The 21 most powerful black and ethnic minority executives in the UK, USA and Ireland

Diversity in the workplace is one of the biggest issues affecting the business world, with women, members of the LGBT community, as well as people of black and minority ethnic (BAME) origin all struggling to gain the equal representation.

However, while people from the BAME community are generally under-represented in boardrooms across Western world, there are many inspiring leaders from minority communities bringing diversity to companies in all sectors of the business sector.

To celebrate that and to raise awareness of what it calls the "diversity deficit" - UPstanding, an organisation run in conjunction with recruitment firm Audeliss, has created a ranking of the most powerful black and ethnic minority executives in the UK, USA, and Ireland, including senior figures from many of the most recognisable brands and companies operating in these countries.

Speaking about the ranking, its co-founder Suki Sandhu said: "There is a diversity deficit at the very top of organisations in both the UK and the US. We whole-heartedly believe that making diverse role models visible and celebrating them is the most powerful way to address this as you are demonstrating to the leaders of tomorrow exactly what is possible for minority ethnic groups. The message of this list is that there should be no boundaries or barriers for your potential."

Two of the world's most powerful tech executives, Sundar Pichai of Google, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella - both members of the BAME community - are absent from the list as their respective companies chose not to nominate them for the ranking.

Check out the top executives below.