Sponsored by
In alphabetical order
This award will be given to a person who works within the diversity, inclusion and/or HR sector. The winner of this award will go above and beyond, in the workplace and the wider community, to ensure the initiatives they implement or oversee create lasting change. Employees and colleagues should be feel that their work in this area is more than a tick-box exercise.
Alessandro Storer
OVO
After obtaining a BA in Law and an MA in International Relations, Storer started his career as a trainee diplomat in Jerusalem. He soon realised he cared too much about people and fairness to play politics, so he moved to Brussels to manage EU-funded human rights projects. In 2012, Storer moved to London and specialised in workplace equality, diversity, inclusion and culture change: initially working in the charity and legal sectors, until 2020, when he found his green home at OVO. Storer made it his mission to create inclusive spaces where everyone can truly belong.
Christopher Kenna
Brand Advance
Kenna is Chairman and Founder of Brand Advance Group // CEO (North America), which encompasses Brand Advance Group Europe and BA Diversity Media USA, a Startups.co.uk top 100 company for the last three years (2021). He connects brands with diverse audiences globally, through Insights, Media and Creative. Brand Advance Group was named Campaign 2021 – Media Business of the Year and The Drum’s Diversity & Inclusion Company of the Year 2021. Kenna is a director and US country lead at the UK Conscious Advertising Network (CAN). As a mixed race, out gay father, he is a strong advocate for diversity and representationswithin media and advertising. He is also on the advisory boards for ITV, WFA, TikTok, the Met Police and the V&A.
Colette Comerford
DLA Piper
Comerford joined DLA Piper in 2021, where she is responsible for driving the D&I strategy across the international firm. She works closely with the executive team, the D&I Council, EMEA and Asia Pac Steering Groups. She is a member of the APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) for governance and inclusive leadership, which is designed to help link up the government and businesses. Comerford is also Lead Role Model Ambassador for LGBT Great – a global membership organisation specialist in developing LGBT+ diversity and inclusion – and was named a Top 10 Champion Ally in the Investing in Ethnicity Awards 2018 and 2020.
Ellis Cook
Channel 4
Cook joined Channel 4 in 2019 and has since established herself as an influential member in the equity and inclusion team. Starting in the commercial team, Cook quickly became the first assistant to chair 4Pride, achieving notable progress with the channel’s first Lesbian Visibility Week event, the introduction of pronoun badges and contributing to Channel 4’s Proud All Over campaign highlighting Prides in all parts of the UK. In her current role she continues to champion LGBTQIA+ rights and the benefits of allyship including arranging Channel 4’s first ever Pride march in Leeds in 2022.
George Constantinou
The Walt Disney Company
Constantinou is a British Cypriot individual who acts as DE&I Senior Advisor, previously co-chair of the Disney Pride UK&I Business Employee Resource Group (BERG). He continues to advocate for all facets of diversity at Disney worldwide, including, but not limited to, women, disability, neurodiversity, ethnicity, religion, mental health, wellbeing and LGBT+ issues. He has amplified and developed LGBT+ advocacy across multiple countries in EMEA by partnering with brilliant local market individuals.
Hayley Creighton
National Grid
Creighton followed her passion for DE&I in 2021, moving from a career in technology. It isn’t “just a job” to her, but a fundamental part of her core values. In her job, she’s responsible for changing the direction on DE&I in notoriously difficult areas and challenging leadership to think differently about inclusion. Creighton strives to be the LGBTQ+ role model she never had growing up, representing the queer and gender-fluid community. She sits on the Board of Trustees for Coventry Rape & Sexual Abuse Centre and brings her DEI skillset, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Kushal Khandhar
Boston Consulting Group
Khandhar is Global Pride@BCG Director, responsible for driving BCG’s global LGBT+ DE&I work. He was appointed to this role after six years of working as a client-servicing management consultant during which he also led the Pride@BCG network in India. He has led numerous projects on LGBTQ+ topics across the world and is especially passionate about helping navigate DEI in countries with challenging social contexts. Khandhar has co-authored thought leadership reports, engaged with company leaders, collaborated with NGOs and talked to government representatives and diplomatic embassies to further the conversation on LGBTQ+ DE&I. Outside of work, he has published LGBT+-themed fiction in Hindi and Urdu.
Scarlet-Marie Morgan
Allianz
Morgan is known within the insurance industry and beyond as an ambassador for transgender individuals and a powerful advocate for LGBT+ equality and trans rights. As a proud transgender woman, Morgan lives and breathes the change we all desire and, by sharing her story, she has inspired others to truly embrace their most authentic selves. She works tirelessly to empower the LGBT+ community, unselfishly giving and sacrificing her privacy to educate and support others on their own journey while aiding companies to create diverse and inclusive workspaces and acknowledge all individuals who identify as part of the LGBT+ family.
Sionice-Louise Phillips
Barclays
Phillips has been heavily involved in improving the experience of transgender colleagues and customers of Barclays through her work on multiple projects over the last 14 years. After being named as Barclays first ever trans bank manager, she has been a passionate and visible role model for raising awareness in the business, holding more than 35 individual and group awareness sessions in 2022 alone. Phillips has featured as the face of several Pride and social media campaigns for Barclays, has driven the use of pronouns and speaks regularly, both internally and with external companies, to help raise awareness of transgender lives.
Skye Morden
West Midlands Police
Morden is a highly decorated police officer with more than 22 years of service. She is passionate about diversity, equality and driving positive cultural change. A policing regional network trans lead, she is a renowned public sector speaker who is looking to educate and show that trans and LGBTQI+ people are simply human. Morden is driven to be visible; to show the trans, intersex and non-binary communities that they are heard and have representation within the police. Since coming out she has faced a barrage of hate, abuse and anger from the public, the media and social media for simply trying to be true to herself.
