Nine winners received the German Diversity Award
Düsseldorf, November 18, 2020 – Today, the BeyondGenderAgenda diversity initiative announced the winners of the 2020 German Diversity Awards during a digital award ceremony. With eight different categories, individuals and companies were honored for their outstanding commitment to diversity. In addition, BeyondGenderAgenda awarded an honorary prize to Minister of State for Digitalisation, Dorothee Bär.
The BeyondGenderAgenda initiative, founded in January 2020, presented the German Diversity Award for the first time with great response. In the online voting for the Audience Award category alone, 17,000 votes were cast for the five shortlist candidates within 15 days. Tina Müller, CEO of Douglas, won this category.
In the two overarching diversity categories, two large telecommunications providers are ahead of the curve: Timotheus Höttges, Chairman of Deutsche Telekom AG, was named Personality of the Year and Vodafone, represented by Bettina Karsch, Managing Director Human Resources, who was named Company of the Year.
Dorothee Bär, The Minister of State for Digitalisation, received this year’s honorary award from BeyondGenderAgenda. She campaigns personally and publicly for diversity and against discrimination and most recently did so when she left the Ludwig Erhard Foundation in protest of chairman, Roland Tichy.
“We are overwhelmed by the great success of our first German Diversity Award! The number and quality of the nominations, as well as the positive response to the award, were outstanding. I am convinced that we have been able to honor nine worthy winners who serve as role models and make a significant contribution to further establishing diversity as an economic success factor in Germany,” explains Victoria Wagner, founder and CEO of BeyondGenderAgenda.
Federal Health Minister, Jens Spahn emphasizes: “More important than the question of where we come from, is where we want to go together. If all citizens joint their talents, we are successful together. Skin color, gender or age must not be an obstacle. Working together in companies and in society, that is what makes us strong. That is why it is right and important that BeyondGenderAgenda with the German Diversity Award focuses on the opportunities of diversity. Our country and our companies have enormous potential. For a joint success we have to make better use of it in the 2020s.”
The winners received their awards during a digital ceremony. The trophies, designed by the renowned “„engineering artist” Thomas Schönauer, consist of two opposing wings in a network structure made of carbon fibers. Prof. Dr. Thomas Gries from the Chair of Textile Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and his team were responsible for the elaborate production of the award sculptures.
The entire award ceremony is available at the following link (video only in German): https://beyondgenderagenda.com/en/germandiversityaward/
All winners by category:
Disability:
Lina Maria Kotschedoff
Entrepreneur, Executive Coach, Keynote Speaker, Social Activist
Ethnicity:
Düzen Tekkal
Founder and Chairwoman, GermanDream and Hawar.help e.V.
Gender:
Tina Müller
CEO, Douglas
Generation:
Martin Seiler
Board member for Human Resources and Law, Deutsche Bahn
LGBT+:
Eva Kreienkamp
CEO, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG)
Audience Award:
Tina Müller
CEO, Douglas
Personality of the Year:
Timotheus Höttges
CEO, Deutsche Telekom AG
Company of the Year:
Vodafone
represented by Bettina Karsch, Managing Director Human Resources
Honorary Prize:
Dorothee Bär,
Minister of State for Digitalisation
| All sponsors by category: | ||
| Category: Disability | Sponsor: | C5H |
| Category: Ethnicity | Sponsor: | MSL |
| Category: Gender | Sponsor: | BurdaStyle |
| Category: Generation | Sponsor: | LIXIL |
| Category: LGBT+ | Sponsor: | Roland Berger |
| Category: Audience Award | Sponsor: | Philip Morris |
| Category: Personality of the Year | Sponsor: | Creditplus Bank |
| Category: Company of the Year | Sponsor: | Henkel |
| Category: Honorary Prize | Sponsor: | BeyondGenderAgenda |
| Digital award ceremony: | Sponsor: | Deutsche Post AG |
About BeyondGenderAgenda
BeyondGenderAgenda has set itself the goal of securing and expanding the international competitiveness of the German economy in the long term by integrating Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) into the DNA of listed and medium-sized companies. Based on the clear connection between D&I and business performance, equal opportunities of managers with disability, of different gender, age, cultural background, sexual orientation or gender identity in the composition of board positions and supervisory board mandates should be ensured and thus a change of culture involving politics, society and economy be brought about.
Beyond Gender Agenda GmbH
Kaiserswerther Straße 282
D- 40474 Düsseldorf
Phone: +49 211 909 889-62
Mobile: +49 173 763 671
Natalie.Antoni@BeyondGenderAgenda.com
www.BeyondGenderAgenda.com