Manchester, September 5, 2022: Today at the One Young World Summit taking place in Manchester, the Valuable 500 announces that Verizon has become the lead Iconic partner for Generation Valuable – a leadership programme designed to encourage disabled leaders to become the C-Suite leaders of tomorrow and advance inclusion in business. The Valuable 500 also welcomes Allianz, The Coca-Cola Company, Grant Thornton U.K. LLP, KPMG International, Nissan Motor GB,  Quadient, Santen, Stephenson Harwood and UBS as early adopters of this game-changing programme.

The annual One Young World Summit brings together 2,000+ of the brightest young leaders from every country and sector, working to accelerate social impact both in-person and digitally. Delegates from 190+ countries are counselled by influential political, business, and humanitarian leaders to harness the knowledge and skills needed for being impactful change makers.

At the Summit, Caroline Casey, founder of the Valuable 500 and a One Young World counsellor, will discuss Diversity & Inclusion in the Creative Industries with Daniel Durant, the lead actor from the Oscar winning film, CODA and Sinead Burke, Director of Tilting the Lens. She will also take part in a session entitled ‘The Inclusion Revolution’ with Lara Partridge, Global Head of Sustainability & Talent at Santen discussing Generation Valuable.

The talent and the insight of the younger generation never fails to motivate me. They will be tomorrow’s politicians and business leaders and have the power to change the world. Whilst DE&I today warrants an agenda item in board meetings, disability often remains undiscovered and an undisclosed subject, despite affecting 14.1 million people in the U.K. and 1.3 billion worldwide. Generation Valuable proves that there is an array of disabled talent within businesses, and that opening opportunities to positions of power and leadership will create better business practices. Enabling disabled talent to flourish and reach their full potential by shattering glass ceilings is a game changer. I am delighted to welcome the first 36 companies from around the world joining the Generation Valuable programme and the leadership of Verizon.

Caroline Casey, Founder, the Valuable 500

Leaders are critical to driving changes in perception, but CEOs have been slow to speak out about disability inclusion. According to recent research,  7% of CEO’s have a direct experience of disability but 4 out of 5 of them are hiding it and if there continues to be little representation, there will always be a bias in the workplace.

At Verizon, we believe that everyone should have access to the same opportunities. We are incredibly proud to be named lead partner for Generation Valuable, and look forward to achieving meaningful progress.

Hans Vestberg, Verizon Chairman & CEO

The Valuable 500, the largest collective of global CEOs committed to disability inclusion, launched Generation Valuable, at the World Economic Forum in May. Through the power of real human connection and amplifying ‘hidden’ narratives, the gap can be closed between the leaders of today with the potential leaders of tomorrow. Generation Valuable will connect C-Suite executives with disabled talent within their businesses and will have a profound effect on both.

The initiative will help amplify the substantial contribution of disabled people and drive the cultural change needed in business. According to Return on Disability, only 4% of businesses are focused on making offerings inclusive of disabled people. Moreover, research shows that minority talent faces promotion barricades just below the Executive rung. Breaking into the executive ranks can seem nearly impossible without supportive, engaged corporate cultures. This is why we need to implement palpable schemes to make a difference – empty platitudes regarding disability inclusion within the workplace will no longer suffice.

This is a fantastic opportunity for us – in terms of both supporting one of our talented disabled colleagues, and of supporting our efforts, as a business, to accelerate disability inclusion. Disabled talent is underrepresented in senior roles in the legal sector, and we are committed to better understanding, and changing, this at Stephenson Harwood. I’m personally looking forward to gaining better insights into how we can ensure that disabled colleagues thrive and progress in our business through Generation Valuable.

Eifion Morris, CEO, Stephenson Harwood

Generation Valuable will foster new perspectives, deepen understandings, cultivate growth and attack the challenges that rising disabled talent faces once they have achieved middle management. The first cohort will consist of 75 rising stars with at least 5 years of management experience, the announcement of which will coincide with International Day for Persons with Disabilities in December. The first cohort will represent 15% of the Valuable 500 membership as it is estimated that there are 15% of people living with a disability worldwide.

The Valuable 500 collective is acting and innovating together to design and build a new business system and culture that values the disability community. Far too often people with disabilities are regarded as a monolithic group as opposed to the diverse individuals they are. With an impressive membership of 36 of the FTSE 100 companies, 48 of the Fortune 500 and 28 of Nikkei – and with 70% of its members enjoying a turnover over $1 billion and 52% of those employing over 10,000 people – the Valuable 500 has embarked on its transformation programme of embedding disability inclusion within leadership agendas and radically transforming the business system across the whole supply chain for the benefit of all.

Since the search for the future C-Suite was launched, the following companies have joined Generation Valuable:

Allianz, Alstom, ATOS, AXA Group, Boston Consulting Group, Centrica, Clifford Chance, The Coca-Cola Company, Coles Group, Deloitte, Enel, EY, Fidelity International, Grant Thornton U.K. LLP, HSBC, ISS/AS, KPMG International, ITV, L’Oréal, Macquarie Group, Mahindra, Nielsen, Nissan Motor GB, MSD,  Omnicom Group,  P&G, Quadient, Reach PLC, Roche, Santen, Springer Nature, Stephenson Harwood, TD Bank Group, Telefonica, UBS and Verizon.

Media contacts:

For interviews and further information, please contact:

Ryan Curtis-Johnson, Director of Communications, the Valuable 500

 

Charlane Robinson, Head of Communications, the Valuable 500

Notes to Editors

About the Valuable 500

The Valuable 500 was launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in January 2019. Today the Valuable 500 is the largest community of Global CEOs committed to disability inclusion in business.

Since its creation, the Valuable 500 has achieved its initial goal of getting 500 multinational organisations to make a public commitment to disability inclusion in their organisation, igniting a historic global movement for a new age of diversity in business. The Valuable 500 and their global impact partner The Nippon Foundation, will be working closely with the World Economic Forum and International Disability Alliance – bringing together a leading philanthropic organisation with the most prestigious global business network and the voice of the global disability community.

By engaging with the world’s most influential business leaders and brands, the network now has a market cap of over $23 trillion, combined revenues of over $8 trillion and employs a staggering 22 million people worldwide. Its members include 15 global CEOs and companies who will be spearheading the programmes and services to be offered under Phase 2 of the transformation programme.

The Valuable 500 is determined to create a community that supports and empowers its 500 members to systematically transform their businesses, so they include the 1.3 billion people living with disabilities worldwide, thereby unlocking their business, social and economic potential.

We believe that if business takes a lead, society and government will follow. Truly inclusive businesses can build truly inclusive societies.