Racial bias remains a serious barrier to the success of many people from black and minority ethnic communities, as our special report shows. The UPstanding Leaders’ List highlights and ranks 100 executives in the US and UK who have reached senior roles in business while also fighting against discrimination and championing ethnic diversity and inclusion in the workplace and beyond. For the full report, go to www.ft.com/ethnic-diversity.

(Methodology at bottom of list.)

Ranking

1. Muhtar Kent
Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company

2. Manjit Wolstenholme
Chairman, Provident Financial

3. Albert Cheng
Chief operating officer, Amazon Studios

4. Tunji Akintokun
Director, commercial and partner organisations for Africa, Cisco

5. Ruby McGregor
CEO, Mitie Group

6. Minouche Shafik
Deputy governor, markets and banking, Bank of England

7. Ajay Banga
President and CEO, Mastercard

8. Stacy Brown-Philpot
CEO, TaskRabbit

9. Karen Blackett
Chairwoman, MediaCom UK

10. William F. Kornegay, Jr.
Senior vice-president, supply management, Hilton Worldwide

11. Ken Olisa
Chairman, Restoration Partners

12. Chris Carr
Executive vice-president, licensed stores US & Americas, Starbucks

13. Ime Archibong
Director, strategic partnerships, Facebook

14. Harish Sodha
Executive chairman, Diversity Travel

15. Torrence Boone
Vice-president, global agency sales and services, Google

16. Timothy Wilkins
Partner, Freshfields

17. Nathaniel Peat
Co-founder and CEO, Gennex

18. Hani Kablawi
Executive vice-president and CEO, EMEA asset servicing, BNY Mellon

19. Funke Abimbola
General counsel and company secretary, Roche UK

20. Leena Nair
Chief HR officer, Unilever

21. Shriti Vadera
Chairwoman, Santander UK

22. Tony Chanmugam
Group finance director, BT Group

23. Sophie Chandauka
Executive director and chief administrative officer, EMEA, Morgan Stanley

24. Paul Monekosso Cleal
Partner, PwC

25. Fama Francisco
President, global feminine care, Procter & Gamble

26. Netsai Mangwende
Head of finance business partnering, UK and Europe, AIG

27. Richard Mark
President, Ameren Illinois

28. Tom Shropshire
Partner and co-head operational intelligence group, Linklaters

29. Daryl Scales
Vice-president of finance for Europe, Enterprise Rent-A-Car

30. Sandie Okoro
General counsel, HSBC Global Asset Management

31. Dipan Shah
Partner, PwC

32. Kashif Zafar
Co-head of macro and co-head of distribution, Barclays Investment Bank

33. Byron Spruell
Vice-chairman, central region and Chicago managing principal, Deloitte

34. Shaheen Talia Sayed
Managing director, technology financial services, Accenture

35. Samir Pandiri
Executive vice-president and CEO, asset servicing, BNY Mellon

36. Nora Wu
Vice-chairwoman, global human capital leader, PwC

37. Nina Bhatia
Managing director, commercial and connected homes, Centrica

38. Andrew Pearce
Managing director, operations, Accenture

39. James Taylor
CEO healthcare, Sodexo UK & Ireland

40. Sara Mathew
Non-executive director, Shire

41. Suresh Raj
Managing director, global business development, Ogilvy PR

42. Vimi Grewal-Carr
Managing partner, innovation, Deloitte

43. Paula Boggs
Member board of directors, Avid Technology

44. Manik Jhangiani
Senior vice-president and chief financial officer, Coca-Cola Enterprises

45. Scott Taylor
Executive vice-president and general counsel, Symantec

46. Miranda Brawn
Director of legal and transaction management, Daiwa Capital Markets

47. Derica Rice
Executive vice-president of global services and chief financial officer, Eli Lily

48. Sanjay Bhandari
Partner, Ernst & Young

49. Ritu Mohanka-Vedhara
Pillar leader, workforce science, IBM Europe

50. Ron Kalifa
Vice-chairman, Worldpay

51. Amee Chande
Managing director, UK, Alibaba Group

52. Bridget Lea
General manager, Telefonica UK

53. Gary Elden
CEO, SThree

54. Jamere Jackson
Chief financial officer, Nielsen

55. Sarah Lee
Partner, dispute resolution, Slaughter and May

56. Rakesh Sharma
CEO, Ultra Electronics

57. Soumen Das
Managing director and chief financial officer, Capco

58. Daniel Wong
Senior managing director and head of Europe, Macquarie Group

59. Hesham Mekawi
Regional president, North Africa, BP

60. Michael Sherman
Partner and managing director, Boston Consulting Group

61. Morteza Mahjour
Group chief information officer, Lloyds Banking Group

62. Roselinde Torres
Senior partner and managing director, Boston Consulting Group

63. Rakesh Kapoor
CEO, Reckitt Benckiser

64. Tamara Franklin
Executive vice-president, digital, Scripps Networks Interactive

65. Ukonwa Ojo
Senior global director, Knorr masterbrand, Unilever

66. Linda Clement-Holmes
Chief information officer, Procter & Gamble

67. Yin Luo
Managing director and global head of quantitative strategy, Deutsche Bank

68. Harbhajan Brar
HR director, corporate services, Sodexo

69. Jatin Patel
Product director, TSB Bank

70. Fumbi Chima
Chief information officer, Burberry

71. Jonathan Mildenhall
Chief marketing officer, Airbnb

72. Kalpana Shah
Partner and chief actuary, Hiscox

73. Nilufer von Bismarck
Partner and head of equity capital markets, Slaughter and May

74. Orlando A Alvarez
Regional business leader for North America, gas & power, BP

75. Patricia Menendez-Cambo
Chair, global practice group, Greenberg Traurig

76. Shanika Amarasekara
General counsel, British Business Bank

77. Anit Chandarana
Finance director, infrastructure projects, Network Rail

78. Mo Haghbin
Director, global markets and investments, BlackRock

79. Sadiq Gillani
Senior vice-president, Lufthansa Group

80. Yogesh Sabnis
Vice-president, supply chain, Campbell Soup Company

81. Annette Byron
Partner, real estate, Freshfields

82. Dominic Mignon
Chief of staff, office of the CEO, Aon

83. Donna Herdsman
Director, Hewlett Packard

84. Lance Kawaguchi
Managing director and global sector head resources and energy group, HSBC

85. Pam Kaur
Group head of internal audit and group managing director, HSBC

86. Rajesh Gupta
General manager, home delivery experience, Home Retail Group

87. Syed Raza
Managing director, global banking and credit solutions group, Barclays

88. Trisch L Smith
Executive vice-president and managing director of diversity and inclusion, Edelman

89. Val McGary
Executive vice-president, sustainable process solutions, US Bank

90. Simon Dowson-Collins
General counsel, HarperCollins Publishers

91. Bansi Nagji
Executive vice-president, corporate strategy and business development, McKesson

92. Fenil Khiroya
HR director, UBS

93. Mia Mends
CEO, benefits & rewards services, US, Sodexo

94. Michael Lopez
Director, global inclusion and diversity, Alcoa Inc

95. Heather Melville
Director, strategic partnerships, Royal Bank of Scotland

96. Robert A Marchman
Executive vice-president, legal section of the market regulation department, Finra

97. Sonia Sng
Senior director, global data security and third party risk, Visa

98. Denny Tu
Head of strategy and planning, Sky

99. Dorothy Burwell
Partner and head of natural resources, Finsbury

100. Edson Hato
Vice-president, recruitment, AstraZeneca

Methodology

UPstanding was initiated by barrister Sophia Cannon and Suki Sandhu, chief executive of Audeliss, the executive search company, who is also behind the the OUTstanding list of LGBT leaders published in the FT in November.

The ranking of the top 100 Upstanding leaders was decided by a panel of eight judges from different ethnicities and industries. Each application was ranked against four equally weighted criteria:

1) Actions and impact of minority ethnic initiatives in the workplace

2) Actions and impact of minority ethnic initiatives outside of work

3) Achievements as a business leader

4) Influence, seniority and visibility within the workplace

We defined businesses as for-profit organisations without charity status and also included organisations that are significantly business facing — so, universities could not be included, but a business regulator could.

A key element that shaped the list was the requirement that nominees agree to their inclusion.

The judges were: Paul Polman, chief executive, Unilever; Nina Vaca, chairman and chief executive, Pinnacle Group; Ashok Vaswani, chief executive, Barclays UK; Linda Yueh, global economist, broadcaster and author; Vivian Hunt, managing partner, UK and Ireland, McKinsey; Carola Hoyos, editor, Executive Appointments and Non-Executive Directors Club, Financial Times; Ms Cannon and Mr Sandhu.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
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