Meet the judges
The judges on our panel are a diverse group of accomplished professionals, each bringing a wealth of expertise and a passion for ensuring women of colour are recognised for their professional achievements.
From leaders in finance, law and digital strategy to advocates for gender equality and social entrepreneurship, our judges embody the values and mission of the PRECIOUS Awards.
They have the tough task of deciding the winners for each of our award categories. They review and score finalist submissions against the robust criteria of each award category. We’re very grateful to our judging panel for giving their time, skills and knowledge to review our incredible finalists.
The 2025 judging panel
Adonica Mansfield
Adonica is a Senior Vice President, Senior Relationship Manager within the Asset Servicing division of financial firm Northern Trust.
She's an investment professional with over 20 years’ experience in financial services managing relationships with asset managers, asset owners and alternative fund managers.
More about Adonica
Her previous roles provided for end-to-end relationship responsibility with focus on proactive involvement with clients on business development, regulatory, operational and technological issues ensuring high client satisfaction and retention.
Adonica joined Northern Trust from Bank of New York Mellon where she managed custody and fund administration relationships for their institutional asset manager clients.
She’s a dedicated advocate for increased gender and ethnic diversity within financial services, acting as mentor and co-chair of Northern Trust’s BAME professionals employee network.
Owen Valentine Pringle
Owen is a Senior Digital Strategist with over 20 years of experience across media, government, NGO and cultural sectors.
He's been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the 100 most influential Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) leaders in technology throughout the UK and Europe.
More about Owen
He’s a founding partner of Arc., a consulting partner of the 2Y3X Programme, and specialises in helping organisations to develop new ways of working against a backdrop of external change.
Owen has led digital departments at ITN, Sky, Southbank Centre and, most recently, Amnesty International and ActionAid, serving as Global Director of Digital and Global Head of Communications.
His specialisms include business transformation, organisational change, strategic development and global delivery. He’s a Non-Executive Director and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Salema Gulbahar
Salema is a specialist in supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets, social enterprises and in the application of digital technology solutions for business.
Currently, she's the Coordinator for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean within the SME Finance and Development Group at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
More about Salema
Before this, she spent several years at the OECD (the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), working on women’s entrepreneurship. She coordinated the OECD’s global networks on progress and wellbeing measurement, and managed the respective digital tools.
Salema produced the first “Women’s Enterprise Action Plan” for the Greater London Authority and also worked on the “Education for All” MDA targets at UNESCO.
Salema is multilingual, holds a MBA from École des Ponts ParisTech and a degree from SOAS, University of London.
Bilal Hilton-Leigh
Bilal is Investment Bank Data Integration Lead at UBS. Before this he founded and led Credit Suisse's Equities eData Analytics group.
His work spans several domains including data and information strategy, data management, data governance and data-related regulatory compliance.
More about Bilal
For more than a decade his work has been to create best-of-breed data organisations and driving maximum value from data, in all its forms.
Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Bilal led large-scale transformation programmes in other banks and financial services organisations.
He has 25 years’ of experience in investment banking and management consulting. He’s a diversity champion and advises on organisational imperatives to attract and retain top BAME talent.
Elias Westerdahl
Elias is a Consultant at the Centre for Synchronous Leadership (CSL), a consultancy and think tank supporting corporate changemakers since 2010.
He provides executive coaching, trains senior leaders and their teams, and researches leadership, diversity and sustainability trends.
More about Elias
As Principal Coach for CSL’s Walk the Tightrope programme, Elias helps mid-to-senior managers advance their leadership and careers. He also co-led CSL’s Mindful Exclusion research, the UK’s largest qualitative study on diversity leads and employee network leaders.
Beyond client work, Elias contributes to grassroots initiatives and leads the CSL Mentoring Scheme, aiding university students and recent graduates in leadership development.
He is Co-Editor for SEO London’s 101 Diversity & Inclusion Success Stories, showcasing inspiring stories of overcoming biases and promoting workplace inclusivity.
Sabien Khan
Sabien is an Associate General Counsel at Wellcome Trust, a politically and financially-independent global charitable foundation.
She has worked for more than 15 years as a lawyer in the not-for-profit sector.
More about Sabien
She has substantial experience advising on funding in relation to global health matters and partnerships with international global health agencies, governments and large foundations.
Sabien has served on the executive committee of the Charity Law Association (co-chairing the Legal and Tax Committee and chairing numerous working parties responding to consultations on proposed changes in legislation).
She has always been passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion and, in particular, championing matters related to social mobility.
Sabien helped establish the Wellcome Trust BAME network and is actively involved in mentoring and sponsorship. She’s extremely proud to be a judge for The PRECIOUS Awards, which she considers to be “essential now more than ever”.
Nancy Kacungira
Nancy is a multi-award-winning Ugandan journalist championing diversity, balance and nuance in narratives about the global south.
Now based in London, she anchors a range of BBC News programmes and breaking stories.
More about Nancy
As a business reporter, Nancy travelled widely to report on economic trends, interviewing world leaders and notable figures such as Bill Gates, Christine Lagarde and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while her impactful documentaries and TedX talk on African narratives saw her named as one of Africa’s 100 most influential young people in 2019 and again in 2020.
Nancy began her media career in Uganda and Kenya, where she won the inaugural BBC World News Komla Dumor Award in 2015.
With a background as an entrepreneur, Nancy co-founded the Blu Flamingo digital media agency in 2010, which currently operates in five African countries.
As a moderator, Nancy has hosted at some of the world’s most influential platforms, including UN assemblies, IMF / World Bank meetings, and her country’s first ever Presidential Debate.
Hannah Reid
Hannah is People Director of Europe, Middle East, India and Africa at Apple.
Formerly Senior HR Director of EMEA Consulting at Gartner, Hannah has more than 20 years of experience in human resources.
More about Hannah
She has held several senior roles in HR including Head of HR for the City of London Policy where she was one of the highest ranking black civilians in the UK police service.
Hannah is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Professional Development.
She sits on the boards of The Residency at the South Bank Centre, Tech Week Humber and the Edge, which is a ground-breaking facility backed by universities and local government to create career paths for under-represented talent in the north of England.
Hannah has received many accolades throughout her career, including top 100 most influential black women in the UK.