Description
The Female FTSE Board Report 2012
Milestone or Millstone?
The Female FTSE Board Report 2012
Cran?ield International Centre for Women Leaders
Dr Ruth Sealy and Professor Susan Vinnicombe OBE
The Female FTSE board report
Supporting Sponsors:
2012
1
FOREWORD
Female FTSE Report
Getting more women onto the boards of our top companies is good for our economy and good for
women. There is growing evidence that companies with more diverse boards perform better: achieving
higher sales, higher returns on invested capital and higher returns on equity. This report shows that
more and more of our top companies are recognising the fresh perspectives, innovative ideas and
experience that top women can bring. They know that a company board that better relects its
customers is better able to understand their needs. And, as this report shows, our best businesses are
taking action.
Over the past year we have seen an unprecedented increase in the number of women on boards. If we
continue to make such strong progress, by 2015 we could more than double the percentage of women
on boards from when we started work in this area. That is hugely encouraging news.
I am also pleased to see that the number of all male boards in the FTSE 100 has nearly halved. In the
modern world, there can be no excuses for having a male?only board. That is why it is also encouraging
to see that the majority of FTSE 250 companies have at least one woman on their board for the very
irst time. That the increase of women on FTSE 250 boards has come equally from companies
appointing the irst woman to their board as companies appointing their second woman also provides
us with reassurance that this is not mere tokenism.
There is no doubt that Lord Davies’ tremendous work on this issue has been the key driving force. But I
also want to thank the companies and organisations that have helped bring about the progress we have
seen. The Financial Reporting Council’s amendments to the Corporate Governance Code will strengthen
the principle of boardroom diversity. The new code on diversity developed by the head?hunting
industry will help bring forward a wider range of candidates. And the involvement of investors who are
increasingly asking companies to demonstrate their commitment to this agenda is another welcome
sign.
I also want to praise the companies involved and especially those who have set aspirational targets for
the number of women on their boards. They are publicly demonstrating that they are the most forward
thinking companies in this country. Every big business should follow their lead.
I am proud of the progress made by British business, but there is still a long way to go. So we will now
be working with business, with Lord Davies and with other key organisations to maintain and
accelerate momentum. In particular, I want us to look at how we improve the number of women
holding senior executive positions as well as those holding non?executive directorships.
This report shows that a business?led approach can bring rapid, real and impressive results. It is now up
to business to go further and faster. We will be supporting and encouraging business to continue
achieving the positive change that is good for women, good for business and good for Britain’s economy.
Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Home Secretary and
Minister for Women and Equalities
The Female FTSE Board Report
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From The Chairman
When I talk to my fellow chairmen, I am heartened that they are prioritising gender balance in their
organisations, not only because it is the right thing to do, but more importantly because they recognise
the beneits for their businesses and for society of drawing from the widest talent pool available and of
building the strongest leadership teams we can.
A year on from the spur of the Lord Davies report, we are already seeing positive measurable impact.
Indeed the last year has seen the fastest pace of change since the inception of the Female FTSE Board
Report, and the 2011 report also indicates that the momentum continues to grow.
There is still much to be achieved, however, and those of us who sit on FTSE boards must continue to
drive this transformation purposefully within our organisations.
At Barclays, Citizenship is one of our four execution priorities, and creating an environment conducive
to gender balance is at the heart of our diversity and inclusion agenda. Citizenship spans all elements of
our business and incorporates colleagues, customers and clients, and the communities in which we
operate. We work actively to recruit, retain, develop and promote the best people, and are keen to
increase the number and proportion of women in leadership roles. Indeed, our commitment to ensuring
that our board is made up of individuals with an appropriate range of skills and experiences recognises
the beneit of diversity, in all senses of the word.
I am extremely proud of the work Barclays does within our organisation to meet our commitments in
this area. Our support of the Female FTSE Board Report continues, because Cranield’s research helps to
move the debate nationally and internationally. We are proud to play our part.
Marcus Agius
Barclays Chairman
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
The Female FTSE Board Report
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Female FTSE Index and Report 2012
Ruth Sealy & Susan Vinnicombe
Contents
Page
Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………….. 06
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………… 12
2. Methodology …………………………………………………………………………... 14
3. FTSE 100 Companies 2012 ……………………………………………………… 15
3.1 FTSE 100 Companies with Female Directors 2012 ……………………….. 15
3.2 FTSE 100 Female Directors …………………………………………………………. 19
3.3 The New FTSE 100 Director Appointments 2012 …………………………. 21
3.4 Reporting and Regulation ……………………………………………………………. 28
4. FTSE 250 Companies ………………………………………………………………. 37
4.1 FTSE 250 Companies with Female Directors ………………………………... 37
4.2 FTSE 250 Women in Top Roles ……………………………………………………. 41
4.3 Targets and Pipeline …………………………………………………………………… 44
5. Concluding Remarks ……………………………………………………………….. 48
APPENDIX: Cranield’s International Centre for Women Leaders …... 49
CONTENTS
The Female FTSE Board Report
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Executive Summary
Female FTSE Board Report 2012
Milestone or Millstone?
2012 has seen a step change in the number of women appointed onto FTSE 100 companies following
the publication of the Davies Report in February 2011. The number of women holding 163 FTSE 100
board seats is 141, an increase of 25 on the 2010 igures. There are now 20 female executive
directorships and 143 female non?executive directorships. Overall the percentage of board directors
who are female is 15%, an uplift of 2½% on what was a three year plateau. The number of companies
with no women on the board has dropped to 11 and the number of companies with more than one
woman on the board has increased to 50.
Table 13: FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 Comparison
Top Ranking of Female FTSE 100
In top place of this year’s ranking is Diageo with four women, comprising 44.4% of their board. One of
the four is Chief Financial Oficer and there are three non?executives (NEDs). In second place is
Burberry, with three women out of eight directors, which is one of only three FTSE 100 companies that
have two female executive directors (EDs). Burberry has both Chief Executive and Chief Financial
Oficer roles held by women. In third place is Pearson, who have also had two female EDs for a number
of years and have recently added a second female NED, taking their total number of women to four
(33.3%). Morrison Supermarkets, Whitbread and AstraZeneca all continue to do well with percentages
of 28%, 27% and 27% respectively. Intercontinental Hotels have added a female ED and head a further
group of nine companies who have already achieved the target of 25% set by Lord Davies. In joint 16
th
place are Royal Bank of Scotland and Marks & Spencer, each with three women out of 13 board
members (23%).
Marks & Spencer is the third company with two female EDs and since taking the data for this report in
January, they have added a fourth female director. This would have put them in joint 4
th
position, with
29%.
At January 2012 FTSE 100 FTSE 250
Female?held directorships 163 (15%) 189 (9.4%)
Female executive directorships 20 (6.6%) 28 (4.6%)
Female non?executive directorships 143 (22.4%) 168 (11.4%)
Companies with female executive directors 17 (17%) 25 (10.0%)
Companies with at least one female director 89 (89%) 135 (54%)
Companies with multiple female directors 50 (50%) 47 (18.8%)
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FTSE 250
Of the FTSE 250 companies, 135 (54%) now have women in their boardrooms, inally making those all?
male boards a minority. This igure of 135 has increased from 119, but interestingly the number of
companies with two female directors has also increased substantially from 25 to 40. This indicates that
the overall percentage increase of women on FTSE 250 boards has come equally from companies
placing their irst and also their second woman on the board. There are now 10 female CEOs and seven
inance directors on the FTSE 250 boards.
The New FTSE 100 Director Appointments 2012
The Davies Report 2011 requested that FTSE 350 companies set themselves targets for the percentage
of women on boards they aimed to achieve by 2015. It recommended a minimum target of 25% for
FTSE 100 companies. Based on the turnover igures from previous Female FTSE Reports (an average of
14% over six years), the Davies Report calculated that if one third of all new FTSE 100 board
appointments were given to women between 2011 and 2015, then from a starting point of 12.5%
female directors, a igure of 23.5% could be achieved across the FTSE 100 companies by 2015.
In the 12 months preceding January 2012, the percentage of new appointments going to women was
almost 25%. Whilst this igure does fall short of the Davies target of 33%, there has been an increase in
the turnover of board seats, which now stands at 17.5%, which will, of course, also affect the pace of
change. In the year to January 2012, 47 new appointments were taken by women, so this is almost on
the target of 50 set by Davies and shows a substantial turnaround of behaviour from those involved in
the appointment process.
As a result we have made some changes to the underlying assumptions in our model predicting the
percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards in the future. This now indicates that 26.7% of directors will
be women by 2015 and 36.9% by 2020. These igures exceed the targets set in the Davies report, but
will only be achieved if the momentum for changing the gender balance of boards continues.
The Female Pipeline
Thirty?four of the FTSE 100 companies provided the percentages of women in the workforce and at
junior, middle, senior and executive level. Forty companies provided pipeline data from FTSE 250
companies. The picture across these companies in general is very varied. Clearly some companies are
investing in their female talent pools and this is relected in the numbers of women at senior and
executive level, but there is still a huge amount to be done if management want to have more female
executive directors.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Female FTSE Board Report
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FTSE 100 Ranking
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
1st 44.44 9 4 DIAGEO PLC
Deirdre Mahlan, Peggy
Bruzelius, Laurence Danon,
Betsy DeHaas Holden
Dr Franz Humer
2nd 37.50 8 3 BURBERRY GROUP PLC
Angela Ahrendts, Stacey
Cartwright, Stephanie George
John Peace
3rd 33.33 12 4 PEARSON PLC
Dame Marjorie Scardino, Rona
Fairhead, Vivienne Cox,
Professor, Dr Susan Fuhrman
Glen Moreno
4th 28.57 7 2
MORRISON(WM.)
SUPERMARKETS PLC
Penny Hughes, Johanna Sir Ian Gibson
5th 27.27 11 3 WHITBREAD PLC
Wendy Becker, Susan Hooper,
Susan Martin
Tony Habgood
5th 27.27 11 3 ASTRAZENECA PLC
Michele Hooper, Dame Nancy
Rothwell, Baroness Shriti Vadera
Dr Louis Schweitzer
7th 25.00 12 3
INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTELS GROUP PLC
Tracy Robbins, Jennifer Laing,
Ying Yeh
David Webster
7th 25.00 8 2 SAGE GROUP PLC Tamara Ingram, Ruth Markland Tony Hobson
7th 25.00 12 3 NATIONAL GRID PLC
Linda Adamany, The Rt. Hon.
Ruth Kelly, Maria Richter
Sir Peter Gershon
7th 25.00 12 3 CENTRICA PLC
Margherita Della Valle, Mary
Francis, Lesley Knox
Sir Roger Carr
7th 25.00 12 3 BT GROUP PLC
The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt,
Karen Richardson, Jasmine
Whitbread
Sir Mike Rake
7th 25.00 12 3
BRITISH AMERICAN
TOBACCO PLC
Dr Karen de Segundo, Ann
Godbehere, Christine Morin?
Richard Burrows
7th 25.00 12 3 STANDARD LIFE PLC
Jackie Hunt, Baroness Margaret
McDonagh, Sheelagh Whittaker
Gerry Grimstone
7th 25.00 12 3 UNILEVER PLC
Professor Louise Fresco, Ann
Fudge, Hixonia Nyasulu
Michael Treshchow
7th 25.00 12 3 BAE SYSTEMS PLC
Linda Hudson, Doctor Harriet
Green, Paula Reynolds
Dick Olver
16th 23.08 13 3
ROYAL BANK OF
SCOTLAND GROUP PLC
Alison Davis, Penny Hughes,
Baroness Sheila Noakes
Sir Philip Hampton
16th 23.08 13 3 MARKS & SPENCER
Kate Bostock, Laura Wade?
Gery, Martha Lane Fox
Robert Swannell
18th 22.22 9 2 WOLSELEY PLC Tessa Bamford, Karen Witts Gareth Davis
18th 22.22 18 4 HSBC HLDGS PLC
Safra Catz, The Hon. Laura Cha,
Rona Fairhead, Rachel Lomax
Douglas Flint
18th 22.22 9 2 KINGFISHER PLC Clare Chapman, Dr Janis Kong Daniel Bernard
18th 22.22 9 2 CAIRN ENERGY PLC Jann Brown, Jackie Sheppard Sir Bill Gammell
22nd 21.43 14 3 AVIVA
Mary Francis, Euleen Goh, Gay
Huey Evans
Lord Sharman of Redlynch
22nd 21.43 14 3 TESCO PLC
Lucy Neville?Rolfe, Karen Cook,
Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker
Sir Richard Broadbent
24th 20.00 10 2 EXPERIAN PLC
Fabiola Arredondo de Vara,
Judith Sprieser
John Peace
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FTSE 100 Ranking (cont’d)
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
24th 20.00 10 2 G4S PLC
Winnie Fok Kin, Dr Clare
Spottiswoode
Alf Duch?Pedersen
24th 20.00 10 2 CAPITA PLC Maggi Bell, Martina King Martin Bolland
24th 20.00 10 2 SHIRE PLC Susan Kilsby, Anne Minto Matt Emmens
24th 20.00 10 2 SAINSBURY(J) PLC Anna Ford, Mary Harris David Tyler
24th 20.00 10 2
IMPERIAL TOBACCO
GROUP PLC
Alison Cooper, Susan Murray Iain Napier
24th 20.00 10 2 SSE PLC Katie Bickerstaffe, Susan Rice Lord Smith of Kelvin
24th 20.00 15 3 GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC
Dr Stephanie Burns, Stacey
Cartwright, Judy Lewent
Sir Chris Gent
24th 20.00 10 2
RECKITT BENCKISER
GROUP PLC
Liz Doherty, Judith Sprieser Adrian Bellamy
24th 20.00 10 2 MAN GROUP PLC Alison Carnwath, Nina Shapiro John Aisbitt
34th 18.75 16 3 WPP PLC
Esther Dyson, Orit Gadiesh,
Lubna Olayan
Ambassador Philip Lader
35th 18.18 11 2 ANGLO AMERICAN PLC
Cynthia Carroll, Dr Mamphela
Ramphele
Sir John Parker
35th 18.18 11 2 ADMIRAL GROUP PLC Margaret Johnson, Lucy Alastair Lyons
35th 18.18 11 2
LAND SECURITIES GROUP
PLC
Stacey Rauch Alison Carnwath
35th 18.18 11 2
RSA INSURANCE GROUP
PLC
Noe? l Harwerth, Johanna John Napier
35th 18.18 11 2 SMITH & NEPHEW PLC
Professor, Dr Genevie? ve Berger,
Dr Pam Kirby
Dr John Buchanan
40th 17.65 17 3 SABMILLER PLC
Lesley Knox, Dambisa Moyo,
Helen Weir
Dr Jacob Kahn
41st 16.67 12 2
LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP
PLC
Dame Clara Furse, Julia Wilson John Stewart
41st 16.67 12 2 BHP BILLITON PLC
Carolyn Hewson, Baroness Shriti
Vadera
Jac Nasser
41st 16.67 12 2 BARCLAYS PLC Alison Carnwath, Dambisa Moyo Marcus Agius
41st 16.67 6 1 ASHMORE GROUP PLC Melda Donnelly The Hon. Michael Benson
45th 15.38 13 2 BRITISH LAND CO PLC
Lucinda Bell, The Hon. Dido
Harding
Dr Chris Gibson?Smith
45th 15.38 13 2 ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC Christine Morin?Postel, Linda Jorma Ollila
45th 15.38 13 2 ARM HLDGS PLC
Kathleen O'Donovan, Janice
Roberts
Doug Dunn
48th 14.29 14 2 RIO TINTO PLC Vivienne Cox, Ann Godbehere Jan Du Plessis
48th 14.29 14 2 VODAFONE GROUP PLC Renee James, Anne Lauvergeon Dr Gerard Kleisterlee
48th 14.29 7 1 SERCO GROUP PLC Angie Risley Alastair Lyons
48th 14.29 7 1
UNITED UTILITIES GROUP
PLC
Dr Catherine Bell Dr John McAdam
48th 14.29 7 1 ITV PLC Lucy Neville?Rolfe Archie Norman
53rd 12.50 8 1 HAMMERSON PLC Judy Gibbons John Nelson
53rd 12.50 8 1 SMITHS GROUP PLC Anne Quinn Donald Brydon
53rd 12.50 8 1 BUNZL PLC Eugenia Ulasewicz Labbancz Philip Rogerson
53rd 12.50 8 1 TATE & LYLE PLC Liz Airey Sir Peter Gershon
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Female FTSE Board Report
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FTSE 100 Ranking (cont’d)
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
53rd 12.50 8 1
ASSOCIATED BRITISH
FOODS PLC
Emma Adamo Charles Sinclair
53rd 12.50 8 1 ICAP PLC Diane Schueneman Charles Gregson
53rd 12.50 8 1 MEGGITT PLC Brenda Reichelderfer Sir Colin Terry
53rd 12.50 8 1 REXAM PLC Noreen Doyle Peter Ellwood
61st 11.76 17 2
STANDARD CHARTERED
PLC
Val Gooding, Ruth Markland John Peace
61st 11.76 17 2 PRUDENTIAL PLC Ann Godbehere, Kathleen Harvey McGrath
63rd 11.11 9 1 REED ELSEVIER PLC Lisa Hook Tony Habgood
63rd 11.11 9 1
HARGREAVES LANSDOWN
PLC
Tracey Taylor Mike Evans
63rd 11.11 9 1 EVRAZ PLC Olga Pokrovskaya Alexander Abramov
63rd 11.11 9 1 NEXT PLC Christine Cross John Barton
63rd 11.11 9 1 JOHNSON MATTHEY PLC Dorothy Thompson Tim Stevenson
63rd 11.11 9 1 COMPASS GROUP PLC Susan Murray Sir Roy Gardner
63rd 11.11 9 1 PETROFAC LTD Dr Roxanne Decyk Norman Murray
63rd 11.11 9 1
POLYMETAL
INTERNATIONAL PLC
Marina Gro? nberg Bobby Godsell
71st 10.00 10 1 GKN PLC Shonaid Jemmett?Page Roy Brown
71st 10.00 10 1 RESOLUTION LTD Denise Mileham Mike Biggs
71st 10.00 10 1 IMI PLC Anita Frew Roberto Quarta
74th 9.09 11 1 SEVERN TRENT PLC Baroness Sheila Noakes Andy Duff
74th 9.09 11 1 WEIR GROUP Melanie Gee Lord Smith of Kelvin
74th 9.09 11 1
EURASIAN NATURAL
RESOURCES CORP PLC
Dr Zaure Zaurbekova Dr Johannes Sittard
74th 9.09 11 1 OLD MUTUAL PLC Mar?? a Sanz Patrick O'Sullivan
74th 9.09 11 1 TULLOW OIL PLC Ann Grant Simon Thompson
79th 8.33 12 1 CRH PLC Maeve Carton Kieran McGowan
79th 8.33 12 1
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP
PLC
Anita Frew Sir Win Bischoff
81st 7.69 13 1
INTERNATIONAL POWER
PLC
Isabelle Kocher Dirk Beeuwsaert
81st 7.69 13 1 SCHRODERS PLC Merlyn Lowther Henry Miles
83rd 7.14 14 1 BG GROUP PLC Baroness Sarah Hogg Sir Robert Wilson
83rd 7.14 14 1
BRITISH SKY
BROADCASTING GROUP
PLC (BSKYB)
Dame Gail Rebuck James Murdoch
83rd 7.14 14 1
CAPITAL SHOPPING
CENTRES GROUP PLC
Lady Louise Patten David Burgess
83rd 7.14 14 1 CARNIVAL PLC Laura Weil Micky Arison (Executive)
83rd 7.14 14 1
INTERNATIONAL
CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES
GROUP SA (IAG)
Baroness Denise Kingsmill Antonio Vazquez Romero
88th 6.67 15 1 BP PLC Cynthia Carroll Carl?Henric Svanberg
88th 6.67 15 1
ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS
PLC
Dame Helen Alexander Sir Simon Robertson
90th 0.00 6 0 VEDANTA RESOURCES PLC Anil Agarwal (Executive)
91st 0.00 7 0 INTERTEK GROUP PLC David Reid
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FTSE 100 Ranking (cont’d)
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
92nd 0.00 8 0 AMEC PLC John Connolly
92nd 0.00 8 0 ESSAR ENERGY PLC Prashant Ruia
92nd 0.00 8 0
GLENCORE
INTERNATIONAL PLC
Simon Murray
95th 0.00 9 0 ANTOFAGASTA PLC
Jean?Paul Fontbana
(Executive)
95th 0.00 9 0 KAZAKHMYS PLC Dr Vladimir Kim (Executive)
95th 0.00 9 0
RANDGOLD RESOURCES
LTD
Philippe Lietard
98th 0.00 10 0 AGGREKO PLC Philip Rogerson
98th 0.00 10 0 FRESNILLO PLC
Dr Alberto Bailleres
Gonzalez
100th 0.00 13 0 XSTRATA PLC Sir John Bond
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Female FTSE Board Report
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1. Introduction
Will FTSE companies voluntarily increase the numbers of women on their boards to set up a milestone
on the road to gender equality in line with the recommendations of the Lord Davies report, or will the
Government be compelled to enact enabling legislation to achieve gender equality at board level,
creating what many will see as a burdensome responsibility, a millstone? The questions are urgent.
This is the thirteenth year of our Female FTSE Report
1
. When we began the annual report in 1999, we
analysed only the women directors on the FTSE 100 boards and even that was a challenging task as
there were no established data bases for the information we required. The advent of BoardEx has made
the names and the numbers of women board members easy to access. We at Cranield University’s
School of Management, however, pride ourselves that we go beyond the igures to analyse the trends
and drill down to bring rich interpretations of the data to the surface, using the latest international
academic research. We hope to provide what one global TV network calls “the back story” to our
census.
This has been a tremendously challenging year. Lord Davies published his report on women on boards
in March 2011. We were commissioned to produce a six?month monitoring report for him by October
2011 in which we gauged the initial responses of the FTSE 350 companies to the Davies report
recommendations, presenting our indings to the Prime Minster at No. 10 Downing Street.
Now our Female FTSE Board report 2012 serves as another marker — one year after the publication of
Lord Davies’ “Women on Boards.” In this report we focus on the jump in the number of women being
appointed to the top corporate boards and explain why we are optimistic about this development. We
also examine the female talent pipeline to boardroom positions ? another reason for optimism.
When we initiated our research we focused instinctively on women in executive directorships as they
represent the female talent that has been nurtured and developed in their own organisations — the
direct pipeline to the board. Sadly, over the past 13 years, this number of women executive directors in
the FTSE 100 companies has increased from only 13 in 1999 to 20 this year. This compares with a
igure of 285 male executive directors. The reason for this is partly down to the Higgs Report in 2003
that changed the face of UK public boards by recommending an increase in the number of non?
executive directors (NEDs) while diminishing the number of executive directors (EDs). But this alone
does not excuse the lack of progress made by CEOs in promoting women to these top positions.
When we speak about a target of 25%, as in the Davies report recommendations, or the 40% quota in
Norway, we mask the increasingly wide chasm between the numbers of women NEDs (143 women ?
22.4%) compared with the numbers of women EDs (20 women — 6.6%). As Andrew Hill wrote
recently in The Financial Times, “endlessly batting the boardroom quota question back and forth
distracts companies from the scarcity of women in their executive ranks.”
1
The Female FTSE Report is independently calculated by the Cranield School of Management (“Cranield”). The
Female FTSE Report is not in any way sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by FTSE International Limited
(“FTSE”), the London Stock Exchange Plc (the “Exchange”), The Financial Times Limited (“FT”) (together the
“Licensor Parties”) and none of the Licensor Parties makes any claim, prediction, warranty or representation
whatsoever, expressly or impliedly in relation to the Female FTSE Report or related material. FTSE® (the “Trade
Mark”) is a Trade Mark of the Exchange and the FT and is used by FTSE under licence. Cranield has been licensed
as a Trade Mark by FTSE for use in the Female FTSE Report and related material.
13
In this report, our feature on the female pipeline presents a mixed picture. Many companies seem to
struggle to identify the women they employ at junior, middle and senior levels! Others vary
dramatically in the numbers of women at senior executive level. It is clear now that many major
corporations are successful at attracting women at entry level, at developing them and retaining them
after maternity leaves, but are still spectacularly unsuccessful at promoting them to executive level. Like
many other researchers, we have written about the importance of social capital and the link between
“old boys” networks, power and promotion to the top. It is surely time that management takes this
research more seriously.
On a positive note, we are happy to announce our trajectory for the increase in the number of women
on FTSE 100 boards, which is 26.7% by 2015. We have never doubted the existence of a considerable
female pipeline of talent available for (particularly) NED positions. There is no glass ceiling here.
Rather it is a bottleneck of talent from not only the corporate sector, but also the public sector, the
voluntary sector, unquoted companies, private equity companies, and signiicant entrepreneurs. Our
“100 women to watch” section this year includes a number of women holding CEO roles in the
voluntary sector. We hope that Jasmine Whitbread’s recent appointment to the BT board paves the way
for many other women.
INTRODUCTION
The Female FTSE Board Report
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2. Methodology
We accessed data on each company from many sources, including the Boardex database, annual reports
and corporate websites. The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 listings were taken as at January 10
th
2012 and
most of the data for the main study were taken from the public domain. Where we have looked at time
period data (e.g. percentage of new appointments) we have used the 12 months from January 2011, not
the 15 month period to our last report in 2010. We contacted FTSE 350 Company Secretaries to request
information on stated board targets, pipeline gender metrics and some of the featured Case Studies. We
would particularly like to thank Julie Bamford and Sheila Doyle of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries
and Administrators for their assistance in this matter.
We used SPSS software for correlation analyses to examine relationships between variables, using t?
tests to see if means were signiicantly different.
Following two years’ success of our “100 Women to Watch” supplement, we have updated the list for
this year’s report. The data were predominantly taken from the public domain. Ten women from last
year’s list have gone on to obtain FTSE 350 board directorships.
We would like to thank Helen Bruce, Doctoral Researcher, who helped with the data gathering.
15
3. FTSE 100 Companies 2012
3.1 FTSE 100 Companies with Female Directors 2012
In the 12 months preceding January 2012, there was a signiicant amount of activity around increasing
the percentage of women on boards in the UK as well as the rest of the world. After a decade of
incremental increases, we are pleased to be reporting improvements that are a little more substantive.
As at January 2012, we now have 163 female held directorships in 89 of the FTSE 100 boardrooms.
This means the percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards in January 2012 has increased to 15.0% and
the percentage of female Executive Directors has risen to 6.6%. Ten more companies have women on
their boards than in 2010 and 50% of companies now have more than one woman on the board,
demonstrating that we are moving away from tokenism. At the time of going to press (March 1st 2012)
the headline igure had risen again to 15.6%.
Table 1: Female FTSE Index 2009?2012
In top place of this year’s ranking is Diageo with four women, comprising 44.4% of their board (see
Executive Summary Table). One of the four is Chief Financial Oficer and there are three non?executives
(NEDs). In second place is Burberry, with three women out of eight directors; one of only three FTSE
100 companies that have two female executive directors (EDs). Burberry has both Chief Executive and
Chief Financial Oficer roles held by women. In third place is Pearson, who have also had two female
EDs for a number of years and have recently added a second female NED, taking their total number of
women to four (33.3%). Morrison Supermarkets, Whitbread and AstraZeneca all continue to do well
with 29%, 27% and 27% respectively. Intercontinental Hotels have added a female ED and head a
further group of nine companies who have already achieved the target of 25% set by Lord Davies. In
joint 16
th
place are Royal Bank of Scotland and Marks & Spencer, each with three women out of 13
board members (23%).
Marks & Spencer is the third company with two female EDs and since taking the data for this report in
January, they have added a fourth female director. This would have put them in joint 4
th
position, with
29%. Also during February 2012, and so not included in the Executive Summary table, Lloyds Banking
Group, BP, Admiral, BG Group, Tesco and United Utilities have all added another female NED. For Tesco
and United Utilities, this addition means they have reached the 25% target.
Female FTSE 100 2012 (15 mths) 2010 2009
Female held directorships 163 (15.0%) 135 (12.5%) 131 (12.2%)
Female executive directorships 20 (6.6%) 18 (5.5%) 17 (5.2%)
Female NEDs 143 (22.4%) 117 (15.6%) 114 (15.2%)
Women holding FTSE directorships 141 116 113
Companies with female executive
directors
17 16 15
Companies with at least one female
director
89 79 75
Companies with multiple female
directors
50 39 37
Companies with no female directors 11 21 25
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
16
A further 15 companies have at least 20% female directors – Wolseley, HSBC, Kingisher, Cairn Energy,
Aviva, Experian, G4S, Capita, Shire, Sainsbury, Imperial Tobacco, SSE, Glaxosmithkline, Reckitt
Benckiser and Man Group. Particular congratulations go to Wolseley who have moved from 90
th
position in 2010, with no women on the board to joint 18
th
with two women among their nine board
members.
The 11 FTSE 100 companies who remain entirely?male boards are:
? Vedanta Resources*
? Intertek Group
? AMEC
? Essar Energy
? Glencore International
? Antofagasta*
? Kazakhmys*
? Randgold Resources
? Aggreko
? Fresnillo
? Xstrata
*It is interesting to note that three out of only four FTSE 100 companies with Executive Chairmen roles
are among these eleven. This demonstrates disregard for another element of the UK Governance Code.
3.1.1 FTSE 100 Companies with Women in Top Roles
There are 17 FTSE 100 companies who have women in top executive roles on the corporate board.
Burberry, Pearson and Marks & Spencer all have two such women. It is encouraging that FTSE 100
companies with female executive directors represent a spread of sectors, some of which would not
historically be considered ‘female?friendly’ (such as oil & gas, mining, construction & building,
aerospace & defence) and yet they lead the way with women in their most senior executive posts.
There are four female CEOs of FTSE 100 companies: Angela Ahrendts (Burberry), Dame Marjorie
Scardino (Pearson), Alison Cooper (Imperial Tobacco), Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American).
There are four new female Chief Financial Oficers in the FTSE 100 index this year. They are Liz Doherty
(Reckitt Benckiser) and Lucinda Bell (British Land), both new appointments, and Maeve Carton (CRH)
and Tracey Taylor (Hargreaves Lansdown), whose companies are new to the FTSE 100. They join
Deirdre Mahlan (Diageo), Stacey Cartwright (Burberry), Jackie Hunt (Standard Life), Jann Brown (Cairn
Energy), Dr Zaure Zaurbekova (Eurasian Natural Resources), to make a total of nine female CFOs.
It is, however, a disappointment that there is only one FTSE 100 company with a woman holding the
position of Chairman. This is Alison Carnwath at Land Securities.
17
Table 2: Proile of 17 companies with female executive directors
3.1.2 Trends in Board Composition
Following the 2003 Higgs Review recommending better balance between NEDs and EDs on FTSE
boards, there has been a year?on?year decrease in the numbers of executive directorships. Once again
the number of EDs is at its lowest since 1999, and now 72% of companies have only one, two or three
EDs on their board. Contradicting this trend, the number of NEDs increased by 30 this year, taking it to a
new high of 781 and taking the total number of FTSE 100 directorships to 1086.
Rank
Femal
e FTSE
Company
% Female
Board
No. of
Female
Directors
No. Female
Executive
Directors
Executive Roles Sector
Women in
Executive Roles
1st DIAGEO 44.4% 4 1 Chief Financial Oficer Beverages Deirdre Mahalan
2nd BURBERRY GROUP 37.5% 3 2
Chief Executive Oficer,
Chief Financial Oficer
Food, Drug &
General Retailers
Angela Ahrendts,
Stacey Cartwright
3rd PEARSON 33.3% 4 2
Chief Executive Oficer,
Divisional CEO
Media
Dame Marjorie
Scardino, Rona
Fairhead
7th
INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTELS GROUP PLC
25.0% 3 1 Global HR & Operations Leisure & Hotels Tracy Robbins
7th STANDARD LIFE PLC 25.0% 3 1 Chief Financial Oficer Life Assurance Jackie Hunt
7th BAE SYSTEMS PLC 25.0% 3 1 Chief Operations Oficer
Aerospace &
Defence
Linda Hudson
16th MARKS & SPENCER 23.1% 3 2
ED General Merchandise,
ED E?Commerce
Food, Drug &
General Retailers
Kate Bostock,
Laura Wade?Gery
18th CAIRN ENERGY PLC 22.2% 2 1
Managing Director &
Finance Director
Utilities, Oil, Gas &
Electricity
Jann Brown
22nd TESCO PLC 21.4% 3 1 Corporate/Legal Affairs Retail Lucy Neville?Rolfe
24th CAPITA PLC 20.0% 2 1 Business Development Support Services Maggi Bell
24th
IMPERIAL TOBACCO
GROUP
20.0% 2 1 Chief Executive Oficer Tobacco Alison Cooper
24th
RECKITT BENCKISER
GROUP PLC
20.0% 2 1 Chief Financial Oficer
Clothing, Leisure &
Personal Products
Liz Doherty
35th ANGLO AMERICAN 18.2% 2 1 Chief Executive Oficer Mining Cynthia Carroll
45th BRITISH LAND CO PLC 15.4% 2 1 Finance Director Real Estate Lucinda Bell
63rd
HARGREAVES
LANSDOWN PLC
11.1% 1 1 Group Finance Director
Speciality & Other
Finance
Tracey Taylor
74th
EURASIAN NATURAL
RESOURCES CORP PLC
9.1% 1 1 Chief Financial Oficer Mining
Dr Zaure
Zaurbekova
79th CRH PLC 8.3% 1 1 Group Finance Director
Construction &
Building Materials
Maeve Carton
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
18
Table 3: Composition of Boards 2012
Since 1999 we have seen a year?on?year decrease in the total number of directors on the FTSE 100
boards…until this year. The increase of ten extra directorships on the 100 boards may not seem a
signiicant increase, but it is the irst in a decade. In the 2010 report we did note that the numbers
appeared to have stabilised and suggested that seven years after the Higgs Review on boards
2
recommended a rebalancing of the ED/NED ratio, boards had found their optimal composition.
However, in order to pre?empt any questions about whether having more women on boards is the
cause of this increase (although there is no evidence that that in itself is a negative outcome), we have
investigated the changing numbers since the 2010 report.
Companies move in and out of the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 listings according to their rankings in size,
based on market capitalisation. There has been an increase in between?listings movement over the past
few years, probably due to economic turbulence. In addition, there has been quite a sharp reduction in
the total number of executive board directorships, with an increase in NEDs. This may also be a
response to tough economic climes or a redeinition of an ‘effective’ board.
Of the 100 companies in the 2012 FTSE 100 listing, 89 had been on the list from the 2010 Female FTSE
Report. Of these 89 companies, 30 have not changed their board size. Of the 59 companies that have
changed their board size, 39 increased their board size (adding 56 new directorships), but
simultaneously 20 reduced their board size (eliminating 31 directorships). Several of the boards adding
women also added men. These gave a total net increase of 25 directorships amongst those 89
companies who have remained in the FTSE 100.
The 11 companies who left the FTSE 100 during that period took a total of 115 directorships with them,
whereas the 11 new companies brought a total of 100 directorships into the FTSE 100.
Therefore, the overall increase in total directorships from 1,076 to 1,086 is due to a combination of an
additional 25 directorships and a net reduction of 15 directorships lost through irms leaving the index.
3.1.3 Characteristics of FTSE 100 Companies with Female Directors
As in previous years, we report on any signiicant differences between companies with and those
without female directors. For the irst time, market capitalisation is not signiicantly higher in
companies with women on the board, nor do irms with female directors have signiicantly larger
workforces. This demonstrates that size of companies cannot be used as an excuse for a lack of gender
diversity. Board size is higher (p = 0.001), averaging 11.1 directors for companies with female directors
compared to 8.8 directors for all?male boards. However, just using averages hides a wide variance, for
example, board sizes range from 6 to 18 across the FTSE 100.
Female FTSE 100 2012 2010 2009 2008 2004 1999
Total FTSE 100 NEDs 781 751 748 763 712 610
Total FTSE 100 Executive
Directors
305 325 330 353 418 645
Total FTSE 100 Directorships 1086 1076 1078 1116 1130 1255
2
Higgs Review, 2003
19
3.2 FTSE 100 Female Directors
3.2.1 Women holding Multiple Directorships
On FTSE 100 boards, 141 women hold 163 directorships. Since the Norwegian quota on women on
boards, much has been made of “The Golden Skirts” – those women who apparently hold a large
number of NED positions. However, research by Tiegen & Heidenreich (2010), from the Institute for
Social Research in Oslo, dispels this myth by clearly demonstrating that the percentage of women with
multiple directorships is lower than that of men. We can report that in the UK there is no signiicant
difference between the number of directorships held by women and men, nor has this situation changed
with the recent increases of female representation.
Table 4: Multiple Directorships
3.2.2 Female FTSE 100 Directors’ Age and Tenure
Overall, the female directors in 2012 are 3 years younger (p=0.001) than their male peers, with an
average age of 55.1, compared to 58.1 for male directors (based on 1,055 directors for whom we had
ages). The difference between the ages of male and female executive directors was not signiicant. The
women have signiicantly shorter tenure (p=0.001). See table 5.
Table 5: Age and Tenure
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
FTSE 100 Boards
Total
Directors
1 seat 2 seats 3 seats 4 seats
Male Directors 820 88.7% (727) 10.1% (83) 1.2% (10) 0
Female Directors 141 85.8% (121) 12.8% (18) 1.4% (2) 0
2012 AGE TENURE
All Execs NEDs All Execs NEDs
Men 58.1 52.4 60.7 5.2 6.2 4.7
Women 55.1 51.7 55.5 3.5 4.1 3.4
The Female FTSE Board Report
20
3.2.3 FTSE 100 Directors’ Nationality and Ethnicity
With 62 directorships held by individuals coming from non?European ethnic backgrounds (up from 53
last year), the overall proportion of ethnic minority male and female directors in the FTSE 100 has
increased slightly to 5.7%.
There has been little change in the number of female directors from minority ethnic groups. There are
14 women (9.9% of female directors), and all but one are non?executives. Zaure Zaurbekova, a Kazakh
national at Eurasian Natural Resources, is the only executive director. At WPP, Lubna Suliman Olayan is
a Saudi national, and Orit Gadiesh is American. Michele Hooper of AstraZeneca is African?American, as
is Ann Fudge at Unilever. Hixonia Nyasulu at Unilever and Dr. Mamphela Ramphele at Anglo American
are both South African nationals. Ying Yeh at Intercontinental Hotels, Safra Catz and the Hon. Laura Cha
at HSBC, Winnie Kin Wah Fok of G4S and Euleen Goh at Aviva are of Chinese descent and Dambisa Moyo
at Sabmiller and Barclays is Zambian. Baroness Shriti Vadera, NED at BHP Billiton and AstraZeneca is
the only British national among this group of female directors.
The largest minority groups of non?European descent amongst the men are from the Indian sub?
continent (21 men), and from Africa (10 men). There are four male directors of Middle?Eastern origin,
eight of Chinese/Japanese/Korean origin and ive male directors from Central Asia. Seven of the 48 men
are known to have British nationality.
“Diageo supports diversity within its board of directors, including gender diversity. Currently there
are four female directors, out of a total of nine board members. We believe that all four bring a wealth
of international business experience and are an asset to the company and the board. Without seeking
to set a speciic goal for female representation on the board, it remains our aspiration to maintain a
high level of diversity, including gender diversity, within the boardroom, appropriate to and
relecting the global nature of the company and the strategic imperatives the board has agreed upon.
Diageo has set itself a goal to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the company
and is making good progress towards this objective. Globally, women comprise 35% of our total
workforce with 27% currently illing the most senior leadership positions. In addition, women
represent 35% of mid?level management. Moreover, women comprise approximately 50% of all
graduates and a signiicant percentage of Diageo’s new hires and managers.
We recognize that women and men often face different challenges, and this is especially true for
women who are building a career while raising a family. We encourage lexibility of career paths, with
the ability to step on and off the fast track, and multiple opportunities to connect with diverse role
models. We are committed to retaining and developing our women for leadership roles and
sustaining an inclusive culture, and that includes creating a work environment that supports our
people throughout their careers. At Diageo, workplace lexibility is about working innovatively to
manage our lives at work and at home. It could be as informal as shifting a few hours to
accommodate a doctor’s appointment, or as formal as a reduced schedule. We also have an internal
networking and afinity group, Spirited Women that connects women across the globe. Through a
series of formal and informal sessions, we encourage women to expand their ambitions and aim even
higher in their careers.”
Case Study ? DIAGEO
Women as Leaders
21
Examining the nationality of directors (74% reported), we ind that 65% of all male directors compared
to 55% of all female directors hold British nationality. Interestingly, a further 12% of males but only 9%
of females hold EU citizenship. North Americans (USA and Canada) hold 11% of the male directorships,
but 29% of the female directorships.
3.3 The New FTSE 100 Director Appointments 2012
For two years in the Female FTSE Report we have researched the appointment process to FTSE 100
board directorships. In the 2010 Report, we recounted “Conversations with the Chairmen” regarding
the role that they played in the process. In the Davies Report of 2011, the role of Executive Search Firms
(ESFs) was highlighted in encouraging best practice in board recruitment and later this year we will
publish some research, commissioned by the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC), into the
impact of the new Voluntary Code for ESFs. Without legislative intervention, the natural turnover of
directors is the mechanism through which any change in the demographic composition of boards will
occur and therefore, in addition to the status quo, we also monitor the pace of change.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
“Rolls?Royce has disclosed the proportion of women on the board, in senior executive positions and
female employees in the whole organisation in the 2011 annual report (due out March 2012). Overall
female representation across the global workforce is 15%, 7% at the senior executive level, 6% in our
Group Leadership Team and 7% in our Board of Directors. Approximately two thirds of the
workforce is in Engineering or Manufacturing roles where female representation has been
historically low. Rolls?Royce counters this through active involvement in education outreach and has
found female graduate recruitment has steadily increased over recent years. 25% of participants on
their graduate development programmes are female and this increases signiicantly in functions
outside of Engineering and Manufacturing.
Rolls?Royce’s global governance framework for diversity includes a senior executive Global Diversity
Steering Group that provides leadership and shapes strategic direction. In support of executive
succession planning process Rolls?Royce participates in the FTSE 100 Cross Company Mentoring
Programme, the objective of which is to increase the pool of eligible senior female candidates for UK
Board positions. Its Chairman is a mentor and three of its female executives have participated to
date.
During 2011, Rolls?Royce’s most senior executives have been reverse mentored by a colleague who is
junior to them in the organisation. The reverse mentors are a diverse group in terms of gender,
nationality, business, function and their working location. The aim is to give senior executives a
different perspective from a colleague who can share diverse experiences and ideas whilst increasing
the visibility of diverse talent; 12 of the 17 reverse mentors are female.”
Case Study ? ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS
Reverse Mentoring
The Female FTSE Board Report
22
The Davies Report 2011 requested that FTSE 350 companies set themselves targets for the percentage
of women on boards they aimed to achieve by 2015. It recommended a minimum target of 25% for
FTSE 100 companies (see section 3.4 below for results). Based on the turnover igures from previous
Female FTSE Reports (an average of 14% over six years), the Davies Report calculated that if one third
of all new FTSE 100 board appointments were given to women between 2011 and 2015, then from a
starting point of 12.5% female directors, a igure of 23.5% could be achieved across the FTSE 100
companies by 2015. However, ensuring that only two thirds of all new appointments go to men would
signify quite a change in behaviour, as the annual percentage of new appointments going to women
over the decade 2001?2010 was on average 14.2% — hence the very incremental changes made over
that period.
We are, therefore, very pleased to report that in the 12 months preceding January 2012, the percentage
of new appointments going to women was almost 25%.
Table 6: New Appointments
Whilst this igure does fall short of the Davies target of 33%, it is
important to realise that this is the largest increase in numbers and
the fastest pace of change since we began measuring these data in
1999. Interestingly, over and above the increase in the percentage of
new appointments going to women, in the year to January 2012
there has been an increase in the turnover of board seats, which now
stands at 17.5%, which will, of course, also affect the pace of change.
In the original model shown in the Davies Report, with a predicted
turnover of 14%, a male/female split in new appointments of two
thirds/one third was going to produce 50 new women directorships
in the following year. In the year to January 2012, 47 new
appointments were taken by women, so this is almost on the target
of 50 and a substantial turnaround of behaviour from those involved
in the appointment process.
Much has been made of the predicted trajectories in the press recently and so it is important to be as
accurate as possible. The forecasts from the Davies Report were based on two assumptions: Firstly, that
the number of directorships available on the FTSE 100 boards stays constant – however, this is never
the case and as reported above after a number of years of declining numbers, this report records an
increase of 10 additional directorships. Secondly, the model assumed that the male/female split of the
directors coming off boards mirrored the current percentages on the boards. However, when directors
take up their roles on boards there is an expectation that they will serve two three?year terms.
Therefore, we can reasonably expect that it will be six years before the increased igure of women going
onto the boards would be coming off. Six years ago (2006) the percentage of women on boards was just
over 10%, rising only to 12.5% by 2010. If we conservatively suggest that from now until 2016 the
percentage of women coming off boards each year is 12.5% and from then it relects the increased
percentage of women on boards, this should give a more accurate picture. We have kept the percentage
of new appointments going to women at today’s level of 25%. This predicts a total percentage of
women on boards of 22.0% by 2015 and 27.5% by 2020.
Female FTSE 100 2012 2010 2009 2008
New female appointments 47 18 23 16
New male appointments 143 117 133 133
Total new appointments 190 135 156 149
Female % of new appointments 24.70% 13.3% 14.7% 11%
"Given the signiicant lead
times to placing board
directors, I am pleasantly
surprised at how much
progress has been made in
increasing the numbers of
women on boards in the past
12 months. We are on the
right course, we should hold
fast and push for more
success this coming year."
Sir John Parker ? Chairman
Anglo American
23
However, we have previously suggested that increases in the number of women on boards are unlikely
to be linear, but will gather momentum. This is what we have started to see in the past year. In 2010, the
percentage of new appointments going to women was 13.3%. In the Interim Davies Report of October
2011
3
we recorded women taking 22.5% of new appointments and by January 2012 this had risen to
25%. At the time of going to press (March 1
st
2012) this had risen again to 26.7%. Therefore, in the
second trajectory below (dark blue), this gathering of momentum is demonstrated with the percentage
of appointments going to women increasing at a rate of 2.5% every six months until it reaches 35% at
the end of 2014 and is then held constant until 2020. Here we see a ‘wave’ effect which is currently
being supported by leading Executive Search Firms and other stakeholders in the area. In both
trajectories the annual turnover going forward has been held constant at the current 17.5%. This
predicts a total percentage of women on boards of 26.7% in 2015 and 36.9% by 2020.
Figure 1 – Trajectory of Increase 2011?2020
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
3
Sealy, Doldor, Singh & Vinnicombe, 2011 “Women on Boards: 6 month monitoring report”, Cranield, UK.
Assumptions for both trajectories:
? turnover held constant at 17.5%
? 6 year time?lag from percentage women on to women off boards
The Female FTSE Board Report
24
3.3.1 The New Female Directors
In the 12 months to January 2012, 47 women took up
new roles on FTSE 100 boards. Of these 47, we can report
that 29 women (62%) have had no prior FTSE 350
board experience. This represents a good addition to the
talent pool, suggesting that the appointment process is
beginning to open up to new women and Chairmen and
ESFs are being a little more creative with their selection of
candidates. However, most of these new women do have
experience on a range of other boards, including some on
charitable sector boards.
Case Study ? ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND
The ‘future talent’ pipeline from Graduate Recruitment
“When in 2009 RBS Global Banking & Markets assessed key steps to support gender advancement,
one critical element they focused on was graduate recruitment. A full review of the global graduate
proposition was undertaken in conjunction with Diversity and Inclusion consultants Brook Graham
Ltd to ensure that diverse talent was not unintentionally being ‘iltered’ out due to structural, cultural
or attitudinal factors.
The deep?dive analysis highlighted that while male and female candidates were equally successful at
application stages, the assessment process resulted in a disproportionate number of male recruits.
Considering gender culture, they concluded it was possible that terminology and testing methods
were supporting an unconscious bias towards more typically male patterns of behaviour.
Furthermore, assessment panels typically did not have strong female representation, nor had
assessors potentially received suficient training into unconscious bias or gender behaviours to equip
them to judge candidates objectively. Additionally, a lack of KPI’s meant no checks were in place to
ensure graduate recruitment was matching organisational inclusion and diverse talent aspirations.
All of this had an impact on the gender balance of recruitment offers.
A comprehensive engagement programme was instigated to ensure female candidates saw RBS
Global Banking & Markets as a compelling career choice. With more than 800 applications, a 2010
‘Women in Banking’ event was ive?times over?subscribed. The 2011 innovative dinner series
‘Moveable Feast’ held at key universities provided an informal setting for students to learn more
about banking from industry female role?models and encouraged 600 female applications.
Since 2009, graduate applications from women in the US and Europe have increased by 28%. Female
intern hiring has improved to over 45%, and female graduate hires increased by 5% in EMEA and
32% in the US. Industry awards have recognised this positive impact.
To ensure progress continues, aspirational gender balance targets within succession planning will
help to leverage the increased female pipeline; gender demographics at vice?president level are
already being positively inluenced by the focus on graduate recruitment in 2009.”
“Women on boards has moved up the
business agenda but still has some
way to go. Only by chairmen,
recruitment irms and shareholders
collectively focussing on the beneits
of gender balance, will we see the pace
accelerated and the risk of quotas
avoided. It should be viewed as a
priority — not an optional extra”.
Sir Roger Carr, Chairman Centrica,
President Confederation of British
Industry
25
Figure 2: FTSE 100 New Appointments in 12 months to January 2012
One particularly interesting appointment this year is that of Jasmine Whitbread, the CEO of Save the
Children. She has taken up an NED position at BT Group. Since 1999, Ms Whitbread has worked solely in
the charitable sector – irst as a director for Oxfam and then taking up her position at Save the Children
in 2010. As leader of a signiicant organization and handling a major budget, she clearly has a lot to add
to any board, regardless of the sector. A forthcoming report by former Director of Opportunity Now,
Norma Jarboe (Women Count: Charity Leaders 2012) indicates that female chairs, chief executives and
trustees within the charities sector offer a rich talent pool for FTSE 350 companies seeking to diversify
their boards. According to her report:
“Many of the organisations they lead have substantial national and international operations and are
sizeable employers. The women leaders often have substantial experience in the public, government,
academic and/or private sectors and can bring new expertise and perspectives to FTSE
companies. Women leaders in the charity sector have a much higher rate of participation than their
private sector counterparts. In the United States leading companies have sourced both male and female
board members from government and the charity sector for several decades.”
Table 7: From Women Count: Charity Leaders 2012, igures for the private sector from Female
FTSE Report.
A small number of women with substantial experience in the charities sector have also been included in
this year’s 100 Women to Watch list.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
Sector
% Women
Directors
% Women Chairs
% Women Chief
Executives
FTSE 100 15.00% 1% 4%
FTSE 250 9.40% 2.40% 4%
Charity 100 ( by funds) 28% 10% 17%
Charity 100 (by income) 32% 17% 25%
The Female FTSE Board Report
26
Of the 47 new appointments, four were Executive Director positions, the rest being NEDs. The four
were:
? Liz Doherty, Chief Financial Oficer at Reckitt Benckiser
? Laura Wade?Gery, ED in E?Commerce at Marks & Spencer
? Lucinda Bell, Financial Director at British Land
? Tracy Robbins, ED in Human Resources at Intercontinental Hotels Group
For Lucinda Bell and Tracy Robbins, this is their irst FTSE 100 board position and they were internal
promotions. Liz Doherty and Laura Wade?Gery were both external hires and had had previous FTSE
350 board experience.
Case Study ? Christine Tacon CBE
One woman’s strategy towards a portfolio career of directorships
Christine is a high proile board executive in the Agricultural and Food sector, known for her
strategic leadership of the Co?operative Group’s 50,000 acre farming business (the largest in the UK)
and her contribution to the farming industry on committees, taskforces and the Agricultural and
Food sector. Her opinion is regularly sought by the media and she chairs the BBC Rural Affairs
Advisory Committee. Christine is a Cambridge engineering graduate, has an MBA from Cranield and
was awarded a CBE for services to agriculture in 2004.
Her strategy for building a portfolio career is as follows:
? farming NEDs to keep her hand in on the farming side. She has already accepted one such
position.
? government committees. She is currently on a Defra committee and has been shortlisted
for the Food Standards Agency and the Seaish Board ? the latter of the two was a back?up
plan.
? charitable concerns. She has a position as Governor of Harper Adams University College
and is on the Business Advisory Board of Living with Environmental Change, overseeing
the work of the government Research Councils. This is an unpaid role.
? FTSE, or similar, NEDs. This is her current focus. She has written to the chairmen or
directors of four FTSE 100 businesses in food and engineering and has had an interview
with one chairman so far. She purposefully started by targeting companies who
currently have no women on the board.
Interestingly Christine falls into the category of not having either city or previous FTSE NED
experience. However, she believes she has a lot to offer in terms of her understanding of
sustainability, communication, leadership and government relations.
Christine commented that she has been struck at how helpful other senior women she has contacted
have been. She has devoted considerable time and energy to meeting with senior women, with a
number of the executive search irms and with former male director contacts. One head?hunter she
has spoken with said they liked engineers for the way they treat everything as a project!
27
We have looked at the backgrounds of the 47 recently appointed women, in terms of their roles (as
opposed to industry sectors) and found that the majority (29) have inancial backgrounds. Fifteen of the
29 women with no prior FTSE 350 experience have inancial backgrounds. This is interesting as
historically there has been a belief that inancial backgrounds are a prerequisite for women to achieve
signiicant directorships. Instead, their backgrounds are strategy, marketing, operations, sales and HR.
As noted in the Davies interim Report (October, 2011) three female directors have HR backgrounds.
Previous research (Female FTSE Report 2008) has found that aspiring female directors felt that their
HR or legal backgrounds or roles jeopardised their chances of getting a corporate directorship. This
stereotype is inally being broken.
Figure 3: Backgrounds of FTSE 100 New Appointees
Of the 27 women with inancial backgrounds, ive had mixed experience in Law & Politics and one also
had Strategy & Marketing experience.
3.3.2 The Context of Appointment
There is much public discussion about the impact of appointing more women onto corporate boards. As
part of a separate piece of research, we have had several discussions with leading Executive Search
Firms recently
4
. One outcome suggested by some of them was that boards will simply increase in size as
organizations will place additional women rather than replace some of their male directors. Indeed, this
was a suggestion in a previous Cranield Report
5
, in response to the lack of progress in increasing
female director numbers.
However, we have found that of the 47 new female appointments made, more than half of them (26)
were simply replacing current board directors (4 replaced departing women and 22 replaced departing
men). The majority of the latter were NEDs who were leaving boards as a result of having completed
two terms in ofice, as is the recommended good governance best practice. They included two female
inance directors replacing outgoing male inance directors and an additional female ED replacing an
outgoing male ED.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
4
“Gender diversity on boards: The appointment process and the role of executive search irms”, Report
commissioned by the Equality & Human Rights Commission, forthcoming, to be published March 2012.
5
Cranield Female FTSE Report 2008
The Female FTSE Board Report
28
Fifteen (32%) of the new female appointments did not appear to be replacing departing directors,
rather appearing as additional board members. In some of these companies the Chairmen were also
adding male directors (Weir Group, Arm Holdings, Capital Shopping, Pearson) – so the increase in
board size was not just due to women.
3.4 Reporting and Regulation
In October 2010, the coalition government, concerned about the lack of progress on the issue of women
on boards in the UK, asked Lord Mervyn Davies (ex?Trade Minister and ex?Chairman of Standard
Chartered Bank) to set up a review. The remit was “to identify barriers preventing more women reaching
the boardroom and to make recommendations regarding what government and business could do to
increase the proportion of women on corporate boards”
6
. At an EU level, European Commissioner,
Viviane Reding had given companies and governments across Europe until March 2012 to take actions
to improve gender balance in leadership. She had stated that if insuficient progress had been made by
that time, she was prepared to push for European?wide legislation. A number of countries across
Europe have already introduced either legislation or recommendations regarding the proportion of
women on boards. At the time of going to press for this report, it was not clear whether Ms. Reding was
going to propose a directive or a recommendation on March 8
th
— International Women’s Day.
6
Davies Report – Women on Boards, February 2011, p.6
29
3.4.1 Setting Targets
The Davies Report set out how business and other stakeholders could act to ensure a suficient, timely
and sustainable increase in the proportion of women in leadership positions. Since then, the team at the
International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranield has collaborated and contributed to monitoring
and reporting against the Davies recommendations. Recommendation No. 1 of the Davies Report
(February 2011) was worded as follows:
All Chairmen of FTSE 350 companies should set out the percentage of women they aim to have on
their boards in 2013 and 2015. FTSE 100 boards should aim for a minimum of 25% female
representation by 2015 and we expect that many will achieve a higher igure.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
Case Study ? SAGE
Annual Gender Diversity Reviews
“Sage’s workforce is currently 44% female, with just 11% at Executive Committee level, but 25%
women on the board. Sage has begun by undertaking an Annual Gender Diversity Review in June
2011. The ambition in Sage is to ensure that our people leading our business represent both the
employee and customer gender proile. This is important so that their needs are understood and to
create a more inclusive culture. In order to achieve this, Sage aims to:
? Annually review and monitor at Board level, our gender diversity proile as part of our
talent management review
? Review achievements of female Executives such as promotions, change in job roles and
appointments to Non?Executive Director roles (externally)
? Proactively encourage coaching and mentoring of female executives to aspire to top
leadership roles
? Proactively encourage successful female Executives to coach younger female talent
? Insist on a diverse slate of candidates from head hunters for all Senior Executive
appointments
? Publish the percentage of women in top leadership roles in our Annual Report, number
of female Executive appointments made and percentage of female promotions during the
period of review. (This was already achieved in the 2010 and 2011 reports.)
The review looked at various aspects such as: current gender composition, including a breakdown
into commercial and functional roles; key data points within Sage’s top 100 talent pool, such as
coaching, promotions, and movements; customer and employee proiles; viewpoints of female Senior
Executives and their suggestions to increase diversity; and inally a review of Women in Technology
which found a drop in the IT profession in Western countries and an increase in Asian.
Some highlights from the review include:
? One of the operating companies has set a target of shifting its number of females at
senior levels from 25% to 30% over the next 18 months and establish an internal
network for aspiring female leaders and professionals;
? Many of the female Executives appreciate the lexibility Sage offers in working patterns,
frequently referenced in a recent survey conducted on the viewpoints of Senior
Executives
? Finally, Sage has also been involved in the Mentoring Foundation which was built from
the expanding FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring Programme as a way of supporting
the development of the female leadership pipeline.”
The Female FTSE Board Report
30
The Davies Report required that Chairmen should announce their aspirational targets by September
2011 and in the Interim Report, October 2011, we were disappointed to note that only 33 companies
had set out their targets. We included in that report a number of the statements made by Chairmen
regarding targets. In January 2012 we wrote to the Company Secretaries of all FTSE 350 companies
asking for an update on a number of issues, including their targets. Seventy FTSE 100 companies
responded. The number of FTSE 100 companies with declared aspirational targets has risen to 38. Of
the 70 responding companies, nine have stated categorically that they will not be setting targets, the
remaining 23 were supportive but non?committal. We congratulate the companies listed in Table 8.
BskyB, Capital Shopping Centre, GKN, Lloyds Banking Group, Old Mutual, Rolls?Royce and Tullow Oil
boldly aim to increase their representation by 15?20 percentage points. Anglo American, BP, Eurasian
Natural Resources, Petrofac, Reed Elsevier, Rexam and Vodafone Group all aim to increase their female
board representation by 10?15 percentage points. We commend the aspiration of these companies and
look forward to the results of their labour.
A number of companies which have consistently had more than 25% of women on their boards (e.g.
Diageo, Pearson, Burberry) have chosen not to respond on the issue of targets. And whilst we commend
their current percentages, it is a shame they do not choose to show leadership in this area. It should be
noted that 25% was never intended by the Davies Report to be an ultimate goal, merely an achievable
stepping stone towards a more realistic balance.
Case Study ? BAE Systems
Aspirational Target of 25% of Executive Committee Set
“At the end of 2011, the company met its aspirational target of having at least 25% of the Board
consisting of women, which is a level we aim to maintain. There are three women on the BAE Systems
plc Board at present (25% of total membership) and two women on the Executive Committee (17%
of total membership). Globally 20% of the workforce are women.
Consistent with BAE Systems’ commitment to improve the diversity of its workforce, the Executive
Committee has agreed a programme to improve gender diversity in leadership positions. The
following actions will be taken to grow the female talent pipeline at senior management levels and to
support the achievement of the aspirational target of 25% female membership of the Executive
Committee by 2015:
Fostering a culture of inclusion:
? by investing in inclusive leadership education; and
? establishing a lexible work culture.
Accelerating the development of high potential women:
? through reciprocal mentoring by Executive Committee members; and
? increasing participation in global high potential programmes.
Hiring and selecting the top performing diverse talent:
? by ensuring leadership jobs have diverse candidate lists.
Measuring performance:
? through each business developing aspirational targets to increase signiicantly gender
diversity in leadership ranks.
In addition, the company developed a Board Diversity Charter and revised Terms of Reference for the
Nomination Committee. BAE Systems will report on progress against targets and action taken in the
Annual Report and Accounts.”
31
Table 8: FTSE 100 Board Targets
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
Company
Current % of
women on board
2013
Target
2015
Target
ADMIRAL GROUP PLC 18.2% 25%
ANGLO AMERICAN PLC 18.2% 30%
AVIVA 21.4% 25%
BAE SYSTEMS PLC 23.1% 25%
BARCLAYS PLC 16.7% 20% 25%
BHP BILLITON PLC 25% 25%
BP PLC 12.5% 25%
BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC (BSKYB) 7.1% 25% 25%
CAPITAL SHOPPING CENTRES GROUP PLC 7.1% 25%
CENTRICA 25.0% 25%
EURASIAN NATURAL RESOURCES CORP PLC 8.30% 20%
G4S PLC 20% 25%
GKN PLC 10% 25%
GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC 20% 25%
HSBC HLDGS PLC 22.2% 25%
INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP PLC 25% 25%
KINGFISHER PLC 22.2% 25%
LAND SECURITIES GROUP PLC 18.2% 25%
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC 8.3% 25%
MARKS & SPENCER 23.1% 30% 30%
MORRISON (WM.) SUPERMARKETS PLC 28.6% 30%
NATIONAL GRID PLC 25% 25%
OLD MUTUAL PLC 9.1% 18% 27%
PETROFAC LTD 11.1% 15% 25%
REED ELSEVIER PLC 11.1% 22%
REXAM PLC 11.1% 25%
ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC 6.7% 25%
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC 23.1% 25%
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC 15.4% 25%
SAGE GROUP PLC 25% 25% 25%
SAINSBURY(J) PLC 20% 25%
SMITH & NEPHEW PLC 18.2% 25%
TESCO PLC 21.4% 25%
TULLOW OIL PLC 9.1% 25%
UNILEVER PLC 25% 25%
VODAFONE GROUP PLC 14.3% 25%
WHITBREAD PLC 27.3% 27.3%
WOLSELEY PLC 22.2% 25%
The Female FTSE Board Report
32
3.4.2 Reporting on the Pipeline
Whilst the overall percentage of women on boards has begun to increase at an encouraging rate, it is
hard to ignore the fact that most of the increase is occurring amongst NED directorships. Whilst the
increase in the numbers of female NED positions is important, it is imperative to ensure that as much
focus is placed on improving the female executive pipeline. This is requisite for better balanced boards
and senior leadership going forward. Companies who are addressing this demonstrate a true
commitment to changing organizational cultures and sustaining genuinely meritocratic environments.
Case Study ? The Mentoring Foundation
Barclays Bank plc, Founder Patrons of the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring Programme
After the Davies Report (Women on Boards) was published in 2011, a distinguished group of FTSE
100 Chairmen with a long commitment to participation in the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring
Programme determined to expand it, to address the challenges set out by Lord Davies and his team.
The Programme was subsequently established on an independent footing under the ownership of
The Mentoring Foundation and its director, Peninah Thomson, was appointed Chief Executive. The
Mentoring Foundation is a not?for?proit company limited by guarantee, with any surpluses
reinvested in the company for the beneit of the FTSE 100 Programme.
The strategic intent of the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring Programme is to help companies to
identify and develop a robust internal “pipeline” of talented women, and to help develop those
women to be credible candidates for Board?level appointments – both as executive, and non?
executive directors.
Group Chairman of Barclays Bank plc, Marcus Agius was one of the Chairmen who were instrumental
in the expansion of the FTSE 100 Programme, and in February 2012 Barclays became a Founder
Patron. Together with eleven other iconic UK organisations, Barclays has extended its commitment
to the Programme by agreeing to nominate two senior female executives as Mentees, in 2012 and in
each of the two following years.
Marcus Agius, together with Niall FitzGerald KBE, Chairman of Hakluyt & Co. Ltd., Sir Win Bischoff,
Chairman, Lloyds Banking Group plc and Sir Philip Hampton, Chairman of The Royal Bank of
Scotland Group plc, is a member of the Advisory Council of the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring
Programme. They, and all the Chairman Mentors, have agreed to mentor a senior woman from
another organisation, generously continuing to offer their commitment on a pro bono basis.
Barclays’ Chairman, working with the Group HR Director, Ms. Sally Bott, has nominated three of the
bank’s senior female executives to be Mentees on the FTSE Programme. Each of the Mentees is
working in a Mentoring Pair with the leader of another UK organisation from the non?banking sector
(in order to avoid any potential conlict of interest).
Chairman Marcus Agius commented:
“The FTSE 100 Programme is delivering a double beneit. Not only is it preparing an emerging cadre of
women to become non?executive Directors on the Boards of our larger companies, but it is also —
through the mentoring process — helping them to develop in their current executive roles.”
33
In addition to Chairmen setting targets for the percentage of women on their corporate board,
Recommendation 1 of the Davies Report stated:
Also we expect all Chief Executives to review the percentage of women they aim to have on their
Executive Committees in 2013 and 2015.
This has proved to be an even more elusive exercise and very few Chief Executives have responded to
this challenge. Any criticism levied at the focus on the numbers of women on boards has often pointed
to the real crisis in the numbers of female executive directors (just 6.6% on FTSE 100 boards).
Questions abound around how to increase these numbers and conversations with Chairmen and ESFs
highlight this as an area of necessary focus.
Since 2006, in the Female FTSE Reports, we have been monitoring those women who are members of
the Group Executive Team (often called Executive Committee or Group Management Team) from where
future Executive Directors would naturally come. We have highlighted a number of them in previous
“100 Women to Watch “ lists and some have now gone on to ED roles. In the 2010 report, we obtained
information on 99 of the then FTSE 100 companies (the one company who refused to respond was
Antofagasta). However, in line with current best practice, we believe such companies should now be
including this information on their corporate websites and within their annual reports.
The Investor Community has been very proactive in its
response to the Davies Report. Recommendation 6 of that
report stated that investors “should pay close attention” to the
behaviours of companies in terms of the Davies
recommendations, including company transparency around
targets, reporting on proportions of women at various levels,
the appointment process, boardroom diversity policies and
measurable objectives. There has been a very positive
response from a number of major investors expecting
companies to comply – for example, Association of British
Insurers, UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association,
Cooperative Asset Management, National Association of
Pension Funds, Aviva Investors, L&G Investment
Management, F&C Investments, Jupiter Asset Management,
Blackrock, Aberdeen Asset Management, Hermes Equity
Ownership Services, the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum,
Newton Investment Management and RPMI Railpen. Investors
need companies to report such information and increasingly
the sense is that those that do not are at best ignorant (and
therefore inactive) or at worst obstructive. We are aware that
the majority of company annual reports are published
between March and June and would encourage Chairmen and
Company Secretaries to demonstrate best practice and
leadership in this area.
Recommendation 2 of the Davies Report stated:
Quoted companies should be required to disclose each year the proportion of women on the board,
women in senior executive positions and female employees in the whole organization.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
“Board diversity is an important
aspect of the wider topic of good
corporate governance aimed at
improving business decisions,
reducing risk, sustaining proits
growth and therefore higher long?
term returns for shareholders.
Today's event shows that investors
are ready to hold companies to
account on this issue and will
encourage business?led change to
reach our, and Lord Davies' targets
for female representation on UK
boards by 2015."
Helena Morrisey, CBE, CEO
Newton Investment Management
and founder of the 30% Club
The Female FTSE Board Report
34
Therefore, in our letter to Company Secretaries in January, we requested information on the proportion
of women within their company:
? As a percentage of the whole workforce
? At junior management level
? At middle management level
? At senior management level, and
? At the level just below the board (e.g. Executive Committee/Management Committee)
We received 73 responses to our letter. It was interesting to note that whilst some companies could
easily pull these data off various reporting tools, several organizations clearly did not routinely track
this information (one company – Aggreko, advised us they were waiting for a new HR system to be
implemented that would provide them this information in the near future). In addition to those
companies listed in Table 9 below who did provide information, a further seven stated that some of
what was requested will be reported in their forthcoming annual report. These companies are:
Anglo American, Essar, GKN, IMI, National Grid, Tate & Lyle and Tullow Oil.
We thank those companies who speciically reported these igures in response to our request, and
would encourage them to monitor this information going forward. It is critical for companies in
optimising their talent management that they are aware of diversity at all levels. It is only with such
information that companies can be sure they are targeting their initiatives at the right place. Tracking
percentages can show where companies are losing their women. For example, in Diageo, 35% of their
total workforce is female. This igure remains constant at middle management level, which is
encouraging, and falls only slightly to 27% at senior management level. They currently have 44% of
women on their board, so are demonstrating consistency across the organization. In some ways a
similar example is BAE Systems, with a 20% female workforce, 17% at Executive Committee level, but
25% women on their board. It would appear that they are doing a reasonable job at retention. In their
case study (p.30), they are focusing on fostering a culture of inclusion and setting internal diversity
targets (including a 25% target for the executive committee). However, it would appear that they need
to improve their rate of bringing women into the organization. In the same industry, Rolls?Royce,
whose percentage of women in the workforce is only 15%, is focusing on active involvement in
education outreach to increase the numbers of women joiners. They have managed to increase their
percentage of participants on their graduate development programme to 25%. However, their igures
fall off to 7% at the most senior levels and so they will need now to focus on retention.
Retention and development is clearly still the issue for organizations within the inancial services
industries as most of those listed here have 50% or more women in their overall workforces but
signiicantly less than half that igure in their senior management, executive committee or board levels.
The data from the 34 companies indicated the following trends:
? The percentage of the workforce which is female varied from 13% (Petrofac) to 57% (Old
Mutual)
? The percentage of females at junior management level varied between 15% (BAE Systems)
and 50.1% (Barclays)
? The percentage of females at middle management level varied between 12% (BAE Systems)
and 40% (AstraZeneca)
? The percentage of females at senior management level varied between 7% (Rolls?Royce)
and 43% (Admiral)
? Just below the board the percentage of females varied between 5% (BAE Systems) and 33%
(Cairn Energy). Eighteen out of the 24 companies reporting the percentage of females at
executive/management committee level report igures of less than 25%, so there is much
work to be done in developing women to this level.
35
We also asked Company Secretaries for examples of work that they are conducting within their
organizations speciically aimed at increasing their pipeline of women to the top. A number of case
studies are included throughout this report. They detail some of the good work that these organizations
are doing, focusing on initiatives such as lexible career paths, workplace lexibility, unconscious bias in
recruitment, internal gender targets, promotion process monitoring and reporting, mentoring and
reverse mentoring, annual gender reviews and diverse slates in appointments.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
“It is vital to look beyond the board and executive committee to build a sustainable female pipeline
from within the company. In 2010 we outlined a clear commitment to increasing the number of
women in our senior leadership populations by setting individual gender goals for our Executive
Committee and their direct reports. Known as the Plus 1 principle; as a senior leader if your team is
not already 50:50 gender balanced, then your goal is to bring at least one additional female into your
team each year. Our global CEO has maintained continuous energy and commitment to this by
ensuring progress is monitored and discussed quarterly with his team, and regularly communicating
his view on the importance of female leadership to all employees.
As a result we have seen good increases in the representation of women in our Senior Leadership
and Senior Management populations. But we still have a long way to go! Last year we extended the
concept of gender goals to the next level of the organisation by introducing a target of 50:50 gender
balance for new hires and internal promotions to our middle management levels.
We have realised, however, that goal setting alone is not enough to drive long term and sustainable
growth. Through a series of dialogues with women throughout the organisation we have been able
to identify and begin to address some of the deeper rooted challenges faced more particularly by
women in what has been a historically masculine industry. While some of these challenges can and
are being addressed by changes to policies and procedure (female candidates on shortlists,
performance and talent processes free from gender bias and so on), a mind set shift is crucial to
create a truly inclusive culture that values diversity of all kinds. As a result we have introduced a
number of initiatives to raise awareness of potential bias and open minds to the value of the different
types of skills diverse groups can bring to teams. Initiatives include a reciprocal mentoring
programme matching our Executive Committee members with high potential female mentoring
partners, the formation of local women’s networks, and team sessions on gender cultures in
collaboration with the Pat Heim group. Like many organisations we know there is no one silver
bullet or magic recipe and see this as a long term journey towards a more diverse and inclusive
organisation.”
Case Study ? Vodafone
Building a sustainable female pipeline
The Female FTSE Board Report
36
Table 9: FTSE 100 Pipeline of Women
* The Board igures for the Pipeline are taken from our main data collection point of January 10th 2012.
Company
% of women in workforce:
Of whole
workforce
At Junior
Mgmt
At Middle
Mgmt
At Senior
Mgmt
At
Ex/Man
Comm
At Board
Level*
ADMIRAL GROUP PLC 43% 29% 19%
AMEC PLC 24% 17% 10% 8% 0%
ANGLO AMERICAN PLC 14% 21% 19%
ASTRAZENECA PLC 51% 50% 40% 31% 25% 27%
AVIVA 50% 45% 29% 20% 18% 21%
BAE SYSTEMS PLC 20% 15% 12% 11% 5% 25%
BARCLAYS PLC 52% 50% 35% 10% 20% 17%
BRITISH LAND CO PLC 44% 25% 15%
BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING
GROUP PLC (BSKYB)
32% 7%
CAIRN ENERGY PLC 53% 33% 22%
CAPITAL SHOPPING CENTRES
GROUP PLC
46% 53% 26% 17% 7%
CENTRICA PLC 29% 27% 21% 15% 14% 25%
DIAGEO PLC 35% 35% 27% 44%
EXPERIAN PLC 45% 47% 38% 23% 13% 20%
G4S 12% 22% 20%
INTERTEK PLC 36% 18% 10% 0%
KINGFISHER PLC 40% 29% 22%
LAND SECURITIES GROUP PLC 45% 38% 23% 18% 14% 19%
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP 60% 49% 37% 26% 13% 8%
OLD MUTUAL PLC 57% 12% 11% 9%
PETROFAC LTD 13% 11%
PRUDENTIAL PLC 55% 63% 48% 27% 10% 12%
ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC 15% 7% 6% 7%
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND 53% 33% 26% 18% 23%
SAGE 44% 26% 11% 25%
SABMILLER PLC 20% 23% 29% 24% 18%
SAINSBURY(J) PLC 54% 41% 25% 31% 27% 20%
SEVERN TRENT PLC 30% 28% 35% 20% 17% 9%
SMITH & NEPHEW PLC 39% 28% 15% 30% 19%
SMITHS GROUP PLC 38% 27% 20% 9% 0% 13%
STANDARD CHARTERED PLC 46% 52% 37% 22% 10% 12%
TESCO PLC 31% 19% 15% 21%
UNILEVER PLC 40% 42% 31% 20% 8% 25%
UNITED UTILITIES GROUP PLC 36% 37% 26% 24% 36% 14%
37
4. FTSE 250 Companies
FTSE 250 describes those companies ranked from 101?350 in terms of market capitalisation. Within the
boardrooms of those companies 9.4% (189) directorships are held by women. At the time of going to
press (March 1
st
2012) this igure had risen again to 9.6 %. This has increased from 7.8% (154)
recorded in the 2010 Female FTSE Report. Historically, the numbers of women on boards of the FTSE
250 companies have been much lower than those of the FTSE 100 companies and some commentators
would suggest that this is because they are less in the media spotlight than their FTSE 100 counterparts.
However, FTSE 250 Chairmen should realise the beneits of boardroom diversity and understand that
ignoring this issue is no longer acceptable from a governance perspective. The Financial Reporting
Council’s changes to the Code regarding gender diversity apply to all listed companies.
4.1 FTSE 250 Companies with Female Directors
Of the FTSE 250 companies 135 (54%) now have women in their boardrooms, inally making those all?
male boards a minority. This igure of 135 has increased from 119, but interestingly the number of
companies with two female directors has also increased substantially from 25 to 40. This would
indicate that the overall percentage increase of women on FTSE 250 boards has come equally from
companies placing their irst and also their second woman on the board.
Table 10: FTSE 250 Companies 2012
In the FTSE 250 companies there is no signiicant difference (p=0.001) between the board size of those
with female directors (average 8.5 members) and those with only male directors (average 7.6
members).
Below are two tables. The irst shows the 49 FTSE 250 companies which now have at least 20% female
directors – this number has increased by 11 since the 2010 report. Following that we show a table with
the FTSE 250 Zeros – those companies which retain all?male boards.
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
FTSE 250 Companies No. %
Companies with female directors 135 54.0%
Companies with 2 female directors 40 16.0%
Companies with 3 or 4 female directors 7 2.8%
Companies with female executive directors 25 10.0%
Companies with 2 female executive directors 3 1.2%
Average board size 8.1
Average number of executive directors 2.4
Average number of non?executive directors 5.6
The Female FTSE Board Report
38
Table 11: The 49 FTSE 250 Companies with at least 20% Female Directors
Rank FTSE 250 Company
Percent
Female
Board
No. of
Female
Directors
Female Executive
Directors
1st ELECTRA PRIVATE EQUITY PLC 50.0% 3
2nd WETHERSPOON(J.D.) PLC 42.9% 3 1 (ED)
3rd JPMORGAN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 40.0% 2
4th REDROW PLC 33.3% 2 1 (GFD)
4th SYNERGY HEALTH PLC 33.3% 2
6th CARPETRIGHT PLC 30.0% 3 1 (ED)
7th 3i INFRASTRUCTURE PLC 28.6% 2
7th VICTREX PLC 28.6% 2
7th TALVIVAARA MINING CO PLC 28.6% 2 1(CFO)
10th SVG CAPITAL PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO/FD)
10th WILLIAM HILL PLC 25.0% 2
10th MONKS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 25.0% 1
10th DE LA RUE PLC 25.0% 2
10th RPS GROUP PLC 25.0% 2
10th JPMORGAN RUSSIAN SECURITIES 25.0% 2
10th BTG PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO)
10th BRITISH EMPIRE SECURITIES & GENERAL TRUST PLC 25.0% 1
10th HICL INFRASTRUCTURE CO LTD 25.0% 1
10th BETFAIR GROUP PLC 25.0% 2
10th ALLIANCE TRUST PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO)
10th PREMIER FARNELL PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO)
22nd BERKELEY GROUP HOLDINGS PLC 23.1% 3
23rd HAYS PLC 22.2% 2
24th INMARSAT PLC 22.2% 2
24th WS ATKINS PLC 22.2% 2
24th 3i GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 1 (GFD)
24th LOGICA PLC 22.2% 2
24th DOMINO'S PIZZA UK & IRL PLC 22.2% 2
24th HALMA PLC 22.2% 2
24th DEBENHAMS PLC 22.2% 2
24th STAGECOACH GROUP PLC 22.2% 2
24th CHEMRING GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 1 (ED)
24th TALKTALK TELECOM GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 2 (CEO, CFO)
24th TAYLOR WIMPEY PLC 22.2% 2
24th MITIE GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 2 (CEO, CFO)
24th MONDI PLC 22.2% 2
37th ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC 21.4% 3 1 (ED)
37th RATHBONE BROTHERS PLC 21.4% 3
39th MURRAY INTERNATIONAL TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th MURRAY INCOME TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th JUPITER FUND MANAGEMENT PLC 20.0% 2
39th INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS LTD 20.0% 1
39th LAW DEBENTURE CORP PLC 20.0% 1
39th EXILLON ENERGY PLC 20.0% 1
39th SCOTTISH MORTGAGE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39
Table 11: The 49 FTSE 250 Companies with at least 20% Female Directors (cont’d)
Table 12: FTSE 250 Companies Zeros
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
ABERFORTH SMALLER COMPANIES
TRUST PLC
DEVRO PLC MERCHANTS TRUST PLC
AFREN PLC DIPLOMA PLC
MILLENNIUM & COPTHORNE
HOTELS PLC
AFRICAN BARRICK GOLD PLC DOMINO PRINTING SCIENCES PLC MISYS PLC
ALLIED GOLD MINING PLC DS SMITH PLC MITCHELLS & BUTLERS PLC
ANGLO PACIFIC GROUP PLC EDINBURGH DRAGON TRUST PLC
MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM GROUP
PLC
AQUARIUS PLATINUM LTD ELECTROCOMPONENTS PLC MORGAN CRUCIBLE CO PLC
ASHTEAD GROUP PLC ELEMENTIS PLC NEW WORLD RESOURCES PLC
AVEVA GROUP PLC F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC NORTHGATE PLC
AZ ELECTRONIC MATERIALS SA
F&C COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
TRUST LTD
OXFORD INSTRUMENTS PLC
BALFOUR BEATTY PLC FENNER PLC
PARAGON GROUP OF COMPANIES
PLC
BANKERS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC FERREXPO PLC PERFORM GROUP PLC
BARR(A.G.) FIDELITY EUROPEAN VALUES PLC
PERPETUAL INCOME & GROWTH
INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
BBA AVIATION PLC FILTRONA PLC PERSIMMON PLC
BEAZLEY PLC FIRSTGROUP PLC PERSONAL ASSETS TRUST PLC
BELLWAY PLC GEM DIAMONDS LTD RANK GROUP PLC
BERENDSEN PLC
GENESIS EMERGING MARKETS
FUND LTD
REGUS PLC
BH GLOBAL LTD GENUS PLC RENISHAW PLC
BH MACRO LTD GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES PLC RENTOKIL INITIAL PLC
BIG YELLOW GROUP PLC GREENE KING PLC ROTORK PLC
Rank FTSE 250 Company
Percent
Female
Board
No. of
Female
Directors
Female Executive
Directors
39th JPMORGAN EUROPEAN SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th LADBROKES PLC 20.0% 2
39th BRITISH ASSETS TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th EASYJET PLC 20.0% 2 1 (CEO)
The Female FTSE Board Report
40
Table 12: FTSE 250 Companies Zeros (cont’d)
BWIN.PARTY DIGITAL
ENTERTAINMENT PLC
HUNTING PLC SENIOR PLC
CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS PLC IG GROUP HOLDINGS PLC SHANKS GROUP
CAPE PLC
IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES
GROUP PLC
SOCO INTERNATIONAL PLC
CAPITAL & COUNTIES PROPERTIES
PLC
INTERMEDIATE CAPITAL GROUP PLC SPECTRIS PLC
CATLIN GROUP LTD INTERSERVE PLC SPIRAX?SARCO ENGINEERING PLC
CENTAMIN PLC JD SPORTS FASHION PLC SPIRENT COMMUNICATIONS PLC
CHARTER INTERNATIONAL PLC
JOHN LAING INFRASTRUCTURE
FUND LTD
STOBART GROUP LTD
CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT
TRUST PLC
JPMORGAN EMERGING MARKETS
INVEST TRUST PLC
TELECOM PLUS PLC
CLOSE BROTHERS GROUP PLC KCOM GROUP PLC
TEMPLETON EMERGING MARKETS
INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
COLT GROUP SA KENTZ CORP LTD
UK COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TRUST
LTD
COMPUTACENTER PLC KESA ELECTRICALS PLC ULTRA ELECTRONICS HLDGS PLC
CRANSWICK PLC LAIRD PLC WOOD GROUP (JOHN) PLC
CRODA INTERNATIONAL LAMPRELL PLC YULE CATTO & CO PLC
DAEJAN HOLDINGS PLC
LONDON & STAMFORD PROPERTY
PLC
DAILY MAIL & GENERAL TRUST PLC MELROSE PLC
BUMI PLC HOCHSCHILD MINING PLC SEGRO PLC
BOVIS HOMES GROUP HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS PLC SCOTTISH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
BODYCOTE PLC HERITAGE OIL PLC SAVILLS PLC
BLUECREST ALLBLUE FUND LTD HERALD INVESTMENT TRUST SALAMANDER ENERGY PLC
BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST HANSTEEN HLDGS PLC RPC GROUP PLC
41
4.2 FTSE 250 Women in Top Roles
There are now ten female CEOs in the FTSE 250 companies. They
are: Lyn Fordham, SVG Capital; Katherine Garrett?Cox, Alliance
Trust; Dr. Harriet Green, Premier Farnell; the Honourable Dido
Harding, TalkTalk Telecom; Carolyn McCall, easyJet; Ruby
McGregor?Smith, Mitie Group; Dr. Louise Makin, BTG; Dorothy
Thompson, Drax; Caroline Banszky, Law Debenture Corp; and Kate
Swann, WHSmith.
In addition, seven women hold the top inancial position in the
FTSE 250 companies. They are: Suzanne Baxter, Mitie Group;
Shirley Garrood, Henderson Group; Yvonne Holm, Ophir Energy;
Saila Miettinen?La? hde, Talvivaara mining; Barbara Richmond,
Redrow; Amy Stirling, TalkTalk Telecom; and Julia Wilson at 3i.
This group of 17 at the top of their industries have between
them only six FTSE 350 NED positions. They represent an
untapped talent pool.
4.2.2 Cross?Index Comparison
As can be seen in the table below, the FTSE 250 companies fall signiicantly behind the FTSE 100
companies in terms of percentages of women holding both executive and non?executive board
directorships. The FTSE 250 is also substantially lower in terms of companies with female executive
directors and multiple directors.
Table 13: FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 Comparison
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
“MITIE is a fast?growing and
ambitious company and will
only reach its potential if it
makes the most of all the
talent within the company,
including women. By making
sure that we have the right
environment and support for
our female staff we will
succeed together as a
company.”
Ruby McGregor?Smith CBE,
Chief Executive
At January 2012 FTSE 100 FTSE 250
Female?held directorships 163 (15%) 189 (9.4%)
Female executive directorships 20 (6.6%) 28 (4.6%)
Female non?executive directorships 143 22.4%) 168 (11.4%)
Companies with female executive directors 17 (17%) 25 (10.0%)
Companies with at least one female director 89 (89%) 135 (54%)
Companies with multiple female directors 50 (50%) 47 (18.8%)
The Female FTSE Board Report
42
“As an organisation with the only Asian female Chief Executive in the FTSE 250, MITIE recognises
that attracting future female talent is of key importance. MITIE places huge importance on delivering
a supportive and inclusive environment for its staff and these are just a number of measures that
form part of the group’s efforts to retain more female employees.
MITIE has introduced a variety of programmes to encourage women to return to work after taking
maternity leave and to help women maintain a career, including:
? Supporting lexible working hours and a lexi?leave system
? Enabling home working and a compressed working fortnight option
? Providing childcare vouchers and additional annual leave purchase schemes
? Offering a maternity coaching programme for senior HR professionals
MITIE has a dedicated diversity board, as well as an equality, diversity and inclusion policy which has
developed a number of initiatives:
? Held the inaugural Diversity Week in 2011, including presentations from board level
executives and a number of events to raise awareness of diversity and equality issues
? Appointed a diversity steering group that is externally chaired and consists of
representatives from across the business
? Made managers accountable for implementing gender programmes initiated by diversity
champions across the business
Mentoring is also recognised as essential to supporting a pipeline of female talent:
? Introduced a mentoring programme for rising female stars
? The CEO has set up and remains involved in a mentoring circle for black, Asian and
minority ethnic female staff
? The Group Finance Director sponsors a newly developed executive mentoring
programme for the inance function and has also achieved a 100% maternity returner
rate within her direct reports, which is subsequently being cascaded throughout the
business”
Case Study ? MITIE GROUP
Maternity and Mentoring
43
4.2.3 New Appointments
Figure 4: FTSE 250 New Appointment in 12 months to January 2012
In the year to January 2012, 52 women took up new directorships, compared to 273 new male
appointments. This represents 19% of all new appointments. Interestingly, we retook the data on
March 1
st
and this igure had risen substantially to 27% (57 women and 213 men). This would suggest
that the ‘wave’ theory of increasing percentages going to women may also be in action in the FTSE 250 .
Mirroring the FTSE 100 appointments, the majority (68%) of the women had had no prior FTSE 350
board positions, thus expanding the talent pool of FTSE 350 female directors – see below.
Figure 5: Backgrounds of FTSE 250 new female directors
The backgrounds of the new FTSE 250 female directors were slightly more eclectic than those of the
new FTSE 100 female directors, with 45% coming from inance. There was a greater emphasis on sales
and marketing, which may relect the slightly smaller nature of these irms.
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
44
4.3 Targets and Pipeline
The table below shows the number of male and female held directorships and senior executive
positions in FTSE 250 irms. As with the FTSE 100 irms, this year there has been a slight increase in the
total number of directorships (from 1966) but another decrease in the number of executive
directorships. In this tough economic climate, the latter may well be a cost?cutting exercise.
The total number of senior executives has increased (from 2,186 to 2,213), but there has been no
increase in the percentage of these roles held by women.
Table 14: FTSE 250 Directors, by Gender and Role
4.3.1 FTSE 250 Board Targets
As described in section 3.4 above, we wrote to all FTSE 350 companies requesting information on the
aspirational targets and their pipeline igures.
We received 107 responses from the FTSE 250 companies. Thirty?four of those companies have set
aspirational women on board targets. This is an increase of 14 companies since the Davies Interim
Report, last October. From our responses, 28 stated that they would not be setting targets and the
remaining 45 companies were supportive in principle but non?committal.
Interestingly, it appears that some of the FTSE 250 companies are being bolder than their FTSE 100
counterparts. For example, nine companies who have stated targets are at the start of this journey and
currently have no women on their board – none of the 11 FTSE 100 companies with no women on their
boards has announced a target. Four of the companies have targets of more 30%, although WS Atkins
is the only company for whom that target is an increase on their current position.
Seven companies have set themselves targets of at least a 15 percentage point increase. They are: DS
Smith, Fidelity European Values, FirstGroup, Laird, Rentokil Initial, Senior and Tui Travel. In addition
Amlin, Beazley, Dignity, Greene King, Pennon Group, Phoenix Group Holdings and Rotork have all set
themselves targets of between a 10?15 percentage point increase. We congratulate all of these
companies.
FTSE 250 Females Males Total
Executive Directors 28 (4.6%) 580 (95.4%) 608
Non?Executive Directors 161 (11.4%) 1250 (88.6%) 1411
Total Directors 189 (9.4%) 1830 (91.6%) 2019
Senior Executives 364 (16.4%) 1849 (83.6%) 2213
45
Table 15: FTSE 250 Board Targets
Company
Current % of
women on
board
2013
Target
2015 Target
AMLIN PLC 9.1% 20%
BEAZLEY PLC 0.0% 10%
DIGNITY PLC 11.1% 25%
DOMINO'S PIZZA UK & IRL PLC 22.2% 20% 20%
DS SMITH PLC 0.0% 25%
ELECTRA PRIVATE EQUITY PLC 50.0% 33% 33%
EUROMONEY INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR PLC 11.8% 13%
FIDELITY EUROPEAN VALUES PLC (Quoted) 0.0% 20%
FIDELITY CHINA SPECIAL SITUATIONS PLC 16.7% 25%
FIRSTGROUP PLC 0.0% 20%
GO?AHEAD GROUP PLC 14.3% 17% 17%
GRAINGER PLC 18.0% 18% 18%
GREENE KING PLC 0.0% 14%
INFORMA PLC 14.2% 14% 14%
INVESTEC PLC 18.8% 25%
JUPITER FUND MANAGEMENT PLC 20.0% 20% 20%
LAIRD PLC 0.0% 13% 25%
MONDI PLC 22.2% 25% 25%
PENNON GROUP PLC 14.2% 14% 25%
PHOENIX GROUP HOLDINGS 7.7% 14% 21%
PREMIER FARNELL PLC 25.0% 25% 25%
REDROW PLC 33.3% 33%
RENTOKIL INITIAL PLC 0.0% 20% 20%
RESTAURANT GROUP PLC 16.7% 17% 17%
ROTORK PLC 0.0% 12.5% 12.5%
RPS GROUP PLC 25.0% 25% 25%
SENIOR PLC 0.0% 15% 15%
STAGECOACH GROUP PLC 22.2% 22% 22%
SVG CAPITAL PLC 25.0% 25%
SYNERGY HEALTH PLC 33.3% 33.3% 33.3%
TAYLOR WIMPEY PLC 22.2% 22% 22%
TUI TRAVEL PLC 6.7% 25%
WILLIAM HILL PLC 25.0% 25%
WS ATKINS PLC 22.2% 33.3%
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
46
4.3.2 FTSE 250 Pipeline Information
Of the 107 FTSE 250 companies from whom we received responses, 40 provided information on their
pipeline percentages. We commend these companies and report their information in the table below.
A further seven companies stated that, due to the nature of their business, they have no employees.
These were Bankers Investment Trust, 3i Infrastructure, Aberforth Small Companies Trust, Fidelity
European Values, Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, Polar Tech Investment Trust and Electra Private
Equity.
Two further companies (Jardine Lloyd Thompson and Yule Catto) advised that they did not have any of
the information requested available. An additional six companies stated there would be more
information available in their forthcoming annual reports. These companies were:
Laird, Mitie Group, Elementis, First Group, Informa, and Sig
Table 16: FTSE 250 Pipeline of Women
Company
% of women in workforce:
Of whole
workforce
At junior
Mgmt
At middle
Mgmt
At Senior
Mgmt
At Ex/
Man
Comm
Board
ALLIANCE TRUST PLC 52.0% 53.0% 36.0% 20.0% 29.0% 25.0%
AMLIN PLC 46.0% 52.5% 23.0% 10.0% 0.0% 9.1%
BALFOUR BEATTY 28.0% 50.0% 16.0% 12.0% 8.0% 0.0%
BBA AVIATION PLC 22.0% 19.0% 30.0% 0.0%
BETFAIR GROUP PLC 22.4% 16.0% 25.0%
BOVIS HOMES GROUP 36.0% 0.0% 0.0%
CABLE & WIRELESS WORLDWIDE PLC 24.0% 25.0% 22.0% 25.0% 33.0% 16.7%
CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS PLC 39.0% 81.0% 50.0% 33.0% 13.0% 0.0%
CAPITAL & COUNTIES PROPERTIES PLC 40.0% 57.0% 41.0% 53.0% 36.0% 0.0%
COBHAM PLC 27.9% 11.1%
DAIRY CREST 18.1% 28.5% 19.0% 26.6% 0.0% 11.1%
DEBENHAMS PLC 76.6% 67.9% 54.5% 44.0% 50.0% 22.2%
DRAX GROUP 25.1% 41.6% 21.8% 25.0% 14.5% 11.1%
DOMINO PRINTING SCIENCES PLC 24.0% 26.0% 15.0% 8.0% 33.0% 0.0%
DUNELM GROUP PLC 65.0% 50.0% 29.0% 16.7%
EXILLON ENERGY PLC 18.0% 50.0% 20.0%
GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES PLC 43.0% 60.0% 21.0% 30.0% 50.0% 0.0%
HAYS PLC 61.0% 24.0% 22.2%
INFORMA PLC 35.0% 14.3%
INMARSAT PLC 32.0% 47.0% 23.0% 19.0% 18.0% 22.2%
JUPITER FUND MANAGEMENT PLC 40.0% 25.0% 20.0%
LONDON & STAMFORD PROPERTY PLC 60.0% 25.0% 40.0% 0.0%
LONMIN 4.9% 28.0% 9.1%
MICHAEL PAGE INTERNATIONAL PLC 50.6% 45.0% 43.7% 26.5% 6.7% 12.5%
MONDI PLC 21.0% 18.0% 22.2%
OPHIR ENERGY PLC 41.3% 42.9% 25.0% 0.0% 40.0% 8.3%
PENNON GROUP PLC 16.0% 22.0% 19.0% 18.0% 6.0% 14.3%
PERSIMMON PLC 35.0% 15.3% 16.6% 0.0%
PZ CUSSONS 37.0% 35.0% 25.0% 22.0% 18.2%
47
Table 16: FTSE 250 Pipeline of Women (cont’d)
The data from the 40 companies indicated the following trends:
? The percentage of the workforce which is female varied from 4.9% (Lonmin) to 76.6%
(Debenhams)
? The percentage of females at junior management level varied from 22% (Pennon Group) to
81% (Caledonia Investments, Wetherspoon)
? The percentage of females at middle management level varied from 12.3% (Rotork) to
54.5% (Debenhams)
? The percentage of females at senior management level varied from 0% (Ophir energy) to
57% (SVG Capital)
? Just below the board the percentage of females varied from 0% (Amlin, Bovis and Dairy
Crest) to 50% (Debenhams, Exillon Energy and Great Portland Estates)
? 12 of the 28 companies reporting numbers of females at executive/management committee
level have more than 25% female directors at that level and yet only one of them (Alliance
Trust) has reached the target of 25% females on the board.
Again, we commend these 40 companies for monitoring this data. Overall, a substantial majority of
them reveal a trend of signiicant drop?off between the overall work?force percentage and the
percentage of women at the executive committee or board level. However a few (Betfair, Exillon, Mondi
and Pennon) maintain their workforce percentages fairly evenly across all levels – although they all
have workforce percentages of under 25%. Lonmin and Stagecoach buck the trend and have board
percentages higher than their workforce percentages, although both igures are very low (5% and
12%). At the other end, Debenhams and SVG Capital both manage to maintain more than 50% of
women across all levels until the board, when both come down to 22% and 25% respectively. Clearly
these companies have done a great job at maintaining their pipeline, but we would hope that they can
continue the increases to board level. We hope that the exercise of mapping the pipeline of female talent
will encourage companies to invest more effort at bringing women through to the top .
Company
% of women in workforce:
Of whole
workforce
At junior
Mgmt
At middle
Mgmt
At Senior
Mgmt
At Ex/
Man
Comm
Board
RENTOKIL INITIAL PLC 49.5% 30.1% 30.3% 19.4% 16.7% 0.0%
ROTORK PLC 17.0% 25.4% 12.3% 0.0% 12.5% 0.0%
SHAFTESBURY PLC 53.0% 50.0% 18.2%
SHANKS GROUP 12.6% 0.0%
SPECTRIS PLC 12.0% 0.0%
ST. JAMES'S PLACE PLC 51.0% 53.0% 17.0% 9.0% 13.0% 9.1%
STAGECOACH GROUP PLC 12.6% 7.0% 22.2%
SVG CAPITAL PLC 51.0% 50.0% 50.0% 57.0% 25.0%
TUI TRAVEL PLC 42.0% 6.7%
WETHERSPOON(J.D.) PLC 51.0% 81.0% 32.0% 28.0% 17.0% 42.9%
WS ATKINS PLC 27.7% 11.0% 4.0% 22.2%
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
48
5. Concluding Remarks
The 2012 Female FTSE Report follows a 12 month period of global activity in the ield of women on
boards, with a number of countries declaring different intervention strategies. In the UK we have also
seen considerable activity following the Davies Report, with initiatives from a number of stakeholders.
By the time this report is launched, Vivan Reding (EU Justice Commissioner) will have made her
announcement on March 8
th
2012 determining whether at a European level the approach going forward
is through directives or recommendations. At the time of going to print, we understand she is still
considering both options.
The multi?stakeholder approach of the Davies Report has undoubtedly had an important impact over
the past 12 months. For the nay?sayers, the change is not fast enough and pessimism prevails. We trust
that our updated model charting the increasing number of women on boards dispels such negativity. As
long as the stakeholders remain engaged we could achieve 30% women on boards within four years.
This would be a fantastic achievement. We urge Chairmen, Chief Executives, Executive Search Firms,
the government, investors and women to stay focused and use the momentum to change the status quo
permanently.
49
APPENDIX: Cranield’s International Centre for Women Leaders
The International Centre for Women Leaders is committed to helping organisations develop the next
generation of leaders from the widest possible pool of talent. We are unique in focussing our research,
management development and writing on gender diversity at leadership level.
The objectives of the Centre are to:
? Lead the national debate on gender diversity and corporate boards
? Provide a centre of excellence on women leaders, from which organisations can obtain the
latest trends, up?to?date research and benchmark best practice
? Identify and examine emergent issues in gender diversity and leadership, through
sponsored research in partnership with industry and government
? Share research indings globally through conferences, workshops, academic articles,
practitioner reports and in the international press.
For more information on the Centre’s research and executive development, please visit our Centre
website at www.som.cranield.ac.uk/som/research/centres. There is also available a list of our research
articles in areas such as women on boards, ethnicity on boards, leadership, diversity management,
gendered cultures, role models, impression management, and lexible working.
We have a number of doctoral researchers studying for PhDs or DBAs within our research centre and
can occasionally offer a full bursary to cover costs.
Dr Ruth Sealy, BSc, MSc, PhD, MCIPD
Senior Research Fellow
Deputy Director of the International Centre for Women Leaders
With global expertise on women on corporate boards, Ruth has been the lead researcher
of the UK’s annual Female FTSE Report since 2007. In addition to the Female FTSE Report,
Ruth has led the monitoring research following Lord Davies’ review.
Ruth’s research interests cover many aspects of retaining women in leadership, particularly board
composition and corporate governance. She completed her PhD at Cranield looking at the impact of
role models on the identity formation of senior female directors in the banking sector and has since
published a number of journal articles, book chapters and conference papers, where she has won two
Best Papers. She is on the Editorial Board of Gender in Management: An International Review, and has
spoken at many academic and practitioner conferences. She is regularly interviewed by the press.
Ruth speaks regularly at academic and practitioner conferences, lectures post?graduate and doctoral
courses. She is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and has written
various articles for practitioner audience magazines, e.g. Women in Banking and Finance, City Women’s
Network.
Prior to becoming an academic, Ruth was the Managing Director of a specialist holiday company, which
she sold to a larger tour operator in 2001. She then worked as an independent Business Psychology
consultant. Her work included assessment, but particularly the development of high potential talent,
focusing on emotional intelligence and cognitive processing, working extensively in the engineering/
aerospace sector.
Email: [email protected]
APPENDIX
The Female FTSE Board Report
50
Professor Susan Vinnicombe OBE, MA, PhD, MCIM, FRSA
Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Diversity Management
Director of the Leadership and Organisation Development Community
Director of the Cranield International Centre for Women Leaders
Susan’s particular research interests are gender diversity on corporate boards, women’s
leadership styles, and the issues involved in women developing their managerial
careers. Her Research Centre is unique in Europe with its focus on women leaders and
the annual Female FTSE Report is regarded as the premier research resource on women
directors in the UK.
Susan has written ten books and over one hundred articles, reports and conference papers. “Women on
Corporate Boards of Directors – International Research and Practice” (with R. Burke, D. Bilimoria, M.
Husen and V. Singh published by Edward Elgar) was published in 2009. Her latest book “Handbook of
Research on Promoting Women’s Careers” (with R. Burke, L. Moore and S. Blake?Beard) will be
published by Edward Elgar in 2012.
Susan has consulted for organisations in over twenty countries on how best to attract, retain and
develop women executives. She has advised government in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Finland
and Spain on how to increase the number of women on their corporate boards. Susan is regularly
interviewed in the press and on the radio and television for her expert views on women directors, and
is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences. Susan is the founder and Chair of the judges for Women
in the City Awards. She is a Board member of the Saudi British Joint Business Council and Vice Patron
of Working Families, a charity. She is also Visiting Professor of Curtin University, Graduate Business
School, Perth, Australia. Susan is a member of the Davies Steering Committee.
Susan was awarded an OBE for her Services to Diversity in the Queen’s New Year’s Honour List in 2005.
Email: [email protected]
51
Notes
NOTES
The Female FTSE Board Report
52
Notes
Copyright: Sealy, Vinnicombe, Cran?ield University, 2012
Printed by the School of Management Print Room on paper from a sustainable source
CRANFIELD INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR WOMEN LEADERS
Cran?ield School of Management
Cran?ield, Bedford, England MK43 0AL
Telephone: +44 (0)1234 751122 Fax: +44 (0)1234 751806
www.som.cran?ield.ac.uk/som/cicwl
doc_522843312.pdf
The Female FTSE Board Report 2012
Milestone or Millstone?
The Female FTSE Board Report 2012
Cran?ield International Centre for Women Leaders
Dr Ruth Sealy and Professor Susan Vinnicombe OBE
The Female FTSE board report
Supporting Sponsors:
2012
1
FOREWORD
Female FTSE Report
Getting more women onto the boards of our top companies is good for our economy and good for
women. There is growing evidence that companies with more diverse boards perform better: achieving
higher sales, higher returns on invested capital and higher returns on equity. This report shows that
more and more of our top companies are recognising the fresh perspectives, innovative ideas and
experience that top women can bring. They know that a company board that better relects its
customers is better able to understand their needs. And, as this report shows, our best businesses are
taking action.
Over the past year we have seen an unprecedented increase in the number of women on boards. If we
continue to make such strong progress, by 2015 we could more than double the percentage of women
on boards from when we started work in this area. That is hugely encouraging news.
I am also pleased to see that the number of all male boards in the FTSE 100 has nearly halved. In the
modern world, there can be no excuses for having a male?only board. That is why it is also encouraging
to see that the majority of FTSE 250 companies have at least one woman on their board for the very
irst time. That the increase of women on FTSE 250 boards has come equally from companies
appointing the irst woman to their board as companies appointing their second woman also provides
us with reassurance that this is not mere tokenism.
There is no doubt that Lord Davies’ tremendous work on this issue has been the key driving force. But I
also want to thank the companies and organisations that have helped bring about the progress we have
seen. The Financial Reporting Council’s amendments to the Corporate Governance Code will strengthen
the principle of boardroom diversity. The new code on diversity developed by the head?hunting
industry will help bring forward a wider range of candidates. And the involvement of investors who are
increasingly asking companies to demonstrate their commitment to this agenda is another welcome
sign.
I also want to praise the companies involved and especially those who have set aspirational targets for
the number of women on their boards. They are publicly demonstrating that they are the most forward
thinking companies in this country. Every big business should follow their lead.
I am proud of the progress made by British business, but there is still a long way to go. So we will now
be working with business, with Lord Davies and with other key organisations to maintain and
accelerate momentum. In particular, I want us to look at how we improve the number of women
holding senior executive positions as well as those holding non?executive directorships.
This report shows that a business?led approach can bring rapid, real and impressive results. It is now up
to business to go further and faster. We will be supporting and encouraging business to continue
achieving the positive change that is good for women, good for business and good for Britain’s economy.
Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Home Secretary and
Minister for Women and Equalities
The Female FTSE Board Report
2
3
From The Chairman
When I talk to my fellow chairmen, I am heartened that they are prioritising gender balance in their
organisations, not only because it is the right thing to do, but more importantly because they recognise
the beneits for their businesses and for society of drawing from the widest talent pool available and of
building the strongest leadership teams we can.
A year on from the spur of the Lord Davies report, we are already seeing positive measurable impact.
Indeed the last year has seen the fastest pace of change since the inception of the Female FTSE Board
Report, and the 2011 report also indicates that the momentum continues to grow.
There is still much to be achieved, however, and those of us who sit on FTSE boards must continue to
drive this transformation purposefully within our organisations.
At Barclays, Citizenship is one of our four execution priorities, and creating an environment conducive
to gender balance is at the heart of our diversity and inclusion agenda. Citizenship spans all elements of
our business and incorporates colleagues, customers and clients, and the communities in which we
operate. We work actively to recruit, retain, develop and promote the best people, and are keen to
increase the number and proportion of women in leadership roles. Indeed, our commitment to ensuring
that our board is made up of individuals with an appropriate range of skills and experiences recognises
the beneit of diversity, in all senses of the word.
I am extremely proud of the work Barclays does within our organisation to meet our commitments in
this area. Our support of the Female FTSE Board Report continues, because Cranield’s research helps to
move the debate nationally and internationally. We are proud to play our part.
Marcus Agius
Barclays Chairman
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
The Female FTSE Board Report
4
5
Female FTSE Index and Report 2012
Ruth Sealy & Susan Vinnicombe
Contents
Page
Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………….. 06
1. Introduction …………………………………………………………………………… 12
2. Methodology …………………………………………………………………………... 14
3. FTSE 100 Companies 2012 ……………………………………………………… 15
3.1 FTSE 100 Companies with Female Directors 2012 ……………………….. 15
3.2 FTSE 100 Female Directors …………………………………………………………. 19
3.3 The New FTSE 100 Director Appointments 2012 …………………………. 21
3.4 Reporting and Regulation ……………………………………………………………. 28
4. FTSE 250 Companies ………………………………………………………………. 37
4.1 FTSE 250 Companies with Female Directors ………………………………... 37
4.2 FTSE 250 Women in Top Roles ……………………………………………………. 41
4.3 Targets and Pipeline …………………………………………………………………… 44
5. Concluding Remarks ……………………………………………………………….. 48
APPENDIX: Cranield’s International Centre for Women Leaders …... 49
CONTENTS
The Female FTSE Board Report
6
Executive Summary
Female FTSE Board Report 2012
Milestone or Millstone?
2012 has seen a step change in the number of women appointed onto FTSE 100 companies following
the publication of the Davies Report in February 2011. The number of women holding 163 FTSE 100
board seats is 141, an increase of 25 on the 2010 igures. There are now 20 female executive
directorships and 143 female non?executive directorships. Overall the percentage of board directors
who are female is 15%, an uplift of 2½% on what was a three year plateau. The number of companies
with no women on the board has dropped to 11 and the number of companies with more than one
woman on the board has increased to 50.
Table 13: FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 Comparison
Top Ranking of Female FTSE 100
In top place of this year’s ranking is Diageo with four women, comprising 44.4% of their board. One of
the four is Chief Financial Oficer and there are three non?executives (NEDs). In second place is
Burberry, with three women out of eight directors, which is one of only three FTSE 100 companies that
have two female executive directors (EDs). Burberry has both Chief Executive and Chief Financial
Oficer roles held by women. In third place is Pearson, who have also had two female EDs for a number
of years and have recently added a second female NED, taking their total number of women to four
(33.3%). Morrison Supermarkets, Whitbread and AstraZeneca all continue to do well with percentages
of 28%, 27% and 27% respectively. Intercontinental Hotels have added a female ED and head a further
group of nine companies who have already achieved the target of 25% set by Lord Davies. In joint 16
th
place are Royal Bank of Scotland and Marks & Spencer, each with three women out of 13 board
members (23%).
Marks & Spencer is the third company with two female EDs and since taking the data for this report in
January, they have added a fourth female director. This would have put them in joint 4
th
position, with
29%.
At January 2012 FTSE 100 FTSE 250
Female?held directorships 163 (15%) 189 (9.4%)
Female executive directorships 20 (6.6%) 28 (4.6%)
Female non?executive directorships 143 (22.4%) 168 (11.4%)
Companies with female executive directors 17 (17%) 25 (10.0%)
Companies with at least one female director 89 (89%) 135 (54%)
Companies with multiple female directors 50 (50%) 47 (18.8%)
7
FTSE 250
Of the FTSE 250 companies, 135 (54%) now have women in their boardrooms, inally making those all?
male boards a minority. This igure of 135 has increased from 119, but interestingly the number of
companies with two female directors has also increased substantially from 25 to 40. This indicates that
the overall percentage increase of women on FTSE 250 boards has come equally from companies
placing their irst and also their second woman on the board. There are now 10 female CEOs and seven
inance directors on the FTSE 250 boards.
The New FTSE 100 Director Appointments 2012
The Davies Report 2011 requested that FTSE 350 companies set themselves targets for the percentage
of women on boards they aimed to achieve by 2015. It recommended a minimum target of 25% for
FTSE 100 companies. Based on the turnover igures from previous Female FTSE Reports (an average of
14% over six years), the Davies Report calculated that if one third of all new FTSE 100 board
appointments were given to women between 2011 and 2015, then from a starting point of 12.5%
female directors, a igure of 23.5% could be achieved across the FTSE 100 companies by 2015.
In the 12 months preceding January 2012, the percentage of new appointments going to women was
almost 25%. Whilst this igure does fall short of the Davies target of 33%, there has been an increase in
the turnover of board seats, which now stands at 17.5%, which will, of course, also affect the pace of
change. In the year to January 2012, 47 new appointments were taken by women, so this is almost on
the target of 50 set by Davies and shows a substantial turnaround of behaviour from those involved in
the appointment process.
As a result we have made some changes to the underlying assumptions in our model predicting the
percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards in the future. This now indicates that 26.7% of directors will
be women by 2015 and 36.9% by 2020. These igures exceed the targets set in the Davies report, but
will only be achieved if the momentum for changing the gender balance of boards continues.
The Female Pipeline
Thirty?four of the FTSE 100 companies provided the percentages of women in the workforce and at
junior, middle, senior and executive level. Forty companies provided pipeline data from FTSE 250
companies. The picture across these companies in general is very varied. Clearly some companies are
investing in their female talent pools and this is relected in the numbers of women at senior and
executive level, but there is still a huge amount to be done if management want to have more female
executive directors.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Female FTSE Board Report
8
FTSE 100 Ranking
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
1st 44.44 9 4 DIAGEO PLC
Deirdre Mahlan, Peggy
Bruzelius, Laurence Danon,
Betsy DeHaas Holden
Dr Franz Humer
2nd 37.50 8 3 BURBERRY GROUP PLC
Angela Ahrendts, Stacey
Cartwright, Stephanie George
John Peace
3rd 33.33 12 4 PEARSON PLC
Dame Marjorie Scardino, Rona
Fairhead, Vivienne Cox,
Professor, Dr Susan Fuhrman
Glen Moreno
4th 28.57 7 2
MORRISON(WM.)
SUPERMARKETS PLC
Penny Hughes, Johanna Sir Ian Gibson
5th 27.27 11 3 WHITBREAD PLC
Wendy Becker, Susan Hooper,
Susan Martin
Tony Habgood
5th 27.27 11 3 ASTRAZENECA PLC
Michele Hooper, Dame Nancy
Rothwell, Baroness Shriti Vadera
Dr Louis Schweitzer
7th 25.00 12 3
INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTELS GROUP PLC
Tracy Robbins, Jennifer Laing,
Ying Yeh
David Webster
7th 25.00 8 2 SAGE GROUP PLC Tamara Ingram, Ruth Markland Tony Hobson
7th 25.00 12 3 NATIONAL GRID PLC
Linda Adamany, The Rt. Hon.
Ruth Kelly, Maria Richter
Sir Peter Gershon
7th 25.00 12 3 CENTRICA PLC
Margherita Della Valle, Mary
Francis, Lesley Knox
Sir Roger Carr
7th 25.00 12 3 BT GROUP PLC
The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt,
Karen Richardson, Jasmine
Whitbread
Sir Mike Rake
7th 25.00 12 3
BRITISH AMERICAN
TOBACCO PLC
Dr Karen de Segundo, Ann
Godbehere, Christine Morin?
Richard Burrows
7th 25.00 12 3 STANDARD LIFE PLC
Jackie Hunt, Baroness Margaret
McDonagh, Sheelagh Whittaker
Gerry Grimstone
7th 25.00 12 3 UNILEVER PLC
Professor Louise Fresco, Ann
Fudge, Hixonia Nyasulu
Michael Treshchow
7th 25.00 12 3 BAE SYSTEMS PLC
Linda Hudson, Doctor Harriet
Green, Paula Reynolds
Dick Olver
16th 23.08 13 3
ROYAL BANK OF
SCOTLAND GROUP PLC
Alison Davis, Penny Hughes,
Baroness Sheila Noakes
Sir Philip Hampton
16th 23.08 13 3 MARKS & SPENCER
Kate Bostock, Laura Wade?
Gery, Martha Lane Fox
Robert Swannell
18th 22.22 9 2 WOLSELEY PLC Tessa Bamford, Karen Witts Gareth Davis
18th 22.22 18 4 HSBC HLDGS PLC
Safra Catz, The Hon. Laura Cha,
Rona Fairhead, Rachel Lomax
Douglas Flint
18th 22.22 9 2 KINGFISHER PLC Clare Chapman, Dr Janis Kong Daniel Bernard
18th 22.22 9 2 CAIRN ENERGY PLC Jann Brown, Jackie Sheppard Sir Bill Gammell
22nd 21.43 14 3 AVIVA
Mary Francis, Euleen Goh, Gay
Huey Evans
Lord Sharman of Redlynch
22nd 21.43 14 3 TESCO PLC
Lucy Neville?Rolfe, Karen Cook,
Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker
Sir Richard Broadbent
24th 20.00 10 2 EXPERIAN PLC
Fabiola Arredondo de Vara,
Judith Sprieser
John Peace
9
FTSE 100 Ranking (cont’d)
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
24th 20.00 10 2 G4S PLC
Winnie Fok Kin, Dr Clare
Spottiswoode
Alf Duch?Pedersen
24th 20.00 10 2 CAPITA PLC Maggi Bell, Martina King Martin Bolland
24th 20.00 10 2 SHIRE PLC Susan Kilsby, Anne Minto Matt Emmens
24th 20.00 10 2 SAINSBURY(J) PLC Anna Ford, Mary Harris David Tyler
24th 20.00 10 2
IMPERIAL TOBACCO
GROUP PLC
Alison Cooper, Susan Murray Iain Napier
24th 20.00 10 2 SSE PLC Katie Bickerstaffe, Susan Rice Lord Smith of Kelvin
24th 20.00 15 3 GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC
Dr Stephanie Burns, Stacey
Cartwright, Judy Lewent
Sir Chris Gent
24th 20.00 10 2
RECKITT BENCKISER
GROUP PLC
Liz Doherty, Judith Sprieser Adrian Bellamy
24th 20.00 10 2 MAN GROUP PLC Alison Carnwath, Nina Shapiro John Aisbitt
34th 18.75 16 3 WPP PLC
Esther Dyson, Orit Gadiesh,
Lubna Olayan
Ambassador Philip Lader
35th 18.18 11 2 ANGLO AMERICAN PLC
Cynthia Carroll, Dr Mamphela
Ramphele
Sir John Parker
35th 18.18 11 2 ADMIRAL GROUP PLC Margaret Johnson, Lucy Alastair Lyons
35th 18.18 11 2
LAND SECURITIES GROUP
PLC
Stacey Rauch Alison Carnwath
35th 18.18 11 2
RSA INSURANCE GROUP
PLC
Noe? l Harwerth, Johanna John Napier
35th 18.18 11 2 SMITH & NEPHEW PLC
Professor, Dr Genevie? ve Berger,
Dr Pam Kirby
Dr John Buchanan
40th 17.65 17 3 SABMILLER PLC
Lesley Knox, Dambisa Moyo,
Helen Weir
Dr Jacob Kahn
41st 16.67 12 2
LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP
PLC
Dame Clara Furse, Julia Wilson John Stewart
41st 16.67 12 2 BHP BILLITON PLC
Carolyn Hewson, Baroness Shriti
Vadera
Jac Nasser
41st 16.67 12 2 BARCLAYS PLC Alison Carnwath, Dambisa Moyo Marcus Agius
41st 16.67 6 1 ASHMORE GROUP PLC Melda Donnelly The Hon. Michael Benson
45th 15.38 13 2 BRITISH LAND CO PLC
Lucinda Bell, The Hon. Dido
Harding
Dr Chris Gibson?Smith
45th 15.38 13 2 ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC Christine Morin?Postel, Linda Jorma Ollila
45th 15.38 13 2 ARM HLDGS PLC
Kathleen O'Donovan, Janice
Roberts
Doug Dunn
48th 14.29 14 2 RIO TINTO PLC Vivienne Cox, Ann Godbehere Jan Du Plessis
48th 14.29 14 2 VODAFONE GROUP PLC Renee James, Anne Lauvergeon Dr Gerard Kleisterlee
48th 14.29 7 1 SERCO GROUP PLC Angie Risley Alastair Lyons
48th 14.29 7 1
UNITED UTILITIES GROUP
PLC
Dr Catherine Bell Dr John McAdam
48th 14.29 7 1 ITV PLC Lucy Neville?Rolfe Archie Norman
53rd 12.50 8 1 HAMMERSON PLC Judy Gibbons John Nelson
53rd 12.50 8 1 SMITHS GROUP PLC Anne Quinn Donald Brydon
53rd 12.50 8 1 BUNZL PLC Eugenia Ulasewicz Labbancz Philip Rogerson
53rd 12.50 8 1 TATE & LYLE PLC Liz Airey Sir Peter Gershon
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Female FTSE Board Report
10
FTSE 100 Ranking (cont’d)
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
53rd 12.50 8 1
ASSOCIATED BRITISH
FOODS PLC
Emma Adamo Charles Sinclair
53rd 12.50 8 1 ICAP PLC Diane Schueneman Charles Gregson
53rd 12.50 8 1 MEGGITT PLC Brenda Reichelderfer Sir Colin Terry
53rd 12.50 8 1 REXAM PLC Noreen Doyle Peter Ellwood
61st 11.76 17 2
STANDARD CHARTERED
PLC
Val Gooding, Ruth Markland John Peace
61st 11.76 17 2 PRUDENTIAL PLC Ann Godbehere, Kathleen Harvey McGrath
63rd 11.11 9 1 REED ELSEVIER PLC Lisa Hook Tony Habgood
63rd 11.11 9 1
HARGREAVES LANSDOWN
PLC
Tracey Taylor Mike Evans
63rd 11.11 9 1 EVRAZ PLC Olga Pokrovskaya Alexander Abramov
63rd 11.11 9 1 NEXT PLC Christine Cross John Barton
63rd 11.11 9 1 JOHNSON MATTHEY PLC Dorothy Thompson Tim Stevenson
63rd 11.11 9 1 COMPASS GROUP PLC Susan Murray Sir Roy Gardner
63rd 11.11 9 1 PETROFAC LTD Dr Roxanne Decyk Norman Murray
63rd 11.11 9 1
POLYMETAL
INTERNATIONAL PLC
Marina Gro? nberg Bobby Godsell
71st 10.00 10 1 GKN PLC Shonaid Jemmett?Page Roy Brown
71st 10.00 10 1 RESOLUTION LTD Denise Mileham Mike Biggs
71st 10.00 10 1 IMI PLC Anita Frew Roberto Quarta
74th 9.09 11 1 SEVERN TRENT PLC Baroness Sheila Noakes Andy Duff
74th 9.09 11 1 WEIR GROUP Melanie Gee Lord Smith of Kelvin
74th 9.09 11 1
EURASIAN NATURAL
RESOURCES CORP PLC
Dr Zaure Zaurbekova Dr Johannes Sittard
74th 9.09 11 1 OLD MUTUAL PLC Mar?? a Sanz Patrick O'Sullivan
74th 9.09 11 1 TULLOW OIL PLC Ann Grant Simon Thompson
79th 8.33 12 1 CRH PLC Maeve Carton Kieran McGowan
79th 8.33 12 1
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP
PLC
Anita Frew Sir Win Bischoff
81st 7.69 13 1
INTERNATIONAL POWER
PLC
Isabelle Kocher Dirk Beeuwsaert
81st 7.69 13 1 SCHRODERS PLC Merlyn Lowther Henry Miles
83rd 7.14 14 1 BG GROUP PLC Baroness Sarah Hogg Sir Robert Wilson
83rd 7.14 14 1
BRITISH SKY
BROADCASTING GROUP
PLC (BSKYB)
Dame Gail Rebuck James Murdoch
83rd 7.14 14 1
CAPITAL SHOPPING
CENTRES GROUP PLC
Lady Louise Patten David Burgess
83rd 7.14 14 1 CARNIVAL PLC Laura Weil Micky Arison (Executive)
83rd 7.14 14 1
INTERNATIONAL
CONSOLIDATED AIRLINES
GROUP SA (IAG)
Baroness Denise Kingsmill Antonio Vazquez Romero
88th 6.67 15 1 BP PLC Cynthia Carroll Carl?Henric Svanberg
88th 6.67 15 1
ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS
PLC
Dame Helen Alexander Sir Simon Robertson
90th 0.00 6 0 VEDANTA RESOURCES PLC Anil Agarwal (Executive)
91st 0.00 7 0 INTERTEK GROUP PLC David Reid
11
FTSE 100 Ranking (cont’d)
Rank
%age of
Women
No. on
Board
No. of
Women
Company Female Directors Chairman
92nd 0.00 8 0 AMEC PLC John Connolly
92nd 0.00 8 0 ESSAR ENERGY PLC Prashant Ruia
92nd 0.00 8 0
GLENCORE
INTERNATIONAL PLC
Simon Murray
95th 0.00 9 0 ANTOFAGASTA PLC
Jean?Paul Fontbana
(Executive)
95th 0.00 9 0 KAZAKHMYS PLC Dr Vladimir Kim (Executive)
95th 0.00 9 0
RANDGOLD RESOURCES
LTD
Philippe Lietard
98th 0.00 10 0 AGGREKO PLC Philip Rogerson
98th 0.00 10 0 FRESNILLO PLC
Dr Alberto Bailleres
Gonzalez
100th 0.00 13 0 XSTRATA PLC Sir John Bond
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Female FTSE Board Report
12
1. Introduction
Will FTSE companies voluntarily increase the numbers of women on their boards to set up a milestone
on the road to gender equality in line with the recommendations of the Lord Davies report, or will the
Government be compelled to enact enabling legislation to achieve gender equality at board level,
creating what many will see as a burdensome responsibility, a millstone? The questions are urgent.
This is the thirteenth year of our Female FTSE Report
1
. When we began the annual report in 1999, we
analysed only the women directors on the FTSE 100 boards and even that was a challenging task as
there were no established data bases for the information we required. The advent of BoardEx has made
the names and the numbers of women board members easy to access. We at Cranield University’s
School of Management, however, pride ourselves that we go beyond the igures to analyse the trends
and drill down to bring rich interpretations of the data to the surface, using the latest international
academic research. We hope to provide what one global TV network calls “the back story” to our
census.
This has been a tremendously challenging year. Lord Davies published his report on women on boards
in March 2011. We were commissioned to produce a six?month monitoring report for him by October
2011 in which we gauged the initial responses of the FTSE 350 companies to the Davies report
recommendations, presenting our indings to the Prime Minster at No. 10 Downing Street.
Now our Female FTSE Board report 2012 serves as another marker — one year after the publication of
Lord Davies’ “Women on Boards.” In this report we focus on the jump in the number of women being
appointed to the top corporate boards and explain why we are optimistic about this development. We
also examine the female talent pipeline to boardroom positions ? another reason for optimism.
When we initiated our research we focused instinctively on women in executive directorships as they
represent the female talent that has been nurtured and developed in their own organisations — the
direct pipeline to the board. Sadly, over the past 13 years, this number of women executive directors in
the FTSE 100 companies has increased from only 13 in 1999 to 20 this year. This compares with a
igure of 285 male executive directors. The reason for this is partly down to the Higgs Report in 2003
that changed the face of UK public boards by recommending an increase in the number of non?
executive directors (NEDs) while diminishing the number of executive directors (EDs). But this alone
does not excuse the lack of progress made by CEOs in promoting women to these top positions.
When we speak about a target of 25%, as in the Davies report recommendations, or the 40% quota in
Norway, we mask the increasingly wide chasm between the numbers of women NEDs (143 women ?
22.4%) compared with the numbers of women EDs (20 women — 6.6%). As Andrew Hill wrote
recently in The Financial Times, “endlessly batting the boardroom quota question back and forth
distracts companies from the scarcity of women in their executive ranks.”
1
The Female FTSE Report is independently calculated by the Cranield School of Management (“Cranield”). The
Female FTSE Report is not in any way sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by FTSE International Limited
(“FTSE”), the London Stock Exchange Plc (the “Exchange”), The Financial Times Limited (“FT”) (together the
“Licensor Parties”) and none of the Licensor Parties makes any claim, prediction, warranty or representation
whatsoever, expressly or impliedly in relation to the Female FTSE Report or related material. FTSE® (the “Trade
Mark”) is a Trade Mark of the Exchange and the FT and is used by FTSE under licence. Cranield has been licensed
as a Trade Mark by FTSE for use in the Female FTSE Report and related material.
13
In this report, our feature on the female pipeline presents a mixed picture. Many companies seem to
struggle to identify the women they employ at junior, middle and senior levels! Others vary
dramatically in the numbers of women at senior executive level. It is clear now that many major
corporations are successful at attracting women at entry level, at developing them and retaining them
after maternity leaves, but are still spectacularly unsuccessful at promoting them to executive level. Like
many other researchers, we have written about the importance of social capital and the link between
“old boys” networks, power and promotion to the top. It is surely time that management takes this
research more seriously.
On a positive note, we are happy to announce our trajectory for the increase in the number of women
on FTSE 100 boards, which is 26.7% by 2015. We have never doubted the existence of a considerable
female pipeline of talent available for (particularly) NED positions. There is no glass ceiling here.
Rather it is a bottleneck of talent from not only the corporate sector, but also the public sector, the
voluntary sector, unquoted companies, private equity companies, and signiicant entrepreneurs. Our
“100 women to watch” section this year includes a number of women holding CEO roles in the
voluntary sector. We hope that Jasmine Whitbread’s recent appointment to the BT board paves the way
for many other women.
INTRODUCTION
The Female FTSE Board Report
14
2. Methodology
We accessed data on each company from many sources, including the Boardex database, annual reports
and corporate websites. The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 listings were taken as at January 10
th
2012 and
most of the data for the main study were taken from the public domain. Where we have looked at time
period data (e.g. percentage of new appointments) we have used the 12 months from January 2011, not
the 15 month period to our last report in 2010. We contacted FTSE 350 Company Secretaries to request
information on stated board targets, pipeline gender metrics and some of the featured Case Studies. We
would particularly like to thank Julie Bamford and Sheila Doyle of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries
and Administrators for their assistance in this matter.
We used SPSS software for correlation analyses to examine relationships between variables, using t?
tests to see if means were signiicantly different.
Following two years’ success of our “100 Women to Watch” supplement, we have updated the list for
this year’s report. The data were predominantly taken from the public domain. Ten women from last
year’s list have gone on to obtain FTSE 350 board directorships.
We would like to thank Helen Bruce, Doctoral Researcher, who helped with the data gathering.
15
3. FTSE 100 Companies 2012
3.1 FTSE 100 Companies with Female Directors 2012
In the 12 months preceding January 2012, there was a signiicant amount of activity around increasing
the percentage of women on boards in the UK as well as the rest of the world. After a decade of
incremental increases, we are pleased to be reporting improvements that are a little more substantive.
As at January 2012, we now have 163 female held directorships in 89 of the FTSE 100 boardrooms.
This means the percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards in January 2012 has increased to 15.0% and
the percentage of female Executive Directors has risen to 6.6%. Ten more companies have women on
their boards than in 2010 and 50% of companies now have more than one woman on the board,
demonstrating that we are moving away from tokenism. At the time of going to press (March 1st 2012)
the headline igure had risen again to 15.6%.
Table 1: Female FTSE Index 2009?2012
In top place of this year’s ranking is Diageo with four women, comprising 44.4% of their board (see
Executive Summary Table). One of the four is Chief Financial Oficer and there are three non?executives
(NEDs). In second place is Burberry, with three women out of eight directors; one of only three FTSE
100 companies that have two female executive directors (EDs). Burberry has both Chief Executive and
Chief Financial Oficer roles held by women. In third place is Pearson, who have also had two female
EDs for a number of years and have recently added a second female NED, taking their total number of
women to four (33.3%). Morrison Supermarkets, Whitbread and AstraZeneca all continue to do well
with 29%, 27% and 27% respectively. Intercontinental Hotels have added a female ED and head a
further group of nine companies who have already achieved the target of 25% set by Lord Davies. In
joint 16
th
place are Royal Bank of Scotland and Marks & Spencer, each with three women out of 13
board members (23%).
Marks & Spencer is the third company with two female EDs and since taking the data for this report in
January, they have added a fourth female director. This would have put them in joint 4
th
position, with
29%. Also during February 2012, and so not included in the Executive Summary table, Lloyds Banking
Group, BP, Admiral, BG Group, Tesco and United Utilities have all added another female NED. For Tesco
and United Utilities, this addition means they have reached the 25% target.
Female FTSE 100 2012 (15 mths) 2010 2009
Female held directorships 163 (15.0%) 135 (12.5%) 131 (12.2%)
Female executive directorships 20 (6.6%) 18 (5.5%) 17 (5.2%)
Female NEDs 143 (22.4%) 117 (15.6%) 114 (15.2%)
Women holding FTSE directorships 141 116 113
Companies with female executive
directors
17 16 15
Companies with at least one female
director
89 79 75
Companies with multiple female
directors
50 39 37
Companies with no female directors 11 21 25
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
16
A further 15 companies have at least 20% female directors – Wolseley, HSBC, Kingisher, Cairn Energy,
Aviva, Experian, G4S, Capita, Shire, Sainsbury, Imperial Tobacco, SSE, Glaxosmithkline, Reckitt
Benckiser and Man Group. Particular congratulations go to Wolseley who have moved from 90
th
position in 2010, with no women on the board to joint 18
th
with two women among their nine board
members.
The 11 FTSE 100 companies who remain entirely?male boards are:
? Vedanta Resources*
? Intertek Group
? AMEC
? Essar Energy
? Glencore International
? Antofagasta*
? Kazakhmys*
? Randgold Resources
? Aggreko
? Fresnillo
? Xstrata
*It is interesting to note that three out of only four FTSE 100 companies with Executive Chairmen roles
are among these eleven. This demonstrates disregard for another element of the UK Governance Code.
3.1.1 FTSE 100 Companies with Women in Top Roles
There are 17 FTSE 100 companies who have women in top executive roles on the corporate board.
Burberry, Pearson and Marks & Spencer all have two such women. It is encouraging that FTSE 100
companies with female executive directors represent a spread of sectors, some of which would not
historically be considered ‘female?friendly’ (such as oil & gas, mining, construction & building,
aerospace & defence) and yet they lead the way with women in their most senior executive posts.
There are four female CEOs of FTSE 100 companies: Angela Ahrendts (Burberry), Dame Marjorie
Scardino (Pearson), Alison Cooper (Imperial Tobacco), Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American).
There are four new female Chief Financial Oficers in the FTSE 100 index this year. They are Liz Doherty
(Reckitt Benckiser) and Lucinda Bell (British Land), both new appointments, and Maeve Carton (CRH)
and Tracey Taylor (Hargreaves Lansdown), whose companies are new to the FTSE 100. They join
Deirdre Mahlan (Diageo), Stacey Cartwright (Burberry), Jackie Hunt (Standard Life), Jann Brown (Cairn
Energy), Dr Zaure Zaurbekova (Eurasian Natural Resources), to make a total of nine female CFOs.
It is, however, a disappointment that there is only one FTSE 100 company with a woman holding the
position of Chairman. This is Alison Carnwath at Land Securities.
17
Table 2: Proile of 17 companies with female executive directors
3.1.2 Trends in Board Composition
Following the 2003 Higgs Review recommending better balance between NEDs and EDs on FTSE
boards, there has been a year?on?year decrease in the numbers of executive directorships. Once again
the number of EDs is at its lowest since 1999, and now 72% of companies have only one, two or three
EDs on their board. Contradicting this trend, the number of NEDs increased by 30 this year, taking it to a
new high of 781 and taking the total number of FTSE 100 directorships to 1086.
Rank
Femal
e FTSE
Company
% Female
Board
No. of
Female
Directors
No. Female
Executive
Directors
Executive Roles Sector
Women in
Executive Roles
1st DIAGEO 44.4% 4 1 Chief Financial Oficer Beverages Deirdre Mahalan
2nd BURBERRY GROUP 37.5% 3 2
Chief Executive Oficer,
Chief Financial Oficer
Food, Drug &
General Retailers
Angela Ahrendts,
Stacey Cartwright
3rd PEARSON 33.3% 4 2
Chief Executive Oficer,
Divisional CEO
Media
Dame Marjorie
Scardino, Rona
Fairhead
7th
INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTELS GROUP PLC
25.0% 3 1 Global HR & Operations Leisure & Hotels Tracy Robbins
7th STANDARD LIFE PLC 25.0% 3 1 Chief Financial Oficer Life Assurance Jackie Hunt
7th BAE SYSTEMS PLC 25.0% 3 1 Chief Operations Oficer
Aerospace &
Defence
Linda Hudson
16th MARKS & SPENCER 23.1% 3 2
ED General Merchandise,
ED E?Commerce
Food, Drug &
General Retailers
Kate Bostock,
Laura Wade?Gery
18th CAIRN ENERGY PLC 22.2% 2 1
Managing Director &
Finance Director
Utilities, Oil, Gas &
Electricity
Jann Brown
22nd TESCO PLC 21.4% 3 1 Corporate/Legal Affairs Retail Lucy Neville?Rolfe
24th CAPITA PLC 20.0% 2 1 Business Development Support Services Maggi Bell
24th
IMPERIAL TOBACCO
GROUP
20.0% 2 1 Chief Executive Oficer Tobacco Alison Cooper
24th
RECKITT BENCKISER
GROUP PLC
20.0% 2 1 Chief Financial Oficer
Clothing, Leisure &
Personal Products
Liz Doherty
35th ANGLO AMERICAN 18.2% 2 1 Chief Executive Oficer Mining Cynthia Carroll
45th BRITISH LAND CO PLC 15.4% 2 1 Finance Director Real Estate Lucinda Bell
63rd
HARGREAVES
LANSDOWN PLC
11.1% 1 1 Group Finance Director
Speciality & Other
Finance
Tracey Taylor
74th
EURASIAN NATURAL
RESOURCES CORP PLC
9.1% 1 1 Chief Financial Oficer Mining
Dr Zaure
Zaurbekova
79th CRH PLC 8.3% 1 1 Group Finance Director
Construction &
Building Materials
Maeve Carton
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
18
Table 3: Composition of Boards 2012
Since 1999 we have seen a year?on?year decrease in the total number of directors on the FTSE 100
boards…until this year. The increase of ten extra directorships on the 100 boards may not seem a
signiicant increase, but it is the irst in a decade. In the 2010 report we did note that the numbers
appeared to have stabilised and suggested that seven years after the Higgs Review on boards
2
recommended a rebalancing of the ED/NED ratio, boards had found their optimal composition.
However, in order to pre?empt any questions about whether having more women on boards is the
cause of this increase (although there is no evidence that that in itself is a negative outcome), we have
investigated the changing numbers since the 2010 report.
Companies move in and out of the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 listings according to their rankings in size,
based on market capitalisation. There has been an increase in between?listings movement over the past
few years, probably due to economic turbulence. In addition, there has been quite a sharp reduction in
the total number of executive board directorships, with an increase in NEDs. This may also be a
response to tough economic climes or a redeinition of an ‘effective’ board.
Of the 100 companies in the 2012 FTSE 100 listing, 89 had been on the list from the 2010 Female FTSE
Report. Of these 89 companies, 30 have not changed their board size. Of the 59 companies that have
changed their board size, 39 increased their board size (adding 56 new directorships), but
simultaneously 20 reduced their board size (eliminating 31 directorships). Several of the boards adding
women also added men. These gave a total net increase of 25 directorships amongst those 89
companies who have remained in the FTSE 100.
The 11 companies who left the FTSE 100 during that period took a total of 115 directorships with them,
whereas the 11 new companies brought a total of 100 directorships into the FTSE 100.
Therefore, the overall increase in total directorships from 1,076 to 1,086 is due to a combination of an
additional 25 directorships and a net reduction of 15 directorships lost through irms leaving the index.
3.1.3 Characteristics of FTSE 100 Companies with Female Directors
As in previous years, we report on any signiicant differences between companies with and those
without female directors. For the irst time, market capitalisation is not signiicantly higher in
companies with women on the board, nor do irms with female directors have signiicantly larger
workforces. This demonstrates that size of companies cannot be used as an excuse for a lack of gender
diversity. Board size is higher (p = 0.001), averaging 11.1 directors for companies with female directors
compared to 8.8 directors for all?male boards. However, just using averages hides a wide variance, for
example, board sizes range from 6 to 18 across the FTSE 100.
Female FTSE 100 2012 2010 2009 2008 2004 1999
Total FTSE 100 NEDs 781 751 748 763 712 610
Total FTSE 100 Executive
Directors
305 325 330 353 418 645
Total FTSE 100 Directorships 1086 1076 1078 1116 1130 1255
2
Higgs Review, 2003
19
3.2 FTSE 100 Female Directors
3.2.1 Women holding Multiple Directorships
On FTSE 100 boards, 141 women hold 163 directorships. Since the Norwegian quota on women on
boards, much has been made of “The Golden Skirts” – those women who apparently hold a large
number of NED positions. However, research by Tiegen & Heidenreich (2010), from the Institute for
Social Research in Oslo, dispels this myth by clearly demonstrating that the percentage of women with
multiple directorships is lower than that of men. We can report that in the UK there is no signiicant
difference between the number of directorships held by women and men, nor has this situation changed
with the recent increases of female representation.
Table 4: Multiple Directorships
3.2.2 Female FTSE 100 Directors’ Age and Tenure
Overall, the female directors in 2012 are 3 years younger (p=0.001) than their male peers, with an
average age of 55.1, compared to 58.1 for male directors (based on 1,055 directors for whom we had
ages). The difference between the ages of male and female executive directors was not signiicant. The
women have signiicantly shorter tenure (p=0.001). See table 5.
Table 5: Age and Tenure
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
FTSE 100 Boards
Total
Directors
1 seat 2 seats 3 seats 4 seats
Male Directors 820 88.7% (727) 10.1% (83) 1.2% (10) 0
Female Directors 141 85.8% (121) 12.8% (18) 1.4% (2) 0
2012 AGE TENURE
All Execs NEDs All Execs NEDs
Men 58.1 52.4 60.7 5.2 6.2 4.7
Women 55.1 51.7 55.5 3.5 4.1 3.4
The Female FTSE Board Report
20
3.2.3 FTSE 100 Directors’ Nationality and Ethnicity
With 62 directorships held by individuals coming from non?European ethnic backgrounds (up from 53
last year), the overall proportion of ethnic minority male and female directors in the FTSE 100 has
increased slightly to 5.7%.
There has been little change in the number of female directors from minority ethnic groups. There are
14 women (9.9% of female directors), and all but one are non?executives. Zaure Zaurbekova, a Kazakh
national at Eurasian Natural Resources, is the only executive director. At WPP, Lubna Suliman Olayan is
a Saudi national, and Orit Gadiesh is American. Michele Hooper of AstraZeneca is African?American, as
is Ann Fudge at Unilever. Hixonia Nyasulu at Unilever and Dr. Mamphela Ramphele at Anglo American
are both South African nationals. Ying Yeh at Intercontinental Hotels, Safra Catz and the Hon. Laura Cha
at HSBC, Winnie Kin Wah Fok of G4S and Euleen Goh at Aviva are of Chinese descent and Dambisa Moyo
at Sabmiller and Barclays is Zambian. Baroness Shriti Vadera, NED at BHP Billiton and AstraZeneca is
the only British national among this group of female directors.
The largest minority groups of non?European descent amongst the men are from the Indian sub?
continent (21 men), and from Africa (10 men). There are four male directors of Middle?Eastern origin,
eight of Chinese/Japanese/Korean origin and ive male directors from Central Asia. Seven of the 48 men
are known to have British nationality.
“Diageo supports diversity within its board of directors, including gender diversity. Currently there
are four female directors, out of a total of nine board members. We believe that all four bring a wealth
of international business experience and are an asset to the company and the board. Without seeking
to set a speciic goal for female representation on the board, it remains our aspiration to maintain a
high level of diversity, including gender diversity, within the boardroom, appropriate to and
relecting the global nature of the company and the strategic imperatives the board has agreed upon.
Diageo has set itself a goal to increase the number of women in leadership positions in the company
and is making good progress towards this objective. Globally, women comprise 35% of our total
workforce with 27% currently illing the most senior leadership positions. In addition, women
represent 35% of mid?level management. Moreover, women comprise approximately 50% of all
graduates and a signiicant percentage of Diageo’s new hires and managers.
We recognize that women and men often face different challenges, and this is especially true for
women who are building a career while raising a family. We encourage lexibility of career paths, with
the ability to step on and off the fast track, and multiple opportunities to connect with diverse role
models. We are committed to retaining and developing our women for leadership roles and
sustaining an inclusive culture, and that includes creating a work environment that supports our
people throughout their careers. At Diageo, workplace lexibility is about working innovatively to
manage our lives at work and at home. It could be as informal as shifting a few hours to
accommodate a doctor’s appointment, or as formal as a reduced schedule. We also have an internal
networking and afinity group, Spirited Women that connects women across the globe. Through a
series of formal and informal sessions, we encourage women to expand their ambitions and aim even
higher in their careers.”
Case Study ? DIAGEO
Women as Leaders
21
Examining the nationality of directors (74% reported), we ind that 65% of all male directors compared
to 55% of all female directors hold British nationality. Interestingly, a further 12% of males but only 9%
of females hold EU citizenship. North Americans (USA and Canada) hold 11% of the male directorships,
but 29% of the female directorships.
3.3 The New FTSE 100 Director Appointments 2012
For two years in the Female FTSE Report we have researched the appointment process to FTSE 100
board directorships. In the 2010 Report, we recounted “Conversations with the Chairmen” regarding
the role that they played in the process. In the Davies Report of 2011, the role of Executive Search Firms
(ESFs) was highlighted in encouraging best practice in board recruitment and later this year we will
publish some research, commissioned by the Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC), into the
impact of the new Voluntary Code for ESFs. Without legislative intervention, the natural turnover of
directors is the mechanism through which any change in the demographic composition of boards will
occur and therefore, in addition to the status quo, we also monitor the pace of change.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
“Rolls?Royce has disclosed the proportion of women on the board, in senior executive positions and
female employees in the whole organisation in the 2011 annual report (due out March 2012). Overall
female representation across the global workforce is 15%, 7% at the senior executive level, 6% in our
Group Leadership Team and 7% in our Board of Directors. Approximately two thirds of the
workforce is in Engineering or Manufacturing roles where female representation has been
historically low. Rolls?Royce counters this through active involvement in education outreach and has
found female graduate recruitment has steadily increased over recent years. 25% of participants on
their graduate development programmes are female and this increases signiicantly in functions
outside of Engineering and Manufacturing.
Rolls?Royce’s global governance framework for diversity includes a senior executive Global Diversity
Steering Group that provides leadership and shapes strategic direction. In support of executive
succession planning process Rolls?Royce participates in the FTSE 100 Cross Company Mentoring
Programme, the objective of which is to increase the pool of eligible senior female candidates for UK
Board positions. Its Chairman is a mentor and three of its female executives have participated to
date.
During 2011, Rolls?Royce’s most senior executives have been reverse mentored by a colleague who is
junior to them in the organisation. The reverse mentors are a diverse group in terms of gender,
nationality, business, function and their working location. The aim is to give senior executives a
different perspective from a colleague who can share diverse experiences and ideas whilst increasing
the visibility of diverse talent; 12 of the 17 reverse mentors are female.”
Case Study ? ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS
Reverse Mentoring
The Female FTSE Board Report
22
The Davies Report 2011 requested that FTSE 350 companies set themselves targets for the percentage
of women on boards they aimed to achieve by 2015. It recommended a minimum target of 25% for
FTSE 100 companies (see section 3.4 below for results). Based on the turnover igures from previous
Female FTSE Reports (an average of 14% over six years), the Davies Report calculated that if one third
of all new FTSE 100 board appointments were given to women between 2011 and 2015, then from a
starting point of 12.5% female directors, a igure of 23.5% could be achieved across the FTSE 100
companies by 2015. However, ensuring that only two thirds of all new appointments go to men would
signify quite a change in behaviour, as the annual percentage of new appointments going to women
over the decade 2001?2010 was on average 14.2% — hence the very incremental changes made over
that period.
We are, therefore, very pleased to report that in the 12 months preceding January 2012, the percentage
of new appointments going to women was almost 25%.
Table 6: New Appointments
Whilst this igure does fall short of the Davies target of 33%, it is
important to realise that this is the largest increase in numbers and
the fastest pace of change since we began measuring these data in
1999. Interestingly, over and above the increase in the percentage of
new appointments going to women, in the year to January 2012
there has been an increase in the turnover of board seats, which now
stands at 17.5%, which will, of course, also affect the pace of change.
In the original model shown in the Davies Report, with a predicted
turnover of 14%, a male/female split in new appointments of two
thirds/one third was going to produce 50 new women directorships
in the following year. In the year to January 2012, 47 new
appointments were taken by women, so this is almost on the target
of 50 and a substantial turnaround of behaviour from those involved
in the appointment process.
Much has been made of the predicted trajectories in the press recently and so it is important to be as
accurate as possible. The forecasts from the Davies Report were based on two assumptions: Firstly, that
the number of directorships available on the FTSE 100 boards stays constant – however, this is never
the case and as reported above after a number of years of declining numbers, this report records an
increase of 10 additional directorships. Secondly, the model assumed that the male/female split of the
directors coming off boards mirrored the current percentages on the boards. However, when directors
take up their roles on boards there is an expectation that they will serve two three?year terms.
Therefore, we can reasonably expect that it will be six years before the increased igure of women going
onto the boards would be coming off. Six years ago (2006) the percentage of women on boards was just
over 10%, rising only to 12.5% by 2010. If we conservatively suggest that from now until 2016 the
percentage of women coming off boards each year is 12.5% and from then it relects the increased
percentage of women on boards, this should give a more accurate picture. We have kept the percentage
of new appointments going to women at today’s level of 25%. This predicts a total percentage of
women on boards of 22.0% by 2015 and 27.5% by 2020.
Female FTSE 100 2012 2010 2009 2008
New female appointments 47 18 23 16
New male appointments 143 117 133 133
Total new appointments 190 135 156 149
Female % of new appointments 24.70% 13.3% 14.7% 11%
"Given the signiicant lead
times to placing board
directors, I am pleasantly
surprised at how much
progress has been made in
increasing the numbers of
women on boards in the past
12 months. We are on the
right course, we should hold
fast and push for more
success this coming year."
Sir John Parker ? Chairman
Anglo American
23
However, we have previously suggested that increases in the number of women on boards are unlikely
to be linear, but will gather momentum. This is what we have started to see in the past year. In 2010, the
percentage of new appointments going to women was 13.3%. In the Interim Davies Report of October
2011
3
we recorded women taking 22.5% of new appointments and by January 2012 this had risen to
25%. At the time of going to press (March 1
st
2012) this had risen again to 26.7%. Therefore, in the
second trajectory below (dark blue), this gathering of momentum is demonstrated with the percentage
of appointments going to women increasing at a rate of 2.5% every six months until it reaches 35% at
the end of 2014 and is then held constant until 2020. Here we see a ‘wave’ effect which is currently
being supported by leading Executive Search Firms and other stakeholders in the area. In both
trajectories the annual turnover going forward has been held constant at the current 17.5%. This
predicts a total percentage of women on boards of 26.7% in 2015 and 36.9% by 2020.
Figure 1 – Trajectory of Increase 2011?2020
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
3
Sealy, Doldor, Singh & Vinnicombe, 2011 “Women on Boards: 6 month monitoring report”, Cranield, UK.
Assumptions for both trajectories:
? turnover held constant at 17.5%
? 6 year time?lag from percentage women on to women off boards
The Female FTSE Board Report
24
3.3.1 The New Female Directors
In the 12 months to January 2012, 47 women took up
new roles on FTSE 100 boards. Of these 47, we can report
that 29 women (62%) have had no prior FTSE 350
board experience. This represents a good addition to the
talent pool, suggesting that the appointment process is
beginning to open up to new women and Chairmen and
ESFs are being a little more creative with their selection of
candidates. However, most of these new women do have
experience on a range of other boards, including some on
charitable sector boards.
Case Study ? ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND
The ‘future talent’ pipeline from Graduate Recruitment
“When in 2009 RBS Global Banking & Markets assessed key steps to support gender advancement,
one critical element they focused on was graduate recruitment. A full review of the global graduate
proposition was undertaken in conjunction with Diversity and Inclusion consultants Brook Graham
Ltd to ensure that diverse talent was not unintentionally being ‘iltered’ out due to structural, cultural
or attitudinal factors.
The deep?dive analysis highlighted that while male and female candidates were equally successful at
application stages, the assessment process resulted in a disproportionate number of male recruits.
Considering gender culture, they concluded it was possible that terminology and testing methods
were supporting an unconscious bias towards more typically male patterns of behaviour.
Furthermore, assessment panels typically did not have strong female representation, nor had
assessors potentially received suficient training into unconscious bias or gender behaviours to equip
them to judge candidates objectively. Additionally, a lack of KPI’s meant no checks were in place to
ensure graduate recruitment was matching organisational inclusion and diverse talent aspirations.
All of this had an impact on the gender balance of recruitment offers.
A comprehensive engagement programme was instigated to ensure female candidates saw RBS
Global Banking & Markets as a compelling career choice. With more than 800 applications, a 2010
‘Women in Banking’ event was ive?times over?subscribed. The 2011 innovative dinner series
‘Moveable Feast’ held at key universities provided an informal setting for students to learn more
about banking from industry female role?models and encouraged 600 female applications.
Since 2009, graduate applications from women in the US and Europe have increased by 28%. Female
intern hiring has improved to over 45%, and female graduate hires increased by 5% in EMEA and
32% in the US. Industry awards have recognised this positive impact.
To ensure progress continues, aspirational gender balance targets within succession planning will
help to leverage the increased female pipeline; gender demographics at vice?president level are
already being positively inluenced by the focus on graduate recruitment in 2009.”
“Women on boards has moved up the
business agenda but still has some
way to go. Only by chairmen,
recruitment irms and shareholders
collectively focussing on the beneits
of gender balance, will we see the pace
accelerated and the risk of quotas
avoided. It should be viewed as a
priority — not an optional extra”.
Sir Roger Carr, Chairman Centrica,
President Confederation of British
Industry
25
Figure 2: FTSE 100 New Appointments in 12 months to January 2012
One particularly interesting appointment this year is that of Jasmine Whitbread, the CEO of Save the
Children. She has taken up an NED position at BT Group. Since 1999, Ms Whitbread has worked solely in
the charitable sector – irst as a director for Oxfam and then taking up her position at Save the Children
in 2010. As leader of a signiicant organization and handling a major budget, she clearly has a lot to add
to any board, regardless of the sector. A forthcoming report by former Director of Opportunity Now,
Norma Jarboe (Women Count: Charity Leaders 2012) indicates that female chairs, chief executives and
trustees within the charities sector offer a rich talent pool for FTSE 350 companies seeking to diversify
their boards. According to her report:
“Many of the organisations they lead have substantial national and international operations and are
sizeable employers. The women leaders often have substantial experience in the public, government,
academic and/or private sectors and can bring new expertise and perspectives to FTSE
companies. Women leaders in the charity sector have a much higher rate of participation than their
private sector counterparts. In the United States leading companies have sourced both male and female
board members from government and the charity sector for several decades.”
Table 7: From Women Count: Charity Leaders 2012, igures for the private sector from Female
FTSE Report.
A small number of women with substantial experience in the charities sector have also been included in
this year’s 100 Women to Watch list.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
Sector
% Women
Directors
% Women Chairs
% Women Chief
Executives
FTSE 100 15.00% 1% 4%
FTSE 250 9.40% 2.40% 4%
Charity 100 ( by funds) 28% 10% 17%
Charity 100 (by income) 32% 17% 25%
The Female FTSE Board Report
26
Of the 47 new appointments, four were Executive Director positions, the rest being NEDs. The four
were:
? Liz Doherty, Chief Financial Oficer at Reckitt Benckiser
? Laura Wade?Gery, ED in E?Commerce at Marks & Spencer
? Lucinda Bell, Financial Director at British Land
? Tracy Robbins, ED in Human Resources at Intercontinental Hotels Group
For Lucinda Bell and Tracy Robbins, this is their irst FTSE 100 board position and they were internal
promotions. Liz Doherty and Laura Wade?Gery were both external hires and had had previous FTSE
350 board experience.
Case Study ? Christine Tacon CBE
One woman’s strategy towards a portfolio career of directorships
Christine is a high proile board executive in the Agricultural and Food sector, known for her
strategic leadership of the Co?operative Group’s 50,000 acre farming business (the largest in the UK)
and her contribution to the farming industry on committees, taskforces and the Agricultural and
Food sector. Her opinion is regularly sought by the media and she chairs the BBC Rural Affairs
Advisory Committee. Christine is a Cambridge engineering graduate, has an MBA from Cranield and
was awarded a CBE for services to agriculture in 2004.
Her strategy for building a portfolio career is as follows:
? farming NEDs to keep her hand in on the farming side. She has already accepted one such
position.
? government committees. She is currently on a Defra committee and has been shortlisted
for the Food Standards Agency and the Seaish Board ? the latter of the two was a back?up
plan.
? charitable concerns. She has a position as Governor of Harper Adams University College
and is on the Business Advisory Board of Living with Environmental Change, overseeing
the work of the government Research Councils. This is an unpaid role.
? FTSE, or similar, NEDs. This is her current focus. She has written to the chairmen or
directors of four FTSE 100 businesses in food and engineering and has had an interview
with one chairman so far. She purposefully started by targeting companies who
currently have no women on the board.
Interestingly Christine falls into the category of not having either city or previous FTSE NED
experience. However, she believes she has a lot to offer in terms of her understanding of
sustainability, communication, leadership and government relations.
Christine commented that she has been struck at how helpful other senior women she has contacted
have been. She has devoted considerable time and energy to meeting with senior women, with a
number of the executive search irms and with former male director contacts. One head?hunter she
has spoken with said they liked engineers for the way they treat everything as a project!
27
We have looked at the backgrounds of the 47 recently appointed women, in terms of their roles (as
opposed to industry sectors) and found that the majority (29) have inancial backgrounds. Fifteen of the
29 women with no prior FTSE 350 experience have inancial backgrounds. This is interesting as
historically there has been a belief that inancial backgrounds are a prerequisite for women to achieve
signiicant directorships. Instead, their backgrounds are strategy, marketing, operations, sales and HR.
As noted in the Davies interim Report (October, 2011) three female directors have HR backgrounds.
Previous research (Female FTSE Report 2008) has found that aspiring female directors felt that their
HR or legal backgrounds or roles jeopardised their chances of getting a corporate directorship. This
stereotype is inally being broken.
Figure 3: Backgrounds of FTSE 100 New Appointees
Of the 27 women with inancial backgrounds, ive had mixed experience in Law & Politics and one also
had Strategy & Marketing experience.
3.3.2 The Context of Appointment
There is much public discussion about the impact of appointing more women onto corporate boards. As
part of a separate piece of research, we have had several discussions with leading Executive Search
Firms recently
4
. One outcome suggested by some of them was that boards will simply increase in size as
organizations will place additional women rather than replace some of their male directors. Indeed, this
was a suggestion in a previous Cranield Report
5
, in response to the lack of progress in increasing
female director numbers.
However, we have found that of the 47 new female appointments made, more than half of them (26)
were simply replacing current board directors (4 replaced departing women and 22 replaced departing
men). The majority of the latter were NEDs who were leaving boards as a result of having completed
two terms in ofice, as is the recommended good governance best practice. They included two female
inance directors replacing outgoing male inance directors and an additional female ED replacing an
outgoing male ED.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
4
“Gender diversity on boards: The appointment process and the role of executive search irms”, Report
commissioned by the Equality & Human Rights Commission, forthcoming, to be published March 2012.
5
Cranield Female FTSE Report 2008
The Female FTSE Board Report
28
Fifteen (32%) of the new female appointments did not appear to be replacing departing directors,
rather appearing as additional board members. In some of these companies the Chairmen were also
adding male directors (Weir Group, Arm Holdings, Capital Shopping, Pearson) – so the increase in
board size was not just due to women.
3.4 Reporting and Regulation
In October 2010, the coalition government, concerned about the lack of progress on the issue of women
on boards in the UK, asked Lord Mervyn Davies (ex?Trade Minister and ex?Chairman of Standard
Chartered Bank) to set up a review. The remit was “to identify barriers preventing more women reaching
the boardroom and to make recommendations regarding what government and business could do to
increase the proportion of women on corporate boards”
6
. At an EU level, European Commissioner,
Viviane Reding had given companies and governments across Europe until March 2012 to take actions
to improve gender balance in leadership. She had stated that if insuficient progress had been made by
that time, she was prepared to push for European?wide legislation. A number of countries across
Europe have already introduced either legislation or recommendations regarding the proportion of
women on boards. At the time of going to press for this report, it was not clear whether Ms. Reding was
going to propose a directive or a recommendation on March 8
th
— International Women’s Day.
6
Davies Report – Women on Boards, February 2011, p.6
29
3.4.1 Setting Targets
The Davies Report set out how business and other stakeholders could act to ensure a suficient, timely
and sustainable increase in the proportion of women in leadership positions. Since then, the team at the
International Centre for Women Leaders at Cranield has collaborated and contributed to monitoring
and reporting against the Davies recommendations. Recommendation No. 1 of the Davies Report
(February 2011) was worded as follows:
All Chairmen of FTSE 350 companies should set out the percentage of women they aim to have on
their boards in 2013 and 2015. FTSE 100 boards should aim for a minimum of 25% female
representation by 2015 and we expect that many will achieve a higher igure.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
Case Study ? SAGE
Annual Gender Diversity Reviews
“Sage’s workforce is currently 44% female, with just 11% at Executive Committee level, but 25%
women on the board. Sage has begun by undertaking an Annual Gender Diversity Review in June
2011. The ambition in Sage is to ensure that our people leading our business represent both the
employee and customer gender proile. This is important so that their needs are understood and to
create a more inclusive culture. In order to achieve this, Sage aims to:
? Annually review and monitor at Board level, our gender diversity proile as part of our
talent management review
? Review achievements of female Executives such as promotions, change in job roles and
appointments to Non?Executive Director roles (externally)
? Proactively encourage coaching and mentoring of female executives to aspire to top
leadership roles
? Proactively encourage successful female Executives to coach younger female talent
? Insist on a diverse slate of candidates from head hunters for all Senior Executive
appointments
? Publish the percentage of women in top leadership roles in our Annual Report, number
of female Executive appointments made and percentage of female promotions during the
period of review. (This was already achieved in the 2010 and 2011 reports.)
The review looked at various aspects such as: current gender composition, including a breakdown
into commercial and functional roles; key data points within Sage’s top 100 talent pool, such as
coaching, promotions, and movements; customer and employee proiles; viewpoints of female Senior
Executives and their suggestions to increase diversity; and inally a review of Women in Technology
which found a drop in the IT profession in Western countries and an increase in Asian.
Some highlights from the review include:
? One of the operating companies has set a target of shifting its number of females at
senior levels from 25% to 30% over the next 18 months and establish an internal
network for aspiring female leaders and professionals;
? Many of the female Executives appreciate the lexibility Sage offers in working patterns,
frequently referenced in a recent survey conducted on the viewpoints of Senior
Executives
? Finally, Sage has also been involved in the Mentoring Foundation which was built from
the expanding FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring Programme as a way of supporting
the development of the female leadership pipeline.”
The Female FTSE Board Report
30
The Davies Report required that Chairmen should announce their aspirational targets by September
2011 and in the Interim Report, October 2011, we were disappointed to note that only 33 companies
had set out their targets. We included in that report a number of the statements made by Chairmen
regarding targets. In January 2012 we wrote to the Company Secretaries of all FTSE 350 companies
asking for an update on a number of issues, including their targets. Seventy FTSE 100 companies
responded. The number of FTSE 100 companies with declared aspirational targets has risen to 38. Of
the 70 responding companies, nine have stated categorically that they will not be setting targets, the
remaining 23 were supportive but non?committal. We congratulate the companies listed in Table 8.
BskyB, Capital Shopping Centre, GKN, Lloyds Banking Group, Old Mutual, Rolls?Royce and Tullow Oil
boldly aim to increase their representation by 15?20 percentage points. Anglo American, BP, Eurasian
Natural Resources, Petrofac, Reed Elsevier, Rexam and Vodafone Group all aim to increase their female
board representation by 10?15 percentage points. We commend the aspiration of these companies and
look forward to the results of their labour.
A number of companies which have consistently had more than 25% of women on their boards (e.g.
Diageo, Pearson, Burberry) have chosen not to respond on the issue of targets. And whilst we commend
their current percentages, it is a shame they do not choose to show leadership in this area. It should be
noted that 25% was never intended by the Davies Report to be an ultimate goal, merely an achievable
stepping stone towards a more realistic balance.
Case Study ? BAE Systems
Aspirational Target of 25% of Executive Committee Set
“At the end of 2011, the company met its aspirational target of having at least 25% of the Board
consisting of women, which is a level we aim to maintain. There are three women on the BAE Systems
plc Board at present (25% of total membership) and two women on the Executive Committee (17%
of total membership). Globally 20% of the workforce are women.
Consistent with BAE Systems’ commitment to improve the diversity of its workforce, the Executive
Committee has agreed a programme to improve gender diversity in leadership positions. The
following actions will be taken to grow the female talent pipeline at senior management levels and to
support the achievement of the aspirational target of 25% female membership of the Executive
Committee by 2015:
Fostering a culture of inclusion:
? by investing in inclusive leadership education; and
? establishing a lexible work culture.
Accelerating the development of high potential women:
? through reciprocal mentoring by Executive Committee members; and
? increasing participation in global high potential programmes.
Hiring and selecting the top performing diverse talent:
? by ensuring leadership jobs have diverse candidate lists.
Measuring performance:
? through each business developing aspirational targets to increase signiicantly gender
diversity in leadership ranks.
In addition, the company developed a Board Diversity Charter and revised Terms of Reference for the
Nomination Committee. BAE Systems will report on progress against targets and action taken in the
Annual Report and Accounts.”
31
Table 8: FTSE 100 Board Targets
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
Company
Current % of
women on board
2013
Target
2015
Target
ADMIRAL GROUP PLC 18.2% 25%
ANGLO AMERICAN PLC 18.2% 30%
AVIVA 21.4% 25%
BAE SYSTEMS PLC 23.1% 25%
BARCLAYS PLC 16.7% 20% 25%
BHP BILLITON PLC 25% 25%
BP PLC 12.5% 25%
BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING GROUP PLC (BSKYB) 7.1% 25% 25%
CAPITAL SHOPPING CENTRES GROUP PLC 7.1% 25%
CENTRICA 25.0% 25%
EURASIAN NATURAL RESOURCES CORP PLC 8.30% 20%
G4S PLC 20% 25%
GKN PLC 10% 25%
GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC 20% 25%
HSBC HLDGS PLC 22.2% 25%
INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP PLC 25% 25%
KINGFISHER PLC 22.2% 25%
LAND SECURITIES GROUP PLC 18.2% 25%
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC 8.3% 25%
MARKS & SPENCER 23.1% 30% 30%
MORRISON (WM.) SUPERMARKETS PLC 28.6% 30%
NATIONAL GRID PLC 25% 25%
OLD MUTUAL PLC 9.1% 18% 27%
PETROFAC LTD 11.1% 15% 25%
REED ELSEVIER PLC 11.1% 22%
REXAM PLC 11.1% 25%
ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC 6.7% 25%
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC 23.1% 25%
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC 15.4% 25%
SAGE GROUP PLC 25% 25% 25%
SAINSBURY(J) PLC 20% 25%
SMITH & NEPHEW PLC 18.2% 25%
TESCO PLC 21.4% 25%
TULLOW OIL PLC 9.1% 25%
UNILEVER PLC 25% 25%
VODAFONE GROUP PLC 14.3% 25%
WHITBREAD PLC 27.3% 27.3%
WOLSELEY PLC 22.2% 25%
The Female FTSE Board Report
32
3.4.2 Reporting on the Pipeline
Whilst the overall percentage of women on boards has begun to increase at an encouraging rate, it is
hard to ignore the fact that most of the increase is occurring amongst NED directorships. Whilst the
increase in the numbers of female NED positions is important, it is imperative to ensure that as much
focus is placed on improving the female executive pipeline. This is requisite for better balanced boards
and senior leadership going forward. Companies who are addressing this demonstrate a true
commitment to changing organizational cultures and sustaining genuinely meritocratic environments.
Case Study ? The Mentoring Foundation
Barclays Bank plc, Founder Patrons of the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring Programme
After the Davies Report (Women on Boards) was published in 2011, a distinguished group of FTSE
100 Chairmen with a long commitment to participation in the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring
Programme determined to expand it, to address the challenges set out by Lord Davies and his team.
The Programme was subsequently established on an independent footing under the ownership of
The Mentoring Foundation and its director, Peninah Thomson, was appointed Chief Executive. The
Mentoring Foundation is a not?for?proit company limited by guarantee, with any surpluses
reinvested in the company for the beneit of the FTSE 100 Programme.
The strategic intent of the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring Programme is to help companies to
identify and develop a robust internal “pipeline” of talented women, and to help develop those
women to be credible candidates for Board?level appointments – both as executive, and non?
executive directors.
Group Chairman of Barclays Bank plc, Marcus Agius was one of the Chairmen who were instrumental
in the expansion of the FTSE 100 Programme, and in February 2012 Barclays became a Founder
Patron. Together with eleven other iconic UK organisations, Barclays has extended its commitment
to the Programme by agreeing to nominate two senior female executives as Mentees, in 2012 and in
each of the two following years.
Marcus Agius, together with Niall FitzGerald KBE, Chairman of Hakluyt & Co. Ltd., Sir Win Bischoff,
Chairman, Lloyds Banking Group plc and Sir Philip Hampton, Chairman of The Royal Bank of
Scotland Group plc, is a member of the Advisory Council of the FTSE 100 Cross?Company Mentoring
Programme. They, and all the Chairman Mentors, have agreed to mentor a senior woman from
another organisation, generously continuing to offer their commitment on a pro bono basis.
Barclays’ Chairman, working with the Group HR Director, Ms. Sally Bott, has nominated three of the
bank’s senior female executives to be Mentees on the FTSE Programme. Each of the Mentees is
working in a Mentoring Pair with the leader of another UK organisation from the non?banking sector
(in order to avoid any potential conlict of interest).
Chairman Marcus Agius commented:
“The FTSE 100 Programme is delivering a double beneit. Not only is it preparing an emerging cadre of
women to become non?executive Directors on the Boards of our larger companies, but it is also —
through the mentoring process — helping them to develop in their current executive roles.”
33
In addition to Chairmen setting targets for the percentage of women on their corporate board,
Recommendation 1 of the Davies Report stated:
Also we expect all Chief Executives to review the percentage of women they aim to have on their
Executive Committees in 2013 and 2015.
This has proved to be an even more elusive exercise and very few Chief Executives have responded to
this challenge. Any criticism levied at the focus on the numbers of women on boards has often pointed
to the real crisis in the numbers of female executive directors (just 6.6% on FTSE 100 boards).
Questions abound around how to increase these numbers and conversations with Chairmen and ESFs
highlight this as an area of necessary focus.
Since 2006, in the Female FTSE Reports, we have been monitoring those women who are members of
the Group Executive Team (often called Executive Committee or Group Management Team) from where
future Executive Directors would naturally come. We have highlighted a number of them in previous
“100 Women to Watch “ lists and some have now gone on to ED roles. In the 2010 report, we obtained
information on 99 of the then FTSE 100 companies (the one company who refused to respond was
Antofagasta). However, in line with current best practice, we believe such companies should now be
including this information on their corporate websites and within their annual reports.
The Investor Community has been very proactive in its
response to the Davies Report. Recommendation 6 of that
report stated that investors “should pay close attention” to the
behaviours of companies in terms of the Davies
recommendations, including company transparency around
targets, reporting on proportions of women at various levels,
the appointment process, boardroom diversity policies and
measurable objectives. There has been a very positive
response from a number of major investors expecting
companies to comply – for example, Association of British
Insurers, UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association,
Cooperative Asset Management, National Association of
Pension Funds, Aviva Investors, L&G Investment
Management, F&C Investments, Jupiter Asset Management,
Blackrock, Aberdeen Asset Management, Hermes Equity
Ownership Services, the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum,
Newton Investment Management and RPMI Railpen. Investors
need companies to report such information and increasingly
the sense is that those that do not are at best ignorant (and
therefore inactive) or at worst obstructive. We are aware that
the majority of company annual reports are published
between March and June and would encourage Chairmen and
Company Secretaries to demonstrate best practice and
leadership in this area.
Recommendation 2 of the Davies Report stated:
Quoted companies should be required to disclose each year the proportion of women on the board,
women in senior executive positions and female employees in the whole organization.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
“Board diversity is an important
aspect of the wider topic of good
corporate governance aimed at
improving business decisions,
reducing risk, sustaining proits
growth and therefore higher long?
term returns for shareholders.
Today's event shows that investors
are ready to hold companies to
account on this issue and will
encourage business?led change to
reach our, and Lord Davies' targets
for female representation on UK
boards by 2015."
Helena Morrisey, CBE, CEO
Newton Investment Management
and founder of the 30% Club
The Female FTSE Board Report
34
Therefore, in our letter to Company Secretaries in January, we requested information on the proportion
of women within their company:
? As a percentage of the whole workforce
? At junior management level
? At middle management level
? At senior management level, and
? At the level just below the board (e.g. Executive Committee/Management Committee)
We received 73 responses to our letter. It was interesting to note that whilst some companies could
easily pull these data off various reporting tools, several organizations clearly did not routinely track
this information (one company – Aggreko, advised us they were waiting for a new HR system to be
implemented that would provide them this information in the near future). In addition to those
companies listed in Table 9 below who did provide information, a further seven stated that some of
what was requested will be reported in their forthcoming annual report. These companies are:
Anglo American, Essar, GKN, IMI, National Grid, Tate & Lyle and Tullow Oil.
We thank those companies who speciically reported these igures in response to our request, and
would encourage them to monitor this information going forward. It is critical for companies in
optimising their talent management that they are aware of diversity at all levels. It is only with such
information that companies can be sure they are targeting their initiatives at the right place. Tracking
percentages can show where companies are losing their women. For example, in Diageo, 35% of their
total workforce is female. This igure remains constant at middle management level, which is
encouraging, and falls only slightly to 27% at senior management level. They currently have 44% of
women on their board, so are demonstrating consistency across the organization. In some ways a
similar example is BAE Systems, with a 20% female workforce, 17% at Executive Committee level, but
25% women on their board. It would appear that they are doing a reasonable job at retention. In their
case study (p.30), they are focusing on fostering a culture of inclusion and setting internal diversity
targets (including a 25% target for the executive committee). However, it would appear that they need
to improve their rate of bringing women into the organization. In the same industry, Rolls?Royce,
whose percentage of women in the workforce is only 15%, is focusing on active involvement in
education outreach to increase the numbers of women joiners. They have managed to increase their
percentage of participants on their graduate development programme to 25%. However, their igures
fall off to 7% at the most senior levels and so they will need now to focus on retention.
Retention and development is clearly still the issue for organizations within the inancial services
industries as most of those listed here have 50% or more women in their overall workforces but
signiicantly less than half that igure in their senior management, executive committee or board levels.
The data from the 34 companies indicated the following trends:
? The percentage of the workforce which is female varied from 13% (Petrofac) to 57% (Old
Mutual)
? The percentage of females at junior management level varied between 15% (BAE Systems)
and 50.1% (Barclays)
? The percentage of females at middle management level varied between 12% (BAE Systems)
and 40% (AstraZeneca)
? The percentage of females at senior management level varied between 7% (Rolls?Royce)
and 43% (Admiral)
? Just below the board the percentage of females varied between 5% (BAE Systems) and 33%
(Cairn Energy). Eighteen out of the 24 companies reporting the percentage of females at
executive/management committee level report igures of less than 25%, so there is much
work to be done in developing women to this level.
35
We also asked Company Secretaries for examples of work that they are conducting within their
organizations speciically aimed at increasing their pipeline of women to the top. A number of case
studies are included throughout this report. They detail some of the good work that these organizations
are doing, focusing on initiatives such as lexible career paths, workplace lexibility, unconscious bias in
recruitment, internal gender targets, promotion process monitoring and reporting, mentoring and
reverse mentoring, annual gender reviews and diverse slates in appointments.
FTSE 100 COMPANIES
“It is vital to look beyond the board and executive committee to build a sustainable female pipeline
from within the company. In 2010 we outlined a clear commitment to increasing the number of
women in our senior leadership populations by setting individual gender goals for our Executive
Committee and their direct reports. Known as the Plus 1 principle; as a senior leader if your team is
not already 50:50 gender balanced, then your goal is to bring at least one additional female into your
team each year. Our global CEO has maintained continuous energy and commitment to this by
ensuring progress is monitored and discussed quarterly with his team, and regularly communicating
his view on the importance of female leadership to all employees.
As a result we have seen good increases in the representation of women in our Senior Leadership
and Senior Management populations. But we still have a long way to go! Last year we extended the
concept of gender goals to the next level of the organisation by introducing a target of 50:50 gender
balance for new hires and internal promotions to our middle management levels.
We have realised, however, that goal setting alone is not enough to drive long term and sustainable
growth. Through a series of dialogues with women throughout the organisation we have been able
to identify and begin to address some of the deeper rooted challenges faced more particularly by
women in what has been a historically masculine industry. While some of these challenges can and
are being addressed by changes to policies and procedure (female candidates on shortlists,
performance and talent processes free from gender bias and so on), a mind set shift is crucial to
create a truly inclusive culture that values diversity of all kinds. As a result we have introduced a
number of initiatives to raise awareness of potential bias and open minds to the value of the different
types of skills diverse groups can bring to teams. Initiatives include a reciprocal mentoring
programme matching our Executive Committee members with high potential female mentoring
partners, the formation of local women’s networks, and team sessions on gender cultures in
collaboration with the Pat Heim group. Like many organisations we know there is no one silver
bullet or magic recipe and see this as a long term journey towards a more diverse and inclusive
organisation.”
Case Study ? Vodafone
Building a sustainable female pipeline
The Female FTSE Board Report
36
Table 9: FTSE 100 Pipeline of Women
* The Board igures for the Pipeline are taken from our main data collection point of January 10th 2012.
Company
% of women in workforce:
Of whole
workforce
At Junior
Mgmt
At Middle
Mgmt
At Senior
Mgmt
At
Ex/Man
Comm
At Board
Level*
ADMIRAL GROUP PLC 43% 29% 19%
AMEC PLC 24% 17% 10% 8% 0%
ANGLO AMERICAN PLC 14% 21% 19%
ASTRAZENECA PLC 51% 50% 40% 31% 25% 27%
AVIVA 50% 45% 29% 20% 18% 21%
BAE SYSTEMS PLC 20% 15% 12% 11% 5% 25%
BARCLAYS PLC 52% 50% 35% 10% 20% 17%
BRITISH LAND CO PLC 44% 25% 15%
BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING
GROUP PLC (BSKYB)
32% 7%
CAIRN ENERGY PLC 53% 33% 22%
CAPITAL SHOPPING CENTRES
GROUP PLC
46% 53% 26% 17% 7%
CENTRICA PLC 29% 27% 21% 15% 14% 25%
DIAGEO PLC 35% 35% 27% 44%
EXPERIAN PLC 45% 47% 38% 23% 13% 20%
G4S 12% 22% 20%
INTERTEK PLC 36% 18% 10% 0%
KINGFISHER PLC 40% 29% 22%
LAND SECURITIES GROUP PLC 45% 38% 23% 18% 14% 19%
LLOYDS BANKING GROUP 60% 49% 37% 26% 13% 8%
OLD MUTUAL PLC 57% 12% 11% 9%
PETROFAC LTD 13% 11%
PRUDENTIAL PLC 55% 63% 48% 27% 10% 12%
ROLLS?ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC 15% 7% 6% 7%
ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND 53% 33% 26% 18% 23%
SAGE 44% 26% 11% 25%
SABMILLER PLC 20% 23% 29% 24% 18%
SAINSBURY(J) PLC 54% 41% 25% 31% 27% 20%
SEVERN TRENT PLC 30% 28% 35% 20% 17% 9%
SMITH & NEPHEW PLC 39% 28% 15% 30% 19%
SMITHS GROUP PLC 38% 27% 20% 9% 0% 13%
STANDARD CHARTERED PLC 46% 52% 37% 22% 10% 12%
TESCO PLC 31% 19% 15% 21%
UNILEVER PLC 40% 42% 31% 20% 8% 25%
UNITED UTILITIES GROUP PLC 36% 37% 26% 24% 36% 14%
37
4. FTSE 250 Companies
FTSE 250 describes those companies ranked from 101?350 in terms of market capitalisation. Within the
boardrooms of those companies 9.4% (189) directorships are held by women. At the time of going to
press (March 1
st
2012) this igure had risen again to 9.6 %. This has increased from 7.8% (154)
recorded in the 2010 Female FTSE Report. Historically, the numbers of women on boards of the FTSE
250 companies have been much lower than those of the FTSE 100 companies and some commentators
would suggest that this is because they are less in the media spotlight than their FTSE 100 counterparts.
However, FTSE 250 Chairmen should realise the beneits of boardroom diversity and understand that
ignoring this issue is no longer acceptable from a governance perspective. The Financial Reporting
Council’s changes to the Code regarding gender diversity apply to all listed companies.
4.1 FTSE 250 Companies with Female Directors
Of the FTSE 250 companies 135 (54%) now have women in their boardrooms, inally making those all?
male boards a minority. This igure of 135 has increased from 119, but interestingly the number of
companies with two female directors has also increased substantially from 25 to 40. This would
indicate that the overall percentage increase of women on FTSE 250 boards has come equally from
companies placing their irst and also their second woman on the board.
Table 10: FTSE 250 Companies 2012
In the FTSE 250 companies there is no signiicant difference (p=0.001) between the board size of those
with female directors (average 8.5 members) and those with only male directors (average 7.6
members).
Below are two tables. The irst shows the 49 FTSE 250 companies which now have at least 20% female
directors – this number has increased by 11 since the 2010 report. Following that we show a table with
the FTSE 250 Zeros – those companies which retain all?male boards.
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
FTSE 250 Companies No. %
Companies with female directors 135 54.0%
Companies with 2 female directors 40 16.0%
Companies with 3 or 4 female directors 7 2.8%
Companies with female executive directors 25 10.0%
Companies with 2 female executive directors 3 1.2%
Average board size 8.1
Average number of executive directors 2.4
Average number of non?executive directors 5.6
The Female FTSE Board Report
38
Table 11: The 49 FTSE 250 Companies with at least 20% Female Directors
Rank FTSE 250 Company
Percent
Female
Board
No. of
Female
Directors
Female Executive
Directors
1st ELECTRA PRIVATE EQUITY PLC 50.0% 3
2nd WETHERSPOON(J.D.) PLC 42.9% 3 1 (ED)
3rd JPMORGAN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 40.0% 2
4th REDROW PLC 33.3% 2 1 (GFD)
4th SYNERGY HEALTH PLC 33.3% 2
6th CARPETRIGHT PLC 30.0% 3 1 (ED)
7th 3i INFRASTRUCTURE PLC 28.6% 2
7th VICTREX PLC 28.6% 2
7th TALVIVAARA MINING CO PLC 28.6% 2 1(CFO)
10th SVG CAPITAL PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO/FD)
10th WILLIAM HILL PLC 25.0% 2
10th MONKS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 25.0% 1
10th DE LA RUE PLC 25.0% 2
10th RPS GROUP PLC 25.0% 2
10th JPMORGAN RUSSIAN SECURITIES 25.0% 2
10th BTG PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO)
10th BRITISH EMPIRE SECURITIES & GENERAL TRUST PLC 25.0% 1
10th HICL INFRASTRUCTURE CO LTD 25.0% 1
10th BETFAIR GROUP PLC 25.0% 2
10th ALLIANCE TRUST PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO)
10th PREMIER FARNELL PLC 25.0% 2 1 (CEO)
22nd BERKELEY GROUP HOLDINGS PLC 23.1% 3
23rd HAYS PLC 22.2% 2
24th INMARSAT PLC 22.2% 2
24th WS ATKINS PLC 22.2% 2
24th 3i GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 1 (GFD)
24th LOGICA PLC 22.2% 2
24th DOMINO'S PIZZA UK & IRL PLC 22.2% 2
24th HALMA PLC 22.2% 2
24th DEBENHAMS PLC 22.2% 2
24th STAGECOACH GROUP PLC 22.2% 2
24th CHEMRING GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 1 (ED)
24th TALKTALK TELECOM GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 2 (CEO, CFO)
24th TAYLOR WIMPEY PLC 22.2% 2
24th MITIE GROUP PLC 22.2% 2 2 (CEO, CFO)
24th MONDI PLC 22.2% 2
37th ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC 21.4% 3 1 (ED)
37th RATHBONE BROTHERS PLC 21.4% 3
39th MURRAY INTERNATIONAL TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th MURRAY INCOME TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th JUPITER FUND MANAGEMENT PLC 20.0% 2
39th INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS LTD 20.0% 1
39th LAW DEBENTURE CORP PLC 20.0% 1
39th EXILLON ENERGY PLC 20.0% 1
39th SCOTTISH MORTGAGE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39
Table 11: The 49 FTSE 250 Companies with at least 20% Female Directors (cont’d)
Table 12: FTSE 250 Companies Zeros
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
ABERFORTH SMALLER COMPANIES
TRUST PLC
DEVRO PLC MERCHANTS TRUST PLC
AFREN PLC DIPLOMA PLC
MILLENNIUM & COPTHORNE
HOTELS PLC
AFRICAN BARRICK GOLD PLC DOMINO PRINTING SCIENCES PLC MISYS PLC
ALLIED GOLD MINING PLC DS SMITH PLC MITCHELLS & BUTLERS PLC
ANGLO PACIFIC GROUP PLC EDINBURGH DRAGON TRUST PLC
MONEYSUPERMARKET.COM GROUP
PLC
AQUARIUS PLATINUM LTD ELECTROCOMPONENTS PLC MORGAN CRUCIBLE CO PLC
ASHTEAD GROUP PLC ELEMENTIS PLC NEW WORLD RESOURCES PLC
AVEVA GROUP PLC F&C ASSET MANAGEMENT PLC NORTHGATE PLC
AZ ELECTRONIC MATERIALS SA
F&C COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
TRUST LTD
OXFORD INSTRUMENTS PLC
BALFOUR BEATTY PLC FENNER PLC
PARAGON GROUP OF COMPANIES
PLC
BANKERS INVESTMENT TRUST PLC FERREXPO PLC PERFORM GROUP PLC
BARR(A.G.) FIDELITY EUROPEAN VALUES PLC
PERPETUAL INCOME & GROWTH
INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
BBA AVIATION PLC FILTRONA PLC PERSIMMON PLC
BEAZLEY PLC FIRSTGROUP PLC PERSONAL ASSETS TRUST PLC
BELLWAY PLC GEM DIAMONDS LTD RANK GROUP PLC
BERENDSEN PLC
GENESIS EMERGING MARKETS
FUND LTD
REGUS PLC
BH GLOBAL LTD GENUS PLC RENISHAW PLC
BH MACRO LTD GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES PLC RENTOKIL INITIAL PLC
BIG YELLOW GROUP PLC GREENE KING PLC ROTORK PLC
Rank FTSE 250 Company
Percent
Female
Board
No. of
Female
Directors
Female Executive
Directors
39th JPMORGAN EUROPEAN SMALLER COMPANIES TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th LADBROKES PLC 20.0% 2
39th BRITISH ASSETS TRUST PLC 20.0% 1
39th EASYJET PLC 20.0% 2 1 (CEO)
The Female FTSE Board Report
40
Table 12: FTSE 250 Companies Zeros (cont’d)
BWIN.PARTY DIGITAL
ENTERTAINMENT PLC
HUNTING PLC SENIOR PLC
CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS PLC IG GROUP HOLDINGS PLC SHANKS GROUP
CAPE PLC
IMAGINATION TECHNOLOGIES
GROUP PLC
SOCO INTERNATIONAL PLC
CAPITAL & COUNTIES PROPERTIES
PLC
INTERMEDIATE CAPITAL GROUP PLC SPECTRIS PLC
CATLIN GROUP LTD INTERSERVE PLC SPIRAX?SARCO ENGINEERING PLC
CENTAMIN PLC JD SPORTS FASHION PLC SPIRENT COMMUNICATIONS PLC
CHARTER INTERNATIONAL PLC
JOHN LAING INFRASTRUCTURE
FUND LTD
STOBART GROUP LTD
CITY OF LONDON INVESTMENT
TRUST PLC
JPMORGAN EMERGING MARKETS
INVEST TRUST PLC
TELECOM PLUS PLC
CLOSE BROTHERS GROUP PLC KCOM GROUP PLC
TEMPLETON EMERGING MARKETS
INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
COLT GROUP SA KENTZ CORP LTD
UK COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TRUST
LTD
COMPUTACENTER PLC KESA ELECTRICALS PLC ULTRA ELECTRONICS HLDGS PLC
CRANSWICK PLC LAIRD PLC WOOD GROUP (JOHN) PLC
CRODA INTERNATIONAL LAMPRELL PLC YULE CATTO & CO PLC
DAEJAN HOLDINGS PLC
LONDON & STAMFORD PROPERTY
PLC
DAILY MAIL & GENERAL TRUST PLC MELROSE PLC
BUMI PLC HOCHSCHILD MINING PLC SEGRO PLC
BOVIS HOMES GROUP HIKMA PHARMACEUTICALS PLC SCOTTISH INVESTMENT TRUST PLC
BODYCOTE PLC HERITAGE OIL PLC SAVILLS PLC
BLUECREST ALLBLUE FUND LTD HERALD INVESTMENT TRUST SALAMANDER ENERGY PLC
BLACKROCK WORLD MINING TRUST HANSTEEN HLDGS PLC RPC GROUP PLC
41
4.2 FTSE 250 Women in Top Roles
There are now ten female CEOs in the FTSE 250 companies. They
are: Lyn Fordham, SVG Capital; Katherine Garrett?Cox, Alliance
Trust; Dr. Harriet Green, Premier Farnell; the Honourable Dido
Harding, TalkTalk Telecom; Carolyn McCall, easyJet; Ruby
McGregor?Smith, Mitie Group; Dr. Louise Makin, BTG; Dorothy
Thompson, Drax; Caroline Banszky, Law Debenture Corp; and Kate
Swann, WHSmith.
In addition, seven women hold the top inancial position in the
FTSE 250 companies. They are: Suzanne Baxter, Mitie Group;
Shirley Garrood, Henderson Group; Yvonne Holm, Ophir Energy;
Saila Miettinen?La? hde, Talvivaara mining; Barbara Richmond,
Redrow; Amy Stirling, TalkTalk Telecom; and Julia Wilson at 3i.
This group of 17 at the top of their industries have between
them only six FTSE 350 NED positions. They represent an
untapped talent pool.
4.2.2 Cross?Index Comparison
As can be seen in the table below, the FTSE 250 companies fall signiicantly behind the FTSE 100
companies in terms of percentages of women holding both executive and non?executive board
directorships. The FTSE 250 is also substantially lower in terms of companies with female executive
directors and multiple directors.
Table 13: FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 Comparison
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
“MITIE is a fast?growing and
ambitious company and will
only reach its potential if it
makes the most of all the
talent within the company,
including women. By making
sure that we have the right
environment and support for
our female staff we will
succeed together as a
company.”
Ruby McGregor?Smith CBE,
Chief Executive
At January 2012 FTSE 100 FTSE 250
Female?held directorships 163 (15%) 189 (9.4%)
Female executive directorships 20 (6.6%) 28 (4.6%)
Female non?executive directorships 143 22.4%) 168 (11.4%)
Companies with female executive directors 17 (17%) 25 (10.0%)
Companies with at least one female director 89 (89%) 135 (54%)
Companies with multiple female directors 50 (50%) 47 (18.8%)
The Female FTSE Board Report
42
“As an organisation with the only Asian female Chief Executive in the FTSE 250, MITIE recognises
that attracting future female talent is of key importance. MITIE places huge importance on delivering
a supportive and inclusive environment for its staff and these are just a number of measures that
form part of the group’s efforts to retain more female employees.
MITIE has introduced a variety of programmes to encourage women to return to work after taking
maternity leave and to help women maintain a career, including:
? Supporting lexible working hours and a lexi?leave system
? Enabling home working and a compressed working fortnight option
? Providing childcare vouchers and additional annual leave purchase schemes
? Offering a maternity coaching programme for senior HR professionals
MITIE has a dedicated diversity board, as well as an equality, diversity and inclusion policy which has
developed a number of initiatives:
? Held the inaugural Diversity Week in 2011, including presentations from board level
executives and a number of events to raise awareness of diversity and equality issues
? Appointed a diversity steering group that is externally chaired and consists of
representatives from across the business
? Made managers accountable for implementing gender programmes initiated by diversity
champions across the business
Mentoring is also recognised as essential to supporting a pipeline of female talent:
? Introduced a mentoring programme for rising female stars
? The CEO has set up and remains involved in a mentoring circle for black, Asian and
minority ethnic female staff
? The Group Finance Director sponsors a newly developed executive mentoring
programme for the inance function and has also achieved a 100% maternity returner
rate within her direct reports, which is subsequently being cascaded throughout the
business”
Case Study ? MITIE GROUP
Maternity and Mentoring
43
4.2.3 New Appointments
Figure 4: FTSE 250 New Appointment in 12 months to January 2012
In the year to January 2012, 52 women took up new directorships, compared to 273 new male
appointments. This represents 19% of all new appointments. Interestingly, we retook the data on
March 1
st
and this igure had risen substantially to 27% (57 women and 213 men). This would suggest
that the ‘wave’ theory of increasing percentages going to women may also be in action in the FTSE 250 .
Mirroring the FTSE 100 appointments, the majority (68%) of the women had had no prior FTSE 350
board positions, thus expanding the talent pool of FTSE 350 female directors – see below.
Figure 5: Backgrounds of FTSE 250 new female directors
The backgrounds of the new FTSE 250 female directors were slightly more eclectic than those of the
new FTSE 100 female directors, with 45% coming from inance. There was a greater emphasis on sales
and marketing, which may relect the slightly smaller nature of these irms.
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
44
4.3 Targets and Pipeline
The table below shows the number of male and female held directorships and senior executive
positions in FTSE 250 irms. As with the FTSE 100 irms, this year there has been a slight increase in the
total number of directorships (from 1966) but another decrease in the number of executive
directorships. In this tough economic climate, the latter may well be a cost?cutting exercise.
The total number of senior executives has increased (from 2,186 to 2,213), but there has been no
increase in the percentage of these roles held by women.
Table 14: FTSE 250 Directors, by Gender and Role
4.3.1 FTSE 250 Board Targets
As described in section 3.4 above, we wrote to all FTSE 350 companies requesting information on the
aspirational targets and their pipeline igures.
We received 107 responses from the FTSE 250 companies. Thirty?four of those companies have set
aspirational women on board targets. This is an increase of 14 companies since the Davies Interim
Report, last October. From our responses, 28 stated that they would not be setting targets and the
remaining 45 companies were supportive in principle but non?committal.
Interestingly, it appears that some of the FTSE 250 companies are being bolder than their FTSE 100
counterparts. For example, nine companies who have stated targets are at the start of this journey and
currently have no women on their board – none of the 11 FTSE 100 companies with no women on their
boards has announced a target. Four of the companies have targets of more 30%, although WS Atkins
is the only company for whom that target is an increase on their current position.
Seven companies have set themselves targets of at least a 15 percentage point increase. They are: DS
Smith, Fidelity European Values, FirstGroup, Laird, Rentokil Initial, Senior and Tui Travel. In addition
Amlin, Beazley, Dignity, Greene King, Pennon Group, Phoenix Group Holdings and Rotork have all set
themselves targets of between a 10?15 percentage point increase. We congratulate all of these
companies.
FTSE 250 Females Males Total
Executive Directors 28 (4.6%) 580 (95.4%) 608
Non?Executive Directors 161 (11.4%) 1250 (88.6%) 1411
Total Directors 189 (9.4%) 1830 (91.6%) 2019
Senior Executives 364 (16.4%) 1849 (83.6%) 2213
45
Table 15: FTSE 250 Board Targets
Company
Current % of
women on
board
2013
Target
2015 Target
AMLIN PLC 9.1% 20%
BEAZLEY PLC 0.0% 10%
DIGNITY PLC 11.1% 25%
DOMINO'S PIZZA UK & IRL PLC 22.2% 20% 20%
DS SMITH PLC 0.0% 25%
ELECTRA PRIVATE EQUITY PLC 50.0% 33% 33%
EUROMONEY INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR PLC 11.8% 13%
FIDELITY EUROPEAN VALUES PLC (Quoted) 0.0% 20%
FIDELITY CHINA SPECIAL SITUATIONS PLC 16.7% 25%
FIRSTGROUP PLC 0.0% 20%
GO?AHEAD GROUP PLC 14.3% 17% 17%
GRAINGER PLC 18.0% 18% 18%
GREENE KING PLC 0.0% 14%
INFORMA PLC 14.2% 14% 14%
INVESTEC PLC 18.8% 25%
JUPITER FUND MANAGEMENT PLC 20.0% 20% 20%
LAIRD PLC 0.0% 13% 25%
MONDI PLC 22.2% 25% 25%
PENNON GROUP PLC 14.2% 14% 25%
PHOENIX GROUP HOLDINGS 7.7% 14% 21%
PREMIER FARNELL PLC 25.0% 25% 25%
REDROW PLC 33.3% 33%
RENTOKIL INITIAL PLC 0.0% 20% 20%
RESTAURANT GROUP PLC 16.7% 17% 17%
ROTORK PLC 0.0% 12.5% 12.5%
RPS GROUP PLC 25.0% 25% 25%
SENIOR PLC 0.0% 15% 15%
STAGECOACH GROUP PLC 22.2% 22% 22%
SVG CAPITAL PLC 25.0% 25%
SYNERGY HEALTH PLC 33.3% 33.3% 33.3%
TAYLOR WIMPEY PLC 22.2% 22% 22%
TUI TRAVEL PLC 6.7% 25%
WILLIAM HILL PLC 25.0% 25%
WS ATKINS PLC 22.2% 33.3%
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
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46
4.3.2 FTSE 250 Pipeline Information
Of the 107 FTSE 250 companies from whom we received responses, 40 provided information on their
pipeline percentages. We commend these companies and report their information in the table below.
A further seven companies stated that, due to the nature of their business, they have no employees.
These were Bankers Investment Trust, 3i Infrastructure, Aberforth Small Companies Trust, Fidelity
European Values, Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust, Polar Tech Investment Trust and Electra Private
Equity.
Two further companies (Jardine Lloyd Thompson and Yule Catto) advised that they did not have any of
the information requested available. An additional six companies stated there would be more
information available in their forthcoming annual reports. These companies were:
Laird, Mitie Group, Elementis, First Group, Informa, and Sig
Table 16: FTSE 250 Pipeline of Women
Company
% of women in workforce:
Of whole
workforce
At junior
Mgmt
At middle
Mgmt
At Senior
Mgmt
At Ex/
Man
Comm
Board
ALLIANCE TRUST PLC 52.0% 53.0% 36.0% 20.0% 29.0% 25.0%
AMLIN PLC 46.0% 52.5% 23.0% 10.0% 0.0% 9.1%
BALFOUR BEATTY 28.0% 50.0% 16.0% 12.0% 8.0% 0.0%
BBA AVIATION PLC 22.0% 19.0% 30.0% 0.0%
BETFAIR GROUP PLC 22.4% 16.0% 25.0%
BOVIS HOMES GROUP 36.0% 0.0% 0.0%
CABLE & WIRELESS WORLDWIDE PLC 24.0% 25.0% 22.0% 25.0% 33.0% 16.7%
CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS PLC 39.0% 81.0% 50.0% 33.0% 13.0% 0.0%
CAPITAL & COUNTIES PROPERTIES PLC 40.0% 57.0% 41.0% 53.0% 36.0% 0.0%
COBHAM PLC 27.9% 11.1%
DAIRY CREST 18.1% 28.5% 19.0% 26.6% 0.0% 11.1%
DEBENHAMS PLC 76.6% 67.9% 54.5% 44.0% 50.0% 22.2%
DRAX GROUP 25.1% 41.6% 21.8% 25.0% 14.5% 11.1%
DOMINO PRINTING SCIENCES PLC 24.0% 26.0% 15.0% 8.0% 33.0% 0.0%
DUNELM GROUP PLC 65.0% 50.0% 29.0% 16.7%
EXILLON ENERGY PLC 18.0% 50.0% 20.0%
GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES PLC 43.0% 60.0% 21.0% 30.0% 50.0% 0.0%
HAYS PLC 61.0% 24.0% 22.2%
INFORMA PLC 35.0% 14.3%
INMARSAT PLC 32.0% 47.0% 23.0% 19.0% 18.0% 22.2%
JUPITER FUND MANAGEMENT PLC 40.0% 25.0% 20.0%
LONDON & STAMFORD PROPERTY PLC 60.0% 25.0% 40.0% 0.0%
LONMIN 4.9% 28.0% 9.1%
MICHAEL PAGE INTERNATIONAL PLC 50.6% 45.0% 43.7% 26.5% 6.7% 12.5%
MONDI PLC 21.0% 18.0% 22.2%
OPHIR ENERGY PLC 41.3% 42.9% 25.0% 0.0% 40.0% 8.3%
PENNON GROUP PLC 16.0% 22.0% 19.0% 18.0% 6.0% 14.3%
PERSIMMON PLC 35.0% 15.3% 16.6% 0.0%
PZ CUSSONS 37.0% 35.0% 25.0% 22.0% 18.2%
47
Table 16: FTSE 250 Pipeline of Women (cont’d)
The data from the 40 companies indicated the following trends:
? The percentage of the workforce which is female varied from 4.9% (Lonmin) to 76.6%
(Debenhams)
? The percentage of females at junior management level varied from 22% (Pennon Group) to
81% (Caledonia Investments, Wetherspoon)
? The percentage of females at middle management level varied from 12.3% (Rotork) to
54.5% (Debenhams)
? The percentage of females at senior management level varied from 0% (Ophir energy) to
57% (SVG Capital)
? Just below the board the percentage of females varied from 0% (Amlin, Bovis and Dairy
Crest) to 50% (Debenhams, Exillon Energy and Great Portland Estates)
? 12 of the 28 companies reporting numbers of females at executive/management committee
level have more than 25% female directors at that level and yet only one of them (Alliance
Trust) has reached the target of 25% females on the board.
Again, we commend these 40 companies for monitoring this data. Overall, a substantial majority of
them reveal a trend of signiicant drop?off between the overall work?force percentage and the
percentage of women at the executive committee or board level. However a few (Betfair, Exillon, Mondi
and Pennon) maintain their workforce percentages fairly evenly across all levels – although they all
have workforce percentages of under 25%. Lonmin and Stagecoach buck the trend and have board
percentages higher than their workforce percentages, although both igures are very low (5% and
12%). At the other end, Debenhams and SVG Capital both manage to maintain more than 50% of
women across all levels until the board, when both come down to 22% and 25% respectively. Clearly
these companies have done a great job at maintaining their pipeline, but we would hope that they can
continue the increases to board level. We hope that the exercise of mapping the pipeline of female talent
will encourage companies to invest more effort at bringing women through to the top .
Company
% of women in workforce:
Of whole
workforce
At junior
Mgmt
At middle
Mgmt
At Senior
Mgmt
At Ex/
Man
Comm
Board
RENTOKIL INITIAL PLC 49.5% 30.1% 30.3% 19.4% 16.7% 0.0%
ROTORK PLC 17.0% 25.4% 12.3% 0.0% 12.5% 0.0%
SHAFTESBURY PLC 53.0% 50.0% 18.2%
SHANKS GROUP 12.6% 0.0%
SPECTRIS PLC 12.0% 0.0%
ST. JAMES'S PLACE PLC 51.0% 53.0% 17.0% 9.0% 13.0% 9.1%
STAGECOACH GROUP PLC 12.6% 7.0% 22.2%
SVG CAPITAL PLC 51.0% 50.0% 50.0% 57.0% 25.0%
TUI TRAVEL PLC 42.0% 6.7%
WETHERSPOON(J.D.) PLC 51.0% 81.0% 32.0% 28.0% 17.0% 42.9%
WS ATKINS PLC 27.7% 11.0% 4.0% 22.2%
FTSE 250 COMPANIES
The Female FTSE Board Report
48
5. Concluding Remarks
The 2012 Female FTSE Report follows a 12 month period of global activity in the ield of women on
boards, with a number of countries declaring different intervention strategies. In the UK we have also
seen considerable activity following the Davies Report, with initiatives from a number of stakeholders.
By the time this report is launched, Vivan Reding (EU Justice Commissioner) will have made her
announcement on March 8
th
2012 determining whether at a European level the approach going forward
is through directives or recommendations. At the time of going to print, we understand she is still
considering both options.
The multi?stakeholder approach of the Davies Report has undoubtedly had an important impact over
the past 12 months. For the nay?sayers, the change is not fast enough and pessimism prevails. We trust
that our updated model charting the increasing number of women on boards dispels such negativity. As
long as the stakeholders remain engaged we could achieve 30% women on boards within four years.
This would be a fantastic achievement. We urge Chairmen, Chief Executives, Executive Search Firms,
the government, investors and women to stay focused and use the momentum to change the status quo
permanently.
49
APPENDIX: Cranield’s International Centre for Women Leaders
The International Centre for Women Leaders is committed to helping organisations develop the next
generation of leaders from the widest possible pool of talent. We are unique in focussing our research,
management development and writing on gender diversity at leadership level.
The objectives of the Centre are to:
? Lead the national debate on gender diversity and corporate boards
? Provide a centre of excellence on women leaders, from which organisations can obtain the
latest trends, up?to?date research and benchmark best practice
? Identify and examine emergent issues in gender diversity and leadership, through
sponsored research in partnership with industry and government
? Share research indings globally through conferences, workshops, academic articles,
practitioner reports and in the international press.
For more information on the Centre’s research and executive development, please visit our Centre
website at www.som.cranield.ac.uk/som/research/centres. There is also available a list of our research
articles in areas such as women on boards, ethnicity on boards, leadership, diversity management,
gendered cultures, role models, impression management, and lexible working.
We have a number of doctoral researchers studying for PhDs or DBAs within our research centre and
can occasionally offer a full bursary to cover costs.
Dr Ruth Sealy, BSc, MSc, PhD, MCIPD
Senior Research Fellow
Deputy Director of the International Centre for Women Leaders
With global expertise on women on corporate boards, Ruth has been the lead researcher
of the UK’s annual Female FTSE Report since 2007. In addition to the Female FTSE Report,
Ruth has led the monitoring research following Lord Davies’ review.
Ruth’s research interests cover many aspects of retaining women in leadership, particularly board
composition and corporate governance. She completed her PhD at Cranield looking at the impact of
role models on the identity formation of senior female directors in the banking sector and has since
published a number of journal articles, book chapters and conference papers, where she has won two
Best Papers. She is on the Editorial Board of Gender in Management: An International Review, and has
spoken at many academic and practitioner conferences. She is regularly interviewed by the press.
Ruth speaks regularly at academic and practitioner conferences, lectures post?graduate and doctoral
courses. She is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development and has written
various articles for practitioner audience magazines, e.g. Women in Banking and Finance, City Women’s
Network.
Prior to becoming an academic, Ruth was the Managing Director of a specialist holiday company, which
she sold to a larger tour operator in 2001. She then worked as an independent Business Psychology
consultant. Her work included assessment, but particularly the development of high potential talent,
focusing on emotional intelligence and cognitive processing, working extensively in the engineering/
aerospace sector.
Email: [email protected]
APPENDIX
The Female FTSE Board Report
50
Professor Susan Vinnicombe OBE, MA, PhD, MCIM, FRSA
Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Diversity Management
Director of the Leadership and Organisation Development Community
Director of the Cranield International Centre for Women Leaders
Susan’s particular research interests are gender diversity on corporate boards, women’s
leadership styles, and the issues involved in women developing their managerial
careers. Her Research Centre is unique in Europe with its focus on women leaders and
the annual Female FTSE Report is regarded as the premier research resource on women
directors in the UK.
Susan has written ten books and over one hundred articles, reports and conference papers. “Women on
Corporate Boards of Directors – International Research and Practice” (with R. Burke, D. Bilimoria, M.
Husen and V. Singh published by Edward Elgar) was published in 2009. Her latest book “Handbook of
Research on Promoting Women’s Careers” (with R. Burke, L. Moore and S. Blake?Beard) will be
published by Edward Elgar in 2012.
Susan has consulted for organisations in over twenty countries on how best to attract, retain and
develop women executives. She has advised government in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Finland
and Spain on how to increase the number of women on their corporate boards. Susan is regularly
interviewed in the press and on the radio and television for her expert views on women directors, and
is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences. Susan is the founder and Chair of the judges for Women
in the City Awards. She is a Board member of the Saudi British Joint Business Council and Vice Patron
of Working Families, a charity. She is also Visiting Professor of Curtin University, Graduate Business
School, Perth, Australia. Susan is a member of the Davies Steering Committee.
Susan was awarded an OBE for her Services to Diversity in the Queen’s New Year’s Honour List in 2005.
Email: [email protected]
51
Notes
NOTES
The Female FTSE Board Report
52
Notes
Copyright: Sealy, Vinnicombe, Cran?ield University, 2012
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