Inga Beale, the chief executive of Lloyds of London, has topped a list of powerful LGBT executives, both the first woman and the first bisexual to do so. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg has won the gong of top straight ally.
Second on OUTstanding’s list of 100 influential LGBT executives is new entry Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, followed by HSBC’s Europe boss Antonio Simoes, who topped the list in its first year in 2013.
In fourth place is United Therapeutics co-CEO Martine Rothblatt, the highest ever ranking for a transgender executive. That’s particularly important, OUTstanding said, given almost a third of transgender workers think coming out would negatively impact their chances of future promotions. A staggering 90% have experienced mistreatment or harassment in the workplace.
Zuckerberg overtook Virgin’s Richard Branson to be named the LGBT business network’s number one ally. Facebook introduced more than 70 gender options, from androgynous to genderfluid and transsexual, in 2014 and users have been able to use whatever gender they choose since February. More than 26 million Facebook members used the site’s rainbow profile picture filter in June to support gay marriage.
The rankings were decided on three criteria: an executive’s seniority and influence, their business achievements and their impact on LGBT inclusion both in their own company and externally – by judges including former BP CEO Lord Browne, IBM vice president Harriet Green and Getty Images and former Channel 5 boss Dawn Airey.
Nominations came from peers and colleagues, but people had to give their permission to be included on the list – hence the rather glaring omission of Apple’s Tim Cook (boo you Tim), who garnered huge praise for publicly coming out last year.
Nonetheless, there were still 42 new additions to the top 100, something OUTstanding CEO Suki Sandhu said he hopes shows people are both more comfortable with coming out and ‘see the value’ of being a role model.
‘I'm hugely proud that all of our featured role models continue to challenge the assumption that you can’t be openly LGBT in business and be a success,’ Sandhu said. ‘Those featured are an inspiration to anyone who fears that they may have to be closeted at work, and waste valuable effort muting their authentic selves.’
That’s something Beale, a former rugby player who came out in 2008, supports. ‘Seeing a role model like you, it gives you the confidence to be yourself at work, she said.
The Top 100 LGBT executives
1. Inga Beale - CEO, Lloyd’s of London
2. Alan Joyce - CEO, Qantas
3. Antonio Simoes - CEO, HSBC Europe
4. Martine Rothblatt - Co-CEO, United Therapeutics
5. Claudia Brind-Wood - VP & MD Intellectual Property Licensing, IBM
6. Paul Reed - CEO, Integrated Supply & Trading, BP
7. Beth Brooke-Marciniak - Global Vice-chair, Public Policy, EY
8. Christopher Bailey - Chief Creative & CEO, Burberry
9. Anthony Watson - President & CEO, Uphold
10. Sander van t’Noordende - Group CEO Products, Accenture
11. Liz Bingham - Managing Partner, EY
12. Joseph Evangelisti - Chief Communications Officer, JP Morgan Chase
13. Arjan Dijk - VP Marketing, Google
14. Jason Grenfell-Gardner - President & CEO, IGI Laboratories
15. Louis Vega - Chief of Staff, Office of the Chairman and CEO, Dow Jones Chemical Company
16. Jan Gooding - Group Brand Director, Aviva
17. Trevor Burgess - President & CEO, C1 Financial
18. Paul Wood - Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, Bloomberg LP
19. Alex Schultz - VP, Growth, Facebook
20. Stephen Clarke - CEO, WHSmith
21. David Furnish - CEO, Rocket Entertainment
22. Andrew Swaffield - CEO, Monarch Airlines Group
23. Brian Bickell - CEO, Shaftesbury PLC
24. Robert Hanson - CEO, John Hardy
25. Susan Silberman - President, Pfizer Vaccines, Pfizer
26. Alison Berryman - Chief Operations Officer, UK Cards, Barclaycard
27. Justin D’Agostino - Global Head of Disputes / Managing Partner Asia, Herbert Smith Freehills
28. Bob Annibale - Global Director, Citi Inclusive Finance & Community Development, Citi
29. David Isaac - Senior Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP
30. Sally Susman - Executive VP, Corporate Affairs, Pfizer
31. Neil Tallantire - Global Portfolio Director, Diageo
32. Angela Darlington - Chief Risk Officer, Aviva
33. Julie Hogan - Region VP, North America Global Services Delivery, NCR Corporation
34. Deborah Sherry - Partnerships Director, UK & Ireland, Google
35. Peter Zorn - MD, Deutsche Bank
36. Gavin Wills - MD, Goldman Sachs
37. Geoff Godwin - Chief Operating Officer UK, AIG
38. Nadeem Shamim - Managing Director & Head, LC & CT, TB Europe, Standard Chartered
39. Michael Jary - Partner, OC&C Strategy Consultants
40. Denny Tu - Head of Strategy & Planning, Sky
41. Joshua Graff - UK Country Manager & Senior Director EMEA, LinkedIn
42. Margot Slattery - Managing Director, Sodexo Ireland
43. Michael Sosso - Vice-president, Ethics & Compliance, BP
44. Misa von Tunzelman - Lead Director, UK Marketing & Communications, JLL
45. Daniel Winterfeldt - Head of International Capital Markets, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
46. Richard Beaven - Distribution Director, Swinton Insurance
47. Jim Ford - Partner, Allen & Overy
48. Kevin Jenkins - MD, UK & Ireland, Visa Europe
49. Matthew Flood - General Counsel, Ingeus
50. Matthew Hubbard - HR Director, Commercial Banking, Lloyds Bank
51. Crawford Prentice - Head of Service Recovery, HSBC
52. Renaud Digoin Danzin - Executive Director, SPIE Limited
53. Sadiq Gillani - Chief Strategy Officer & Senior VP, Lufthansa
54. Jonathan Mildenhall - Chief Marketing Officer, Airbnb
55. Elyse Cherry - CEO, Boston Community Capital
56. Hein Knaapen - Chief HR Officer, ING
57. Mark Anderson - MD, Virgin Holidays
58. Marianne Roling - General Manager, Small Medium Solutions and Partners CEE, Microsoft
59. Bethmara Kessler - VP Corporate Audit, Campbell Soup
60. Jeff Davis - Global Head of Markets Client Strategy, Barclays
61. Antonia Belcher - Founding Equity Partner, MHBC
62. Guy Black - Executive Director, Telegraph Media
63. Dennis Layton - Partner, McKinsey & Company
64. Michael Brunt - Chief Marketing Officer, The Economist
65. Mark McLane - MD, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Barclays
66. Michiel Kolman - Senior Vice-president, Global Academic Relations, Elsevier
67. Simon Altham - Managing Director, Hoseasons
68. Chris Stening - Transformation Delivery Director, Telefónica O2
69. Narind Singh - Partner, Clifford Chance
70. Steven Cox - VP, Head of Public Sector, Fujitsu UK & Ireland
71. Stacey Friedman - General Counsel, Corporate & Investment Bank, JP Morgan Chase
72.Tim Ehinger - Senior Vice-president & Chief Counsel, American Express
73. James Fitterling - Vice-chairman, Business Operations, The Dow Chemical Company
74. Dan Crisp - Chief Information Risk Officer & Head of Technology Compliance EMEA, BNY Mellon
75. Kimberley Bird - Head of Group Risk Systems, Lloyds Banking Group
76. David Mann - Partner, Tuffin Ferraby Taylor
77. Jason Cotta - MD, Costa Retail UK
78. Andy Woodfield - Partner, Head of International Development Consulting, PwC
79. Ken Batty - Executive Director, Human Resources, Lenovo
80. Tim Millward - Chairman, Extra Staff
81. Kingsley Macey - Vice-president, Human Resources, King.com
82. Mark Gossington - Partner, Financial Services, PwC
83. Nicholas Creswell - Vice-president, Performance & Talent Management, Thomson Reuters
84. Simon Stedman - Group Finance Director, Aitch Group
85. Brian Casebolt -Vice-president, Merchandising & Ancillary Revenue, Hertz
86. Jacqueline Davies - Human Resources Director, Financial Conduct Authority
87. Siobhan Martin - Executive Director, Human Resources UK, Mercer
88. Isabella Segal - Partner, Nyman Libson Paul
89. Jonathan Lawrence - Partner, K&L Gates LLP
90. Tim Hailes - Managing Director & Associate General Counsel, JP Morgan
91. Audrey Connolley - Director, Senior Persons Regime, Lloyds Banking Group
92. Mike Anderson - Managing Director, Coutts
93. Jeffrey Krogh - Managing Director, Media & Telecom Finance, BNP Paribas
94. Robert Hudson - Group Finance Director, St Modwen
95. Jon Miller - Partner, Brunswick Group
96. Nick Major - Chief Underwriting Officer, Zurich
97. Kevin Goodman - Group Director, Organisation and Development, Babcock International
98. Russel Braterman - Marketing Director, Premier Inn, Whitbread
99. Stephen Vowles - Marketing Director, Argos
100. Kyri Evagora - Partner, Reed Smith
