Women Dominate Irish Board Appointments Taking 60% Of Seats Last Year

The Heidrick and Struggles European Board Monitor 2020 Report, which analyses board compositions across Europe, also found that 40% of new Irish Appointments went to non-nationals. The Report found that boards are prioritising experience and, in particular, financial risk expertise ahead of Brexit – a trend that is likely to continue through the pandemic.

Speaking about the Irish findings, Stafford Bagot, who leads Heidrick & Struggles‘ operations in Ireland from the firm’s Dublin office, said: “The Board Monitor highlighted that Ireland has performed significantly better in 2019 in terms of gender diversity compared with the previous year. While the European average is 49%, Ireland has seen 60% of new director seats go to women.

Even during crisis times for business such as these, it is essential that we do not become complacent and that we uphold this positive momentum to ensure that we build an appropriately represented pipeline of talent in terms of both gender and ethnic diversity, to feed into our boards.”

Speaking on the challenges facing the Diversity agenda in the COVID era, Stafford Bagot added  “The average age of new board appointees in Ireland last year was 57, demonstrating the priority placed on experience. Indeed, in light of COVID and Brexit, I think a lot of boards are exhibiting a preference for appointees who are seasoned in restructuring, risk, and crisis management.

However, a tendency to go for ‘tried and tested’ appointees and to stick with what has worked in times of crisis previously – as opposed to seeking out those with more diverse experience, could reinforce a lack of diversity by narrowing the candidate pool, which can then perpetuate underrepresentation of minority groups. Newer – and perhaps younger – voices at the table can however support agility and provide perspectives from demographics that may be closer to an organisation’s customer base, and these are areas in which we expect more diverse hires to excel.”

Stafford added “ESG has really come to the fore over the past year, particularly from an investment perspective, and sustainability is likely to become a critical driver for growth in the post-pandemic recovery. While a not-insignificant 17% of ISEQ Board appointees in 2019 brought with them experience in this field, Ireland should be taking note from countries setting the benchmark such as the Netherlands with 23%”.

Key Report Insights:

46% of newly appointed directors had prior CEO experience, and a further 20% had CFO experience reflecting a perceived need for such experience ahead of Brexit. At 54%, Ireland also filled the greatest proportion of seats with directors with financial risk expertise, a 19% increase from 2018. As the pandemic has created further economic uncertainty, this trend is likely to continue.

A majority of appointments are Irish, with 40% of seats going to non-nationals. The high share of non-national appointments may in part be due to the large number of technology companies with regional headquarters in Ireland.

Ireland is positioned slightly above the European average in terms of appointing those with digital experience at 23%. Less prominent were board appointees with cybersecurity expertise (3%) – with remote working the foreseeable norm,  cybersecurity is an operational threat which boards cannot afford to neglect and we expect will become a growing priority in the year ahead.

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