Nominations for the 2022 IPA iList are officially open. The initiative, in association with Accenture, aims to galvanise the industry into becoming a more inclusive, diverse place to work by celebrating and giving a platform to the role models who are changing our industry for the better.
Entries to the iList are open to all agency employees – at any level – who are championing inclusivity within their agency and/or within the work they are producing. The deadline for entries is Friday 21 January 2022.
Submissions will then be assessed, and the shortlisted candidates will be interviewed by a panel of industry greats and inclusion experts including IPA Talent Leadership Group Chair and ACNE Managing Director Annie Gallimore and IPA President Julian Douglas.
Among the inaugural 30 trailblazers honoured in the 2020 iList, are individuals responsible for some of the most influential and wide-ranging diversity and inclusion initiatives in adland. Among those honoured in 2020 were Hannah McCready from The Specialist Works who works with Beyond Autism to set up work placements. Dan Cullen-Shute, who created the Real Living Wage Pledge and Asad Dhunna, Founder of The Unmistakables.
Says Leila Siddiqi, Associate Director, Diversity, IPA: “Given the current talent crisis we face as in industry after a disruptive 18 months, along with very slow movement on diversity data following this year’s IPA and All In census results, we need to double down on our diversity and inclusion efforts. Equally, we also must acknowledge that there are some genuinely progressive initiatives out there that the iList hopes to identify, celebrate and amplify.
Positive role models across different levels, spanning different protected characteristics have a huge part to play to move the dial forwards and inspire others to find solutions to their own diversity and inclusion concerns.