Anthony Watson, a member of GLAAD's National Board of Directors, has been listed as one of the world's most influential business leaders by the Financial Times and on Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40.
In the Financial Times piece, titled "The 100 out and proud heroes of the business world who have risen above barriers to success," Watson is ranked as highly as 4 out of 100. He holds spot #19 on Fortune's list, which also includes folks like Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump, and Rebecca Minkoff.
"A rare openly gay executive in the C-suite of a Fortune 500 company," wrote Fortune, "the London-born Watson has been a champion of diversity throughout his career, and in 2013 became the first non-U.S. citizen to join the board of LGBT advocacy group GLAAD."
One year ago, Watson was placed 9th (out of 50 individuals) in the Financial Times newspaper’s listing of the most influential LGBT business leaders in the world.
Anthony Watson is the Chief Information Officer (“CIO”) of NIKE, Inc., where he has company-wide strategic and operational responsibility for leading and delivering all enterprise information technology across all NIKE category, product and business brands, operational and geographic business units, affiliate brands and subsidiaries, globally.
Watson is an Independent Non-Executive Director, Member of the Board, Chair of the Board Audit Committee and a Member of the Remuneration Committee of Digital Global Services, a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange. In addition, he is an ambassador for Stonewall, Europe's largest LGB equality charity and an ambassador for Diversity Role Models, the LGBT education and anti-homophobic bullying charity.
Watson is the Chair of the European Diversity Awards, Europe’s largest awards ceremony, which recognizes and celebrates individuals, organizations and companies from across Europe, that make a difference in the field of diversity and inclusion.
Congrats to GLAAD board member @AnthonyWatson - number 19 on the #Fortune40 list http://t.co/IitJMWIui8
— GLAAD (@glaad) October 9, 2014