THE JUDGES 2024
Our expert judging panel will represent a whole host of specialties across the D&I industry.
Judges are invited to score the entries following our robust criteria, via an online judging system and
then come together for a judging day to decide on our shortlist and winners.
Anthony Sherick
Founder, Women in Tech
Anthony has been in the tech industry for 17 years and has an extensive background in supporting companies with employer branding and recruitment attraction as ex MD of Technojobs and ContractorUK.
Anthony founded womenintech.co.uk which was started up to support more women finding and growing their careers in IT. Anthony believes that the tech industry is so broad and there are so many opportunities to increase gender diversity within the digital economy. Anthony plays an active role supporting overall diversity and inclusion initiatives in the industry and has helped to set up a popular women in tech mentoring scheme. Anthony works on the awards and consulting for a variety of clients,.
Nabila Salem
President, Revolent Group
Nabila joined the Board of Tenth Revolution Group in 2020, and as President of Revolent is responsible for leading on the creation of talent.
Nabila was the first and youngest female VP at the FTSE 250 company she used to work for and has accrued 15+ years of leadership experience in professional services, tech recruitment, and marketing based in the UK and USA.
Nabila plays an active role in encouraging, supporting, and promoting diversity in the workplace and was recognized in Management Today’s 35 Women Under 35 List 2019.
Kris Phelps
Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Veolia
Kris has extensive business background and has developed strategies and inclusion initiatives for FSTE 100 / 250 and public sector clients.
He is highly experienced in cross-cultural collaboration and training and facilitation specialising in LGBTQ+ inclusion and inclusive leadership.
Kris also has a wealth of experience in working with senior leaders, HR professionals and employee resource groups. His consultative approach and adaptability has allowed him to work with and provide bespoke global learning on inclusion and diversity to a wide range of organisations.
Ben Ventham
Global Talent Acquisition Lead, AstraZeneca
A globally renowned talent acquisition leader, Ben boasts a rich technology recruiting pedigree across both agency and in-house environments, more recently with AstraZeneca and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Known popularly for his Women in Tech initiatives, Ben has forged a strong reputation and unwavering passion in making positive change within the Inclusion, Diversity & Equity space.
In 2020, he created the 'AstraZeneca Women in Tech Series', featuring interviews with many of the talented women in tech from AstraZeneca globally, showcasing the array of diverse talent within the space and helping to shape the women in tech narrative. His series had an enormously positive effect on hiring efforts within this space, contributing to a year-on-year increase in diverse hires.
Ben is regularly seen talking and sharing his anecdotes on podcasts, speaking at events and writing articles on the importance of men as allies. In 2022, he was recognised for his achievements across the ID&E space, winning the 'Best Recruiter' award at the annual Women in Tech Employer Awards.
Dan Gallagher
Global Inclusion and Diversity Talent Acquisition Lead at Avanade
Dan is the Global Inclusion & Diversity Talent Acquisition Lead at Avanade, a global IT consulting firm with just under 20,000 full time employees globally. His role at Avanade is a strategy / advisory function to help the business create sustainable diversity talent strategies to improve the internal representation numbers to be reflective of the communities Avanade serves. In 2022 he delivered a program designed to cross train women from outside the IT sector into Avanade’s Data Analytics practice. In each of the past 3 years he has supported the TA function deliver over 40% female hires into the business.
He is also the founder of The Intersection Network, a community interest company created specifically to help TA professionals navigate the intersection of diversity and talent acquisition activities. Dan recently created and launched a new online diagnostic tool to help organisations assess the maturity of their talent acquisition diversity and inclusion efforts. Designed for TA, HR and diversity professionals the ‘Diversity & Inclusion Talent Acquisition Maturity Assessment’ assigns a score that benchmarks your current strategies against best practice and also your industry peers. Dan has been in the talent acquisition space since 2003 with a focus on D&I since 2015.
Mary Ball
Head of Zip Recruiter UK
Mary leads the Zip Recruiter team in the UK and is very knowledgeable on recruitment marketing and candidate attraction having worked at Zip for 7 years, and prior to that Indeed, dealing with jobsites, agencies and employers. Mary is also very passionate about promoting women in the workforce and gender parity.
Mary is the co-founder of the Women In Business Book Club. This is dedicated to building a diverse network of women who inspire and challenge others to grow by sharing knowledge and ideas; creating a safe space where ambition, confidence and personal growth can thrive, unapologetically
Danielle Ramsbottom
CEO & Founder, CloudCo Solutions
Danielle has been a senior leader in tech recruitment for over 20 years, working for global leaders Hays and Frank Recruitment Group. Last year she launched her own IT recruitment company, CloudCo Solutions, bringing all of her experience and relationship-centric approach to create a values-led business focused on finding diverse Cloud talent for their customers. Danielle believes in creating opportunities for all and is a strong advocate for ED&I within the technology sector, building long-term partnerships to drive change and really make a difference. Not only is she driving change in the industry, she has spent the last 10 years running kids coding clubs to engage children from a young age to pursue tech careers and regularly speaks at industry events on improving diversity in the sector.
Anju Solanki
Founder, MEA Consulting Group
Anju is the Founder of MEA Consulting Group, a thought leading diversity and inclusion consultancy. Anju has cultivated innovative and thought provoking training and advisory for some of the world’s leading and aspirational organisations.
Prior to founding MEA, Anju had a successful career in Investment Banking for 12 years, working at Citigroup, Barclays and Lloyds building a commendable track record on the trading floor. Having experienced invisible barriers underrepresented groups face first hand, she became super passionate about driving change.
Anju is also Business Mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women. She was showcased as an inspiring woman for International Women’s Day 2020 at United World College South East Asia, nominated for Asian Woman of Achievement awards 2021 and is featured in Forbes, BBC, Good Morning Britain and The Guardian.
She holds Gender Diversity Executive Education from INSEAD, Core Consulting from CASS Business School and a BSc (Hons) Finance & Accounting.
Alexis Curtis-Harris
Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion - Attraction & Communications - Penna
Alexis joined Penna in 2014 and here she combines her passion and professional experience, bringing expertise to clients as the Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI).
Alexis oversees the entire candidate and employment lifecycle for Penna’s clients’ attraction and communication; ensuring it promotes the highest standards of equality, diversity and inclusion, and engages with audiences in a creative and authentic way. She offers client support in all things EDI to set clear responsibilities for strategy and programme development, challenging organisations to change and grow.
Her approach is to stop focussing on culture ‘fit’ and start focusing on culture ‘add’ eradicating unhealthy monocultures in workplaces. She’s passionate about all strands of diversity and has recently been part of the judging panel for the ‘UK Top 50 Inclusive Employers’ 2021 & 2022, the ‘Inclusive Awards’ 2022 and the ‘RAD awards’ 2023.