Big Moment for 50 Women at 2nd UK Professional Boards Forum - Building Gender Balanced Business

• Chairs of some of the top UK companies’ boards met with 50 of the most promising British executive women at the second Professional Boards Forum meeting in London.

• Companies represented by their chairmen (and, exceptionally, we use that form of the noun here, as it pretty much reflects the reality save for 3i) included ITV, BT, Pearson, Royal Bank of Scotland, J Sainsbury, Land Securities, 3i, Balfour Beatty, DSG International, and Halfords.

• Women being looked at for future boardroom spots included Clare Thompson, a PricewaterhouseCoopers partner; Jasmine Whitbread, CEO of Save the Children; Julia Bond, a former managing director at Credit Suisse; and Kirsten English, CEO of the fund of funds Grenfell PAI.

• The November 2009 event drew praise from the board chairs, with Glen Moreno of Pearson calling it invaluable.

• “It is very important to get more women on to boards for several reasons,” Moreno said. “First, because it is difficult to get more non-executives anyway, so you need a wider talent pool. Secondly, because companies need to have a broader perspective on their boards — especially those whose customers and staff are women. And thirdly, in terms of a company’s values and culture.”

• Professional Boards Forum was founded by Elin Hurvenes of Norway after her country mandated that 40% of corporate boards be women and companies needed a way to identify women ready and able to serve.

• The first UK event, in May 2009, drew chairs representing more than 25 leading companies. Dido Harding, who attended that forum, in November 2009 became a non-executive director at British Land.

The Times article on the forum event