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The chair of a report on ethnic diversity in the top ranks of British companies has said it will be “natural for white males to have fewer board seats” in the future due to the UK’s changing social demographics.
David Tyler, chair of The Parker Review, told the FT that when white, middle-aged men complained that diversity targets were the reason they missed out on jobs it was because “people need a reason for not being hired”.
“It still remains that the great majority are white men in boardrooms,” he added.
Tyler, who is chair of PZ Cussons and Domestic & General, said that “it shouldn’t be a surprise for white men to have a lower proportion of seats, it will gradually happen along with the gradual change in society. One in six of our population are from ethnic minorities and that is also set to increase gradually.
“There are more women working than ever before and more ethnic minorities also reaching senior positions.”
The comments by the former chair of supermarket chain Sainsbury’s and shopping centre business Hammerson come alongside the annual publication of The Parker Review, which uses “minorities” and “diversity” interchangeably.
It showed that executives from ethnic minorities now held a record 20 per cent of FTSE 100 board positions and 16 per cent of FTSE 250 board positions. For FTSE 100 companies this compared with 12 per cent in 2019.
In 2025 there were 14 chief executives of FTSE 100 companies with ethnic minority backgrounds, the highest number on record, as well as eight chairs and nine chief finance officers.
Bosses at Barclays, Shell, Smith & Nephew, Pearson, Unilever, Spirax Group, Hiscox, Airtel Africa, InterContinental Hotels Group, Prudential, HSBC, Hikma and British American Tobacco accounted for the minority chief executives in 2025. Diageo was included in the data, which companies self-report, as Nik Jhangiani held the interim CEO role for four months before Sir Dave Lewis was named as a permanent replacement.
There are no female chief executives of FTSE 100 companies who are from an ethnic minority group.
Average ethnic minority representation in UK-based senior management roles last year was 11 per cent across the FTSE 100 and 10 per cent in both the FTSE 250 and large private companies. Blue-chip companies have set a target of increasing that to 15 per cent by 2027 and FTSE 250 groups aim to increase the level to 13 per cent in the same period.
Within the FTSE 100, British Land and Pershing Square Holdings failed to meet the target for having one ethnic minority director. British Land appointed Raj Shah in October but he joined the business in January, outside the reporting period.
Within senior management, women represent 42 per cent of ethnic minority senior managers in the FTSE 100, 41 per cent in the FTSE 250 and 40 per cent in large private companies. The report says this suggests “that further progress will be needed to strengthen the pipeline into the most senior leadership positions”.
The Parker Review was commissioned by the government in 2015 to address the lack of ethnic diversity on UK boards.
Tyler said he “strongly didn’t agree with quotas” to boost diversity in boardrooms, adding that candidates did not want them. “It is hard to persuade yourself you’re not just there because of a quota,” he added.
He said more should be done to remove barriers preventing people from ethnically diverse backgrounds reaching the top of boardrooms, particularly in the Black community, where progress has slowed relative to ethnic minority groups.
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