Damehood for Aviva boss who insists on signing off senior white male recruits

Amanda Blanc, 56, given the honour for services to business, gender equality and net zero

A LEADING FTSE boss who insists on approving all senior white male recruits has been awarded a damehood in the New Year’s Honours list.

Amanda Blanc, chief executive of Aviva, was given the honour for services to business, gender equality and net zero.

The Welsh executive, 56, has become one of the City’s most vocal supporters for more diverse boardrooms after spending three decades in the male-dominated insurance sector.

Ms Blanc told MPs last month she would personally oversee shortlists for vacant senior positions to stop them being filled entirely with white men.

She said “no non-diverse” senior hire would take place without first having sign-off from herself and the chief people officer.

The move was designed to promote diversity and ensure Aviva’s recruitment was “not just a phone call to a mate saying, ‘would you like a job, pop up and we’ll fix it up for you’”, she said.

Ms Blanc has also been forced to face down sexist comments at Aviva’s annual meeting when one private shareholder claimed female directors were skilled with money because they were good at “basic housekeeping”.

Another said Ms Blanc was “not the man for the job”, while another shareholder questioned whether she should be “wearing trousers”.

Ms Blanc has said she heard so many misogynistic comments during her 34-year spell in the City that she had become immune to it. Born and bred in a former mining community in the Rhondda Valley, Ms Blanc is known as a formidable executive and one of the few Aviva leaders of the past decade to boost the insurer’s flagging fortunes.

She was the first FTSE 100 executive to quit corporate membership of the CBI when the sexual assault scandal broke earlier this year, while many of her peers remained silent.

Her move helped trigger a wave of other resignations and major reform at the business lobby group.

At Aviva, she has put the insurer on a steadier footing, seeing off hedge fund activists and growing the company’s share price.

Also knighted in the New Year’s Honours list is Stephen Hester, the former RBS chief executive, who led the bank during the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Mr Hester, now easyJet chairman, is honoured for services to business and the economy.

The knighthood marks a return to the public fold for Mr Hester, who was effectively ousted from RBS (now known as NatWest) by the government in 2013. As a top shareholder in the bank, the Treasury had clashed with Mr Hester over strategy.

Senior business figures also in the New Year’s Honours list include Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk chief executive, who becomes a Dame.

She is honoured for services to telecommunications after the company provided critical infrastructure during the pandemic.

Gerald Ronson, the property tycoon, is also knighted for services to philanthropy and the Jewish community.

Elsewhere, Charles Woodburn, BAE Systems chief executive, is handed a CBE for services to international trade and skills development.