Top 100 BAME Leaders in Business 2016
Raj Tulsiani of executive search firm Green Park, and Trevor Phillips OBE, launched the Top 100 Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Leaders in Business list at the House of Lords on 26th April 2016. The objective is to counter the belief among employers that there is insufficient BAME talent available. Trevor Phillips OBE, a member of the judging panel, says: “We know that many business leaders say they’d like to attract a more diverse range of recruits for senior roles, but that they can’t find worthy candidates. We’d like to make their life easier, and we really hope that this list will put an end to that particular obstacle.” Baroness Shreeti Vadera, Chair of Santander, topped the list with Shanika Amarasekera, General Counsel at the British Business Bank at no 2. The top 5 comprised all women.
Raj Tulsiani, CEO of Green Park, said “The best teams come together and they think differently, so the best companies are those that can give themselves a choice of the usual and the unusual suspects.”
He continued: “Boards are more demanding now, they want more experience, more qualifications - we think that’s a great thing, no one should complain about increased corporate governance - but the problem is too many of the decision makers say that there aren’t enough people of colour who make the cut, whether that’s corporates or headhunters.
“The talent is out there, we decided to prove it. But the next step is for corporates to make themselves relevant to that talent, so that they actually vote and engage with those corporates and help them deliver the promises that their Boards have made.”
The independent judging panel consisting of Raj Tulsiani, Baroness Janet Royall, Baroness Oona King, Lord Victor Adebowale and Lord Chris Holmes has identified over 650 Board ready ethnic minority leaders based on their professional achievements and contributions in trying to address diversity deficits with top 100 presented in the 2016 list - click here to read more.
