McLean were mandated to bring renewed diversity of background and commercial thinking to the board of an AIM listed UK Asset Manager.
We agreed with our client to focus on talented individuals who had not necessarily been appointed to a Non-Executive role before, but who could bring a wealth of experience to the board given their successful senior executive careers. The search process was extensive, as was the level of interest. McLean evaluated over 200 potential candidates, interviewed forty, before providing the Chairman of the firm with a shortlist of ten candidates, only one of which came from an asset management background. The client stated they would have been happy to have appointed anyone on that list, such was the strength of talent from the suitable applicants.
Outcome: Two appointments were made and both women have already made a powerful contribution to the board of the business. The board is much better balanced from the perspective of gender and industry backgrounds and the firm is benefiting from FTSE100 and Fortune 500 executive expertise.