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.