Women & Leadership Australia Mini Mag

Summer 2011

‘Board ready’? How to get noticed

Even at record levels, only 12.9% of ASX 200 board members are women. Sarah Hunter, Partner, Amrop Cordiner King – which specialising in executive and non-executive director search – investigates the deeper story behind the figures.

A significant part of our practice has always been advising boards on the recruitment of non executive directors. This has exposed us to the realities of board composition, so we were somewhat surprised recently when a highly successful female CEO of a publicly listed company commented to us that she was rarely approached about board roles.

As there has been a lot of publicity in the media about boards struggling to find exceptional women for boards we boldly decided to test this perceived shortage by placing an advertisement in the Australian Financial Review. Done as an exercise to identify high calibre women who were willing, able and qualified to sit on boards, we invited them to send us their CVs if they would like to be considered for such roles. We have a database of over 35,000 senior executives, many of whom are women. However we were aware that there were many more women out of our sight who were doing their jobs with distinction.

As a result of this advertisement, more than 250 women have sent us their resumes, and – to quote ASIC – at least 80 per cent of them are ‘board ready’. They have had highly successful track records at the most senior levels in their organisations, and have established reputations in their industry or profession. Many have worked for boards as professional advisers or consultants, giving them significant insight on how boards operate. Most of these well-qualified women in senior executive roles have not been approached, let alone appointed to a board, although some have sat on charity boards.

In an era when so many boards are looking for women, why have so many well-qualified women not been appointed to boards? It is our observation that the majority of board appointments are made through the board’s own networks, which are usually male dominated. When boards use search firms to assist them to identify potential directors, a more significant number of women are considered and appointed, because firms like ours conduct a systematic and thorough search for people with the required background. We look far beyond the people known to us and the board in question. But our experience are sometimes rejected because they do not have the same depth of board experience as the men.

We believe there are three clear messages as a result of our exercise to identify ‘board ready’ women:

• There is a pool of qualified women not currently being utilised
• The preponderance of men is self perpetuating as boards often use their own (male dominated) networks to identify candidates
• Women are often competing against more experienced male board members.
  

To further explore the above, we asked three women who have successfully built board portfolios, and have established careers as non executive directors, how they did it.

Jay Bonnington: B.Comm.(Auckland), M.B.A. (Monash), FAICD, FCPA

Before establishing her career as a director, Jay was CFO/Finance Director of Yallourn Energy Ltd, a National Director of CPA Australia and National CEO of The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Australia. Currently she is on the boards of St John of God Healthcare Group, Port of Melbourne Corporation, Metropolitan Fire and ES Services and Agriculture Victoria Services. Her community boards include The Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Deakin University Council, Royal Botanic Gardens, Prince Henry’s Medical Research Institute and The Queen’s Fund. Formerly she sat on the boards of Dental Health Services Victoria, SE Water Ltd and Health Superannuation Funds.

Jay commented that a successful executive career is an imperative as it gets you “above the madding crowd”. You also must have a key strength that you can sell – hers was finance. To help build her profile and to demonstrate she was willing to ‘give’ and not just ‘take’ she sought out not for profit board roles. Jay made sure she was seen at appropriate business functions and stayed in touch with people, but importantly did not make contact only when she wanted something. Her advice was to get to know people, network actively but be realistic and know your limitations. Jay’s first board appointment was for a not-for-profit in 1995.

Paula Dwyer: B.Comm (Melb), FCA, FAICD, FFin

Paula’s journey to boards started when a former PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) colleague was asked to recommend someone to the Victorian Gaming Commission who could chair their audit committee. When she as only 33 years old she was working as an adviser to the Victorian Government on privatising the electricity industry, but relished the opportunity to expand her professional interests.

In the late 1990s she was a founder of a wholesale investment management firm that specialised in ASX listed companies outside the Top 100 when she was appointed Deputy Director of two Victorian Government superannuation funds.

When in 2002 she decided to focus her career on non executive directorships, she flagged her interest to a number of former investment banking and chartered accounting colleagues.

Currently Paula sits on the boards of Tabcorp Holdings Ltd, Suncorp Metway Ltd, Astro Japan Property Group Ltd, Healthscope Ltd and is a Member of the Takeovers Panel. Her community boards include her role as Deputy Chairman of Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute. In the past Paula has sat on the boards of Promina Group Ltd, David Jones Ltd., RACV Ltd., Alpha Investment Management Pty. Ltd and CoINVEST Ltd.

Paula leveraged her capabilities and interests to ensure there was logic and credibility to the board roles she took on. She also nominated establishing and nurturing relationships with colleagues over the long term as being a key to the development of her career.

Jane Harvey B.Com (Melb), M.B.A. (Melb), FCA, FAICD

Jane has successfully made the transition from Partnership at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to holding a portfolio of directorships. Her current boards include IOOF Holdings Ltd, Medibank Private Limited (she chairs the audit committees for both), the Colonial Foundation Trust, the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Previously she has sat on the boards of the Rural Finance Corporation, Alfred Health Services, State Superannuation Board of Australia, Legal Services Board and Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Jane believed her qualifications and career with PwC provided the foundation from which she was able to embark on a career as a director. The value of the PwC brand was an important factor, as were the skills and networks she acquired in a career advising major corporate clients on strategy, risk management and financial issues. She first honed her skills as a director on major Victorian Government boards, gaining experience in understanding the operations of a board and chairing both board and committee meetings. Jane stated that her professional and female networks were significant factors in her board appointments.

Key take-aways

The above examples suggest that one effective way for women to improve their chances of being appointed to public company boards is for them to gain board experience on not for profit and government boards. Not only do these boards give them the necessary experience to compete with men with more credibility, it also increases their networks.

Men have been networking for generations through all sorts of forums – social and business – but it is an activity that many women have been slow to undertake. Jay, Paula and Jane all mention how important getting to know people, nurturing relationships and networking has been in their careers.

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