WEQUAL-GLOBAL
17.11.2020 15:44:08 CET | Business Wire | Press release
Twenty-four female executives of leading EMEA companies have been identified as having the leadership traits for top level C-suite positions. The WeQual Awards (www.wequal.com/awards ) identify already successful senior women who are one level below C-suite, and are aimed at tackling the slow progress in appointing women to executive roles.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201117005907/en/
A quarter of the winners of previous UK and US WeQual Awards have since been promoted to the executive committees of FTSE and Fortune 500 companies.
“The glass-ceiling concept has been an issue for decades, and the drop-off is steepest just below the C-suite, so I launched WeQual to champion gender equality at the top,” says Katie Litchfield , founder and CEO of WeQual.
The EMEA finalists are from a wide range of sectors and companies, including Orange, Unilever, Schneider Electric, Bayer Consumer Health, ENGIE, KCB Group, Sodexo, Enel Group, L'Oréal, Mondi Group, Bureau Veritas, Standard Chartered, Veolia Environnement, Ericsson, Fresenius Medical Care, AkzoNobel, Ooredoo Qatar, Danone, Aryzta.
The 24 finalists were assessed against seven criteria: Leadership, Cognitive Ability, Integrity, Drive & Resilience, Equality, Knowledge of the Business, and Personal Development. All candidates were assessed blind with no name or company revealed in their application.
Eight executive interviewers will hold 30-minute interviews with the three finalists in their category before each choosing a category winner: Brand Innovation, Commercial Performance, Digital Impact, Finance, Head of Region, People Excellence, Strategy Development, and Transformational Leadership.
The finalists will be announced in December 2020.
Among supporters of the awards are Ann Cairns, Executive Chair of Mastercard and Global Chair of the gender equality campaign group ‘30% Club’; Sir Ian Cheshire, Chairman of Barclays; Dame Inga Beale; and Ron Kalifa OBE of Network International. They are part of a roster of well-known C-suite executives who will now choose eight category winners.
Sir Ian Cheshire says: "These awards are among the first to target women at this level. We believe building awareness of these talented people, as well as connecting them to each other, is an important step in improving diversity at top levels of business.”
This senior group of 24 executives will become members of the WeQual Club and join the existing 72 senior FTSE and Fortune 500 female executives.
(Ends)
Notes to editors
Methodology: The eight assessment questions were developed from a research-based meta-analysis of the factors and characteristics that mark leaders as different from non-leaders (Kirkpatrick and Locke, 1991). They were designed to help the women best describe how they deliver on leadership characteristics and how they are seen by others as a leader, and indeed engage people who see them as fit to lead.
About WeQual
WeQual's mission is to make businesses more inclusive by identifying exceptional women executives and address the gender imbalance across the world's Executive Committees. Katie Litchfield, founder and CEO of WeQual Awards, devised the new platform which calls for women senior executives to build their case as to why they are deserving to be appointed to the Executive Committee.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201117005907/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
NetApp Helps Customers Accelerate Adoption of Latest VMware Cloud Foundation Innovations2.9.2026 22:30:00 CEST | Press release
NetApp solutions validated to support VCF 9.1, giving mutual customers access to a modern private cloud with enterprise-grade data management, cyber resilience, and cost-efficient scaling NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, announced new capabilities in NetApp ONTAP® have been tested and validated to support VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1, giving customers an optimized and secure data infrastructure foundation for their private and hybrid clouds. By combining the advanced capabilities of VCF 9.1 with cost-effective and enterprise data management with built-in security features from NetApp, including safeguarding data against ransomware attacks with rapid recovery, mutual customers can lower costs and accelerate the deployment of their AI software into production. VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1 provides enterprises with a unified private cloud platform for running both traditional and modern workloads. NetApp's solutions are tested and validated to suppo
Venture Global Announces Closing of $3,000,000,000 364-Day Senior Secured Revolving Credit Facility2.9.2026 22:30:00 CEST | Press release
Venture Global, Inc. (“Venture Global”) announced today that its subsidiary Venture Global LNG, Inc. (“VGLNG”) has entered into a new, $3,000,000,000 364-day revolving credit facility (the “Facility”). Venture Global expects to use the proceeds from borrowings under the Facility for general corporate purposes of VGLNG and its subsidiaries, including to fund certain project costs for the CP2 and Plaquemines bolt-on expansions prior to their respective FIDs. Bank of America, N.A. served as Coordinating Lead Arranger and Sole Bookrunner and will also serve as Administrative Agent. BBVA, Goldman Sachs, ING, J.P. Morgan, Mizuho, MUFG, NBC, RBC, Scotia, SMBC, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo served as Coordinating Lead Arrangers and Barclays, Santander, and Deutsche Bank served as Joint Lead Arrangers. About Venture Global Venture Global is an American producer and exporter of low-cost U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) with over 100 MTPA of capacity in production, construction, or development. Vent
Invivoscribe Begins Commercial Shipments of PrepQuant™ Systems, Enabling High-Sensitivity Sample Preparation for MRD Testing2.9.2026 21:31:00 CEST | Press release
New automated platform is designed to improve the quality, efficiency, and consistency of DNA extraction and concentration from large-volume blood and plasma samples, supporting downstream assays capable of detecting disease-associated signals at MRD sensitivity levels. Invivoscribe®, a global leader in precision diagnostics and measurable residual disease (MRD) testing, today announced that commercial shipments of the PrepQuant™ System have begun in North America. First unveiled at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in April 2026, PrepQuant is now being delivered to customers, marking the platform's progression from development and validation into commercial deployment. The commercial milestone extends Invivoscribe's capabilities into laboratory instrumentation and addresses a critical bottleneck in highly sensitive molecular testing: efficiently recovering, concentrating, and quantifying DNA from larger blood and plasma inputs. PrepQuant is assay agnostic, de
C.H. Guenther Opens Centre of Excellence in Coventry, UK to Accelerate Bakery Innovation and Support Future Manufacturing Growth Across UK and Europe2.9.2026 18:00:00 CEST | Press release
C.H. Guenther & Son LLC (“C.H. Guenther” or “CHG”), a leading food manufacturer, has opened a new Centre of Excellence (the “Centre”) at its flagship Coventry bakery, creating a dedicated innovation and customer collaboration hub designed to accelerate the development of premium bakery products across the UK and Europe. The new facility has been designed to support CHG’s customers including leading global quick service restaurants, foodservice operators and retailers as they develop, test and refine new bakery products. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260902696890/en/ The purpose-built, 172-square-metre Centre of Excellence brings together a commercial-scale bakery, customer demonstration kitchen, sensory evaluation facilities, innovation suite and dedicated collaboration spaces in one specialized location. Designed to support and accelerate product development from concept through to commercial manufacturing,
Record Asset Management Enters New Phase of Growth2.9.2026 17:35:00 CEST | Press release
Record Asset Management GmbH (“RAM”), a subsidiary of London-listed Record plc (“Record” or the “Group”), is pleased to announce that it is now operating cashflow positive, thereby marking a transition from its investment phase into a growth business within the Group, and a significant milestone towards sustainable profitability. RAM is the European asset management arm of Record, the London-listed specialist investment group managing USD 122 billion of assets on behalf of institutional clients worldwide. Record's client base comprises pension funds, foundations, sovereign institutions and other asset managers, with whom the Group has built long-standing relationships through its focus on bespoke investment and risk management solutions. RAM was established as a sister company to Record’s core currency business and obtained its BaFin license in 2022. RAM has grown rapidly in the last two years and has developed into a diversified private markets platform with dedicated infrastructure e
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom