UK advertising leader tops ethnic minority executives list

The 2018 EMpower ethnic minority executives in the UK and north America were selected on the basis of their seniority and influence. These role models had to be high profile and to have worked to create an environment that brought the best out of black, Asian and minority ethnic employees.

It was important that nominees worked towards this goal above and beyond their day job, which made it hard for judges to consider diversity and inclusions professionals, however deserving.

Ethnic Minority executive

As UK country manager for WPP, Karen Blackett is responsible for the global advertising group’s second-largest market. Faced with the conglomerate’s possible break-up since the April departure of founder Sir Martin Sorrell, she is focused on “business as usual” but inclusion remains a priority: “More diverse companies are more successful and more profitable — fact,” says Ms Blackett. The most senior black woman in UK advertising has set up the UK Inclusion Board to improve diversity at WPP. In her five years as chief executive of MediaCom, the largest UK media agency she now chairs, the percentage of non-white staff rose from 11 to 20 per cent.

EMpower 100 ethnic minority leaders
Rank	Full Name	Company	Job Title
1	Karen Blackett	WPP and MediaCom	Country manager (WPP), chair (MediaCom)
2	Vanessa Kingori	Condé Nast	Publishing director, British Vogue
3	Anré Williams	American Express	Group president, global merchant and network services
4	Usha Prashar	Nationwide	Non executive director
5	Sanjay Bhandari	EY	Partner
6	Aleida Rios	BP	Head of upstream engineering
7	Michael Sneed	Johnson & Johnson	Worldwide VP global corporate affairs and chief communications officer
8	Tunji Akintokun	NSC	Global vice-president
9	Nneka Abulokwe	MicroMax Consulting	Founder
10	Ron Khalifa	Worldpay Group	Executive director
11	Sophie Chandauka	Morgan Stanley	Global chief operating officer, shared services and banking operations
12	Leena Nair	Unilever	Chief HR officer
13	Naren Patel	Primesight	chief executive
14	Funke Abimbola	Roche	General counsel and head of financial compliance
15	Sandra Federighi	Stella McCartney	Chief financial officer and business services director
16	Suzan Kereere	Visa	Head of Europe merchant sales and solutions
17	Jagdeep Rai	Barclays Bank	Director, head of corporate banking, Heathrow and SW London
18	Rupal Karia Fujitsu	Fujitsu	Head of UK & Ireland, public and private sector
19	Piers Linney	British Business Bank	Non executive director
20	Chika Aghadiuno	Aviva	Group risk strategy and analysis director
21	Shirine Khoury Haq	Lloyd’s of London	Chief operating officer
22	Elaine Rogers	Northern Trust	Senior VP global head of control for operations
23	Sarah Lee	Slaughter and May	Partner
24	Suresh Raj	Zeno Group	Managing director, global business development
25	Renee LaRoche-Morris	BNY Mellon	Managing director and chief operating officer, investment management
26	Albertha Charles	PwC	Partner
27	Andrew Pearce	Accenture	Managing director
28	Jacqueline Simmons	Bloomberg News	Executive editor
29	Miranda Brawn	Daiwa	Director of legal and transaction management
30	Dawood Gustave	Reluctantly Brave	Leader and imagination officer
31	Kalpana Shah	RiverStone	Managing agency chair
32	Mamadou-Abou Sarr	Northern Trust	SVP director of product development and sustainable investing
33	Paris Petgrave	We Love Work	Chief executive
34	Nazreen Visram	Barclays Bank	Head of citizenship, corporate banking
35	Patrick Vatel	BNY Mellon	Head of credit management for investment services
36	Anit Chandarana	Network Rail	Finance director, infrastructure projects
37	Bridget Lea	Telefónica/O2	Director of retail, online and omni-channel
38	Nathaniel Peat	Gennex Elite	Chief executive
39	Tom Shropshire	Linklaters	Partner, global head of US practice
40	Habib Motani	Clifford Chance	Partner
41	Kai Exos	Isobar	Co-chief executive officer and chief customer officer
42	Payal Vasudeva	Accenture	Human capital and diversity managing director
43	Madhavi Reddy	Fujitsu	MD and head of UK and Ireland presales
44	Sarah Nelson	Sainsbury’s	Group financial controller
45	Ajay Khindria	IBM	Strategic sales leader
46	Arlene Isaacs-Lowe	Moody’s	Global head of corporate social responsibility
47	Nilufer von Bismarck	Slaughter and May	Partner
48	Carey Mendes	BP	Regional business unit leader, global oil
49	Gerald Charles, Jr	Under Armour	VP, Global IT operations and strategy
50	Manroop Singh Khela	Santander	UK head of transformation and chief executiveoffice
51	Oliemata O'Donoghue	HSBC	Head of region
52	Bansi Nagji	McKesson Corporation	Executive vice-president, corporate strategy & business development
53	Amadou Diarra	Bristol-Myers Squibb	Vice-president, head of global policy, advocacy and government affairs
54	Christina Liciaga	HSBC UK	Head of customer service
55	Gautam Bhattacharyya	Reed Smith LLP	Partner
56	Nimisha PradeepKumar	Lloyds Banking Group	Finance change director, group finance
57	Rocki Howard	Resource Solutions	Client services director
58	Adizah Tejani	Token Inc	Director of marketing emea
59	Segun Osuntokun	Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner	Partner and board member
60	Elizabeth Yang	Law & Mediation Offices of Elizabeth Yang	Owner & founder
61	Heather P. Melville OBE CCMI	RBS	Head of business inclusion initiatives, commercial and private banking
62	Pritheeva Rasaratnam	Financial Conduct Authority	Head of pensions, insurance and retail distribution policy
63	April Crichlow	SAP Ariba	Head of global customer marketing
64	Jerome Hamilton	Open Therapeutics	CEO
65	Geoffrey Williams	Thomson Reuters	Director/Head of D&I Emea
66	Alison Walters	Financial Conduct Authority	Head of department
67	Anbreen Khan	Deloitte	Tax partner
68	Tom Ilube	Crossword Cybersecurity plc	CEO
69	Dorothy Burwell	Finsbury	Partner
70	Jatin Patel	TSB	Products director
71	Quentin Roach	Merck & Co., Inc.	Chief procurement officer and senior vice-president, GSMG, BD & GWES
72	Raoul Shah	Exposure	Founder & Joint chief executive
73	Roni Savage	Jomas Associates	Managing director
74	Rory Campbell	John Lewis Partnership	Partnership registrar
75	Amit Sharma	Fifth Third Bank	Chief European representative
76	Raphael Mokades	Rare Recruitment	Founder & managing-director
77	Sonia Sng	Intuit	Director, business operations
78	Vanessa Smith	SAP America	Regional vice-president, NA Strategic Customer Program
79	Rajesh Gupta	Sainsbury's bank	Head of trading — Argos Financial Services
80	Rob Mukherjee	Vodafone	Head of north-west regional business
81	Raj Tulsiani	Green Park	Chief executive & co-founder
82	Keith Bevans	Bain & Company	Global head of recruiting, partner
83	Ukonwa Ojo	Coty Inc.	Senior vice-president, COVERGIRL
84	Daniel Taylor	MDC Group	Founder/Chief executive
85	Ronel Lundall	Mastercard	Executive vice-president Vocalink Delivery
86	Raj Verma	Sodexo Global Corporate Services	Senior vice-president, Human Resources
87	Shawn Miles	Mastercard	Executive vice-resident, public policy
88	Rashik Parmar	IBM	IBM technical executive — Europe, IBM distinguished engineer
89	Yin Luo	Wolfe Research, LLC	Vice-chairman
90	Emeka Okwu	Renaissance Global Consulting	Managing-director/chief executive
91	Elsie Akinsanya	Citibank	Global head of human resources, treasury and trade solutions
92	Michelle Delices	Sodexo UK & I	Director business improvement and growth & corporate business partner
93	Mo Haghbin	Oppenheimer Funds	SVP head of product — Beta Solutions
94	Mark Mason	Citi	CFO, Institutional Clients Group
95	Geno Luchmun	Kaizen Reporting	General Counsel
96	Sanjeev Sharma	M&G Real Estate Limited	Chief operating officer
97	Colleen Wong	TechSixtyFour	Founder & chief executive
98	Mitul Shah	Deloitte	Partner & leader of UK reward consulting business
99	Perry Jones	Diageo North America	Senior vice-president, manufacturing & distillation, supply North America
100	Sarah Vawda	Vawda Associates	Managing-director

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