Events & Initiatives

At Egon Zehnder, we have tracked gender and international diversity on boards around the world for the past 14 years. With the release of our 2018 report, Global Board Diversity Tracker: Who’s Really on Board?, we mark our most comprehensive effort yet.

While CEOs have been studied and surveyed many times, past projects have not focused on the human side of the CEO, or the critical elements of preparation and adaptation. This has been — until now — the untold story.

For the fifth consecutive year, Egon Zehnder is honored to be a strategic partner at IHS CERAWeek 2016.

Egon Zehnder is proud to be a founding partner of the Kellogg School of Management's Marketing Leadership Summit. Now in its sixth year, more than 100 senior marketing leaders gathered to share insights on building agile marketing organizations.

Egon Zehnder introduced Leaders & Daughters in March 2015 in London to provide a forum for addressing both the gender divide and the opportunity gap faced by the next generation of women leaders. By bringing together highly accomplished leaders and their daughters and mentees, we addressed the opportunities, challenges, obstacles and ideals of women leaders – and began to pave a path for positive change. Each year, Leaders & Daughters has grown– from 15 cities in 2016 to more than 40 in 2017. We have convened more than 5,000 attendees, across all major geographies

In 2012, Sabancı University (SU) celebrated the launch of its ‘Independent Women Directors (IWD)’ project aimed at increasing the number of independent women directors in Turkey.

Egon Zehnder UK is among the first executive search firms accredited under The Enhanced Code of Conduct for recruitment practices leading to measurable success in increasing gender diversity on FTSE 350 boards.

With Eurazeo, a leading listed investment company, Egon Zehnder invites young women to take part in The Rising Talents Program, which includes attending the Women’s Forum Global Meeting held in Deauville and membership in The Rising Talents Network.

Egon Zehnder sponsors the global conference of the Women’s International Network (WIN) and leads workshops at regional WIN events to help women succeed in their careers.

In September 2014, Egon Zehnder UK publicly committed to “25by25” – a target of 25 female chief executives of FTSE 100 companies by 2025, a five-fold increase.

In partnership with Valor Economico, the main business newspaper in Brazil, Egon Zehnder recognizes outstanding female Brazilian leaders who can serve as role models to young female talent.

With Valore D, Italy’s leading association of businesses, Egon Zehnder offers a year-long program to train and develop the next generation of non-executive directors.

Sabancı University (SU) celebrated the launch of its ‘Independent Women Directors (IWD)’ project aimed at increasing the number of independent women directors in Turkey on 13 December 2012.

Egon Zehnder is a strategic partner of the ‘Independent Women Directors (IWD)’ project launched by Sabancı University (SU) in Istanbul, which aims to help publicly-listed companies prioritize women when nominating independent directors.

Representatives of the Women-20 (W20) convened in Istanbul on 17-18 October to finalize a communique for G20 leaders ahead of their next meeting in Turkey in November. Formed under the Turkish term presidency of the G20, the W20 was set up as a G20 engagement group to promote global gender-inclusive economic growth.

Catalyst is the leading global non-profit organization with a mission to accelerate progress for women through workplace inclusion.

Paradigm for parity. Egon Zehnder is proud to partner with Paradigm for Parity℠ and has pledged to support the Paradigm for Parity’s 5-Point Action Plan for organizations to accelerate the pace of change in gender parity across senior executive roles.

The European commission is to push for a quota for women on company boards to address the slow progress to gender equality in the senior ranks of publicly listed businesses. Previous attempts by the EU’s executive to set a 40% goal for women in the top ranks of listed companies have been blocked by Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden overs fears that Brussels was overreaching into domestic affairs. Hungary and Poland have opposed the move on ideological grounds.

Egon Zehnder is honored to be a partner of the 2016 NOAH Conference. The target audience spans from entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives, networkers to leading industry journalists. In Berlin on June 8 the program features a B2B presentation by Karim Jalbout, European Digital Practice leader at Egon Zehnder, followed by a panel discussion on board matters. Consultants from Egon Zehnder Germany, who work with their clients on digital talent and transformation, will be present.

The Egon Zehnder 2016 Global Board Diversity Analysis (GBDA) is the most comprehensive to date, evaluating board data from 1,491 public companies with market capitalization exceeding EUR 6bn across 44 countries.

“HR is going to become even more important because the art of figuring people out is going to become that much more critical.” – Karim Jalbout

On 6 June at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Mark Krymalowski, Head of the EMEA Digital Practice at Egon Zehnder, sat down with Dr. Bernd Montag, CEO of Siemens Healthineers. The conversation was part of the Axel Springer NOAH Conference 2018, which focuses on connecting leaders to empower the European Digital Ecosystem.

For start-ups seeking to take their business to the next level, talent is crucial. Egon Zehnder’s Karim Jalbout offers three pieces of advice: don’t be afraid to hire people who are brighter than you, always look for leadership potential and be prepared to exchange equity for top talent.

Highlights from CERAWeek 2017

“Big versus Smart – Data Creating the Future of Better Healthcare,” was the focus of this year’s European Digital Health Days held on 1 June 2017 in Berlin with the support of Egon Zehnder.

"Scale or Sink? How boards can help founders build their business” was the topic of a panel chaired by Egon Zehnder’s consultant Mark Krymalowski at Noah 2017 on 22 June 2017 in Berlin.

Egon Zehnder consultant Ayşe Güçlü Onur, is co-founder of YenidenBiz, a non-profit organization that aims to help Turkish women return to work after extended career breaks.

To mark International Women’s Day on 8th March, Advance, a Swiss organization that promotes women in business, will be holding a high-caliber panel discussion on gender equality at the University of Zurich.

To mark International Women’s Day, Catherine Zhu, co-leader of Egon Zehnder’s Greater China Practice, will participate in an exclusive panel discussion organized by the Financial Times.

Highlights from CERAWeek 2016

The evolving role of corporate affairs officers and the critical importance of corporate reputation were two of the key themes explored by Gizem Weggemans, Egon Zehnder’s Global Communications and Public Affairs Officers Practice leader, at the 10th European Communication Summit.

Integrating Digital Talent into Traditional Corporate Cultures is the central theme of the round table to be lead by Lindsay Trout, Digital Practice Leader at Egon Zehnder.

Recruiting digital talent to drive change was the key issue explored by Natascha Jacobovits-van Boetzelaer, head of Egon Zehnder’s Global Digital Practice, at a recent conference for insurance executives in Asia.

Getting ready for the future was the focus of a panel discussion at “Mindset 2.0: Ignite your potential”, hosted by the National University of Singapore (NUS) on 1 April 2016.

To mark International Women’s Day on March 8th, Egon Zehnder hosts the global event series “Leaders and Daughters: Cultivating the Next Generation of Women Leaders”. We bring together renowned leaders and their talented daughters in 16 locations, from Singapore to Sao Paolo, to open a global dialogue around the opportunities and challenges faced by young women in the modern business environment.

Highlights from CERAWeek 2015

Representatives of the Women-20 (W20) convened in Istanbul on 17-18 October to finalize a communique for G20 leaders ahead of their next meeting in Turkey in November. Formed under the Turkish term presidency of the G20, the W20 was set up as a G20 engagement group to promote global gender-inclusive economic growth.

Inspiring and helping women to contribute authentically and integrate their feminine values into leadership roles was the focus of the Global WINConference.

How to respond to cyber threats in an increasingly dangerous environment was the focus of the recent cybersecurity dinner 2015 hosted by Egon Zehnder in Dallas, Texas. The dinner was attended by general counsels, chief information security officers and heads of corporate communications from a wide range of industries.

Following the launch of its 25by25 initiative in which Egon Zehnder UK commits to 25 female CEOs in the FTSE100 by 2025, Egon Zehnder hosted a discussion event on 23 March 2015, with more than 100 business leaders and their daughters to discuss changes needed to achieve the 25by25-goal.

Connecting Chinese and UK leaders was the focus of a Private Dinner Event hosted by Egon Zehnder and its Chairman Damien O’Brien on January 19th 2015 in London.

Management and policy priorities were hotly debated by technology executives at the recent CIO Network Conference organized by The Wall Street Journal.

The turnout was outstanding for a November 12 panel discussion featuring Franz Humer, former CEO and Chairman of Roche Holdings and David Rubenstein, Co-Founder of The Carlyle Group, at Egon Zehnder’s New York office.

On November 23, Christoph Lueneburger moderated a panel on sustainability as a path to value creation at the 40th annual international conference of Business Today.

Diversity and the challenge of anchoring women in business were the key topics of a speech given by Michael Ensser, Managing Partner of Egon Zehnder Germany, at the Women’s International Network (WIN) Conference 2014 held in Berlin in October 2014.

In September 2014, Egon Zehnder publicly committed to a target of 25 female chief executives of FTSE 100 companies by 2025, marking five-fold increase from today. The new initiative “25 by 25” was officially launched on 20 October 2014 at an event in London at which senior executives and FTSE Chairs were invited to discuss women’s routes to the top.

How to create inclusive organizations was the topic explored in a plenary speech given by Michel Deschapelles, Egon Zehnder, Miami, at the Women’s International Network Conference in October 2013.

In October 2013, Egon Zehnder hosted its third annual Kellogg Marketing Summit addressing the future of the customer-centric business and the role of marketers in directing the agenda.

The opening of the Zurich stock exchange on 12 March 2013 was heralded by a group of 50 senior business women ringing symbolic bells of change.

As sustainability gains importance globally and firms adapt their business models accordingly, the Consumer Goods Industry is definitely ahead of the game. A frank and dynamic discussion between leaders from or adjacent to the industry revealed four key insights.

Egon Zehnder is a strategic partner of the ‘Independent Women Directors (IWD)’ project launched by Sabancı University (SU) in Istanbul, which aims to help publicly-listed companies prioritize women when nominating independent directors.

Sabancı University (SU) celebrated the launch of its ‘Independent Women Directors (IWD)’ project aimed at increasing the number of independent women directors in Turkey on 13 December 2012.

Two unprecedented phenomena are currently impacting the global talent picture: demographics and globalization, notes Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, a Senior Adviser at Egon Zehnder International, in a podcast for World of Business Ideas.

In a recent keynote speech at the World Business Forum in New York, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, Senior Consultant at Egon Zehnder International, demonstrated the importance of emotional intelligence in Executive Search.

Spiky leadership was the central topic at an event for senior Human Resources leaders organised by the Amsterdam Office of Egon Zehnder International.

The vocabulary framing discourse on sustainability and the role played by the twin levers of risk and rewards were among the broad range of topics discussed at the Egon Zehnder Spring Sustainability Dinner hosted in the firm’s New York office on June 6, 2012.

Diversity management is today no longer a fringe activity but a mainstream profession founded on best practices, processes and structures.

As a strategic partner of The Nature Conservancy, Egon Zehnder International was recognised as a benefactor of TNC's 2012 Global Gala held on 20 June in New York.

Tapping top female talent was the focus of a special event recently held by Egon Zehnder International in its Milan office, Italy.