The judging panel will come together to go through Top 10 submissions and decide on the winner. We have chosen a judging panel of business leaders who are invested in their workplace and also the wider LGBT community. The Judging Panel will judge business categories only. Celebrity and consumer categories will be brought before a public vote.
Categories are:
Individuals Categories
- Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ Life
Brand Categories
- Brand or Marketing Campaign
Business Categories
Exceptional Inclusion
Future Leader
Inspirational Leader
Business Ally
Diversity Hero
Network Group (ERG)
Inclusive Employer or Company
Please enquire if you would like to receive more information on judging criteria or the nomination process. The Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ Life category will return before a judging panel as well as Brand or Marketing Campaign, which has moved from a public vote to official judging.
Business Category Judges
Judging Panel
BARRY DAVIES
HEAD OF SUPPLY CHAIN – TESCO IRELAND
CHAIR OF OUT AT TESCO
Barry has worked at Tesco for 31 years. He started in stores in Wales, working his way through several senior management positions and stores before moving to London 22 years ago to join the Head Office operation in a number of operational and project management roles in Supply Chain. For the last three and half years has been Head of Supply Chain for Tesco Ireland.
He has been involved in Out At Tesco since its inception in 2005. In January 2019 Barry became Chair of the Network, which is one of the largest in Europe with over 3,000 members. 2019 was a huge year, with support for 43 Pride Events across the UK and Ireland, celebrating and supporting Pride with Tesco colleagues and customers in communities up and down the country.
His hobbies in his spare time (when he gets some) revolve mainly around travel and visiting different places around the world with his family and friends. He is also an avid theatre and cinema goer.
“Our Network is active year round to support an inclusive culture at Tesco where everyone’s welcome. These Awards celebrate all that is good in and around the LGBT+ community and I’m extremely proud to represent Tesco as a judge.”
BABAK ERFANI MBE
SENIOR SPONSOR, SIGNALLING & DIGITAL RAILWAY
NETWORK RAIL
Babak joined Network Rail in 2009, and has spent his career working on the development, design and construction of major infrastructure projects. He led the design and construction of part of London’s Crossrail network, before moving on to head up Network Rail’s major investment programme in signalling and digital railway projects across the South West of the UK.
In 2013 Babak established Archway, the company’s LGBT+ employee network. Over the past six years it’s grown to become the largest LGBT+ network in the rail industry and in 2017 it won the British LGBT Awards’ employee network award. Since 2016 it has hosted a major industry annual conference on LGBT+ inclusion, along with a huge variety of events all over Great Britain, along with a ground-breaking training programme for allies. This year it joined the umbrella group for LGBT+ employee networks in rail across Europe, developing international links and sharing best practice across the continent.
In 2017 Babak was awarded an MBE for his work at Archway in recognition of the support it has provided for LGBT+ colleagues throughout Britain’s railways.
JEN TIPPIN
CHIEF TRANSFORMATION OFFICER
NATWEST
Jen was appointed as the Chief Transformation Officer in August 2020 and is responsible for executing the strategy to create the very best customer experience as well as managing the Group’s investment portfolio and efficiency. Jen is the Executive Sponsor for ‘Rainbow’, the Group’s LGBTQ+ Employee led network.
Prior to joining the Group, Jen spent 15 years at Lloyds Banking Group in a variety of different roles including as Group Director, People and Productivity where she was a member of the Group Executive committee responsible for HR, efficiency, sourcing, supply chain management and property. Prior to that she was the Group Organisation Design and Cost Management Director, Group Customer Service Director and MD Business Banking serving over a million small business customers. before working in financial services, Jen worked in both the engineering and airlines sectors.
Jen is a non-executive director on the Board of Morgan Sindall Plc, a FTSE250 construction, housing, infrastructure and regeneration business. She joined the Council of City University, University of London in July 2020 and has sat on the boards of Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets and Kent Community NHS Foundation Trust.
Jen graduated from Oxford University and is mother to three children residing in Sevenoaks and London
Bobbi Pickard
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Consultant
UK & EMEA
Bobbi is a senior project manager and incredibly active in the transgender awareness space. As the award winning Co-Chair of BP Pride’s Transgender Group she has been instrumental in changing BP’s level of transgender awareness globally. In addition to founding the multi-company transgender collaboration “Trans in the City” she provides free consultancy and training for schools and organisations through Transknowledge.co.uk.
Bobbi started transitioning at the end of 2017 and came out at BP shortly afterwards – she identifies as transgender, her pronouns being She and Her.
Bobbi is the singer and bassist in a band and has two amazing children
AMIR KABEL
DIRECTOR OF DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
BURBERRY
An award-winning global leader and influencer in D&I, Amir has been listed in the global Top 50 Diversity Professionals List, Top 50 Most Influential Diversity Stars 2020 List, and won the prestigious ‘Head of Diversity’ Award at the European Diversity Awards 2017, for his commitment to and 12+ direct years of service in the field of D&I.
Taking a business-led approach to D&I, Amir’s diversity programs are considered pioneering and innovative. Amir has recently crated and led global strategies for Burberry, Adidas, Coty and Vodafone- working across the world to effect change and create sustainable award-winning diversity and talent programs.
Amir has also received the following accolades: Telegraph’s Top 50 LGBT Executives List 2015; Winner of ‘Corporate Rising Star’ at the British LGBT Awards 2015; and he was selected for the Young Leaders program for the U.S. Embassy (UK).
HARRY WALTON
SENIOR ANALYST, FUTURES CLEARING & CO-CHAIR OF PRIDE EMEA EMPLOYEE NETWORK GROUP & MACQUARIE
Harry is a Senior Analyst within the Futures Clearing Operations function, part of the Commodities and Global Markets division at Macquarie Group. He started at Macquarie 3 years ago after working for Sainsbury’s and British Airways, in the Specialised Asset Finance division managing Macquarie’s vehicle finance portfolio in the UK before relocating offices to London and the Futures Clearing Operations team 18 months ago. Since relocating, Harry stepped up from a Steering Committee Member to Co-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Employee Network group in the region, Pride EMEA to further his involvement in the Diversity and Inclusion agenda at Macquarie. Pride EMEA at Macquarie has been established for over 8 years, has reach to our entire EMEA staff contingent of 2500 and has collected many accolades in that time including being a Stonewall Highly Commended Network Group and is crucial in maintaining Macquarie’s position as a Stonewall Top 100 Employer for 5 years running.
EMMA SCOTT
IT STREAM LEAD, LGBT+ NETWORK CHAIR
NESTLE UK&I
Emma joined Nestle in 2013 through the Nestle Academy IT placement and graduate programmes. She has spent her career working across IT ranging from supporting global HR transformation programmes through to leading security risk management systems. In the past year she had led the Applications stream, joining the UK&I IT Leadership Team.
Emma is a Stonewall Young Leaders alumni and openly gay leader within the business. She co-founded the UK&I LGBT+ network in 2016 and is the current network chair. Emma has built a network from the ground up gaining sponsorship from the board to actively increase inclusivity for LGBT+ employees within the business and our communities. The network have made significant impact in the organisation over the past 3 years and have over 200 members within the UK&I and recognition globally within the Nestle group.
Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ Life
Judging Panel
ROBYN EXTON
HER, FOUNDER
Robyn is the CEO and founder of HER and the London Queer Fashion Show.
After starting a career in brand design and strategy, Robyn felt the huge lack of products and services for queer womxn and decided to do something about it. While living in London she created the first dating app designed and built for LGBTQ+ womxn – HER. The company has since grown to build products and experiences that connect queer womxn in the way that works best for them. Their app is home to 5million people in 113 countries, with dating and community connections, and their events run in 15 cities, hosting 50,000 people per year. HER has raised over $2.5million from leading Silicon Valley investors and has since relocated to be based in San Francisco.
While developing events for HER, Robyn saw the growth of queer fashion platforms and events and knew that London had one of the most unique and evocative fashion communities that needed to create its own queer fashion platform. The London Queer Fashion Show started to form, bringing together fashion leaders and community builders alike to create the world class event.
LQFS is now a platform to showcase London’s leading LGBTQ+ designers and community. With 10 designers, 120 models and 1000 attendees, LQFS is showing the fashion industry what true representation and inclusivity looks like.
Robyn is also on the board of Day 8 experiences, the owner of The Yacht Week and Ski Week, connecting people through travel and adventure tourism.
Sophie Cook
Former Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate, RAF veteran, writer, speaker, broadcaster, photographer, self harm and suicide survivor… and transgender
Dr Sophie Cook FRSA became the first transgender woman to work in football’s Premier League as club photographer for AFC Bournemouth following her transition from Steve to Sophie in the summer of 2015.
Europe’s first trans TV newscaster, Sophie has hosted her own TV and radio chat shows and is an experienced broadcaster.
In the 2017 General Election she contested the East Worthing & Shoreham seat, increasing the Labour vote by 114% and narrowly missing out on becoming the UK’s first trans MP.
Sophie is an in-demand public speaker, delivering keynote talks internationally including a TEDx Talk on change, fear, vulnerability, diversity, mental health and LGBT workshops for high profile organisations such as JP Morgan, Virgin Media, Asda and Stonewall.
With extensive experience of working with organisations of all sizes Sophie Cook provides out-sourced Mental Health and Diversity & Inclusion advice that helps businesses to work more effectively and be more cohesive through the power of shared experience and recognising the things that we have in common rather than those which divide us.
In 2019 as recognition of her work around mental health Sophie was awarded the title of Doctor of Letters honoris causa by Bournemouth University and invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2020.
Recently announced as the winner of the Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ Life Award at the 2020 British LGBT Awards Cook was also named as the 13th Most Influential Person in Brighton according to the Brighton Power 100.
Sophie’s autobiography ‘Not Today: How I Chose Life’ which charts her personal journey from despair to redemption and acts as a self help book for anyone struggling with their mental health and identity is out now. Sophie is currently writing her second book.
LUCY LONDON
LONDON QUEER FASHION SHOW
Lucy London is the Creative Director of the London Queer Fashion Show. Concept creating and managing all creative areas of the show and LQFS events. She selects Brands, Manages designers and creates the look and runs The London Queer Fashion Show. Lucy has a long standing career in the Fashion business, including event concept management and brand launch.
Lucy has been in the fashion industry for over twenty five years and started as a fashion designer. She sold her label to Harrods and started her creative brand management career. Working within Celebrity styling and fashion journalism and specialising in commercial retail and event space design has placed her in the position to lecture and mentor fashions future for over a decade at the moment successful fashion institute in the world.
Lucy writes and lectures a spectrum of specialised industry courses from access, degree and Industry Professional seminars for brands. Covering fashion design, branding, business of fashion and commercial retail VM, Lucy has educated thousands of people and global brands and develops courses for UAL, The London College of Fashion.
Fashion and lifestyle journalism has been an open reach with Marie Claire UK and Grazia Middle East Publications. Sharing insight to global design and lifestyle creates an additional platform to share and educate.
away from inspiring individuals professionally, Lucy and her wife, Stella, worked tirelessly on the UK Equal Marriage campaign with the home office.
Using her access to national and global publications to spread the vision of non-binary fashion and models. Lucy continues to campaign for global queer equality. Writing on inclusivity and visual gender fluidity within fashion has placed Lucy within the LGBTQIA+ fashion equality movement. Over twenty five years of industry experience has created and is shared through London Queer Fashion Show.
TIM SIGSWORTH
THE ALBERT KENNEDY TRUST
Tim is CEO of national LGBTQ+ youth homelessness charity akt and an activist and adviser on mental health and homelessness issues. He has campaigned worldwide for LGBTQ+ rights since 1988, receiving an MBE and Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts for his work. Since leaving a career in social work, Tim has worked in senior roles in the LGBTQ+ sector for over twenty years. He has pioneered innovative development work supporting some of the most disenfranchised LGBTQ+ people across the fields of mental health, homelessness, HIV, sexual health and substance misuse; delivering initiatives in challenging environments around the world.
Brand or Marketing Campaign
Judging Panel
MARK TITTLE
JUSTEAT
Use the times you’ve stopped, changed, altered, adapted — either to fit in or not stand out — as energy to drive change and be person the next generation looks back on… and says ‘thank you’ to.
CLAIRE ROWDEN
Claire Rowden (she/her) is a 22-year old, producer, poet and writer from London. She is currently a digital producer at MTV UK, working across their social platforms as well as interviewing musicians and movie stars for their digital content. She sits on the board for Viacom’s ERG group ‘Proud’ which work on making the business an LGBTQ+ inclusive and safe working environment. Last year she produced MTV UK’s Tik Tok series focusing on LGBTQ+ history and definitions, has attended LA Pride for coverage and to interview musicians who identify as part of the community, and recently hosted the first sapphic visibili-tea party for members of the community at Viacom.
PETER LEWIN
Peter Lewin is Senior Director of Global Direct-to-Consumer Strategy, Growth & Investment, and Global Loyalty Lead at Levi Strauss & Co. As sponsor of Unlabeled – Levi Strauss Europe’s LGBTQ+ and ally employee network – Peter has cultivated a close relationship between the business and Unlabeled to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in marketing, merchandising and the consumer experience. Peter is also a founding member of the European Diversity Council.
Previous roles included heading Strategy, AI & Insights for Levi Strauss Europe; serving as a member of the Technology Advantage Practice at Boston Consulting Group and a previous career in investment banking.
Outside of LS&Co., Peter is an Advisory Board member of the London-based LGBTQ+ business conference EurOUT. He has a BA from Columbia University in the City of New York, an MBA from London Business School and a certificate in luxury strategies from HEC Paris. Peter lives in London, United Kingdom
Please enquire if you would like to receive more information on judging criteria or the nomination process. The Outstanding Contribution to LGBT+ Life category will return before a judging panel as well as Brand or Marketing Campaign, which has moved from a public vote to official judging.