Meet Our Judges

Andy Walker is the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Manager for Ardonagh Advisory. He has worked within the DEI space for four years across Retail and Financial Services industries. He has a proven track record of embedding DEI strategies to drive meaningful change, specialising in the collection of diversity data and establishing award-winning Employee Resource Groups. He has led European-wide network groups, giving strategic direction to thousands of members, and is the co-founder of the Insurance X-Change Group.

Aneeka is a passionate advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), with extensive experience in creating inclusive cultures and embedding EDI into organisational strategies. With a background in HR, culture, and mental health, Aneeka has led initiatives to promote belonging and improve workplace wellbeing.

Tomi Laguda is a seasoned spoken word artist and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) professional with extensive experience in diversifying the built environment industry. In their current role as Membership DEI Manager at a global institution with over 135,000 members, Tomi is responsible, alongside the DEI team, for embedding DEI across various regions worldwide. This role showcases their capability to lead large-scale DEI initiatives and drive meaningful change on a global scale. 

Yasmine is a multi-award winning professional, recognised for being a Culture Pioneer of Leadership, a Top 100 Future Leader, and Learning Professional of the Year. She has a wealth of experience driving company-wide DEI learning programmes across global organisations, has been a key speaker on panel discussions about DEI topics, and has hosted webinars at DEI summits on a topic she is incredibly passionate about: How we move Diversity and Inclusion strategies beyond a tickbox exercise.

David is an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) professional with over 15 years of experience leading ED&I initiatives in addition to a long career in community engagement, customer relations and project management. Currently working in professional services, David has also held professional roles in the global energy sector as well as UK occupational health care that provides him with a unique understanding and knowledge around the challenges businesses face.

With over 25 years at TUI Group, Neil leads global initiatives in Talent, DEI and Wellbeing, driving a people-first culture across the organisation. As Global Head of Talent, DEI & Wellbeing, Neil is focused on fostering inclusion, developing talent, and enhancing employee wellbeing to ensure TUI remains a leading employer. Passionate about creating supportive work environments and delivering programmes or initiatives that align with business strategy.

Vicky Ilankovan is the Executive Director of Equal Measures UK – the UK’s leading non-profit driving intersectional inclusivity in the drinks & hospitality industries. An industry stalwart with 20 years’ professional experience, Vicky has a holistic approach with a proven track record of promoting companies, developing and restructuring systems, diversifying services, and building strong communities. 

As the Global Head of Inclusion, Carrie leads the enterprise-wide Diversity and Inclusion stratgey at Reckitt. Home to many heritage and trusted brands including Dettol, Durex, Harpic, Lemsip, Nurofen, Strepsils, Vanish and Veet, millions of people across the world put their trust in Reckitt’s brands every day. 

Lawrence is a senior member of the D&I Centre of Excellence at Morgan Stanley, focusing on firmwide diversity initiatives, data and regulatory reporting. He leads D&I MarComs across the region, and is a strategic adviser to the firmwide employee resource groups.

Aneeta has 30+ years in Sales & Marketing in the Software, Publishing and Media industries. A senior leader with experience building global businesses from ground up and a trained ICF certified coach, she uses her cross-cultural experience and leadership skills to help clients dig deep and challenge and expand their thinking to achieve their goals.

Cameron McKinnon is the Head of Sustainability at Innocent Drinks. He leads ESG strategy, driving both environmental and social results for Innocent. Under Cameron's leadership, the team at Innocent Drinks work toward driving down its carbon footprint, enhancing biodiversity and improving farming livelihoods within supply chains

Neila Butt is Channel 4's Creative Diversity Lead for the Nations and Regions. She has been working in TV and Audio for over 20 years, with a background in news. Her expertise in DEI challenges covers finding and working with both on and off screen talent, unpicking complex editorial, as well as running various interventions to improve representation and portrayal.

Anthropologist, researcher, author & keynote speaker Noémie Hermeking is an experienced intercultural trainer, consultant, inclusion and diversity officer who enables people to unlock their full potential to work within our multicultural world. Hermeking holds a PhD. in socio-cultural anthropology from Indiana University, USA & a master’s degree in socio-cultural anthropology from l´Ecole des hautes études en Sciences Sociales (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences), Paris.

Kim Sabate, who goes by she/her pronouns, is a proud transgender woman from the Philippines. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. She is an Associate Member of The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development after completing the Level 5 Associate Diploma in People Management.

Chris started his career in Investment Banking and Strategy Consulting, where projects regularly demanded working weekends, 12+ hour days and the odd 36-hour shift.Since founding Innerfit, Chris has led executive-level coaching programmes, facilitated team and leadership away days across Europe, and delivered a mix of keynote talks for organisations and audiences of all shapes and sizes.

Cecil (He/Him) holds an MSc in Information Systems from Canterbury Christchurch University. He was a lifelong banking technologist, joining J.P. Morgan to run a software engineering function within Cybersecurity in 2018. During the pandemic he pivoted his career to a full time focus on diversity, equity and inclusion across J.P. Morgan’s EMEA business, encompassing 37 countries, and over 30,000 employees

Andy is the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager at Capgemini UK and has worked within Capgemini UK for almost 20 years. A big part of Andy’s role is to ensure employees feel supported, valued, respected, and have a sense of belonging. Andy supports colleagues across the business, which includes managing the 7 national employee networks, influencing stakeholders to foster a culture of inclusion, and ensuring we attract, develop and retain the best talent. 

Lucy has worked in Inclusion and Diversity for the last 10 years. Prior to joining SHL, she led the Inclusion agenda for the Commercial Banking division of Lloyds Banking Group. She is passionate about making a difference for colleagues and the benefits that a truly inclusive organisation can bring. Outside of work, Lucy is supporting her local parish council to design accessible and inclusive play areas, based on her experience with her son Vincenzo, who is disabled. Lucy is also mum to Connie and the chairwoman of her local netball team.

Stephen established Beyond Education in 2019 as an initiative to help his peers struggling to secure job opportunities after graduation. Today, Beyond Education is a talent and employer branding agency with an online community of over 120,000 followers, helping underrepresented talent access career opportunities with inclusive employers.  

Alan is an accomplished leader in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion, with over 15 years of experience in the industry. Alan has led diversity, equity and inclusion programmes in several sectors, including professional services, financial services, defence and aerospace engineering and within government.

A multi-Award-Winning Business Leader, Women's Empowerment Advocate, Corporate Culture Architect Shauna Roper is a distinguished business executive with 17 years of experience in global financial services, specialising in driving strategic business and cultural transformation and operational excellence. Currently serving as Chief of Staff in HSBC Global Procurement, she collaborates with senior leadership to optimise operations, enhance decision-making, and achieve measurable business outcomes.

Sybil is the Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), where she is responsible for the development and delivery of the RICS Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy for roughly 700 employees and more than 135,000 surveying professionals globally. RICS aims to be an accountable and influential leader, regulator and employer that understands and adapts to global cultures and the wealth of experience that diversity brings whilst ensuring that RICS employees, members and firms value and embrace a culture of respect and belonging.

Sanchia is a multi-award-winning and distinguished global Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) practitioner, public speaker, and community change-maker with a reputation for driving systematic and sustainable change towards fostering inclusive environments. She has worked across the public sector over the last 15 years to help move organisations towards being truly being inclusive, valuing their staff and creating a culture where staff feel supported, appreciated, and respected.

Deborah is an experienced transformational change manager, skilled in leading and developing teams to deliver complex change programmes using design thinking and agile methodologies. She is an expert communicator and is a trusted advisor to senior leaders in blue chip organisations. For the last 25 years Deborah has specialised in EDI, developing and implementing innovative and world class inclusion programmes globally.

Steve has led the Age Diversity Forum for the last seven years, developing and designing awareness, support and services to showcase the values of age diversity in the workplace. The organisation is the designer and custodian of the ‘Champion Age Diversity’ employer engagement programme, as well as ‘International Age Diversity Day’, celebrated annually each June.

Mark has overcome what others might perceive as insurmountable obstacles to become the man he is today. His positive, can-do mindset has meant that not only did he finish his studies and graduate from De Montfort, but he went on to become the Founder of several successful businesses - Easy Internet Services, a digital marketing agency, Easy Internet Solutions, a web hosting company, Dreme, a property investment company and in 2019 Access Rating a Community Interest Company (C.I.C). In February 2023, Mark launched Ability Connect CIC.

Sarah is a totally blind trans woman who blends her rich personal and professional experience of navigating the intersecting worlds of disability and LGBT+ equality with honesty and humour. She is the founding co-director of Simply Equality Ltd, a social enterprise that seeks to break down barriers for disabled and LGBT+ people.

Known as 'Mr Find Your Calm', Michael Adu from the London Stress Centre helps the Millennial & Gen Z workforce to manage stress, increase resilience and adopt more productive thinking habits.