Egon Zehnder’s 2020 Global Board Diversity Tracker, which analyses companies with a market cap of €6billion, put the number of board seats held by women in Latin America at 11.6 per cent in 2020, an increase of only 3.3 percentage points in two years, compared to 32 per cent in Western Europe and 27 per cent in the US and Canada

Companies adopt more socially and ecologically sustainable practices when the board includes women and environmental experts and when younger members are elected to the board on a regular basis. Such are the initial findings of a big-data study focusing on publicly traded European companies, conducted by the leadership consulting firm Egon Zehnder in cooperation with the University of Göttingen. Nina Schmarander and Carsten Wundrack from Egon Zehnder together with Professor Michael Wolff from the University of Göttingen discuss the study in this Egon Zehnder Snapshot.

Out Leadership Founder Todd Sears is joined by two phenomenal leaders, Lisa Blais, who leads the US Board Practice for Egon Zehnder, and pioneering LGBTQ+ leader and Board Director Beth Brooke, who was newly named to the New York Times Board.

At India's first Corporate Governance Exchange event, Douglas Baillie, former CEO of Hindustan Unilever and currently a director at Huhtamaki and Airtel Africa, shares insights on talent management and CEO succession.

CEOs are the mainstay of their companies – both externally and internally. They hold primary responsibility for developing and implementing forward-looking strategies and evolving corporate culture. And in our hyper-complex and fast-paced age, they are the voice of the company and architects of value creation that goes well beyond financial gain. Appointing the CEO is one of the most important decisions and extensive tasks of any board of directors.

Chairwoman Jill Ader joined a panel with Out Leadership CEO & Founder Todd Sears and former EY partner Beth Brooke to discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion in the boardroom.

Egon Zehnder rounded off 2020 with a final gathering of biotech CEOs and board members, who shared their reflections on a turbulent year.

As CEOs lead us through complexity into a better future, they must maintain strong values—recognizing their responsibility to use unwavering humanity as their compass when making decisions or changing paths.

For all of the urgency around economic, social, and governance issues, actions around the globe are uneven and slow moving. Before the coronavirus struck, Egon Zehnder spoke with Benet Northcote, former GreenPeace UK Chief Policy Officer and Director of Corporate Responsibility at the John Lewis Partnership, about the biggest challenges sustainability leaders face, how they are helping organizations make progress, and what key characteristics sustainability leaders need to be successful in transforming their companies—and the world.

For the past 16 years, Egon Zehnder has tracked gender and international diversity on boards around the world. This year, our 2020 report expands into racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ+ diversity. Read the findings.