D&I champions are leaders who take responsibility for instilling a diverse and inclusive workplace culture.
Most commonly, D&I champions play both a symbolic and an active strategic role. Their symbolic function is to demonstrate leadership support for diversity and inclusion by attending diversity events and delivering diversity messages to stakeholder groups within the company and externally.
They contribute to diversity strategy development and implementation by serving on diversity councils, campaigning for support from their fellow executives, and consulting with diversity leaders.
D&I Champions differ from Inclusive Leaders, although having the attributes of an inclusive leader would assist them in this role.
Some organisations may have a single diversity and inclusion champion who leads D&I across an organisation, while others may have various Champions who focus on a specific area (e.g. gender).