Meet the judges

Our esteemed panel of judges will meet to go through our Top 10 evidence submissions and deliberate on a winner for specific categories. We have collated various business leaders and diversity specialists for this task, and each member of the panel is heavily invested in ethnicity and the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic agenda, both in the workplace and the wider community. The Judging Panel only decides the winner for specific corporate categories. Celebrity and consumer categories are decided by the public – see our voting page for more information.

Talent is everywhere; opportunity is not.

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Charlene McIntosh

Macquarie

Charlene joined Macquarie in 2015 as part of the Market Operations team in London and since then, her career with the firm has moved her to Sydney, Australia before relocating back to London in 2020. Charlene is now the EMEA Commodities Operations Lead supporting the department in managing post trade services. She is also the Co-chair of the firm’s Fusion Employee Network Group. She has over 15 years’ experience in Operations. Charlene is passionate about upskilling people, improving processes, and is committed to helping create an inclusive and dynamic work environment that empowers staff to be their best selves.

Tolu Falade

BP

Tolu has 10 years of experience in the energy industry and is making a significant contribution to ethnicity inclusion at work as a Top 10 Empower Future Leader and most recent award winner of the “Workplace Hero” award. As leader of bp’s Positively Ethnic Network (PEN), he has grown the network to over 1000 members, partnering with senior leaders towards progressing bp’s ethnicity commitments in the UK. Tolu also chairs the AFBE Ethnic Leaders Network, creating a forum for adopting best practices in engineering. He is passionate about empowering the younger generation to pursue a career in the energy industry.

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Ranjit Blythe

Cadent Gas

Ranjit is an experienced professional with expertise in developing strong brands and transforming marketing and communications teams in regulated industries. She has successfully restored company reputations, led crisis response, improved brand alignment, improved digital engagement, and stakeholder trust through targeted campaigns. Ranjit has implemented successful customer engagement strategies and has a passion for ED&I, wellbeing, and employee experience. Currently, she is the Managing Director of the Cadent Foundation, working to establish it as a force for good in society. She is also involved as an Executive Sponsor for ED&I and serves as a Trustee with CV Life, Coventry.

Geoffrey Williams.

Burberry

Geoffrey joined Burberry as the Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in April 2022. As part of his role, he is driving the next phase of Burberry’s DE&I strategy, which is focused on valuing and embracing differences, and creating an environment where everyone feels they belong, have a voice and can reach their full potential.

 

Prior to joining Burberry, Geoffrey worked in the entertainment industry with artists signed to Def Jam and DreamWorks Records, before moving into roles within healthcare, transport and media. Occupying a range of roles within Human Resources and People functions, Geoffrey’s holistic experience led him to become the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Thomson Reuters and then Dr Martins. In 2018, Geoffrey was recognised by The Financial Times Top 100 Ethnic Minority Role Models list and then by The Global Diversity List in 2020 – which also includes VP Kamala Harris and Jacinda Ahern amongst others.

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Ramona Williams

Amazon

Ramona Williams, Amazon logistics UK&IE’s DEI Change Manager, drives the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy for a 12,000-strong workforce. Simultaneously, as President of the Black Employee Network (BEN) UK Operations ERG, she and her board team support around 400 members. Boasting 14 years in HR and a Human Resource Management degree, Ramona’s experience spans Leisure, Retail, and Banking industries. Her journey with Amazon commenced in 2016 as an HR Advisor. Fearless in her approach, her life motto—’What’s the worst that can happen? They can only say ‘no”—exemplifies her boundary-pushing spirit, positioning her as a catalyst for transformative change.

Sandy Sahota

HSBC

Sandy is a Senior Global Manager at HSBC working within the Wealth Management business.  She has over 20 years’ experience of working within financial services leading teams in Wealth management, Mortgages and the Retail Network. Over the past 4 years Sandy has worked for the global team which has given her a perspective on how people in different countries focus on inclusion.  Sandy is also co-Chair for UK Embrace, HSBC’s ethnicity ERG / employee network.

Sandy’s involvement in inclusion extends beyond the workplace as she is a Non-Executive Director on the board of Thera East, a charitable organisation that supports people with learning disabilities get back into the community.  This is a topic close to Sandy as she has two brothers with learning difficulties and has experienced first-hand the challenges that families can face in this space.  Sandy is also a Co-opted Governor at St Albans Girls School, where she supports the schools on matters around DE&I.

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Jacquline Alcindor

Legal & General Investment Management

Jacquline is an Equity, Inclusion and Diversity specialist and her current position is Global Diversity & Inclusion Programme Partner at Legal & General Investment Managers. Her role and remit include creating global strategic DEI plans, goals and programmes aligned to LGIM business priorities.

Jacquline currently works with a variety of internal and external stakeholders such as Talent, Acquisition, Distribution, Communications, Employee Networks, HR Business leadership teams and LGIM Executive leaders as well as external partners to ensure that all activities are aligned to delivering the LGIM D&I agenda.

Samantha Owo

Lloyds Banking Group

Sam is Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Lloyds Banking Group, the first FTSE company to establish a gender target to improve the representation of women in senior positions and again the first to make a commitment to increase representation of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic colleagues in senior positions to reflect the society we serve.

Sam’s experience in financial services spans over two decades in Human Resources, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Learning & Development, developing and implementing strategies, enhancing leaders, their teams and organisational culture.

Sam is a board member on the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter, a Non-Executive Director on the board of Ideal for All (a user-led registered charity for disabled and disadvantaged people) and Chair of Governors at Meadow Primary School, she is passionate about equitable practices and opportunities for all.

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Rodney Williams

National Grid 

Rodney Williams is a Senior Manager in the Office of the CEO and the former chair of ‘ONE’, National Grid’s multicultural employee resource group. As Chair, he relaunched the network, boosting membership by 95% and nurturing new programs such as the successful reverse mentoring scheme. Rodney also co-founded the ‘Development Programme for Diverse Leaders,’ a company-first course designed to accelerate and support BAME employees to positions of management.

Rodney was ranked number 2 in the EMpower and Yahoo Finance Top 100 Ethnic Minority Future Leader Role Models list 2020.

Rodney is an experienced speaker on inclusion in the workplace, having spoken at Gastech conferences in Texas and Barcelona, and Business in the Community events. Outside of work, Rodney is a trustee for City Year UK, a youth social action charity.

Prash Mehta

BT 

Prash is the Deputy Co-Chair of BT’s Ethnic Diversity Network, made up of 2500 members within the BT Group around the globe and focusing on matters relating to inclusion, equality and fairness. Prash is Legal Director – Transformation and Special Projects at BT. He has specialised in technology related matters and crisis management. He has led teams to support BT and EE with rolling out their new 5G network, prepare BT’s response to any changes from Brexit and support the R&D division to design and create new and cutting-edge technology. Prash has been at BT for 6 years, having joined from EY where he was Associate Director, Legal Technology. Prash has also worked for the BBC, supporting their iPlayer strategy and dealing with legal issues relating to technology and the delivery of the Olympics on all BBC platforms. Prash trained as a lawyer with Stephenson Harwood in 2010 and has worked in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and India.

Outside of work, Prash is the Chair of Governors at his old primary school in Ealing. He also enjoys running, cooking, listening to jazz and keeping up to date on current affairs.

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Our esteemed panel of judges will meet to go through our Top 10 evidence submissions and deliberate on a winner for specific categories. We have collated various business leaders for this task, and each member of the panel is heavily invested in ethnicity and the BAME agenda, both in the workplace and the wider community. The Judging Panel only decides the winner for specific corporate categories. Celebrity and consumer categories are decided by the public – see our “Vote” page for more information.