Top 100 Most Influential BAME Leaders in UK Tech

13 Nov 2019 01:59 PM

A fantastic list of influential leaders and roles models changing the landscape of the industry and enacting positive change #IB100.

Huge congratulations to all the techUK members and Talal Rajab, techUK’s Head of Cyber and National Security, and President Jacqueline de Rojas of techUK who have been announced as part of the #IB100 - a list of the top 100 most influential black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) leaders in the Tech Sector.

Now in its second year, the list has been produced by board appointments firm Inclusive Boards in partnership with the Financial Times. In 2018, Inclusive Boards research found that 74.5 per cent of Boards in the tech sector had no BAME members and that BAME people made up just 8.5 per cent of senior leaders (Directors and Executives) in the sector. The boardrooms of Britain’s leading companies currently do not reflect the ethnic diversity of either the UK or their key stakeholders that are critical to success of their businesses. Leadership has a role in changing this and, to do this, those leading this change need to be supported.

As part of their Inclusive Tech Alliance (ITA) campaign, Inclusive Boards is calling on tech companies to implement inclusive working practices to fix the progression challenges currently facing BAME individuals from moving to senior leadership positions. This year's #IB100 list showcases role models to encourage and inspire tech's future BAME senior leaders.

The future of tech will diverse talent to thrive - people from different backgrounds and experiences are key to innovate services that benefit everyone. To do this, the industry needs to think and look different to how it does today, which is why supporting #IB100 list is so important.

techUK members featured in the list include Mastercard, Accenture, BT Global, Google, IBM, Microsoft, HSBC, Fujitsu and FiveAI. You can find the full list of leaders here.