BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING IN BUSINESS

DORCAS MEDIA is celebrating four years in business, and director Kevin Kelway has written a special article about gay people in business for the Devon Chamber of Commerce ‘Profile Magazine’.

Plymouth businessman Kevin Kelway says there is still a ‘glass closet’ preventing homosexual people from making it to the top in business – but things are changing.

Mr Kelway, a joint director with his long-term partner Ian Fleming, wants to see more leading gay people leading top companies and organisations.

Mr Kelway, said: “How many CEOs can we name who are gay in Devon?”

Or, who are running some of the region’s influential public or private companies?”

“Acceptance of gay people in business is growing, but still away to go in regional boardrooms and local influencers,” he says.

“Political leaders, celebrities, and religious clergy come out of the closet and able to express themselves all of the time, and it barely makes any headlines anymore. But my experience in local business, it is still very different.”

“Boardroom cultures evolve more slowly, and there is still a ‘glass ceiling’ to overcome, and especially the 50-plus business folk.”

Internationally, there are some LGBT people who have made it to the top in business including Inga Beale CEO of of Lloyds of London, Alan Joyce of Qantas, Antonio Simoes of HSBC Bank.

Suki Sandhu, chief executive of OUTstanding, the LGBT networking group, said: ‘Those on the 2016 Business Insider that published a list of gays in business were ‘an inspiration’ to anyone who fears that they may have to be closeted at work.”

July/August edition of Chamber Profile Magazine