THE PERSISTENT RISE OF THE ACTIVIST LEADER AROU ND THE WORLD, MORE AND MORE PROMINENT LEADERS ARE TAKING U P SOCI AL CAUSES Words / Matt Gitsham
Amanda Blanc, Aviva
Amanda Blanc has been chief executive of UK insurer Aviva since July 2020. Born and raised in the Rhondda Valley in South Wales, Amanda has held a series of senior roles across the insurance industry. As chair of the Women in Finance Climate Action Group, she has been vocal in calling for insurers to use their influence to ensure that the businesses they invest in are on a net-zero trajectory, as well as ensuring they don’t provide insurance to high-carbon industries. She has also called for more women in leadership roles at the World Bank and the IMF and has been a long-standing advocate for gender equality in the workplace. 34 — WIN TER 202 1
Tim Cook, Apple
Tim Cook has been chief executive of Apple, one of the world’s biggest companies, since 2011. Originally from Alabama, Cook has been a high-profile advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, for example tweeting in 2015 to criticise Indiana’s new anti-gay law and to call for the Arkansas governor to veto a similar proposal there: “Apple is open for everyone. We are deeply disappointed in Indiana’s new law”.
More recently, he called for the US Senate to expand federal legal protection from discrimination to LGBTQ+ Americans. Cook is also an outspoken advocate for climate action. In 2020, Apple announced its intention for its supply chain to be carbon-neutral by 2030, and Cook has frequently called for more ambitious government action on climate change, publicly criticising the Trump administration’s decision to leave the Paris Agreement in 2017.
