Indian American business executive named top ethnic minority senior executive

 Authors: Nisha Eappen, Raheel Khan. Copy Edited By Adam Rizvi.

TIO: June 14, 2019: Ajay Banga, the President, and CEO of Mastercard have been named the top ethnic minority executive in the world in canceltimesharegeek an annual ranking that recognizes ethnic minorities who are business stalwarts.

The EMpower Ethnic Minority Role Model Lists ranks the top executives in various fields who are breaking the barriers and upping the ceiling and setting standards for ethnic minorities in the UK, Ireland, Europe, and people of color in the United States and Canada. This initiative is organized by INvolve and is supported by Yahoo Finance.

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Involve is a membership organization that advocates for representation and inclusion at workplaces. EMpower, one of their initiatives exists to challenge the lack of proper representation of ethnic minorities at top executive levels. Apart from excelling in their area of interest, they should also have made an exemplary effort in ensuring inclusion at their workplaces to be considered for the honor. The recently published list includes the top 100 Ethnic Minority Executives, top 50 Ethnic Minority Future Leaders List, and top 15 Advocates list.

Ajay has helped in amalgamating inclusion and diversity which in turn leads to their success. He is also a founding trustee and past Chairman of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) – a business advocacy organization to enlighten and encourage the private sectors of both India and United States to enhance investment flows. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016.

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Trailing behind Ajay is the editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Edward Enninful. At the age of 18, Enninful was appointed as the fashion director of British fashion magazine i-D, making him the youngest ever fashion director for an international publication. He was appointed the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2016 for services to diversity in the fashion industry. He is a strong believer in equal opportunities for everyone.

The complete 100 ethnic minority executives list here: list of EMpower ethnic minority executives 2019

Salesforce business operations manager, Farah Siddiqui topped the 50 ethnic minority future leaders list. A year after joining Salesforce, Siddiqui founded Faith forced (an employee resource group within Salesforce) to teach about beliefs and to create a feeling of belongingness to people of different faiths and beliefs. In Siddiqui’s words “I want faith inclusion to be part of the company”. Faith forced has also become a recruitment tool. Apart from this, she is also an active member of groups that help to empower women, fight social injustice, give back to communities as well as provide mentorship to young Muslim women from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

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While the first two lists select people of color, the advocate’s list is for people of no color who have worked relentlessly for the upbringing and inclusiveness of ethnic minorities. Topping this category is Nick Owen, the chairman of Deloitte. Nick has ensured that the top management embeds the principles of respect and inclusiveness in their company’s culture. Nick has further challenged the organization to include more emphasis on ethnic diversity and to start to explore further inclusion opportunities.

“Over the years, there has been a positive shift in the right direction for diversity and inclusion.” Suki Sandhu OBE, founder, and CEO of INvolve said in a statement. Earlier, inclusion meant women now we have started to widen that definition.

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Nisha Eappen is from the University of Waterloo.