Alternative Perspectives: a seat on the Board

Since Lord Davies’ independent review of women on boards a year ago (February 2011), the impetus to seek out female talent for the boardroom has never been greater. FTSE 100 companies appointed 26 women to their boards in the first eight months of 2011, a jump by 227% from the whole of 2010. Of these 26 appointments, 31% were women with financial services backgrounds, i.e. the most in-demand demographic.

This paper considers why women from the world of alternative investments could be appropriate for publicly quoted corporate boards. Working with senior members of 100 Women in Hedge Funds, we have conducted a study into the potential among women in alternatives for board. Of the 100 participants, 85% felt they were ready for a corporate board role within five years or less and 58% within two years or less.

In contrast, less than half of interviewees (47%) had board experience, public or private. In starker contrast, only 6% had public corporate board experience.

From executive search consultants, Odgers Berndtson.