Women on Boards
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Our story

WB Directors is a purpose-led business working to increase diversity in executive and non-executive leadership.

We were founded as Women on Boards UK in 2012 by Fiona Hathorn, Rowena Ironside and Rachel Tranter.
We were inspired and practically supported by Women on Boards Australia, who set up after the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Our founders, 10 years on

We exist to improve diversity in senior leadership. Whilst still supporting women into non-executive board roles remains at our core, we have evolved to also work extensively with our Corporate Partners on supporting diverse talent to reach their potential and building inclusive cultures; and with boards to source diverse, high-quality candidates and optimise their performance.

We are a small purpose-led business, run by a small team. We work on a flexible, remote-first basis in a culture where self-starters thrive. Our approach is underpinned by our values:

Practical

  • Dealing with the world as it is, whilst driving the change we want to see;
  • Sharing actionable insights drawn from lived experience, with lessons from robust research;
  • Our trainers and delivery team have been senior leaders and/or are board members.

Inclusive

  • We strive to be meaningfully inclusive;
  • We reach for conscious inclusion internally and externally;
  • Inclusions cover our hybrid delivery models, our pricing and our range of services
    (whilst succeeding as a small business).

Open

  • We are ‘on your side’ and support all genders to reach their goals;
  • Our network of non-executive directors is predominantly female but welcomes all, including men;
  • We actively target ALL as collaborative, inclusive leadership must not be limited to, or closed off from, any demographic.

Impactful

  • What we do works. We take pride in tracing our impact, across the short and long-term;
  • We are laser-focused on our members’ and clients’ success, and derive joy from celebrating it;
  • We refine and innovate to offer new solutions to evolve our offer, ensuring we remain creative and curious in a changing world.

what we do works

Our impact

1
board success a day
12k
views of board vacancies a month
30+
Corporate Partners

Find out more about What We Do

Who we are

We are purpose-led company governed by a board of directors (shown here, clock for bios) and run by a team of committed staff, supported by our wider network of expert presenters.

John Dembitz

Non-Executive Chair of WB Directors and portfolio NED

Fiona Hathorn

CEO of WB Directors

Gail Emerson

Director of Membership & Marketing

Sarah Howe

Non-Executive Director, WB Directors

Rowena Ironside

Founder and Non-executive Director

Victoria Kemble

MD, Finance & Operations

Rachel Tranter

WB Executive Director, Head of Bespoke Search

why we do it

Board diversity in the UK

We firmly believe talent and ambition are evenly distributed across genders and other demographics, so positions of seniority should follow accordingly. This is important for business overall as diversity of thought matters – no where more so than in the boardroom.

We are proud of the progress made in the decade since we were founded. In 2011, the Davies Review found that women made up only 9.5% of members on the boards of FTSE 350 companies.  Subsequent UK monitoring of board diversity by the government-backed Hampton-Alexander Review in 2016 reported 23% of FTSE 350 board members were female. Today that figure is 40%. 

This has largely been achieved through diversifying non-executive director positions. It is proof that business-led targets, with appropriate monitoring and scrutiny, can be effective in driving change.

Yet, there remains more to be done.  Diversity in executive teams remains low and outside the FTSE350, in smaller listed firms, there is less diversity.

There is also a significant body of evidence showing a strong correlation between diversity and better business outcomes.

See more about Making the Case for Diverse Boards