Page 102 - Powerlist 2019 - Digital Edition

Technology Baroness Oona King

Director of Diversity Strategy, Google

A little over a year since Oona moved to Silicon Valley,
she took on a new role as Director of Diversity Strategy at
internet giant Google.
It’s her second role in the tech field, after her time at
global video-sharing website YouTube, where she was
overseeing the company’s diversity strategy across content,
marketing, branding and talent.
It was in the political world where Oona first made a name
for herself. In 1997, she won the seat for MP for Bethnal
Green & Bow. Her win made her the second ever black
female MP.
After losing her seat to George Galloway in 2005, she
forged a career as a freelance journalist, broadcaster and
writer and acted as a senior policy adviser on equality and
diversity to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
She had a successful stint at Channel 4 as the
broadcaster’s head of diversity, before launching an
unsuccessful bid to become London Mayor in 2010.
In 2011, she was named as a peer in the House of Lords
and was nominated for Campaigning Peer of the Year.
Before becoming an MP, Oona was a trade union organiser
who represented low-paid workers. She also spent five years
as a researcher at the European Parliament.
Her other roles include sitting on the executive board at
the British Film Institute and patron of the Rich Mix Cultural
Foundation, a £30million project aimed at bringing different
NEW Dr Nneka Abulokwe communities together via art.
2019
Founder and CEO, MicroMax Consulting

Dr Nneka Abulokwe is one of the first black professionals
to sit on the board of a top-five European IT services
organisation. Nneka’s career spans over 25 years, during
which time she rose to become Executive Director of a
billion-pound European organisation.
Nneka is an IT governance and delivery execution
specialist. She has delivered large-scale, high-profile
projects for governments and private institutions in the UK,
Europe, Asia, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and America.
In recognition of her service to the IT industry, Nneka
recently became a Freeman of the Technologist Livery
Company. Nneka has received several professional awards
and prestigious fellowships for Royal Chartered Institutions.
While pursuing her career full-time, Nneka earned a
doctorate at the elite Cranfield School of Management. She
obtained the highest-level business qualification possible,
a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) in 2013. She
was one of the first black professionals to be awarded a
DBA, and is now one of the most qualified black business
professionals in the UK.
In 2013, Nneka joined the board of Sopra Steria, a
leading European digital transformation organisation, as
an Executive Director with overall accountability for six
corporate functions in the UK and Asia.
In 2017, Nneka founded MicroMax Consulting, a board
advisory consultancy providing advice to global boards,
governments and professional institutions. She is also a
board member of the British Computer Society.

98 Powerlist 2019