2015 has been an incredible year for the progression in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights across the globe.

The 23 most powerful LGBT executives in the world in 2015

by Lianna Brinded


2015 has been an incredible year for the progression in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights across the globe.

The US Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage is all 50 states of America in June this year while Caitlyn Jenner gave more prominence to the LGBT community with her reveal.

And in the business world, OUTstanding, the LGBT networking group, unveiled the most powerful LGBT executives in the world. (https://www.out-standing.org/top100)

OUTstanding lists 100 people who it thinks challenges the presumption that you can't be openly LGBT and be successful in business. In conjunction with the Financial Times, it makes the list each year.

"Those featured are an inspiration to anyone who fears that they may have to be closeted at work, and waste valuable effort muting their authentic selves," said Suki Sandhu, chief executive of OUTstanding.

However, notably Apple's CEO Tim Cook was missing. OUTstanding said that it was forced to omit him because it was unable to gain permission for him to be included in the list.


23. Brian Bickell, Chief Executive of Shaftesbury.
22. Andrew Swaffield, CEO of the Monarch Airlines Group.
21. David Furnish, CEO of Rocket Entertainment Group.
20. Stephen Clarke, CEO at WH Smith.
19. Alex Schultz, VP, Growth at Facebook.
18. Paul Wood, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer at Bloomberg.
17. Trevor Burgess, President & CEO of C1 Financial.
16. Jan Gooding, Group Brand Director at Aviva.
15. Louis Vega, Chief of Staff, Global Director Office of the Chairman & CEO and Executive Communications and Vice President of Dow Olympics & Sports Solutions.
14. Jason Grenfell-Gardner, President and CEO at IGI Laboratories.
13. Arjan Dijk, Vice President of Marketing at Google.
12. Joseph Evangelisti, Chief Communications Officer for JP Morgan Chase.
11. Liz Bingham, most senior LGBT Partner in the UK & Ireland firm of EY.
10. Sander van ‘t Noordende, Group Chief Executive Products for Accenture.
9. Anthony Watson, President & Chief Executive Officer of Uphold.
8. Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative & Chief Executive Officer of Burberry.
7. Beth Brooke-Marciniak, Global Vice Chair of Public Policy for EY.
6. Paul Reed, CEO of the Integrated Supply and Trading division (IST) at BP.
5. Claudia Brind-Woody, Vice President and Managing Director at IBM
4. Martine Rothblatt, Co-CEO of the United Therapeutics Corporation.
3. Antonio Simoes, CEO of HSBC Bank.
2. Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas.
1. Inga Beale, CEO of Lloyd's of London.

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Read more: www.businessinsider.com