Banking and Finance Luminary Kene Ejikeme Awarded Coveted Place on BAME 100 Board Talent Index 2017

Official launch held at the Jean-Michel Basquiat Boom for Real exhibition at London’s Barbican

The Banking and finance industry’s, Kene Ejikeme, Managing Director of Goldman Sachs, has been awarded a coveted place on Green Park’s BAME 100 Board Talent Index (2017), which highlights the accomplishments of Britain’s ethnically diverse leadership community.  The index is unique because it showcases the success of BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) leaders, who have succeeded in the UK despite minorities remaining underrepresented in both Government and business.  The Index was launched at a private viewing of the Jean-Michel Basquiat Boom for Real exhibition at the Barbican.

Other members of the banking and finance industry featured on Green Park’s BAME 100 Board Talent Index (2017) included:

• Ashok Vaswani, Chief Executive Officer, Barclays UK
• Dominic Mignon, Chief of Staff, Office of the CEO, AON
• Farouk  Ramzan, Managing Director-Head of Commercial Banking, Europe, Lloyds Banking Group
• Gina Miller, Founding Partner, SCM Direct
• Ian Greenstreet, Founder and Chairman, Infinity Capital Partners
• Ismail Ahmed, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Worldremit
• Jasvinder “Jazz” Gakhal, Director of Direct Line for Business, Direct Line Group
• JP Rangaswami, Chief Data Officer, Deutsche Bank
• Kalpana Shah, Chairman, RiverStone Managing Agency
• Lance Kawaguchi, Managing Director, Global Head – Global Banking Corporates, HSBC
• Manjit Wolstenholme, Executive Chairman, Provident Financial
• Manveen Pam Kaur, Group Managing Director & Head of Internal Audit, HSBC
• Naguib  Kheraj, Deputy Chairman & Senior Independent Director, Standard Chartered
• Netsai Mangwende, Head of Finance for Great Britain, Willis Towers Watson
• Paulette Rowe, Managing Director, Barclaycard Payment Solutions, Barclaycard
• Rohinton ‘Ron’ Kalifa, Vice Chairman, Worldpay
• Sandie Okoro, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, World Bank Group
• Shanika Amarasekara, General Counsel & Company Secretary, British Business Bank
• Shirine  Khoury-Haq, Chief Operations Officer, Lloyd’s of London
• Sophie  Chandauka, Chief Administrative Officer- Legal & Compliance Division in EMEA, Morgan Stanley
• Soumen Das, Chief Financial Officer, Segro
• Tushar  Morzaria, Barclays Group Finance Director, Barclays
• Vivek Menon, Chief Operating Officer, BNP Paribas

The index details 100 of the most prominent BAME leaders from across the Private, Public and Third sectors, as identified and finalised by an expert panel of judges; Baroness Jan Royall PC, Ken Olisa OBE, Raj Tulsiani and Lord Chris Holmes. The Index is designed to complement the recommendations of The Parker Review, which calls for change in three key areas:

–          Increase the ethnic diversity of UK Boards by proposing each FTSE 100 Board to have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by 2021 and for each FTSE 250 Board to do the same by 2024

–          Develop a pipeline of candidates and plan for succession through mentoring and sponsoring

–          Enhance transparency and disclosure to record and track progress against the objectives

Raj Tulsiani, CEO of Green Park, said: “We are delighted to highlight and celebrate the success of the UK’s leading BAME board talent for the second year. Those who have been selected by the panel should be applauded not only for their aptitude but also for their positive contribution to future generations of ethnic minority talent.

“One of the areas in which we still need active and better participation from boards is on the experience of BAME employees on the way up to boards. We’re now seeing the highest levels of ethnic minority executives in the succession pipeline but are still not seeing this talent reach the top. Boards need to be more attuned in creating governance structures that increase representation and foster the conditions for greater inclusion.

“The Parker Review and The McGregor-Smith Review have helped put ethnic diversity on the boardroom agenda, but this must also be a central objective of any recruitment or talent management strategy. The importance of having mentors and role models cannot be overstated – the publication of our second BAME 100 Index demonstrates the talent that is out there and ready to contribute to the success of British businesses and institutions.”

Green Park selected the initial shortlist of individuals for the index by identifying and tracking profiles of the leading ethnic minority executives across British organisations. The judging panel then used Green Park’s REALmodel grading methodology to determine the top 100.

• Respected – known and cherished for the value they add
• Empowering – provides strength and confidence
• Authentic – known for being true to their values
• Leading – willing to challenge the status quo