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
Vertex Presents New Data on ALYFTREK® at European Cystic Fibrosis Conference5.6.2026 18:00:00 CEST | Press release
- ALYFTREK Phase 3 data on children with cystic fibrosis ages 2 to 5 with vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor-responsive genotypes including F/F and F/MF shows 65% reached sweat chloride levels of <30 mmol/L; Vertex on track to initiate global regulatory submissions in first half of 2026 - - Long-term 96-week interim analyses from two open-label extension studies demonstrate positive safety and efficacy profile of ALYFTREK in people with cystic fibrosis ages 6 and older -- Phase 3 data on TRIKAFTA® in children 1 to <2 years also presented; Vertex has initiated global regulatory submissions - Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced data demonstrating the potentially transformative impact of treating cystic fibrosis (CF) with ALYFTREK ® (vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor) in children ages 2 to 5, as well as data from 96-week interim analyses of two open-label extension studies of ALYFTREK in children 6 to 11 years and people 12 years and older demonstrating
Owkin to Build AI Agents as Part of a Multi-Year K Pro Collaboration with Sanofi5.6.2026 13:00:00 CEST | Press release
Owkin, the agentic AI company pioneering Biological Artificial Superintelligence to transform drug discovery and development, today announced a multi-year collaboration with Sanofi to co-develop next-generation biopharma agents, to be backed by a five-year license for K Pro, Owkin’s AI Scientist. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260605704506/en/ K Pro, Owkin's AI scientist for biology, powered by multimodal patient data for smarter biopharma decision making. Owkin and Sanofi have collaborated since 2021 through a €90 million strategic partnership focused on target identification in oncology and patient subgrouping. The collaboration was later expanded to include drug positioning for Sanofi’s immunology pipeline. This new collaboration represents the next evolution in the partnership. During the five-year collaboration, Owkin will lead the end-to-end development of novel AI-driven biopharma agents purpose-built
DFNS Rebrands as the Core Banking Platform for Digital Assets5.6.2026 12:41:00 CEST | Press release
DFNS today announced a rebrand, marking its evolution from a wallet infrastructure to the first core banking platform for digital assets. The company is introducing a new logo, website, and market position as fintechs and institutions move their products and operations onchain. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260603859127/en/ Banks, fintechs, asset managers, trading firms, payment providers, market infrastructures, and clearing houses have stopped asking how to "add crypto." They're asking how to run financial products, controls, workflows, and client services on blockchain rails, with the reliability expected of core infrastructure. Some are going further still, exploring whether the blockchain can serve as the ledger itself, where an account is an onchain object rather than a row in a database. Where IBANs, virtual accounts, and blockchain wallets converge into one governed financial account. “DFNS was built
Compass Pathways Announces New Employee Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)5.6.2026 12:30:00 CEST | Press release
Compass Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS), a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, announced today that Compass granted equity awards under the Compass Pathways plc 2026 Inducement Plan to seventeen newly hired non-executive employees. The equity awards were granted on June 1, 2026 and consisted of options to purchase an aggregate of 157,000 shares and restricted share units or, in the case of employees in the United Kingdom nominal cost options, covering an aggregate of 74,700 shares. The options have an exercise price per share equal to $14.19, the closing price of the Company’s American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the grant date, and will vest over a four-year period with 25% vesting on the first anniversary of the date of the grant and the remaining 75% vesting in equal monthly installments over the three-year period thereafter, subject to each employee’s continued employment. The restrict
Renewable Electricity, Soft Wheat Flour From Regenerative Agriculture, Initiatives to Support Local Communities: Barilla Shares These and Other Projects in “Stories of Sustainability.”5.6.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release
Barilla continues to advance its commitment to tastier products with less sugar and salt;An investment of 30 million euros in 2025 to quadruple photovoltaic capacity across plants, as part of a €168 million five-year plan focused on energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable water management.Barilla continues to expand regenerative agriculture practices across its global value chain, with over 816,000 tons of raw materials sourced through the Barilla Sustainable Farming program.4,000 tons of products donated worldwide and €2 million allocated to social causes in 2025, supporting communities across Barilla’s global footprint through food donations and social initiatives. A slimmer Tagliatelle pack that saves 150 tons of cardboard and cuts transport-related CO₂ emissions by 20%1; ready-made sauce jars made with around 65% recycled glass; the progressive scaling of regenerative agriculture practices across Barilla’s value chain and initiatives supporting inclusion and equal oppor
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