The Black Tech-xellence List 2026

Matt Butts

Head of Marketing Science, Samsung Ads Europe

Matt Butts leads marketing science at Samsung Ads Europe, helping brands and agencies make smarter connected-TV advertising decisions through measurement and insights. With more than a decade of experience across the US, EMEA and JAPAC, he has built measurement capabilities and learning frameworks at leading media companies.

A respected industry speaker and educator, Matt makes complex topics accessible while championing broader representation in data-driven roles. Through mentorship and visible leadership, he helps emerging talent see a place for themselves in the industry and encourages companies to build more inclusive, culturally aware teams.

Barbara Krah

Digital Media Trading Director, Nectar360

With over two decades in agencies, publishers and digital advertising, Barbara leads trading and ad ops teams while championing diversity and the responsible adoption of AI. She was nominated for her unwavering commitment to people, progress and excellence.

She is a tireless advocate for others, investing her time and energy in helping colleagues succeed while fostering a culture of belonging and growth. Her passion for continuous improvement, combined with her pursuit of operational marketing excellence, has a meaningful and lasting impact on both the teams she works with and the business as a whole.

Annabelle Walters

Global Chief People Officer, Jellyfish

Annabelle Walters exemplifies what inclusive leadership looks like in practice. As Global Chief People Officer at Jellyfish, she builds culture through listening, transparency and data, not assumptions or slogans.  Annabelle combines business impact with a human-centred commitment to fairer workplaces, helping people and organisations thrive.

On Culture Chats, Annabelle speaks candidly about navigating stereotypes as a Black woman leader, and about creating space for others by bringing their expertise into the room and giving them the confidence to lead. She also urges the next generation to explore AI proactively and draw strength from community.

Curtis Hinds

Client Success Manager, Limelight

Curtis Hinds brings creativity, strategic thinking, and a strong client-first approach to tech and advertising. Across more than seven years in the industry, he’s helped deliver measurable results for major brands and now supports Limelight clients in getting more from its platform.

Just as importantly, Curtis is committed to making the industry more welcoming. Inspired by the community he found at Starcom, he aims to mentor others, make space for diverse perspectives, and hold the door open for the next generation. His mix of professional impact and community-minded leadership makes him a standout choice for Black Excellence in Tech.

Hear from Curtis on Culture Chats!

Dr Diahanne Rhiney

Founder, Naked Truth; Editor-in-Chief, Black Wall St Media

Diahanne Rhiney is a pioneering communications leader who has spent more than 30 years helping brands tell more inclusive, culturally relevant stories. Through Naked Truth, she leads global campaigns that connect communications with social impact, while Black Wall St Media gives Black communities greater agency to tell their own stories and celebrate achievement beyond narratives of trauma.

She also mentors women of colour, opening doors for emerging leaders and founders. Her work shows how storytelling can shift culture, build opportunity and make underrepresented voices heard.

Diahanne speaks candidly on Culture Chats, coming soon!

Seun Odeneye

Chief Media Officer, Jellyfish

Seun is a senior leader in media and technology. Across a career spanning Microsoft, Mindshare, IPG Mediabrands, and now Jellyfish, he has led large, multidisciplinary teams and championed data-driven media strategy, performance, and investment.

His impact reaches beyond business results.

Seun believes that visibility helps people imagine what they can achieve, and that leaders have a responsibility to be present, available, and to open doors for others. He advocates widening talent pools, building diverse teams, creating opportunities for the next generation and supports community initiatives that equip young people with training and practical career skills.

Seun features on Culture Chats – coming soon!

Ellie Edwards-Scott

Co-Founder, The Advisory Collective

With over 25 years leading teams at GroupM, Dentsu and Guardian Media Group, Ellie now co-founds The Advisory Collective and WeGame2. Ellie has spent her career backing the talent and individuals around her, from all walks of life, but where she really comes into her own is championing the industry and the young people trying to find their way into it.

As a trustee of Digilearning, she has given the organisation and their young people far more of her time and attention than the role ever asked of her. She gets stuck in with the young people, mentors them one to one, and shouts loudly about them to anyone who will listen.

Lou Nylander

Founder, Wildflowers of London

Wildflowers started in 2016 with a simple idea: ambitious women deserve a space where they can be real. What started as living room gatherings in South London has grown into a collective of over 900 women. For the first few years, Wildflowers ran on community energy and Lou's living room calendar. Now a Community Interest Company, Wildflowers exists to rebuild confidence and connection for women returning, realigning, or overlooked in their careers.

Lou is also the founder of Wild for Purpose, where she coaches individuals and leaders through change, helping them build confidence, gain clarity and create more purposeful, fulfilling careers and lives.

Chloë Davies

Co-Founder, The Unmistakables & Social Impact Consultant

Named as one of Campaign Magazine UK’s 2023 Trailblazers of the Year - Chloë Davies is an award-winning founder, creative, a passionate social impact consultant, chef, and entrepreneur who has dedicated much of her 20+ year career campaigning for inclusion and equality in all spaces, whether in-house at agency level, corporate organisations or through wider community engagement.

With over 15 years of experience in retail, artist management, and PR, Chloe has honed her expertise in leadership, social impact and inclusive representation. Her work centres around authentic storytelling, creating spaces of belonging, mental health; well-being, self-empowerment, culture change and workplace advocacy. Simply put, she is trying to change the world for the better.

Gerry Anyanwu

Client Development Director, Global

Gerry sits at the intersection of media, community and social impact, currently leading client development at Global while co-founding Join Our Table and partnering with Bloom and BelEve. She is dedicated to transforming workplace cultures into transformative spaces where employees move beyond surviving to truly thriving.

She is multi-passionate, and on a mission to make an impact in every space she is in. Whether that is with her work as partner lead for Bloom and BelEve, as a founder of Join our Table or just the support of women who need a friendly face, Gerry is here to turn trauma to triumph.

Jermaine Balfourth

Founder and CEO, BLACQ Space | Associate Design Director, OLIVER

Jermaine Balfourth is a creative leader, entrepreneur and community builder with over 20 years of experience across advertising, design, marketing and media. Alongside his role as Associate Design Director at OLIVER, Jermaine is the Founder & CEO of BLACQ Space, a global community created to connect, support and champion Black creatives and professionals across the industry.

What began as a WhatsApp group in 2024 has grown into a community of thousands. Built on creativity, culture and community, BLACQ Space exists on Jermaine's belief that talent is everywhere, but access is not. From helping people find their next opportunity to putting new voices in front of the right people, Jermaine is focused on turning community into action.

Joy Dean

VP Publisher Growth, EUK | Global Marketing, optima

A Campaign 40 Over 40 honouree and recently recognised by ExchangeWire’s Ad Tech Personality of the Year awards, Joy has built a career combining commercial growth, marketing, partnerships and team leadership, while being one of relatively few Black women operating visibly at senior level in adtech.

Joy actively uses her platform to open up conversations about leadership, creativity, representation and building a long, interesting career in tech. Through The Digital Dean and her wider work, she shares what she has learned, champions greater visibility for women and underrepresented talent, and is building spaces where the next generation can see that there is more than one way to lead and more than one kind of person who belongs at the table.

Maria McDowell

Founder, lollipop mentoring

Maria McDowell is the founder of lollipop mentoring, a mentoring community connecting women—particularly Black women—with experienced mentors to unlock confidence, opportunity and career progression. The community has now supported more than 150 women across five cohorts, with over 500 people registered.

A speaker, community builder and advocate for inclusive leadership, Maria has been recognised in the Diversity Power List 2024, named a Campaign Trailblazer and shortlisted for the National Diversity Awards 2026. Her work is rooted in a simple belief: when people are supported, seen and encouraged, they achieve more than they thought possible.

Evelyn Oluwole

Head of CMO Engagement, LIONS Advisory

Evelyn Oluwole is a global media and commercial leader with over 20 years’ experience across media, advertising, technology and brand partnerships. Alongside her corporate career, Evelyn is a board director, speaker and mentor, with a particular passion for creating opportunities for underrepresented talent and helping people build the confidence and connections to progress in their careers.

She is also known as The Follow-Up Queen, a personal brand built from her experience in sales and partnerships and her belief that opportunities are often created by the conversations we choose to continue. Her approach is simple: show up, build relationships, open doors and bring others with you.

David McQueen

Advisor, Speaker and Author

David McQueen belongs on this list for the courage and clarity he brings to leadership conversations – and for the work he does beyond the spotlight. He is an authentic, direct voice who calls out what others may see but hesitate to say.

As a trusted advisor, executive coach, speaker and author of The BRAVE Leader, David helps leaders navigate pressure, growth and succession. His work developing ventures and communities, alongside his service as a trustee and non-executive director, reflects a belief that leadership is also stewardship. He builds culture and opens space for braver, more responsible leadership.

Adele Bridgeman

Founder, Talent in Residence

Adele is an award-winning People Leader and Founder of Talent in Residence, a consultancy working with cross-sector businesses including agencies, brands, charities and trade bodies, to ensure their strategic business plans are matched by the right talent strategy and execution.

Having led Talent Acquisition teams at LBG Media Group, The Marketing Store and WPP Media, her expertise lies at the intersection of business growth and talent, combining recruitment marketing, search techniques and strategic people planning to help leaders and founders drive their businesses forward. Adele provides positive representation through her visibility speaking on large stages, including during Cannes Lions.

Kianna Briggs

Head of Talent Acquisition and Inclusion, Medialab

For Kianna, getting a seat at the table was never the end goal – the real work is holding the door open and pulling up more chairs for the people coming behind her. She has increased ethnic representation at Medialab by 10% and senior female representation by 9% in a single year. She's led 11 ERGs and built two sponsorship programmes where every one of the 22 original members has gone on to progress their career.

Outside her day job, she sit son the leadership team at the Black Recruiters Network, mentors with MEFA (Media For All) and partners with social enterprises like Goodwork, Coding Black Females, Women in Tech to create non-traditional routes into the industry for talent that usually gets overlooked.

Louise Twycross-Lewis

Managing Partner & Head of Insight, PHD

Louise has led a range of pioneering initiatives at PHD, including using AI-powered qualitative chatbots for thought-leadership projects, co-creating PHD Viewermatch (the industry’s first cross-broadcaster approach to measuring VOD), and developing research for Project DeLorean, a tool designed to assess the likely effectiveness of creative media ideas. 

She is involved in several initiatives to champion cultural and ethnic diversity at PHD/OM and has twice been recognised on the EMpower Ethnic Minority Role Model List. In the past 3 years she has won Adwanted’s Future Media Leader of the Year award, featured in Campaign’s 40 over 40 list and been named as a “Black Woman Gamechanger in Media” by Join Our Table/The Media Leader.

Kola Oluwole

Director, Afrimedia

Kola is the director of Afrimedia, who for over six years, have connected brands with African and Caribbean audiences through culturally relevant advertising, production and content, built on the belief that authentic representation drives genuine connection.

Afrimedia was founded to address a gap in the market for media that truly reflects African and Caribbean identities. They believe that inclusive advertising has the power to break stereotypes, inspire audiences, and drive lasting connections between brands and communities. Their goal is to empower businesses to communicate authentically with diverse audiences, fostering a media landscape where all voices are represented and celebrated.

Bamidele Farinre

Founder, BAMS Space | No Ceiling

Bamidele operates at the vital intersection of emerging technology, policy, and human equity, actively ensuring that the future of digital innovation does not leave Black voices behind. As a Chartered Biomedical Scientist, Agile Practitioner, and founder of BAMS Space No Ceiling, her work centers on dismantling systemic barriers and creating clear, accessible pathways for underrepresented talent to thrive across STEM and tech-adjacent sectors.

She is the mastermind behind the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Diversity and Inclusion in STEM flagship project 2026/2027 on AI Equity, driving critical inquiries into algorithmic bias, digital governance, and ethical tech standards.  Additionally, through BAMS Space, she has mentored hundreds, turning her own experience of isolation into a framework for others.

Nadine Leighton

Head of Marketing, Natwest Commercial Bank

Nadine is a co-founder of Join Our Table, an award-winning marketer and co-lead of Bloom in Colour for two years, Bloom UK's IAG for women of colour and their allies, organising several events and campaigns. She has formally and informally mentored Black women in marketing for a decade, supporting early talent entering the industry and helping the industry retain Black talent supporting mid level women.

As a diversity champion within NatWest's 300-strong marketing department, she continues creating space for others to be seen and celebrated, working to create a more equitable and inclusive environment for all.

Karen Charles

Career Development Coach

A former senior leader with 18 years in digital media, Karen now supports professionals through career transitions and serves as a Senior Support Advisor on the NABS Advice Line.  Through her work with NABS and the MEFA mentor-mentee programme, she gives her time, experience and energy to others.

Beyond that, she genuinely cares - described by her nominator as someone who navigates life and hardship with an incredibly kind heart and shows up, offering more than just encouragement, and championing equity and inclusion initiatives.

Jason Warner

Managing Director UK and EMEA, SBS

Jason leads an independent programmatic business while mentoring through MEFA , with experience as both mentor and mentee. Championing diversity, inclusion and empowerment has been an important part of both his career and the way he leads, having experienced challenges and barriers that have shaped how he approaches leadership.

He's using those experiences to create a different experience for those around him, ensuring people feel supported, heard and empowered to progress. This extends to the community he's building and the clients he works with, a diverse range of agencies, brands and people. He's passionate about making sure everyone has access to the right opportunities, expertise and technology to be heard and to compete effectively.

Alicia Richardson

Founder, Black Create Connect

Alicia has built a community of over 30,000 and brought together more than 7,000 people across 40-plus in-person events, connecting Black and Brown creators to paid work, education and rooms like Cannes Lions and SXSW. Everything Alicia does flows from that same mission, connecting talented people to the rooms, the paid work, and the education that can genuinely change their trajectory.

A TEDx speaker with over 8 years in the creator economy, Alicia knows from her own experience that talent has never been the barrier, access has. So she spends her time dismantling that barrier, one connection, one event, and one open door at a time. She is a champion for the people, always thinking of ways to uplift and build communities alike.

Hannah Spence

CEO, Clockflower Solutions

Hannah founded Clockflower Solutions to help Black founders be seen, heard and given the opportunities they deserves. She has supported over 100 entrepreneurs through social media strategy, content and community building, with results including a 416% increase in reach for clients.

She has been recognised as Social Media Marketer of the Year and has worked with brands including Spotify BLK and Barclays. Through her work and events such as Be Seen & Heard, Hannah creates spaces where talented people can build connections and access opportunities they might otherwise miss.

Shanice Hoo Mills

Founder, Kallure

Shanice Hoo Mills is a communications strategist and entrepreneur using cultural intelligence to help brands connect meaningfully with the communities they serve. Through Kallure, her boutique consultancy, she brings commercial thinking and cultural insight to work across beauty, technology and consumer sectors.

Recognised as one of the UK Black Comms Network’s “9 Founders to Watch,” Shanice also speaks, mentors and judges, helping others grow in the industry. Her work amplifying cultural voices and changing narratives, and her perseverance as a founder, mentor and mother makes her an inspiring example of leadership with purpose.

Looking for more?

Hosted by The Digital Voice™'s own Marketing & Social Director, Camealia Xavier-Chihota, our Culture Chats series celebrates culture, legacy, and what changes are needed to drive progress in the media and advertising industries. Camealia chats with some of the top voices from companies such as WeTransfer, Channel 4, All3Media, esbconnect, Jellyfish, GumGum and more.

Full series available now!