Recruiter reports an increase in new women on FTSE 350 boards
MORE women are being appointed to the boards of leading UK firms than ever before, according to a new report out this week.
Korn Ferry, a major talent consulting firm, compiled the number of individuals appointed to non-executive director positions at FTSE 350 companies, finding that 39 per cent of first-time appointees last year were women.
The previous year, just 28 per cent of rookie non-executive directors had been women. In 2007, when Korn Ferry first started reporting on non-executive directors, just 11 per cent of new appointees were women.
Brenda Trenowden, global chair of the 30% Club, a group that aims to bring more women on to corporate boards, told City A.M. that she was “really pleased to see the trend”, calling it “phenomenal”.
“It is in line with all of the other activity and momentum that we have seen in the UK,” Trenowden said, citing Lord Davies’s review into increasing the number of women in management positions.
But Trenowden added that despite an increase in female representation in the boardroom, her organisation and others would not become “complacent”, instead focusing on promoting women at all levels of the corporate pipeline and encouraging other metrics of diversity.