Thursday 18^th September, 2014

Egon Zehnder, the leading privately-owned global executive search and advisory firm ranked top for board and leadership work in the UK, is committing to a target of 25 female chief executives of FTSE 100 companies by 2025, a five-fold increase on the number today.

The commitment by the firm follows the appointment of its own female Managing Partner, Miranda Pode, to lead the firm in the UK.

Miranda has made it a personal priority to spearhead work with clients to identify, develop and retain their best women –helping to address years of sluggish progress in the numbers of female executives reaching the top.

Miranda Pode, UK Managing Partner. Said, "The long term challenge for women isn’t just in the boardroom; the challenge is very much also at the executive level, and it isn’t enough simply to hire by gender. Leadership in the 21st century requires a complex set of skills, experiences and realisation of each individual’s potential to truly maximise growth for their organisations. Our focus is on helping Britain’s largest companies do more to develop and retain their best women – this is what we think will bring real change."

The firm believes its ambition is achievable if one in six of new CEOs appointed over the next decade are female to FTSE 100, averaging three a year. Two thirds of CEOs are appointed from internal candidates, so new CEOs would be mostly internal promotions – putting the onus on companies to include more women in their leadership pipelines.

The new initiative, "25 by 25", will be formally launched by the firm at an event in London next month for senior executives and FTSE Chairs to discuss women’s routes to the top. Speakers will include Moya Greene, CEO of Royal Mail, and Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a senior advisor at Egon Zehnder who has recently published a new book on the importance of a more diverse next generation of leaders.

As part of its commitment to support clients in the goal of 25 by 25, Egon Zehnder is:

• Helping to identify 40% of women among their high potential leadership candidates.
• Launching a leadership development programme for potential CEOs, and including a specific programme for women.
• Helping clients identify and develop their top female talent to become Board ready.
• Continuing to work with the government and other external partners, such as the 30% Club, to increase the number of women in board-level roles.
• Sponsoring of a three-year PhD looking at potential gender bias from the University Of Cambridge Centre of Gender Studies.