UK BLACK POWERLIST 2022

Jacky Wright, the London-born corporate vice-president and chief digital officer at Microsoft US, was given this year’s top spot on 14 October by the Powerlist 2022, the annual list of the UK’s most powerful people of African, African-Caribbean and African American heritage, Guardian reports.

According to the report, Marcus Rashford, the footballer and campaigner, came in second place while Anne Mensah, vice-president of Content UK at Netflix, was third. The Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya is a new entrant to the list, in fourth.

Read more from the report below:

Steven Bartlett, 29, founder and former CEO of Social Chain and the newly named youngest ever panellist on the BBC show Dragons’ Den, is another new entrant.

Wright welcomed the accolade but said the UK had a long way to go before it could call itself an equal society. “I am proud to be in the company of these great leaders of African and African-Caribbean heritage, but I am reminded that we still have a very long way to go,” she said.

“Each of us has a responsibility to ensure that we not only showcase role models, so future generations can envision who and what they can be but, more importantly, we need to make monumental shifts to create a more equitable society.”

Wright was selected by a panel of judges led by the retired high court judge Dame Linda Dobbs, who said Wright took the top spot for the “sheer scale of the work she is doing”.

As one of the most senior black leaders in the civil service, and HMRC’s disability champion, Wright campaigned for diversity in government, including race and disability.

The Powerlist was launched in 2007 to showcase black role models across industries including business, science, technology and the arts. Entrants are judged on their “ability to change lives and alter events, as demonstrated over a protracted period of time and in a positive manner”.