Baroness Prashar Honoured with Diversity Champion Award
The Right Honourable Baroness Usha Prashar of Runnymede, CBE, PC, was celebrated last night (14 November 2024) with the prestigious Diversity Champion Award by the equality and inclusion charity, Diversity UK, for her trailblazing contributions to equality. A lifelong advocate for social change, Baroness Prashar has dedicated her career to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion across numerous public and voluntary organisations. Her efforts have integrated diversity principles into the mainstream, transforming policies and practices across sectors.
Appointed as a crossbench peer in 1999, Baroness Prashar has served on multiple Select Committees in the House of Lords, with expertise spanning criminal justice, constitutional affairs, education, and social policy. Her profound understanding of public policy has been pivotal in her leadership of several notable organisations, including the Runnymede Trust, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Parole Board, Civil Service Commission, Judicial Appointments Commission, National Literacy Trust, and the Royal Commonwealth Society. Additionally, she served as Deputy Chair of the British Council for six years and contributed to the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice as well as the Iraq (Chilcot) Inquiry.
Presenting the award, Ramesh Vala CBE, Deputy Chair of Diversity UK, said: “Baroness Prashar is recognised for championing diversity and inclusion for over 50 years and exemplifies the gold standard in championing equity across organisations. Her unique blend of practical experience, oversight, and knowledge has driven transformative change for communities across the UK. I congratulate her on her impressive legacy and look forward to the further contributions she will make to under-represented groups in Britain.”
Lopa Patel MBE, Chair of Diversity UK, added: “Baroness Prashar has provided invaluable guidance since the early days of Diversity UK, demonstrating unwavering support and commitment to our mission. Her enthusiasm and support for our young changemakers have been a beacon of inspiration. On a personal note, I am grateful for the insights she has shared with me, which have been instrumental in our journey towards lasting progress in equality and inclusion.”
Baroness Prashar is the twelfth recipient of Diversity UK’s Diversity Champion Award, an honour presented at the Diversity UK Changemakers Dinner on 14 November 2024, celebrating supporters and partners committed to driving social change in the UK. Click here to read more about the Diversity Champion Award.
About The Right Honourable the Baroness Usha Prashar of Runnymede, CBE, PC
The Right Honourable the Baroness Usha Prashar of Runnymede, CBE, PC, is an independent member of the House of Lords. She has led and chaired a number of public and voluntary organisations with distinction. She has also served as non executive director of private sector organisations.
She started her career working in race-related organisations. Through this work she realised that to make diversity and inclusion an integral part of organisations she needed to work within mainstream organisations to change policies and practices. She successfully transitioned to mainstream organisations but never lost sight of the objective of making diversity and inclusion a reality. This experience has given her unique insights into effective approaches to bring about relevant organisational change to achieve diversity and inclusion. She has vast experience of how to develop constructive strategies and actions to promote diversity and inclusion.
In the House of Lords she has served on several Select Committees. Her expertise is criminal justice, constitutional issues, education and social policy. She has a deep understanding of public policy. The organisations she has led as Chief Executive or chaired include: Runnymede Trust, National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Parole Board, Civil Service Commission, Judicial Appointments Commission, National Literacy Trust, Royal Commonwealth Society among others. For six years she was Deputy Chair of the British Council. She also served as a member of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice and the Iraq ( Chilcot) Inquiry.
Until recently she was Chair of Cumberland Lodge, an educational charity, trustee of Beacon Collaborative, Nationwide Foundation and inaugural Chair of UK Council of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry( FICCI ). Currently she is a member of the Advisory Board of IE University in Spain and Humanities Advisory Board of Royal Holloway University. She is Fellow of Salzburg Global Seminar, Royal Society of Arts and Goldsmiths College.
She is recipient of several awards and has been awarded honorary degrees by nine universities. She was born in Kenya and came to the UK to study. She did her first degree at University of Leeds and her postgraduate at University of Glasgow.
* Changemaker describes a person who is transforming the world for the better. Other words for changemaker include: Innovator. Entrepreneur. Intrapreneur. Change agent.
