Amanda Whiteside, Chair (she/her)
Amanda leads WW Customer Optimization & Enablement for Amazon Web Services (AWS) leading a large global organization across EMEA, The Americas, and Emerging markets with the primary objective to improve the experience of Cloud services customers. With +15 years' experience leading business critical initiatives for Fortune 500 companies, she specializes in driving growth at scale, organisational effectiveness, and operational efficiency through agile principles; often working across highly matrixed cross-functional teams.
Outside of her core role, Amanda participates in several global CX committees helping to shape the future of Customer experience and in 2021 was shortlisted as 'CX finalist of the year'.
In her personal time, Amanda is a frequent PADI advanced open water diver, hiking enthusiast, and avid potter.
Antonia Belcher (she/her)
Antonia is a founding Partner of MHBC which was established in early 2007, and has 40 plus years’ experience in the construction and property industries.
Antonia transitioned in 2000 in a very male dominated working environment, where there was no history or visible LGBT influences to draw on. She regularly accepts pro bono appointments on the basis of possibly influencing positive change for Women/LGBT good in areas that relate to entry, education and career path possibilities in her chosen career path of Surveying.
She has been recognised five years running as one of the OUTstanding/Financial Times Top 100 LGBT Business Executives, in 2014 thru to 2018, recognising her commitment to creating a fair and inclusive workplace, and was in 2016 recognised as one of the City’s most inspiring women in the City A.M. Power 100 Women List, being one of the 10 women listed in the property section.
Christopher Tune, Treasurer (he/him)
Christopher is a director at Grant Thornton where he specialises in accounting disputes in international arbitration and commercial litigation. He is a Fellow of the ICAEW and has over 20 years of professional experience in providing accounting advisory and expert witness services in the resolution of commercial disputes. Christopher has also conducted financial investigations, including bribery and corruption, money laundering, compliance and fraud investigations.
Christopher has previously helped establish and then chair the LGBT+ network of a Big 4 accounting firm and through running the London Marathon eight times has been an active fundraiser for a number of charities.
Costas Kyriacou (he/him)
Costas leads strategy at Ambition Institute, an education charity that provides professional development to schools and educators to tackle educational inequality.
Costas began his career as a maths teacher at a secondary school in London. As a management consultant after teaching, he delivered a wide range of strategy and operational projects for public sector organisations, including central government departments and local authorities. He later led strategy development at Teach First, a charity focused on building a fair education for all by providing lasting solutions to schools serving disadvantaged communities.
He has volunteered as a role model with Diversity Role Models in the past and is excited to support the organisation to fulfil its mission.
Daniela Karmios (she/her)
Daniela Karmios has worked for Ark Schools for several years in numerous roles and is currently the Principal at Ark Priory Primary Academy in West London. Ark is an education charity that exists to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real-life choices. Ark has a network of 39 schools in the UK, both Primary and Secondary - and is now recognised as one of the highest achieving academy groups in the country.
Daniela has significant experience of leading safeguarding and inclusion in schools both in the UK and internationally and has developed expertise in this area over the years. As part of her current role, she is an Ark Network ‘Safeguarding Champion’ in which she supports other schools with safeguarding and best practice, and as part of a working party created to provide further provision to schools to fully support LGBT+ pupils.
Daniela is driven by the belief that everyone involved in a child’s education plays a role in supporting them to reach their full potential and beyond, and to become well-rounded and conscientious world citizens that offer a positive contribution to society. She strives to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. She is a leading practitioner, comfortable in building a professional learning community, working with school stakeholders, and engaging with her students.
Daniela strongly believes it is our collective responsibility to young people to develop an education system that teaches acceptance and understanding towards all; if we can get to a place in education where every single young person feels valued and supported, whoever they are, then there are no limitations to the successes that they will achieve.
Geffrye Parsons (he/him)
Geff is a UK Chartered Accountant with 35 years' experience in the financial and professional services industries, based variously in London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Geff is CEO and Founder of The Inclusion Imperative, providing consulting, training, and speaking services to organisations about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, with a particular focus on (but not limited to) LGBTQ+ related matters. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Macquarie Group, where he spent eight years chairing the LGBTQ+ employee network group, acted as a mental wellbeing ambassador for LGBTQ+ matters, and took Macquarie to #1 on the annual Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. Individually, he won the LGBTQ+ Inspirational Leader award at the British LGBT Awards in 2019, was nominated for the Corporate Role Model award at the PinkNews Awards in 2018, and has been named in the top quartile of OUTstanding’s list of the 100 leading LGBTQ+ executives globally in each of 2018, 2019, and 2021. He is also a trustee or board member and treasurer of both GiveOut and Pride in Tennis, two other UK-based LGBTQ+ charities or associations.
Hans Svennevig (he/him)
Hans has been involved in various roles in Citizenship education since 2003, including teaching and leading departments in secondary schools and colleges. Hans leads Citizenship secondary teacher education at IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society.
He actively participates in a number of charitable roles and has been engaged with Diversity Role Models since its founding, in 2018 joining the Education Steering Group.
As an advocate of embracing diversity and valuing differences, he believes that doing this through education is the key to a healthy democracy.
Hans is a keen explorer, whether that be through walking, travelling, or trying new food.
Jay Ersapah (she/her)
Jay is a CFA Charterholder and the Head of Financial Risk and Model Risk Management at Silicon Valley Bank. She has had a diverse career across multiple risk and finance disciplines, in investment, commercial banking, and consultancy for global organisations such as Deloitte, Citigroup, and Barclays. She has helped establish and is the lead for the LGBTQ+ network at Silicon Valley Bank; where she works closely with Stonewall to create and promote a culture where all can bring their authentic selves to work.
At the intersection of a variety of minority groups, Jay joins Diversity Role Model with the aim of merging her passions about education and the LGBT+ community. She has been an active mentor for a variety of non-for-profit organisations in the education sector aimed at students from less-advantaged backgrounds (e.g. Migrant Leaders, Upreach, and Urban Synergy).
“You can’t be what you can’t see” is a motto that has always resonated with her, and she is keen to support DRM in leveraging the power of storytelling to ensure that children are supported in their journeys to adulthood, with support and understanding.
Jim Ford (he/him)
Jim is a partner in Allen & Overy’s Corporate department. He specialises in non-contentious intellectual property law and is Co-Head of the firm’s global Life Sciences sector group. Jim is Co-Chair of A&Out - Allen & Overy’s LGBT network - with primary responsibility for acting as a visible senior role model. The network is an international network involved in business development, graduate recruitment, mentoring and social responsibility activities. He led on the successful launch of A&O’s first LGBT+ Allies group and was one of the supervising partners of the A&O team providing pro bono legal advice to Stonewall on Turing’s law. Jim’s work as Co-Chair of A&Out, such as a programme of staff awareness talks and mentoring of junior staff, has helped lead to them being nominated for Pink News’ Business Equality Awards for the past 3 years and being recognised as one of Stonewalls’s Top Global Employers between 2018 and 2020. Jim has appeared on the annual OUTstanding Top 100 LGBT Business Executives list for the past 5 years.
Louise Trethewey (she/her)
Louise has over 16 years of experience working across branding, marketing, program management, and business operations across Europe and APAC. She has launched new products in her time at Apple, started an agency from the ground up, and drove global programmes at scale through strategic planning and execution.
Louise currently works at Google leading delivery and operations across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She drives a global diversity program that helps underrepresented creatives by providing hands-on experience, training, allyship, and leadership programmes.
Louise also coaches, mentors, and develops others through her volunteer work in community development programmes. She is excited to support DRM’s mission and believes that all children should have access to an inclusive education that reflects who they are.
Scott Sullivan (he/him)
Scott is an experienced strategic HR professional with varied experience throughout the employee cycle. Scott has been key in helping businesses, most recently in the legal sector, achieve their results through managing and developing talent. Scott is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD Level and also sits as a Justice of the Peace in East London.
Scott is also a fan of foods which come with gravy, music which has clapping in it and winning at Monopoly.
Steve Sutton, Secretary (he/him)
Steve is a Business Process Management Consultant Lead at bp where he been for the last nine years and works with all parts of the organisation from Production & Operations, Trading & Shipping, People & Culture to Finance driving process excellence, standardisation, simplification, and digitalisation across bp’s processes.
He is co-chair of bp pride UK, who were shortlist for both British Diversity Awards 2022 and British LGBT Awards 2022 and was named 46th in Stonewall’s top 100 employers as well as receiving gold classification in 2022 under his leadership. He is also an Involve diversity mentor.
In his spare time Steve is a gymnastics coach for children aged 5 to 18 and National Recreational Gymnastics Tutor. He is the proud parent of three children and two step-children and lives in West Sussex with his husband.