Surinder Sharma

National Director for Equality and Human Rights, Department of Health

Surinder Sharma took up his post as National Director for Equality and Human Rights at the Department of Health in October 2004.  Surinder has worked in the diversity field for over 30 years, gaining a reputation for success and excellence along the way.  As a fully qualified lawyer, he began his career with the Commission for Racial Equality in 1978, gaining the strategic knowledge base on which his subsequent career was built. 

He has been a Councillor at Leicester where he chaired the Housing Committee and chaired Leicester Racial Equality Council.  His career has taken him into a variety of different organisations: BBC Television, Littlewoods Retail and Ford Motor Company, where as the European Director he managed a European Team during a period of radical European transformation. 

He was a Commissioner at the Equal Opportunities Commission, where he chaired their Legal Committee. He is also a member of the Conference Board of the European Work Life Diversity Forum and a Trustee of the National Space Centre. He is also a member of the Ministry of Defence Diversity Panel, and a member of the Global Diversity & Inclusion Council at Novartis AG in Switzerland where he was a Consultant to the company on Diversity & Inclusion for over 3 years.