Raymond Braun

1
CEO and Founder
Inc|RWB Media

Raymond Braun is a media personality, social influencer and the Founder of RWB Media, Inc. He has been named a Forbes 30 Under 30 “All Star”, one of MTV’s “Social Stars to Watch in 2016,” one of the 100 most influential LGBT people in the world (OUT 100 by OUT magazine), iMedia’s top 25 Marketing Leaders and Innovators, Pride.com’s “67 Young Queer People Who Are Changing the World,” and Seventeen magazine’s “Fave Feel Good Message” of the year. In 2015, Raymond founded RWB Media, a consultancy focused on social media, politics, and LGBTQ engagement, which counts several Fortune 500 companies and leading global non-profits as clients, including Google, Inc. He is an active supporter and social media advocate for the Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project, GLAAD, and the Los Angeles LGBT Center, among others. One example of Raymond’s work in this space is that he consulted with the Human Rights Campaign on executing their viral #LoveWins campaign, culminating in the Supreme Court's marriage equality victory. #LoveWins was one of the top trending hashtags of 2015 and became the hashtag symbol for the marriage equality victory. Prior to starting his own company, Raymond worked at YouTube where he originated their LGBTQ marketing and community engagement strategy. In addition to his business leadership, Raymond has travelled the world to report on political and social movements, and to encourage young people to get involved with politics and LGBTQ advocacy. This included flying to Ireland to cover their marriage equality referendum and being on the ground at the United States Supreme Court, reporting on all the developments for the historic marriage equality case.

Simon Rodgers

2
Corporate Events Strategic Account Manager
Aviva

Simon is the Chair of Aviva Pride, and under his leadership the employee resource group has grown from strength to strength – now with over 1000 members across several well established local networks, while also now reaching global colleagues. To drive the UK and global expansion of Aviva Pride, Simon established a committee to deliver the Aviva Pride allies network. He is incredibly hands on, and personally attends the Pride events Aviva attends, as well as many Aviva hosted events across the UK, often speaking or hosting panels. He has also led and consulted on significant policy and process change in Aviva, including staff benefit policies and customer propositions. Simon has also managed the engagement with external parties such as Stonewall, National Student Pride, The Albert Kennedy Trust, and OUTstanding, ensuring active engagement between these third parties and Aviva colleagues. His strong belief in Aviva playing a role in working with and influencing the communities in which it operates, has led to the forming of strong relationships at a local and national level with other corporate, public sector, and charitable organisations. As a corporate events manager, Simon volunteers his knowledge, experience, and significant time at various pride events across the UK.

Aritha Wickramasinghe

3
Associate
K&L Gates LLP

Aritha joined K&L Gates in December 2014 and was immediately elected into the firm’s Diversity Committee and took on the role of LGBT Champion. He has worked on raising awareness of LGBT issues in the work place by assisting in organising workshops and talks on LGBT issues, dealing with LGBT bullying and harassment in the work place, discussing the issues of multiple identities (especially ethnic and religious) and mentoring junior LGBT associates. He also set up a Global LGBT Rights Pro bono network at work so that all of their 47 offices across the world can collaborate on LGBT rights related work on a global scale. In 2015, he helped found Think Equal - a UN Human Rights Office endorsed global education initiative and he has worked closely with the Human Dignity Trust in negotiating with the European Union to convince them to include decriminalisation of homosexuality as a condition for Sri Lanka to gain preferential trade access into the single market through the GSP+ scheme. In 2016, he became the founding Director of i-Probono’s LGBT Justice Initiative, connecting over 60,000 pro bono lawyers across the world to LGBT persons and organisations in need.

Mx Pips Bunce

4
Global head of GM Technology Core Engineering Integration Components
Credit Suisse

Along with her role as Head of GM Technology Core Engineering Integration Components, Pips is co-lead of the Credit Suisse LGBT and Ally network and the LGBT Ally Working group responsible for helping execute LGBT Ally related events, publications and communications to better promote the network and to foster a workplace environment that is open and inclusive for all regardless of their gender identity, gender expression or sexuality. As part of her diversity work, Pips regularly presents to large audiences both within the workplace and externally to articulate the importance of an ally program and highlight the importance of authenticity. Pips identifies as gender fluid spending half of her time as Phil and the other half as Pippa both at work and at home with her wife and children and works closely with Stonewall and OUTstanding, specifically on education around trans* and non-binary identities. She is an active collaborator with many other organisations, including the Trans*Formation group and Diversity Role Models and has produced articles and documentaries with leading organisations including the Financial Times and the BBC. Pips is highly active and visible outside the workplace being at the Vanguard of helping to promote a diverse and inclusive culture working to eradicate marginalisation and promote the importance of authenticity.

Dr Nick Deakin

5
Investment Banking Associate
Citi

As part of his role with Citi, Nick has created a new outreach programme, recognising that leadership and role models are required to boost the numbers of LGBT+ candidates feeling that a career in investment banking is for them. This included helping organise Citi’s first minority recruiting event, initiating a new outreach programme which connects bankers to individual LGBT+ applicants and publishing his profile internally and through the Inside & Out recruitment event. He has mentored several young bankers and connected them to seniors within and outside Citi, and chaired the ‘Out in Investment Banking’ workshop at ROMBA in Chicago. Externally, Nick is the Co-Chair of EurOUT, Europe’s largest LGBT+ student conference, where he has overseen a 120% increase in levels of sponsorship and employer attendance. He is also the Co-President of the London Business School Out In Business Club, sits on the LBS LGBT+ Scholarship Committee and is a trained Diversity Role Model.

Mark McBride-Wright

6
Senior Safety Engineer
KBR

Being listed at number 2 in the 2015 Future LGBT Leaders List has been invaluable for the advancement of InterEngineering, which Mark co-founded in December 2014. The aim is to connect, inform and empower LGBT engineers and allies, and under his leadership the network has grown to over 500 members. Within his employer he is leading on a global inclusion strategy for KBR and compiled the company's first Stonewall Workplace Equality Index submission. Upon the request from the House of Commons, co-authored with Alec Shelbrooke MP with a foreword from Lord Browne, Mark created the report “Engineering Action: Tackling Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia in Engineering”. The report received significant media coverage and was complemented with an event at the House of Commons in February 2016 where Mark presented the main findings. Going forward, Mark has ambitious plans and ideas for overhauling the image of the engineering industry. His work on inclusion led him to winning the Corporate Rising Star award at the 2016 British LGBT Awards.

Tamoor Ali

7
Corporate Finance Manager, BP Treasury
BP

Tamoor is an Executive member of BP Pride and BP Treasury’s representative for Diversity & Inclusion, and co-chaired BP Pride from 2012 – 2015 where he now mentors the current co-chairs. As a gay Pakistani Muslim, his efforts for Pride have focused on inclusion around multi-faceted identities (gender, ethnicity, sexuality, disability) as well as supporting LGBT people of faith. He represents BP on the OUTstanding future leaders working group, is a Trustee and Treasurer of “Diversity Role Models” charity focused on homophobic bullying in schools, is BP’s representative on the Stonewall global workplace committee focused to supporting local staff for multi-national companies and was named as the Stonewall role model of the year in 2015. He is also part of the InterEnergy executive committee working to support LGBT staff in the energy sector and has spoken at several panel events on LGBT and importance of inclusion.

Rica Paras

8
Technology Solution Planning Manager
Accenture

As the ASEAN LGBT Lead, Rica collaborates with different Inclusion and Diversity LGBT leads in Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. In her home country Philippines, they were able to implement LGBT gender-neutral restrooms and gender-neutral dress code policy in Accenture sites across the country. Accenture Philippines’ Friends Of Lesbians and Gays (FLAG) regularly participates in Metro Manila Gay Pride March. Last December 2015, Accenture Philippines launched a same sex partner beneficiary as one of the packages offered to employees, making them one of the first companies to do so in the Philippines. Rica currently serves as the Vice-Chairwoman of Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP), and is a National Spokesperson for Ang Ladlad Partylist, the only LGBT political organisation in Philippines. She regularly appears on Philippine TV to speak on the current situation and issues that affect the lives of LGBT Filipinos, and was the first and only transsexual woman who participated in Pinoy Big Brother.

Anthony Shop

9
Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer
Social Driver

Anthony founded Social Driver, a digital marketing agency, with his husband. In five years, they bootstrapped the Washington, D.C.-based company to a team of 40 people with clients around the world. Under Anthony's leadership, Social Driver has been named the 7th fastest growing marketing agency in the U.S. by Agency Post and as the Supplier of the Year by the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Anthony has been an advocate for LGBT workplace equality since founding the Out for Business group at The George Washington University School of Business, where he earned his MBA. He is now an adjunct faculty member at the university. Anthony uses his platform as a successful entrepreneur and frequent media contributor and public speaker to advocate that inclusion makes companies more competitive, professionals more confident and communities more connected. Anthony serves on NGLCC's certification committee and is a member of the Capital Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and the Mid-America Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Catherine Hennigan

10
Senior Analyst
Goldman Sachs

Catherine is a Senior Analyst in the Global Leadership & Diversity team where she acts as a strategic advisor to the LGBT Network and leads on LGBT projects such as maintaining the firm’s relationship with Stonewall. She has been pivotal in driving several new initiatives for the firm, such as flying the Trans flag outside the London office for the first time this year, and creating and delivering an innovative training session focused on challenging homophobic & transphobic bullying. She has also mentored several LGBT interns and new graduates, and has spoken at various LGBT recruitment events as an alumnus of the Stonewall Young Talent Programme. At 24 years old, she is the youngest ever Co-Chair of the Gay Women’s Network (GWN), and she is currently Vice Chairman of LGBT+ Conservatives.

Darren Beaumont

11
Technology Product Manager
Deutsche Bank

Dispelling stereotypes and normalising inclusion topics are Darren’s primary motivators – leading him to steer the Bank’s LGBT inclusion objectives since 2008. He’s led dbPride employee network subcommittees around engagement, events and recruitment and now focuses on global connectivity of the network. He currently mentors LGBT talent, reverse mentors senior leaders and blogs personal stories and challenges around being openly bisexual. In 2016 he led the Bank’s ‘Wear Purple’ IDAHOT initiative: doubling 2015’s participation with 6,500+ colleagues engaged globally - raising visibility of allies and LGBT inclusion. He has attended 5 international Out&Equal workplace equality conferences and ran a technology themed panel workshop at this year’s conference. Externally, he sits on OUTstanding’s LGBT Future Leaders working group and volunteers his technical skills to develop the online presence of local LGBT community assets.

Em Sendall

12
Manager, Consulting
Deloitte UK

Em is a manager in Deloitte’s Human Capital practice, and co-chair of their LGBT network (GLOBE). Since 2007 she has worked hard to make Deloitte a better place for LGBT people to work. She is a visible LGBT role model in the business, and manages a number of key network initiatives day-to-day. Recently, she has driven a programme of trans inclusion activities including policy development and associated HR/support framework establishment, arranged a series of senior leader dinners to provide a space for CXOs to discuss LGBT inclusion, supported the development of GLOBE communities in a number of Deloitte UK’s regional offices, and managed Deloitte’s EMEA sponsorship of global LGBT events. Em regularly speaks about D&I and LGBT inclusion at internal and external events, and provides informal mentoring and coaching to more junior LGBT colleagues. Externally she supports HRC, the Kaleidoscope Trust and Opening Doors London.

Rupert McCann

13
Director - Head of EMEA Prime Client On-boarding
Credit Suisse

Rupert is the Co-Chair of LGBT & Ally Network and Co-Founder of CS LGBT Ally Program, where he featured as the primary subject in the “Ally Video” which was distributed globally and formed part of CS’ ‘Dignity at Work’ training. He has actively worked with the D&I function to update LGBT* policies and he has worked with the Procurement team to update supplier diversity policies. In 2016 he launched the CS LGBT Ally Program in CS’ new Dublin Branch. As one of the younger Directors in CS he mentors Graduates and Interns as an ‘out’ and visible role model. Externally he is the longest standing of the Interbank LGBT Forum, a member of the OUTstanding Communications Committee, a Role Model with DRM and a member of its Advisory Panel and an active Stonewall supporter.

Helen Slinger

14
Senior Manager
PwC

Helen is the Chair of the Northern GLEE@PwC network which in it's first year grew from 11 to over 450 members. She has hosted a wide range of external facing events: business networking, personal development, LGBT matters and socials. Helen has introduced successful initiatives such as Lean In circles (based on Sheryl Sandberg’s foundation), mentoring and interview skills sessions with university LGBT Societies. Her leadership success has been recognised by both internal and external awards for GLEE@PwC North: PwC’s Exceptional People Experience Award; and the Sheffield Pride Award for Striving for Equality, awarded by Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. She also co-steers the national GLEE@PwC network and is a trustee of Diversity Role Models, a charity that works to combat homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools.

Jose Alberto Pino Andrade

15
Consumerism Value Chain Manager North Latin America
Dow Chemical Company

Jose Alberto started the LGBT+ and allies employee resource group (GLAD) at Dow in the Mexico City Office in 2012 with zero participants; today approximately 34% of employees participate. His main contributions to build a LGBT+ friendly office can be summarised in three main categories; Awareness, Empathy, Create a Culture of Inclusion and Team Building. Dow is a founding Member of Pride Connection, the first Mexican LGBT and Allies companies association and organised the first Human Rights Campaign Event outside the USA. Jose Alberto has been a speaker on several events talking about employee resource groups and their benefits as a business case and has done more than 20 Interviews and articles in Tier-1 newspapers such as El Universal, Milenio and Magazines such as Divers Magazine, Ambiente Plastico, Manufactura; to discuss LGBT rights in the workplace.

Krishna Omkar

16
Associate
Slaughter and May

When Krishna joined Slaughter and May in 2010, the LGBT network was dormant, and the firm was ranked 315 in the Stonewall index. Ever since taking the lead to organise the network’s very first event in January 2011, Krishna has worked hard to ensure the network’s development and success. Today PRISM is the most active and visible network, Stonewall ranks them at 132. He is developing joint initiatives with the Black and Minority Ethic network, mentors junior LGBT lawyers and students, and actively participates in recruitment events aimed at encouraging applications from LGBT, ethnic minority, and non-traditional background candidates. He is the firm’s key liaison with Interlaw and Stonewall and is a UK board member for GLAAD. He also supports the Terrence Higgins Trust, is a trustee of the charity Paintings in Hospitals and is working with Athlete Ally on an initiative to combat homophobia in football.

Marijn Pijnenburg

17
Global Business Development Executive
IBM

Marijn has been an active member of the IBM EAGLE LGBT network for over 12 years, organising events, initiating IBM's LGBT Business Forums throughout EMEA, and hosting LGBT leadership developments workshops. He has helped create a global reverse mentoring program on D&I including LGBT and has been reverse mentoring IBM managers for the last 8 years. He is a trusted advisor and has been working with over 50 multinationals on the diversity and LGBT topic. He is regularly speaking at conferences, webcasts, and panels, including Out&Equal, The Conference Board, Global Headquarters conference, LGBT@Work, European Diversity Conference, IE University Madrid, Leiden University. In the last 5 years he has mentored several C-level executives and over 20 LGBT people on their personal development and/or on the LGBT inclusion topic; helping them to either come out, or be better allies. Marijn is also on the board of Workplace Pride, and the OUTstanding membership committee.

Ramses Aldana

18
Manager, Accenture Management Consulting - Products Industry
Accenture Mexico

Ramsés leads Accenture’s LGBT Network in Mexico, where he has been instrumental in driving a significant cultural shift that has resulted in a supportive and inclusive workplace for LGBT people across the company and the country. He has significantly increased the level of awareness in Accenture Mexico through communication campaigns, awareness sessions, training (in the Mexican community but has also supporting same initiative with Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Costa Rica), social events and Ally campaigns. Externally, Ramsés co-founded Pride Connection Mexico, and has helped to expand Pride Connection to Colombia and Chile. He has served as speaker during the “Empowering LGBT” Congress, and has coordinated additional events at the Tolerance Museum with TEDx format participations and conferences. Ramsés has also been on ‘W Radio’ as part of Pride Connection Mexico’s Core Committee to speak about their first ever Pride Connection Summit, where Accenture’s CIO and other Top Executives participated and has been published by the local newspaper ‘Dinero en Imagen’ being referenced in the Mexican Corporate Market as an LGBT Leader.

Quentin Goodwin

19
Head of Commercial
SABMiller plc

Quentin created and chaired the LAGER network for three years. Continuing as a Stonewall diversity champion, he oversaw their first WEI submission and commissioned a policy review to ensure explicitly inclusive language. He ran a high-profile sponsorship including a float into the parade (a first for a global brewer), a VIP event and internal events aimed at getting all employees engaged in the network. He is now working with their Australian entity to set up a local LAGER network. He has managed sponsorship of Pride in London for three years, and spoken at a number of Pride events about sponsorship. He also sits on the OUTstanding events committee, and continues to ensure that SABMiller plays an active role in supporting OUTstanding.

Cory Valente, PhD

20
R&D Leader, Strategic Recruiting
The Dow Chemical Company

Since taking over as Global Leader for Dow’s LGBT & Allies network GLAD in January 2015, Cory has defined and implemented the network’s strategic priorities that have led to Dow’s leading voice on LGBT public policy, increased employee engagement and awareness on the business case for inclusion, a network rebranding to be more inclusive of transgender and bisexual employees, and continued network expansion in the US and around the world in Turkey, Canada, Spain, Colombia and Germany. Cory helped facilitate Dow’s signing on to the amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States of America in favour of Marriage Equality and the amicus brief supporting the Department of Justice’s case against House Bill 2 in North Carolina, in addition to robust social and print media campaigns on various state based equality issues. He works to ensure close collaboration of their team with NGO’s including the Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG, Out&Equal, and OUTstanding. He is also a founding member of the Delaware Valley Consortium for LGBT and Ally Scientists and Engineers.

Ali Hannon

21
Communications Manager
American Express

Ali was Chair of the ‘Pride UK’ Amex LGBTQ network for 18 months - during which they won Stonewall Network of the Year and The British LGBT Awards Network of the Year. They supported and consulted on the first global Trans Inclusion Policy for American Express and supported colleagues in Italy on how to best set up, run and drive engagement for a local market LGBT network. They have been a strategic partner and speaker to a number of external organisations including Stonewall, OUTstanding, Brighton & Hove City Council, Brighton University and Centre for Talent Innovation. Externally, they are a Ditch the Label Advisory Board Member and have mentored LGBTQ Brighton University students for 3 years. Ali also performs in a comedy improvisation group who appear in predominantly LGBTQ friendly events and venues.

Stuart Barette

22
CMB IT Infrastructure Streamlining Manager
HSBC

Stuart is the Trans* Lead for the HSBC Pride UK Network and Chair of the HSBC Pride Network in the Channel Islands. He hosts monthly transgender support calls for both HSBC and other financial companies globally, sharing best practices and actively supporting several trans people through their initial transition and mentoring other trans* employees. He worked with the global team to create a new HSBC transitioning policy and guides for Transgender people and their line managers, using research on best practices. Externally, he works with the Jersey LGBT Consultative Group, Liberate and Trans* Jersey and is an active supporter of Stonewall. He has spoken to church groups regarding LGBT issues and participated in studies relating to transgender people with autism to further research in this area.

James Davies

23
Head of Campaigns and International Markets, Marketing, Asia Pacific
HSBC

When James arrived at HSBC in Hong Kong from the UK it was clear that fostering a culture of LGBT acceptance and inclusion there first required increased LGBT visibility. One of his first initiatives was to lead a highly visible campaign called United by Diversity where they invited employees to take part in a photo shoot and then used the portraits create a film. The HSBC Hong Kong building was used to screen the film which was framed with rainbow lighting. The campaign brought recognition to HSBC in Asia as a leading LGBT employer from multiple external LGBT advocacy groups. James is the Co-Chair of HSBC Pride Asia and has worked with a great deal of organisations to increase visibility including Out Leadership, Community Business, Pink Dot and Interbank

Jean Luc-Vey

24
AVP / Innovation Manager
Deutsche Bank

Jean-Luc has been involved in LGBT equality at the workplace in Germany since 2000. He is one of the co-founders of db Pride, Deutsche Bank’s global LGBT employee network, in Germany and was part of its steering committee from 2001 to 2013. As part of this role, he initiated and oversaw several major projects, including the participation in Pride parades in Germany, a new internal straight-ally-programme and the bank’s participation in an LGBT recruiting fair. Personally, he coaches and mentors employees starting or developing LGBT networks and promotes LGBT equality at the workplace through the German non-profit organisation “PROUT AT WORK”, a group he co-founded in 2013 and on whose board he serves. He previously was a board member of a gay center in Frankfurt am Main and actively supported several LGBT organisations in the Frankfurt area. For the past four years, he has also given lectures on LGBT equality at the workplace in practice at the Business University of Vienna (Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien) twice a year.

Jessica de Kramer

25
Vice President, Senior Accounting Analyst, BNY Mellon Asset Servicing
BNY Mellon

Jessica has been actively involved in BNY Mellon’s PRISM Employee Resource Group for LGBTQA employees and became EMEA Co-chair in January 2016. Under her leadership, PRISM has been re-launched in multiple sites and a new chapter was opened in the company’s Wroclaw office. Being an out female leader has inspired Jessica to encourage other women across the company to become involved in the diversity and inclusion agenda. She has given presentations during several Town Hall meetings to emphasise the importance of being out in one’s professional life and how allies play an important role in this process. She has supported Gay Cannel Pride in Amsterdam and, in 2010, co-founded the Dutch Charity Committee of BNY Mellon and was the Chair for several years.

Kyle McQueen

26
Strategic Transformation Manager
Barclays

Kyle is currently a Co-founder and Co-Chair of Emerge, Barclays Early Career Network focusing on Millennials in the workplace. He has led Diversity training for Graduates and previously acted as the Spectrum Communications Lead, responsible for the UK’s regular communications to over 2000 members, senior leaders and key network sponsors of the LGBT network. Kyle speaks readily about his experiences as an openly gay man in the business on various panels, role models for other LGBT people and has co-written internal & external blogs. He also volunteers as a Befriender for Opening Doors London and is a mentee on the OUTstanding mentoring programme.

Rashanne Coke

27
Specialist, Banking & Research
Thomson Reuters

Rashanne has been an active member of Thomson Reuters’ Pride at Work network since starting at the firm as a graduate. Over the past two years, she has worked hard to provide an inclusive space for LGBT*+ colleagues by encouraging greater BAME participation and Bi* visibility, hosting global diversity and inclusion panel events with senior managers and pioneering the Bi* Engagement Project. Externally she is on the GW Network - Multicultural steering committee, is an active member of Stonewall Young Leaders Alumni Network and in June 2016, was featured in the inaugural issue of the University of Warwick LGBT* Role Model Guide.

Martin Liang

28
Business Services Quality Coordinator
Direct Line Group

Since taking on the role in the LGBT Diversity & Inclusion Committee in November 2013 Martin has taken the lead on various improvements within the Group, including a re-write of their Transitioning guidelines which offers guidance for team leaders managing a team member, as well as individuals at every stage of transitioning. He has grown the committee from four people to over 30 and has written/facilitated 29 company-wide publications to raise awareness, celebrate and increase visibility of the struggles faced by LGBT people. Externally, he is an active member of several LGBT focus groups which are often the first reach out from local closeted gay men and women where they can make friends and accelerate their understanding of what it means to be LGBT. He is also a member of the Gay Professional Network and a supporter of Stonewall and the Terrence Higgins Trust.

Emmeline Tang

29
EMEA Engineering Manager
Amazon Web Services

In her previous role at Arup, Emmeline was a committee member for the LGBT network from 2012 to 2015, raising awareness and driving advancements on LGBT matters internally and externally for the construction/engineering industry. She moved to Amazon Web Services in Dublin this year and is looking to grow a local LGBT network. She was a steering committee member of the Gay Women’s Network from 2011 to 2014 and the co-chair of the multicultural arm (GWN-M) in 2011 & 2012. When reading her MBA at London Business School, she was the Vice President of the Out in Business LGBT Network in 2014 – 2015 and led the organisation for EurOUT in 2014.

Niarchos Pombo

30
Head of Diversity & Inclusion - Latin America & Caribbean
SAP

Within one year, Niarchos expanded SAP’s LGBT employee network from 400 to 6,000 members contributing to a more inclusive environment for employees from more than 100 countries. He regularly coaches LGBT Leads from more than 15 countries, delivers LGBT enablement workshops and speaks at international conferences about the benefits of equality. Niarchos was the main driver for having representation of LGBT inclusive Images in SAP’s corporate image library. He was also responsible for enabling the writing of a chapter of a book about LGBT Inclusion, “Implementing LGBT-Diversity Management in a Global Company: The Case of SAP. Externally, he created and promoted several LGBT Inclusion Coalitions that bring together LGBT leaders from Latin American-based companies for regular best-practice sharing and regularly acts as an out spokesperson and support campaigns on the benefits of equality in the media.

Alessandro Commisso

31
Senior manager - global brand and digital
Lush Cosmetics

Alessandro is the spokesperson for Lush on diversity and LGBT issues. Lush is an equal opportunity employer, as well as an advocate for LGBT rights around the world. This year they have worked to improve LGBT inclusion globally; they invited all staff to take part in the pride in Seoul, South Korea, they won second place in the Be Proud Awards in the Czech republic, and in Ukraine their local CEO now explicitly supports LGBT rights through conferences and campaigning. Alessandro works to make sure that the topics of equality and diversity are part of the overall company agenda. Last summer AllOut and Lush run a global campaign (#GayIsOK) that raised over £250,000 for grassroots LGBT activists and more recently he partnered with CondividiLove to support civil unions in Italy.

Andrew Jakubowski

32
Associate
Oliver Wyman

Over three years, Andrew has developed and executed a globalisation plan for inclusive-culture building across 30+ offices, supported chapter establishment in 8+ offices worldwide, developed diversity- and bias-related trainings for recruiting and interviewing teams, launched an LGBT+ “buddy” mentorship program for candidates and hires, and championed for more collaborative work across all employee resource groups to ensure better support for colleagues sitting at the intersection of multiple identities. Despite being constrained by extensive travel for work, he has actively mentored LGBT+ high school and undergraduate students and attended several minority-focused development conferences like Out for Undergrad and JumpStart on an annual basis. He has also participated in the Out & Equal Workplace Summit for three years, serving as a presenter in 2016, and has supported LBGT+ fundraisers such as the NYC AIDS Walk and Ali Forney Center Charity Auction.

Dave Carlos

33
Senior Sustainability Communications Consultant
JLL

Dave is the co-chair of the LGBT network and over the last three years has become a very visible and vocal LGBT role model. He has used his expertise in sustainability communications to raise awareness of LGBT issues both internally and for the property sector as a whole. Dave led a number of programmes including working with 3 construction companies to tackle homophobia by getting over 600 workers to wear rainbow laces on site and also getting hundreds of JLL staff wearing a bright colour in support of IDAHOT. Dave speaks with senior leaders on how they as allies can set a positive example. He has also spoken to a number of teams about his personal journey while presenting the business case for LGBT inclusion. To influence the sector, Dave has led conversations with four clients to help them start LGBT networks, has spoken at Stonewall Workplace Conferences and the Facilities Management Conference on what building managers can do to help LGBT inclusivity, and has been quoted in the Independent and FT on his views. JLL held its first company awards last year and Dave won the Community Impact award for his work in diversity & inclusion.

Filipe Mota Da Silva

34
Business Development Executive - Energy and Commodities
Infosys

As part of his work at Infosys, an Indian technology company with around 200,000 employees globally, he deals with a different reality to that of most companies. It took him a while to be out at work but in the last few months, with the help of OUTstanding, he has been restarting a new committee for LGBT people in the company. He is one of the ambassadors supporting the roll-out of diverse initiatives to promote a more inclusive and diverse workplace. Additionally as part of his function as Secretary of Future Energy Leaders by World Energy Council, he supported the inclusion of a new Taskforce on the change needed on Human Capital in Energy industry presented this October at World Energy Council in Istanbul, which included a chapter on Diversity in Energy. He is also a supporter of OUTstanding and EurOUT, the leading LBGT recruitment conference in Europe, and is increasing his involvement on minorities and equal rights campaigns in the energy field.

Jens Audenaert

35
Vice President & General Manager, ADP Ventures
ADP

Jens serves as global Chair of ADP Pride, ADP’s LGBTQ & Allies business resource group. Since taking on this role two years ago, he has doubled overall membership each year, focusing on inclusion, global awareness with chapter launches in countries such as Brazil, India and the Philippines, and driving marketplace impact. Jens serves on the Leadership Council and co-leads the Generation Love initiative for God’s Love We Deliver, and serves on the Board of Visitors of Boston’s Fenway Health where he was the Founding Co-Chair of the Young Leaders Council. He also hosts the annual Case Competition for Reaching Out MBA and is currently engaged as a pro-bono strategic advisor to Reaching Out’s Board of Directors.

Scott Allardyce

36
Commercial, Privacy and Product Counsel
King

As head of the LGBT employee network at King, Scott helped to secure support for the company’s diversity agenda to promote and enhance King’s atmosphere of inclusivity and openness. This involved contributing to the King group's global diversity strategy and highlighting the LGBT view on a range of issues. He also organised King's attendance at Pride marches across Europe.Executing diversity workshops at company induction and annual conferences, as well as company-wide networking activities, has helped to improve LGBT visibility and make the workplace even more inclusive and LGBT friendly. He is a keen supporter of LGBT initiatives which seek to promote LGBT visibility outside of King: he supported King's involvement in the It Gets Better video campaign (which has been watched over 7,000 times) and the NoH8 campaign, as well as its work with an LGBT sports club in Barcelona.

Danielle de Sousa

37
Manager, Customer Success
LinkedIn

2 years ago Danielle became the co-chair of LinkedIn's LGBT ERG out@in Dublin, since then she has organised several social events, to raise awareness on LGBT issues and partnered with the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network Ireland as a speaker for their Spring Professional Networking Evening earlier this year. LinkedIn is partaking in GLEN’s Diversity Champions program since late 2015. Externally she co-founded InterTech Ireland and since January has been acting as Co-chair. They organise events for the Dublin Tech LGBT community that focus on one or more of three values: social impact, community development and social networking and have received national coverage.

Adrien & Pierre Gaubert

38
Co-founders
myGwork

Adrien and Pierre co-created and now run the myGwork platform where LGBT employees and candidates can not only network but also find employment opportunities within friendly organisations. myGwork is a tool for companies to get feedback from their staff and make sure their improve where they need to. Individual members can choose to become mentors and help their fellow G work members with career advice. They promote role models through personal stories in their blog section. Externally, they have been involved with l’Autre Cercle where they took part in conferences on diversity issues. They promote the work of international associations like Plural Peru or the Women Coalition of Hong Kong. They have also featured in articles in the general media about the importance of creating a strong LGBT community, including the Guardian and The Huffington Post. They support the P3 network and as alumni they mentor LGBT students from LSE and King's College. In 2015 they won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Attitude Award. They created a media partnership with Gay Star News to give more visibility to their corporate partners' profiles, events and role stories.

Barry Whyte

39
COO
Decoded

Barry joined Decoded as person number seven, giving him a phenomenal opportunity to help shape their recruiting practices and growth over the past 3.5 years. They now have a staff of 40 permanent plus 50 freelancers spread across 4 international offices. He set up an internal discussion group called "#diversity" where they share thoughts on diversity issues in tech, pitch for the occasional diversity client brief and run training programmes to encourage stronger interpersonal communication/awareness between everyone in the business. Externally, he Co-founded 'Series Q' in early 2016, is a member of EurOUT Conference Advisory Board, is the former president of 'Cluster Q', and often writes and speaks about LGBT issues on platforms such as the Huffington Post and the Reaching Out LGBT business conference.

Samuel Rensing

40
Consultant
Boston Consulting Group

Samuel set up the LGBT network for BCG Switzerland in 2013 and has since regularly organised events and activities for LGBT employees and allies, raising awareness for LGBT workplace issues in Switzerland. He further supports and coordinates LGBT activities across Germany, Switzerland & the UK and has co-organised several regional LGBT recruiting events. Moreover, he supported the setup of a Trans*-ally program within BCG and has played a key role in BCG joining Open for Business. Previously, he was chair of the last EurOUT conference and is currently an organising member of OutRight Action International's Young Professionals Engagement Committee in New York and a co-founder of the same network in London. He regularly volunteers at different LGBT support organizations, and was a speaker at ROMBA.

Daniel Docherty

41
Vice President | Business Support Manager, Global Corporate Services
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Daniel has been instrumental in helping to ensure that BofAML is a great place to work for LGBT people, and has tirelessly worked to raise awareness and champion LGBT issues. He is a co-founder of the bank’s Global Ally Programme and co-chair of BofAML’s EMEA LGBT Pride Employee Network. In this role, Daniel works with volunteers to ensure the network runs effectively and achieves its goal of building a truly diverse and inclusive environment. He acts as mentor and regularly partners with HR to assist with recruitment events and initiatives that help with staff attraction and retention. In 2015, he was instrumental in advising on the roll-out of the company’s transgender benefits that provide private medical cover for gender reassignment as part of BofAML’s UK benefits package. Externally, Daniel sits on the Interbank Council, recently joined the Radius Network Leaders Council and volunteers with the Albert Kennedy Trust.

Christina Riley

42
Senior Planner
Balfour Beatty

Christina is in her second year as Co-Chair of the Balfour Beatty LGBT network. She has written and run LGBT & Diversity Tool Box Talks to grass roots engineers, clients and sub-contractors, work for which they won the CECA Inspiring Change award. Externally, she is raising awareness of LGBT support networks and mental health in the workplace by doing the Deloitte Ride Across Britain, and she runs a global twitter feed called LGBT Construct, promoting LGBT diversity in the construction sector. She is also a Diversity Role Model, has been a key note speaker at the Stonewall Diversity in the Built Environment Conference and a guest speaker at the National Grid LGBT network. She is a transgender rep on the South Oxfordshire Scouts Executive Committee and has been in charity videos for an Oxford youth support group called My Normal.

Jill Pollock

43
Product & Privacy Counsel
King

Jill is an active member of King’s LGBT/ally network “RoyaLGBT” and works with the steering committee to combat bisexual invisibility, for example at King-sponsored Pride events in London and Berlin. She also acts as King’s representative at events promoting the interests of the bi community in the workplace. Externally she featured as one of the faces of Pride in London’s 2016 advertising campaign “No Filter” where she had a speaking role in a short film which ran online and in an out of home campaign, is an active member of “kuntinuum” a salon and networking group for queer-female and non-binary gendered individuals working in the creative industries and a participant in OUTstanding’s mentorship scheme.

James Pineda

44
Auditor
ExxonMobil

Soon after joining the company in 2012 James noted that ExxonMobil actively recruited at conferences for a variety of diversity groups but not for LGBTs. As a result he spearheaded ExxonMobil’s LGBT recruiting efforts by proposing to U.S. and global recruiting management that ExxonMobil recruit at Reaching Out MBA. He is a member of his PRIDE chapter’s leadership team and has held various positions, including programs coordinator, treasurer, and vice president. Externally, he is a supporter of Whitman-Walker Health and the Human Rights Campaign.

Dan Ricard

45
Consultant
PwC

Dan is one of the co-founders of GLEE@PwC and has been part of the leadership team since the network was launched. As part of this role, he has expanded the reach of GLEE outside of London, connected and supported GLEE@PwC networks in the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Germany, engaged senior Partners across the firm on how to use GLEE to engage with their clients and co-organised joint events with the Co-op, UBS or Transport For London sponsored by the business. He actively manages and maximises the firm's OUTstanding membership including representing PwC as Vice-Chair of the OUTstanding Events and Content Committee. Externally he established LGBT TNON which brings together LGBT network leaders across all sectors to share best practice about operating efficiently and effectively LGBT employee networks. He also supports several charities through fundraising and volunteering, including National AIDS Trust, Opening Doors London and Diversity Role Models.

James Allan

46
Head of Corporate Banking FX
Barclays

As co-chair of Barclays Spectrum, James leads on activity with colleagues, clients and communities. He is a role model and ambassador for LGBT leadership and has been nominated for a Business Diversity Award. He has been actively involved in Pride and has engaged with colleagues to promote their Allies programme. His main focus this year has been to undertake Corporate Mentoring with clients, to help them create their LGBT networks, and promote LGBT inclusion in their workplaces. He has also delivered an event with A&Out for AKT raising £30k for the Purple Door project, and lead team to deliver the Spectrum Gala Dinner raising £125k for THT. He is a regular speaker at LGBT content events, including Radius, who has invited him to join their Advisory Panel as a result.

Jason Eng

47
Engineering Team Lead
Bloomberg LP

As a member of the steering committee Jason has been one of the key contributors to the success of the Bloomberg LGBTA community. He has been involved in developing and expanding the community over the last 3 years, most recently active in initiatives that increase ally membership and engagement. Most notably, he spearheaded the PFLAG Straight 4 Equality training at Bloomberg, a screening of The Case Against 8, a panel on how to discuss LGBT topics with children, and a session on Gender Identity and Gender Policing. Externally he is an active volunteer with Heritage of Pride, he has mentored young adults from Hetrick-Martin Institute on job preparedness and participated in the White House LGBT Tech & Innovation Summit (2015) in effort to address the nation’s key social issues.

Mohsin Zaidi

48
Barrister
6 KBW College Hill

Mohsin has recently joined the bar's LGBT network and, as a former solicitor, hopes to help facilitate relationship building between the LGBT bar and city law firms legal by coordinating joint events; these networks play a vital role in making the workplace welcoming for LGBT people, especially in professions as traditional as the self-employed bar. Externally, he is General Counsel (Legal Director) for Pride in London and is currently working with London Business School to create a novel sustainability strategy for the entirely volunteer run organisation. In addition, he is in the process of setting up a national support group for the families of gay muslims, aiming to provide a safe space for muslim families to talk to each other and to experts in order to help remedy some of the heart ache and misunderstandings that stem from having a gay muslim relative.

Liam Rezende

49
Marketing Communications Manager
Andaz London Liverpool Street

Liam launched the UK Chapter of HyPride, Hyatt Hotels’ global LGBT employee resource network - the first and only chapter to be launched outside of North America. As co-chair he has liaised with the Regional Human Resource team and championed the review of the company’s on-boarding experience, employee training and HR policies that pertain to diversity and LGBT inclusion to all staff. He currently manages all relationships with LGBT charities and organisations, signed Hyatt Hotels up to Stonewall’s Global Diversity Champions programme and has initiated the work for Hyatt’s inclusion in their Workplace Equality Index. More recently, he organised the first fundraising charity dinner for the London Gay Men's Chorus to support their development and outreach programme and was featured in Attitude Magazine talking about growing up gay in Trinidad and Tobago, a country that still criminalises homosexuality.

Ben Cawley

50
Senior Account Manager
Standard Chartered Bank

Ben was appointed the UK LGBT+ & Allies Network Co Chair for Standard Chartered in January 2016, following a spate of inactivity for the network. As well as reinvigorating the network for its current members he has worked with a team of newly appointed committee members to reach beyond those who openly identify as LGBT+. This has included a Bank-wide Pride initiative where all employees were given rainbow coloured paraphernalia, organising the Bank’s first queer awareness / gender fluidity talk and a joint event with the Parents & Carers Network on Surrogacy & Adoption. Externally, he has contributed to the UN Human Rights corporate principles for tackling LGBT+ discrimination in Brussels and is enrolled on a volunteer mentorship program for young refugees and asylum seekers in the UK, where LGBT+ issues are hugely pertinent.