI initiatives. She has been instrumental in driving progress by encouraging employees to complete unconscious bias and inclusive leadership training. Donna also supports State Street's 10 Actions Against Racism and Inequality by spearheading initiatives to increase representation and career opportunities for BIPOC talent. Donna is also an Executive Sponsor for State Street's PRIDE network and is involved in partnerships with organizations like the Robert Toigo Foundation, which develops and promotes diverse finance leaders.

Scott Salmirs

6
President and CEO
ABM Industries

Scott is a visionary leader who prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusion at ABM. Since becoming CEO in 2015, he has worked tirelessly to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Under his leadership, ABM has established a Culture & Inclusion Council dedicated to developing organizational priorities that foster diverse talent, nurture an inclusive workplace, and drive meaningful social change across the organization, and built a board that is ethnically and gender diverse. Scott’s leadership paved the way for the launch Women at ABM, the company's first employee resource group dedicated to supporting and advancing women from diverse backgrounds. Scott's commitment to DE&I extends beyond ABM. He serves on the board of Outreach Project, a nonprofit organization providing professional development resources for a diverse community of individuals aspiring to pursue careers as substance abuse counselors in New York City and Long Island.

Karen Sedgwick

7
Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer
Sempra

As a Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer at Sempra, Karen has been a vocal advocate for diversity and inclusion. In 2021, she championed the inclusion of D&I metrics in annual leadership goals and executive compensation and helped establish an officer-led diversity and inclusion function at the parent company. To identify and address gaps in representation, she introduced diversity metrics and increased D&I education by encouraging employees to complete training. Her team launched phase 1 of the I Belong app in 2022 to enhance D&I experiences and communications. She has supported expanding employee resource groups and sponsored D&I events that reached almost 12,000 employees. Outside of work, she is a dedicated volunteer, mentor, and board member of Promises2Kids, a nonprofit that supports foster children and those removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect.

Courtney della Cava

8
Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Portfolio Talent & Organizational Performance
Blackstone

Courtney is a Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Portfolio Talent & Organizational Performance at Blackstone. She is a committed leader focusing on diversity and inclusion efforts across the organization. As a champion of Blackstone's DEI initiatives, she works to attract, develop, and advance a diverse workforce, recognizing that the most valuable asset is the people who work at Blackstone. She oversees C-suite and board DEI initiatives and signature programs like Career Pathways, which aims to increase access to entry and mid-level jobs for historically underrepresented talent. Courtney also manages Blackstone's firmwide mandate to target one-third diverse representation on portfolio company boards for new control investments. Beyond Blackstone, Courtney serves on the board of Renaissance Learning, furthering her commitment to accelerating learning for all students despite their ability levels and ethnic and social backgrounds.

Mark Read

9
CEO
WPP

In June 2020 Mark announced WPP’s set of commitments to combat racial injustice and support Black and minority ethnic talent, which included pledging $30m over three years to fund inclusion programs around the world. Since then he has continued to take steps to improve diversity and inclusion, including introducing DE&I goals into WPP senior leaders’ incentive plans, and establishing a Global Inclusion Council where underrepresented voices advise on DE&I goals and identify barriers to progress. WPP has launched and backed initiatives that build a talent pipeline for both the company and the wider industry such as its global early career program where 50% of its first cohort were of color, The Update for Black tech professionals, the One School with the One Club for Creativity for Black British creatives, the Detroit Experience Studio for the city’s Black students, and the SOMA+ online series for Brazil’s low-income Black and Indigenous communities.

Robyn Grew

10
President
Man Group

Robyn leads Man Group's diversity, equity and inclusion network, Drive, and chairs its Steering Committee. She is senior sponsor of several of the firm’s employee networks and workstreams, including BEAM (Black Employees and Allies at Man Group). She also oversees Man Group’s Paving the Way initiative, which seeks to improve access to the industry for underrepresented groups and encapsulates the work of our BEAM network and its external partnerships with #TalkAboutBlack, EnCircle Mentoring and Black Women in Asset Management. Robyn is a member of several industry groups, including the Diversity Project, where she sits on the Advisory Board, and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) council, where she chairs the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Working Group. Robyn is an active speaker on DE&I, within schools, across the industry and in the media, particularly championing the importance of allyship, inclusion and belonging.  

Adam Kansler

11
President, S&P Global Market Intelligence
S&P Global

Adam is the President of S&P Market Intelligence which is the largest division within S&P Global, with over 18,000 colleagues across the globe. Adam has placed inclusion at the center of his leadership agenda, embedding DEI into the Market Intelligence divisional strategy. He championed the inclusion of DEI as a core metric in executive scorecards, ensuring that the division is held as accountable for DEI performance as it is for financial, customer and operational performance. Adam is also currently the Executive Sponsor for the Adelante People Resource Group which aims to increase opportunities for personal, professional, company and community success and impact for Hispanic/Latine colleagues across S&P Global. Additionally, he has sponsored several leadership development programs for underrepresented colleagues, spearheaded a number of DEI-focused recruitment initiatives and rolled-out various inclusion trainings across the division.

Dame Carolyn McCall

12
Chief Executive
ITVplc

Carolyn joined ITV in 2018 as the first female CEO in ITV's history, having previously served as the first female CEO of easyJet and CEO of Guardian Media Group. During her time at ITV, Carolyn has overseen the development of ITV's Diversity Acceleration Plan and the appointment of Ade Rawcliffe to ITV's Management Board as Group Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Beyond ITV, Carolyn is actively involved in various groups aimed at improving diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including 25x25, the FTSE Women Leaders review, and an action group of like-minded CEOs aimed at improving black equity in businesses. Carolyn is also a trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts and a Non-executive Director on the Board of Bridgepoint plc. In 2016, Carolyn was awarded a Damehood for services to the aviation industry having received an OBE in 2008 for services to women in business.

Diana Conrad

13
Chief People Officer
GSK

As Chief People office at GSK, Diana is accountable for the people strategy, including talent, culture, capabilities, leadership, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Under Diana’s leadership, GSK is creating a culture where everyone feels valued, welcomed, and included. DEI is embedded in the GSK Code, people’s objectives, mandatory training, leadership development and the way people are rewarded. GSK has made good progress on their aspirational targets to ensure its leaders are more ethnically diverse by 2025. GSK clinical trial programmes are diverse by design because they include the people who are most impacted by the disease from the onset. And the organisation continues to invest in programmes to provide access to STEM careers for underrepresented people. Diana’s personal mission is to ensure that GSK has the right talent and culture to unlock the full potential of all GSK’s outstanding people to help us get ahead of disease together.

Jon Holt

14
Chief Executive
KPMG LLP

Driving inclusion, diversity and equity is at the heart of Jon’s leadership strategy. He has actively championed the firm’s new inclusion, diversity and equity strategy and is a proactive participant in a number of initiatives, such as our Black Lives Allyship Programme. As Chief Executive, Jon is committed to driving sustainable change and ensuring that KPMG is an organisation where everyone is able to thrive. Jon is a member of KPMG’s Inclusive Leadership Board, a group which acts as a catalyst for achieving our ambitions in this space. Jon’s commitment to inclusion has been longstanding, and in his previous role as the Head of Audit, he was responsible for several strategic initiatives including mentoring programmes, leadership goals and awareness sessions. Outside of KPMG, Jon is a Trustee for the Patchwork Foundation, which promotes, encourages and supports the active participation of young people from disadvantaged and minority communities in British democracy.

Keri Gilder

15
Chief Executive Officer
Colt Technology Services

Keri Gilder is CEO, Colt Technology Services. Passionate about addressing disparity in the tech industry, Keri’s working hard to remove barriers that prevent employees from progressing. Keri chairs the TM Forum's Diversity & Inclusion Council and founded Colt's first Inclusion & Diversity Council. Keri is firmly committed to ensuring that Colt remains focused on removing any biases inherent within its systems, processes and structures. Programmes to address this include Actioning Inclusion, aimed at educating employees on purposeful, conscious inclusion. Keri has held listening sessions with employees from different racial and ethnic backgrounds to find out what was on their minds and understand how Colt can support them. The insights she gathered led to a collaboration between HR and the YOUnited employee network group, which aims to promote cross cultural understanding and create a supportive environment where anyone can flourish regardless of their race, ethnicity, faith, or cultural background.

Murray Auchincloss

16
Chief Financial Officer
BP

As the CFO at bp, Murray acts as the Race and Ethnicity champion in the UK, sponsoring bp's Positively Ethnic Network (PEN). He worked with senior leaders at bp to endorse the UK Framework for Action on racial injustice in 2020 and supported establishing bp's first UK DE&I council in 2022. He is a visible advocate for inclusion, promoting conversations around race and ethnicity in bp, sponsoring diverse leaders through bp's LIfT program, and engaging in reciprocal mentoring. Beyond bp, Murray has promoted diversity equity and inclusion for ethnically diverse individuals within the community. He launched the bp-sponsored Powerlist Black Excellence – Business of the Year Award and sponsored the finance stream of Black Business Week & Black Business Show in 2022.

Catherine Johnson

17
Group General Counsel and Executive Committee Sponsor for DE&I
LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group)

Catherine is Executive Committee Sponsor for Diversity & Inclusion at LSEG, Chair of the D&I Working Group and sponsor of the Women Inspired Network.  Her thoughtful, compassionate and visible leadership on diversity and inclusion has seen LSEG introduce targeted initiatives designed to aid the progress of underrepresented and emerging talent and build a sustainable, diverse pipeline of prospective new joiners. These initiatives include an inclusive leadership programme, accelerator programmes to identify and progress Black and Latinx talent, colleagues based in Asia Pacific, and the LSEG Returner programme addressing the gender gap at middle management level and above. Catherine is driving progress against LSEG’s gender and ethnicity senior leadership targets, which will be extended to apply beyond leadership. She is a prominent advocate for allyship at LSEG and long-time champion of the Group’s intent to build an open, inclusive culture where everyone feels they belong.

Lee Schrager

18
Chief Communications Officer & SVP Corporate Social Responsibility
Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits

Lee is the Chief Communications Officer and SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility at Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. With a strong passion for diversity and inclusion, he has championed multiple initiatives to support female students and employees in fulfilling their potential. He partnered with Women of Tomorrow and Step Up Women Network to introduce diverse female students to careers in hospitality and provide them with mentoring, career panels, and field trips. He also sponsored an employee conference for VolunCheers Ambassadors to align community engagement with DEI practices. As the Founder and Director of the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, he announced a groundbreaking partnership with Dr. Lisa Davis, Ph.D., in 2021, focused on advancing diversity and inclusion across the hospitality industry. He also helped establish a DEI Alliance at the Florida International University Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management.

Mairéad Cullen

19
CIO
Vodafone Ireland

Mairead is the CIO at Vodafone Ireland, where she has driven significant progress towards making Vodafone a great place to work for People of Colour. In 2020, she ensured the inclusion of Race and Ethnicity in employee data, followed by the introduction of Race Fluency training for the Board of Directors in 2021. The establishment of the REACH Network in 2022, created to raise awareness of race and racism in the workplace and celebrate differences, along with the expansion of Race Fluency training to the People Manager Community, is a testament to her commitment to inclusive practices. As Executive Sponsor of the REACH Network, Mairead led the development of a strategy and mission for the network and the first REACH Network event. Beyond Vodafone, as a board member of Kinia, Mairead is dedicated to ensuring equal opportunities for all children and young people, regardless of race or ethnicity.

Erika Gottfried

20
Chief Risk Officer of DB UK Bank Ltd
Deutsche Bank

Beyond her role as the Chief Risk Officer at Deutsche Bank, Erika is a founding member of the Chief Risk Office UKI Black Inclusion Forum, where she has played a vital role in creating a sponsorship program and organizing events that aim to increase the visibility of Black colleagues within the bank. Erika is also the CRO UK D&I Sponsor and has created a series of "Coffee & Connect" sessions, potluck events, and panel discussions promoting inclusion. In addition, she has created a video series to educate people on identifying microaggressions on topics ranging from gender, Black inclusion, LGBT+, Faith, and mental health.

Andrew Jolly

Partner
Slaughter and May

Beyond his role as a Partner at Slaughter and May, Andrew is a Sponsor Partner for DIVERSE, the firm’s race and ethnicity inclusion network, a Continuity Partner to several trainees and a Mentor to numerous individuals through internal mentoring programmes. He is a member of the Race Fairness Partner-Led Working Group, where he focuses on improving the strategy to recruit, retain, and promote ethnic minority talent. Subsequently, mentoring and leadership programmes have been launched for ethnic minorities alongside tools for partners and other senior leaders at the firm to support ethnic minority talent development.  Andrew also engages in reverse mentoring to deepen his understanding of the experiences of ethnic minority employees. He is also Sponsor Partner for the SoMo Network, the firm’s social mobility network, which began with his support as a sub-committee of DIVERSE and launched as its own network in 2023.

Bonni Hendrix

Global Head of HR Strategy & Execution
Bank of NY Mellon

As a long-time social justice warrior, Bonni, the Global Head of HR Strategy & Execution at BNY Mellon, champions diversity, equity and inclusion across the firm by serving as the Head of Strategy for BNY Mellon’s IMPACT Employee Business Resource Group, focusing on diversity across race, ethnicity, and culture. She has launched regional DEI working groups, implemented an executive leadership program that received external recognition, created a DEI learning series and has a firmwide allyship program currently in development. Bonni contributes to prioritizing diverse representation at BNY Mellon and mentors talent from underrepresented backgrounds. Moreover, Bonni is a board member at Fiver Children’s Foundation and leads their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Taskforce, serves as a member of her town's Social Justice and Equity Committees, and is currently completing a civic leadership program to identify and execute policy changes that will create more equitable outcomes for underrepresented communities.

Dan Draper

Chief Executive Officer
S&P Dow Jones Indices

Dan utilizes his leadership role and platform to celebrate and amplify S&P Dow Jones Indices’ (S&P DJI) commitment to DEI. He actively participates in roundtables, fireside chats, town halls, and global office visits to foster an environment of inclusion and belonging across the organization. Additionally, he has led and collaborated with other senior leaders to develop a mentoring program for S&P DJI, and personally serves as a mentor to numerous colleagues. Dan is also the Executive Sponsor for S&P Global’s Black Organization for Leadership Development (BOLD) People Resource Group and promotes the network and its members across the company. Externally, Dan is a fellow of the 2017 class of the Aspen Institute Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. He is a recipient of the Male Ambassador Award from Women in Derivatives (WIND) in 2022 and is also a proud sponsor of Women in ETFs.

Jennifer Remling

Global Chief People Officer
WPP

As WPP's Global Chief People Officer, Jennifer Remling is laying the groundwork for unlocking the creative potential in all 115,000 employees within the WPP network. Central to that is ensuring DE&I is embedded in all aspects of the People strategy – from talent acquisition and total rewards to employee engagement and leadership development. Jennifer has a wealth of experience building high-performing teams in agency environments in roles at Essence, R/GA, AKQA, 360i and most recently GroupM. There, she transformed the People team to deliver a world-class People proposition that ensured a fair, equitable and inclusive workplace for all 36,000 employees in 80 markets. Jennifer is passionate about helping people find meaning and purpose in what they do, no matter their background. That’s why she published “Carve Your Own Road: Do What You Love and Live the Life You Envision” in 2009 and has made it her lifelong ambition to help as many people as possible reach their full potential.

John Langley

Head of Wells Fargo International
Wells Fargo

Head of Wells Fargo International and Executive Sponsor for the EMEA Black Connections Network, John, in 2020, helped create and secured funding for the network.  He was instrumental in signing the Race at Work Charter in October 2021, and he ensures that DE&I is a regular topic at the International Operating Committee meetings.  John has been key in ensuring hiring practices promote diversity, that all interview panels have diverse representation, diverse candidate slates, and partnerships with external recruitment firms that draw candidates from diverse backgrounds at all hiring levels.  He is actively involved in the program BOLD - Building Organisational Leadership Diversity.  Additionally, John has supported the sponsorship of the Black British Business Awards for the last four years.

Adam Anderson

Executive Director, West System and Bay Area Office Business Management
Boston Consulting Group

Adam is an Executive Director at BCG. His career spans social impact and advocacy for justice, including almost a decade in K-12 public school system leadership. As the first in his family to attend university out of high school, Adam prioritizes programs to support employees from low-income backgrounds and first-generation college students. At BCG, he sponsored establishing the Champions Circle community, a nurturing space for all Black consulting employees to belong and be supported by mentors. In 2022, Adam enabled the first Black Excellence Retreat, fostering community building and programming for all levels and functions. His commitment to equity extends to office catering and art sourcing, thoughtfully supporting women and minority-owned businesses and diverse artists. Outside of BCG, Adam works with incarcerated men, helping them prepare to be returning citizens, and currently serves as Treasurer on the board of Connect Ed, which supports college and career pathways for all students.

Matt Truman

Co-founder & Executive Chair
TRUE

Matt is a co-founder and executive chair of consumer-focused investment and innovation firm, True. Established in 2013, True taps into diverse pools to recruit team members, enabling opportunities for those who typically face barriers. True's workforce is now 49% female, surpassing the industry average by 11%. Matt is passionate about tackling educational inequality and works in partnership with 'Careers and Enterprise' and 'Universify,' both charities focused on closing the educational gap, with initiatives targeted geographically to reach those from a disadvantaged socioeconomic background. Moreover, True is committed to achieving sustainable equity and inclusion by providing diversity and inclusion training and working with change champion consultants, contributors, and speakers from various intersections of the global community. With its own proprietary innovation lab advising the likes of Walmart, Diageo, Warner Brothers, Johnson & Johnsons, Primark and M&S, True is one of the fastest growing firms in Europe and well-placed to impact lasting change.

Paul Kempster

Co-Head Mid Corporate
Barclays

Beyond being Co-Head of Mid Corporate, Paul became Accountable Executive for UK Corporate Bank Race at Work in 2021. He critically evaluated the previous action plan’s effectiveness in colleague attraction, development, retention, and engagement and drove a significant momentum uplift through a diverse colleague working party, embedding reverse mentoring for all line managers, signing-up all managers to DE&I Employee Resource Groups, and securing personal DE&I 'pledges' from 100 leaders. Barclays is progressing towards its 2025 Race at Work ambition, including increasing the population of Managing Directors from underrepresented ethnicities by at least 50% by December 2025 (in 2022 having doubled the number of Black Managing Directors). Paul focuses on providing equal employment opportunities in UK Corporate, and recently expanded his DE&I role to become the Accountable Executive for all 6 DE&I pillars. In 2022, Paul became NED of Black South West Network, supporting the charity's ambition of achieving racial equity.

Fraser Longden

Chief Operations Officer
Wickes

Fraser uses his privilege to drive change across the organization and industry. Specifically focusing on the area, he is most authentic, the change a heterosexual, white, cisgender man should lead to create a more equitable workplace.  He describes this as real, leadership work that is as important as any other business change initiative. He shares his personal stories and journey with other non-diverse leaders, to encourage them to step up, become allies and lead change, always asking ‘if not you, then who? If not now, then when?’. Fraser is Executive Sponsor for Wickes’ Raising Awareness and Action for Culture and Ethnicity (RAACE) and Let’s do it with Pride (LGBTQ+) networks, listening to and amplifying the voices and concerns of these communities.  His Allyship has led him to personally run 12-month development programs with teams from under-represented communities, coaching, mentoring and connecting them to his network to help their personal development.

Sharon Sharples

Director Business Management & Strategy Operational Risk
Barclays

Beyond her job as Director Business Management & Strategy Operational Risk at Barclays, Sharon has been leading DEI initiatives for the past three years focusing on Gender equity. As well as hiring and managing two black females, she coaches and mentors many colleagues and external females to support them on their career journeys. Sharon also organises intersectional events with Black and Asian Professionals and LGBTQ+, including panel events, and worked with a local low socioeconomic youth program (mainly recent immigrants) with a charity called Shine to provide mentoring with Barclays colleagues. Moreover, as the Development & Sponsorship Service Lead as part of the Risk DEI SteerCo, Sharon leads a team who run a HALO mentoring scheme offering 360 support for diverse colleagues with senior leaders, almost 500 colleagues currently signed up, the focus being on challenging DEI status quo, understanding different perspectives, driving change and creating a sense of belonging.

Michelle Arbitrio

Managing Partner
Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman, LLP (WSHB)

Michelle is Managing Partner of the White Plains, New York office of Wood, Smith, Henning & Berman LLP (“WSHB”), a national insurance defense law firm with 33 offices across the country. Michelle manages a diverse team of lawyers who specialize in defense of litigation matters involving labor and employment law, professional liability and securities law. Michelle serves at Chief Diversity Officer, and leads the Diversity Committee for the Professional Liability Defense Federation (“PLDF”), an organization comprised of professionals in the insurance and legal industries. Michelle sits on WSHB’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, where she creates and implements strategies designed to achieve the firm's goals relating to recruiting, retaining, and promoting diverse attorneys and ensuring a supportive environment where all attorneys can thrive. Michelle regularly speaks at conferences and provides educational webinars to professionals regarding a wide range of diversity issues.

Jackie Uhi

Managing Director – Distribution UK
HSBC

2021 saw Jackie change the shape of the leadership structure and improve the recruitment processes -focusing on building people capabilities, championing diversity, and driving the inclusivity agenda. Jackie also continued to develop her Step Forward Programme, a programme aimed at restoring confidence, improving engagement and encouraging commitment by all to become real advocates for racial equality and inclusion in the workplace. Jackie is a trusted adviser for senior executives, is the inclusion executive sponsor for Wealth & Personal Banking, and is an advocate and activist for Embrace, our global majority employee network. Jackie is a part of the advisory council 3012 and is proud to be a founding ambassador for Every Child Needs a Mentor. Jackie utilises these connections and experience to help the group engage with senior stakeholders across the industry and beyond. An in-demand keynote speaker, panellist and influencer on the topic of inclusion, ethnicity & inequality.

Charlie Wagner

Chief Financial Officer
Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Charlie is the CFO at Vertex and a committed advocate for inclusion, diversity, equity and belonging. He recently led two 6-month mentoring circles to develop next-generation Black and Hispanic leaders for Vertex and has also placed members of his leadership team as executive sponsors or co-chairs for each of the company’s employee resource networks (LGBTQ+, POC, Women and Veterans). Additionally, he has spearheaded pilots for corporate training on Allyship, Inclusive Hiring and Insider Outsider Dynamics. Each year his leadership team establishes “healthy team” priorities that include comprehensive ID&E goals and metrics to ensure they are effective in recruiting, developing and engaging talent with diversity of thought and background. Areas of emphasis include equitable access for all CFO employees to career opportunities and resources; rigorous focus on individual development goals and plans; transparency in talent management processes such as promotion and performance review; and thoughtful, timely response to employee feedback.

Natasha Harrison

Founder & Managing Partner
Pallas Partners LLP

Natasha is a leading international disputes lawyer and one of the few women to have set up and lead a London/New York firm. She launched Pallas Partners in February 2022, starting out as a majority female led firm with significant representation of ethnic minority backgrounds and LGBTQ+ colleagues. Diversity is integral to the firm’s wider strategy, with Pallas pledging to achieve diversity parity by 2025. Natasha has committed Pallas to the Equal Representation in Arbitration pledge and the Law Society’s Women in Law pledge. She also sponsors The Brokerage; a charity creating internship opportunities for under-privileged candidates and has sat on their Board since September 2021. Natasha has been leading the way on innovation in the legal sector for years and in 2022, she was listed by Financial News as one of the 50 Most Influential Lawyers and as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in European Finance.

David Hynam

Chief Executive Officer
LV=

David joined LV= as CEO in 2022 amidst a period of change for the business. Recognising the need for a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace, he prioritised implementing a strategy that puts DE&I front and centre. He worked closely with his Senior Leadership Team to boost diversity data to over 70% and invited them to participate in DE&I networks to promote cultural change. By championing the Respect Network, David supports LV's efforts to empower women from all backgrounds and to encourage them into senior roles. He has a strong personal commitment to DE&I, having championed opportunities for underrepresented individuals in and out of work. He was formerly a Trustee of the UK Foundation and supported charitable projects that promote people's emotional and physical well-being, including the BAME men's mental health charity, Key Changes.

Renata Cubas

Tax Partner
Mattos Filho

Renata is a Partner and member of the Executive Committee of Mattos Filho. She sponsors the firm’s racial equity initiatives such as Soma Project developed to attract and retain non-white talent,  that created in 2019, Soma Talentos, an affirmative action which aims to hire and include non-white Law school students and first year associated in the firm. In less than four years, Mattos Filho's went from 1% to 11% non-white talent within their legal team. Renata represents Mattos Filho in the Legal Alliance for Racial Equity as a Member of the Board, which gathers 12 Brazilian full-service law firms around racial equity in the legal industry. At last, she is a co-founder of Women in Tax Brazil, which aims to promote diversity in tax, and gathers over 3,000 women, and together with other C-level women she is also mentor at Women in Law Mentoring.

John Tierney

COO, NEHS
Nomura

At Nomura, John is the EMEA COO and senior executive sponsor of Nomura’s EMBRACE Inclusion Network, an employee resource group focussed on driving cultural change and advancing race and ethnicity within Nomura. John’s focus has been on breaking down barriers for diverse employees within Nomura and across the wider community, to increase representation and strengthen inclusion. John has spearheaded Nomura’s partnerships with organisations such as  Progress Together, which supports people from diverse socio-economic background to acquire senior roles in the UK and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, aimed at providing opportunities in financial services to young adults from under resourced and underrepresented backgrounds.  Previously John was also the Exec Sponsor for the Pride employee network for Nomura across Asia, supporting our LGBTIQA+ colleagues. Under John’s leadership, mentoring, accountability of senior leaders, bringing in industry experts to share best practice and advocating allyship has strengthened the attraction and retention of diverse talent pipelines at Nomura.

Louise Prashad

Chief HR Officer
Diageo

Louise is the Executive member responsible for the design and implementation of Diageo's Inclusion and Diversity strategy. In 2020, Louise led the creation of Diageo's progressive Ethnic Inclusion & Diversity Framework to support markets to define multi-year plans covering representation, capability, and external partnerships that impact society. This also included setting an ambitious goal to increase ethnic diverse representation across leadership to 45% by 2030, and after two years, representation stands at 41%. The collective sense of responsibility that Louise has fostered has led to more than 80% of Diageo’s global workforce, and 95% of its leadership population, disclosing their ethnic background. This is believed to be one of the highest disclosure levels in a global company. 

Lauren Aste

Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer
CWT

As Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer at CWT, Lauren is a committed diversity, equity, and inclusion leader, guiding CWT’s Race & Ethnicity Employee Resource Group since its formation in 2022. She actively supports the group's efforts to create a more inclusive workplace by raising awareness and understanding of topics related to race and ethnicity and helping to break biases and inform policy changes within CWT. As executive sponsor of CWT’s anti-human trafficking task force, she advocates against human trafficking, particularly as it impacts communities of color. Moreover, as a signatory to the General Counsel for Diversity and Inclusion initiative, she seeks to increase diversity and inclusion both in CWT’s in-house legal team and in the law firms that CWT engages, including through mentoring. Beyond her role at CWT, Lauren is Board Chair of Childhood USA, a not-for-profit organization that combats violence against children.

Sinead Lynch

Senior Vice President, Low Carbon Fuels
Shell International

As the Senior Vice President at Shell, Sinead is a dedicated advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. As a senior ally for the LGBTQ+ and Black Employee Networks, past Executive Sponsor for the Enable Network and the Black Employee Network, promoting DEI is fundamental to her leadership style. Sinead participates in a reverse mentoring initiative with a professional of color and mentors a diverse group of employees. She has also spoken at conferences on DEI's critical role in driving performance and engagement in the workplace and led Executive awareness raising sessions, seeking to catalyst faster progress in this critical area. Previously, as UK Chair for Shell, she was a founding member of the Energy Leaders Coalition, driving greater DEI progress through joint initiatives and visible leadership. Sinead has been using her learnings to drive market progress beyond the UK.

Jennifer Stula Rivera

Global Head of Community Impact & Vice President, Moody’s Foundation
Moodys Corporation

Since 2008, Ms. Stula Rivera has held various roles within Moody’s CSR department and was appointed as Moody’s Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in 2021.  She lead the strategic re-imagining of a CSR framework that better reflected the values and interests of employees and aligns with the corporate mission, vision, and purpose. Prior to joining Moody’s, Ms. Stula Rivera was an educator at a residential substance abuse school for adolescent males aged 13-17 where she held various leadership roles, including a six-month term as interim school principal and member of the executive leadership team. Ms. Stula Rivera holds a Master of Science in Education and a Certification in School Counseling from Manhattan College. She is a two-time recipient of City & State Magazine's Responsible 100 Award and the Mahatma Award for Social Good, and was featured in Profile Magazine Q1 2019 segment "How Purposeful Programs Lead to Sound Profits.”

Paul Palicki

Executive Manager, Risk Technology
BNY Mellon

Beyond his role as Executive Manager, Risk Technology at BNY Mellon, Paul is a dedicated diversity, equity, and inclusion lead for Corporate Technology. With the Corporate Engineering team of 600 individuals, he successfully organized several events to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Women's History Month, and Black History Month. He continued his efforts and partnered with BNY Mellon's Corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team to develop a Black/Latino peer-to-peer mentoring program. Additionally, as a supporter of the Latinx community, he led a delegation at the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) Conference in Orlando, where he facilitated a Crypto discussion and recruited dozens of candidates, which contributed to increased Latinx representation at BNY Mellon.

Christine Palmer

Chief Risk Officer
Santander UK

Christine is the Chief Risk Officer at Santander UK and has been the Executive Committee Sponsor for the Santander UK Ethnicity@Work network since 2022. In this role, she celebrates the diverse cultures of colleagues. She also sponsors the Santander Black Talent Programme, which supports Black colleagues' progress within Santander. This program has been a success, with over 60% of the first cohort in 2022 promoted to new roles, leading to the decision to double the class of 2023. She also advocated for a reverse mentoring program for the Executive team and senior leaders to understand and learn from the lived experiences of black and diverse colleagues.

Judith Haupt

Managing Director
CONTRACT South Africa

Judith is the Managing Director of CONTRACT South Africa, strongly focusing on People and Organizational Development and on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. CONTRACT founded a trust in 2021, with the principal founders donating most of their shares, whose dividends go straight to disadvantaged individuals in the organization. Judith's team also underwent a transformation journey from 2020 to 2023, reflecting individually and collectively on their origin, heritage, and ways of engaging with each other in South Africa today. They formed a cross-functional "DEI community of practice" with fellow consultants and leaders who engage actively with the topic of transformation in their organization. Beyond CONTRACT, Judith supports schools in developing strategies, focusing on increasing diversity in their community. She is a Board member of Women for Afrika, where she has been involved in discussions around diversity and inclusion.

Nick Gliddon

Director, Vodafone Business UK
Vodafone Ltd

Nick is the Director of Business at Vodafone UK, where he is committed to fostering inclusion and diversity. As the sponsor and leader of Vodafone's Black Professional Network, he focuses on three areas: sponsoring the REACH program to ensure greater diversity and inclusion, promoting the Your Next Role program to encourage black professionals to apply for more senior roles within the company, and conducting market mapping in the technology and telecommunications industry to create a diverse range of non-traditional recruitment pools as he is passionate about enabling managers and candidates to be selected for potential as much as experience.

Emma Botfield

Managing Director UK&I - RS Group
RS Group

As the first female leader of the UK&I market in RS history, Emma is the Managing Director of UK&I at RS Group, leading the most diverse leadership team in the European Region. Emma also advocates for the internal employee lead group EMBRACE, where she promotes diversity and inclusion for ethnically diverse individuals by supporting and engaging with events that educate, inform and drive inclusivity. Under her leadership, there has been an increase in colleagues with ethnically diverse backgrounds at RS Group, and she has played a vital role in changing the approach to recruitment.

Ludovic Fenaux

Senior Vice President, International Commercial Operations and Global Marketing
Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Ludovic is a Senior Vice President at Vertex, where he initiated a reverse mentoring program and prioritized inclusion, diversity, and equity in his regular employee communications. Ludovic is also an Executive Sponsor of the Race at Work Charter and has launched programs to support the call to action, including 10,000 Black Interns and the Black Lawyers Mentoring Program in the UK. As an active member and ally of VIBE (Vertex Includes Boundless Ethnicities), IWILL (Inspiring Women in Leadership & Learning), and PRIDE, he champions more black talents and female leaders, advocates for unconscious bias training, and speaks up against racism. His firsthand experience with the disparity of creating equal opportunities across countries and cultures motivates him to find new paths to prioritize ID&E and foster a culture of inclusion across Vertex's geographies.

Laurie Myers

Director, ESG Strategy & Engagement
Merck & Co.

As Director of ESG Strategy & Engagement at Merck & Co., Laurie has led initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2021, she co-chaired the BEAM launch, facilitating open dialogue between Black employees and non-Black allies to increase active allyship. She is also a co-lead of allyship for LEAD  (League of Employees of African Descent), including the launch of an Ally Resource Center with 20 materials about racism. Her efforts have resulted in a highly successful inaugural webcast and increased comfort in conversations about race. Laurie often speaks at global town halls, sharing practical allyship tips and advocating for diversity. Besides the allyship work Laurie has initiated and led at Merck, she has sought opportunities (podcasts, conferences, publications) to give practical tips to people working in pharma and beyond on fostering active allyship, reducing health disparities, promoting patient empowerment through health literacy, and fostering diversity in clinical trials.

Sasha Mills

Executive Director of Financial Market Infrastructure
Bank of England

As Executive Director of Financial Market Infrastructure at the Bank of England and Executive Sponsor/Ally of the Bank of England Ethnic Minorities (BEEM) Taskforce, Sasha is dedicated to driving forward a range of actions and initiatives to help ensure the bank is progressing against its targets for ethnic representation at all levels. She has played a crucial role in supporting the progression of BAME colleagues, including building an inclusive leadership program, improving data to track BAME representation, increasing senior engagement through allyship and supporting BEEM events, and enhancing understanding of the BAME employee experience. Sasha also spearheaded a project to create a manager's toolkit for inclusive recruitment practices.