Digital entrepreneur Lopa Patel MBE, has been listed on Green Park’s fourth annual BAME 100 Business Leaders index, celebrating Britain’s black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) board-ready talent.
Published by executive recruitment and diversity consultancy Green Park, the index is designed to highlight the talent, experience and expertise of ethnic minority leaders who are still severely under-represented at board level in Private, Public and Third sector organisations.
Green Park’s BAME 100 Business Leaders index aims to inspire a shift in the attitudes and practices of leading organisations and to call into question any claim that the aim of Sir John Parker’s target – to have at least one minority member on every major public, private or third sector board – cannot be. The annual index showcases one hundred ethnic minority leaders who any organisation looking for a board member, should be prepared to consider, therefore banishing the age-old myth that diverse talent does not exist.
“I am delighted to be included in the 2019 BAME 100 Business Leaders index and congratulate Green Park and its Chairman Trevor Phillips OBE for publishing this list to a consistent and rigorous level for the past four years,” said Lopa Patel MBE, “people always ask me what the point is of such lists and the answer is simple, visibility. Not for visibility within the BAME community but to the mainstream who may not know the names of leaders and role models from under-represented communities. I think the BAME 100 Business Leaders index is also invaluable to HR Directors, Recruiters, Chairs and CEOs tasked with developing a diverse board”.
As a recognised leader in their field, Lopa Patel MBE was identified as one of the 100 board-ready BAME leaders by leading figures from some of the best-known and highly successful private, public & third sector organisations in the UK, all of whom regularly make these judgements and such appointment decisions in real-life situations.
Lopa Patel MBE is a digital entrepreneur with significant experience of creating start-ups and transforming businesses through technology. The founder of two ventures in online media and a data-driven marketing consultancy, she is also the Chair of equality and inclusion think tank Diversity UK; a Trustee of The Science Museum Group and a Non-Executive Director of the Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
She is an ambassador for entrepreneurship, innovation and technology and has been recognised with accolades including an MBE for services to the creative industries; the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion and an Honorary Doctorate by The Open University, in recognition of her efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in science and technology and her broader contribution to British industry, society and culture.
The BAME 100 leaders were identified based on a list of over 600 diverse leaders to which a proprietary scoring methodology was applied focusing on professional experience and governance expertise, The top scoring individuals were evaluated by the independent assessment panel overseen by Green Park’s Chairman and the founding Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Trevor Phillips.
The assessment panel comprised: Sir Ken Olisa, Chief Executive Officer of Restoration Partners; Chris Cummings, CEO of the Investment Association; David Tyler, Chairman at J. Sainsbury Plc; Peter Cheese, Chief Executive, CIPD; Iqbal Wahhab OBE, entrepreneur; Lord Victor Adebowale, CEO Turning Point; Colleen Harris, Founder, Colleen Harris Associates and journalist and campaigner June Sarpong MBE
Green Park’s BAME 100 Business Leaders index was launched on the 11th of September, 2019, at Somerset House, where Green Park have acted as exhibition catalysts for the landmark exhibition Get Up, Stand Up Now, celebrating the 50 years of Black creativity in Britain and beyond.
Trevor Philips, Green Park’s Chairman, said: “Despite the clear, long-established evidence that organisations which are diverse and inclusive perform better than those that aren’t, the UK’s private, public and third sector boards remain overwhelmingly white. Some claim this is due to a shortage of board-ready BAME individuals. But as this year’s BAME 100 list clearly demonstrates, the talent is out there – and in greater numbers than ever.
“What these leaders bring to their organisations cannot be under-estimated. Their experience and perspective act as a counterpoint to homogeneous, ‘group-thinking’ that many existing boards can fall prey to – making them ideal candidates for wider leadership roles.”
About Green Park
Since its inception in 2006, Green Park has become one of Europe’s fastest growing suppliers of leadership recruitment and consultancy services across the private, public and third sectors, featuring on Financial Times’ list of 1000 Fastest Growing Companies, 2019. An award-winning supplier, Green Park is consistently ranked at the top of the recruitment industry league tables, most recently named in Recruiter as No. 1 in the Hot 50 fastest growing companies and No. 2 in the Recruiter Hot 100.
Championing diversity and inclusion, Green Park is changing the face of leadership by helping organisations think differently about talent in the UK’s top boardrooms. Passionate advocates of the power of diversity as a source of competitive advantage, Green Park sets a benchmark for innovation and commitment to consistently attract diverse groups of appointable candidates. In 2012, Green Park were appointed founding members of the National Equality Standard, representing the only recruitment firm on the founding board.
Click here to view the 2019 BAME 100 Business Leaders Index.