TD SYNNEX UK and Ireland has announced the winners of its first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) awards, recognising the tremendous contribution of individuals from across the business in ensuring that the company is a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone can be their true selves.
► Awards highlight the importance of everyone knowing they can feel welcome as their true selves in the workplace
► Between 60% to 70% of all co-workers attend online ceremony
Ten awards were handed out to co-workers who have demonstrated their commitment to driving DE&I and acted as allies and mentors to fellow co-workers. In total 297 nominations were put forward for 112 individuals, with 52 co-workers either nominated more than once and for two or more awards.
The awards were framed around the four TD SYNNEX business resource groups now running in the UK and Ireland: The Elevate BRG is dedicated to the empowerment of women; SPECTRUM provides support for LGBTQ+ co-workers; Embrace celebrates racial, cultural and religious differences; and Limitless, which supports co-workers with a disability, hidden disability or who are neurodivergent.
The winners were:
- DE&I Champion of the Year – David Keiller, Microsoft Azure business manager
- Elevate Woman of the Year – Chanda Patel, business improvement manager
- Embrace Ethnic Minority Role Model – Colette Francis-Lee, social media manager
- SPECTRUM Inclusive Lead of the Year – Nick Tiltman, credit services director
- Elevate Female Manager of the Year – Grace O’Donnell, team leader, bid support
- Limitless Unsung Hero of the Year – Anna-Marie Constantinou, Cisco European business director
- SPECTRUM LGBTQ+ Advocate of the Year – Taylor Lord, Cisco sales operations executive
- Embrace Positive Role Model of the Year – Asad Naeem, senior business manager, GCC
- Elevate Unsung Hero of the Year – Sharraine Warman, customer services manager
- SPECTRUM Ally Change Maker – David Keiller, Microsoft Azure business manager
With well over 600 attendees logged into the call, it’s estimated that between 60% and 70% of all TD SYNNEX’s UK&I co-workers attended the awards ceremony.
David Watts managing director UK and Ireland, TD SYNNEX said: ‘These awards have been created to recognise and celebrate the achievements of our co-workers who have demonstrated their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. They highlight the importance of everyone knowing that they can come to work at TD SYNNEX and feel welcome as their true selves.’
‘We are just one company, but our aim is to make a difference in our community, in our company and in our industry. Every partner and vendor of ours is looking to be a fully inclusive company, and we see ourselves at the front of that change and as a business that really means it. Positive activities such as these, that recognise great individuals, really do show how we can make a difference together.’
He concluded by thanking all the winners, nominees and the judging panel, all of whom are external to TD SYNNEX: The judges for this year’s awards were:
- Anushka Davies – head of employee engagement, diversity and inclusion at Softcat
- Apay Obang-Oway – partner sales director, Microsoft
- Donovan Hutchinson – chief revenue officer, Trustmarque
- Iffat Chaudhry – founder of ‘WhatIff’ podcast
- Melanie McKay – head of product, notonthehighstreet
- Nicky Saner – managing director, Chorus
The winners of the TD SYNNEX DE&I awards will now be entered into a matching category in the CRN Women and Diversity Awards 2023 and be invited to attend the awards ceremony in London later this year.
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