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Footsie grandees aim for more women on the board
05.05.09
Sir Philip Hampton of Sainsbury's, Sir John Bond of Vodafone and Roger Carr of Centrica are just three of the high-profile chairmen gathering at an event in the City today to put wannabe female board directors through their paces.
The 50 women executives, all regarded as good candidates to become non-executive directors of large companies, will be given a chance to demonstrate their skills in a “live” setting — a simulated board meeting where financial, strategic and governance issues will arise.
More than 20 chairmen in all will be at the event, which is sponsored by Sainsbury's and Vodafone and run by the Professional Boards Forum.
There have been calls to improve the diversity of City boardrooms and women hold less than 12% of FTSE 100 directorships. Roger Carr, who chairs both Centrica and Cadbury, said: “Women add considerable value to the boardroom. They help generate a more team-orientated and thoughtful atmosphere that produces better board work.”
Carr will give the keynote speech entitled The Changing and Challenging Role of the Non-executive Director.
Reader views (1)
Here we go - lets put a woman, any woman, on the board. I have worked for multinational/global corporations and can count on one hand the number of women who may have been 1) interested in persuing a career to board level, or 2) capable of making it.
Its the "interest" aspect that needs to be worked on over several years, not at the snap of fingers.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke
