Barclays CEO Curt Hess scooped the corporate ‘Straight Ally of the Year’ award at the Out In the City and G3 Magazine Awards on Friday night (25 April 2014).
The glitzy award ceremony, dubbed Britain’s ‘gay oscars’ saw celebrities including Tom Daley and Paul O’Grady receive gongs.
The event paid tribute to the individuals and organisations who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to promoting equality and diversity.
Hess is responsible for responsible for business banking in Europe and the Middle East and has won plaudits for his commitment to equality in the workplace. He beat off competition from Chris Sullivan of RBS and Ian Fisher, Head of Investment Banking at Societe Generale, for the coveted award.
Hess said: “It is an honour and privilege to win the Corporate Straight Ally award. I want to thank all of those who voted for me and Out In The City and G3 magazines for hosting the event. Barclays and I continue to promote and embrace diversity. Diversity isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s a business imperative.”
Other corporate winners included EY’s Liz Bingham who was crowned ‘Diversity Champion of the Year’ and Google’s Head of Diversity, Mark Palmer-Edgecumbe, who secured the ‘Inspirational Role Model’ accolade.
Awards organiser, Sarah Garrett said: “All of our corporate winners have used their positions to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees in the workplace.”
Out In The City and G3 are two of the country’s biggest gay magazines. Over 300 VIP and celebrity guests attended the awards ceremony at London’s Landmark Hotel.
