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
EUMETSAT Takes Control of MTG-I210.9.2026 09:30:00 CEST | Press release
EUMETSAT’s Mission Control Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, took over control of the newest addition to its fleet of meteorological satellites, Meteosat Third Generation Imager 2 (MTG-I2), on 9 September 2026, following the successful completion of its Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260909889951/en/ MTG-I2 in orbit MTG-I2 launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on 27 August 2026 and has now reached its geostationary orbit, around 36,000 km above Earth. During LEOP, carried out for EUMETSAT by Telespazio, communications with the satellite were established, its solar arrays deployed and a series of precise manoeuvres brought it to its designated orbital position. The spacecraft has now been handed over to EUMETSAT’s flight operations teams. EUMETSAT, working with ESA and European industry, will now begin extensive calibration and validation activities to prepare the s
LUMI AI Factory Selects IQM's Staged Path to Europe's First Superconducting Quantum Computer With Logical Qubits10.9.2026 09:08:00 CEST | Press release
The upgrade path contains three stages from IQM´s Halocene product line to enable a logical qubit system. The quantum computer, as part of the LUMI AI Factory initiative, is jointly owned by the participating countries of Finland, Czechia, Norway and Poland, and jointly funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking. The system will be installed at CSC – IT Center for Science in Finland and integrated into the LUMI-AI computing environment to form a hybrid HPC, AI, and quantum computing platform. The deployments are in line with IQM’s development roadmap for fault-tolerant quantum computing by 2030. IQM Quantum Computers (Nasdaq: IQMX) today announced its upgrade path for a logical-qubit-capable quantum computer. The deployment to the LUMI AI Factory, led by CSC – IT Center for Science, will support R&D efforts toward fault-tolerant quantum computing and advancements in hybrid computing. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home
Cyviz and SWISS Create Flexible Collaboration Hub for Hybrid Work at Scale10.9.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release
Watch Video Case Cyviz AS has delivered a flexible collaboration hub for Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. (SWISS), designed to support hybrid meetings, workshops, training, town halls, and internal events at scale. The project highlights how global enterprises are investing in reliable, intuitive, and versatile collaboration environments as hybrid work becomes embedded in day-to-day operations. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260910985990/en/ Inside the SWISS collaboration hub at their headquarters in Zurich Located at SWISS headquarters in Zurich-Kloten, Switzerland, the new collaboration hub demonstrates how enterprise collaboration spaces are evolving from traditional meeting rooms into strategic workplace infrastructure. Delivered by Cyviz, the environment supports a wide range of hybrid formats while making advanced room technology simple for everyday users. Designed to switch seamlessly between separat
Nothing Cleans Like Oral‑BiO: The Electric Toothbrush That Cleans Deeper, Smarter and Better10.9.2026 09:00:00 CEST | Press release
Oral-B iO delivers a clinically proven deeper, smarter and better clean, with 100% more plaque removal and 6x more plaque removal along the gum line, both compared to a manual toothbrush. Oral‑B, the #1 brand most used by dentists worldwide, today spotlights its most advanced brushing technology: the Oral‑B iO range. Powered by a unique 2-in-1 cleaning technology, iO is engineered to clean deeper into every gap, brush smarter with real-time pressure guidance, and deliver results that are clinically proven to be better. The proof is everything — and nothing cleans like Oral‑B iO. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260904320713/en/ Oral-B iO10 Most people know that an electric toothbrush outperforms a manual one — but not everyone knows why, or what makes one electric brush stand apart from another. Oral‑B iO makes the difference clear: deeper, smarter, better — everywhere. Cleans Deeper: The Technology Behind the
Prodalim Unveils a New Brand Identity Reflecting Its Evolution into a Global Natural Ingredients and Solutions Powerhouse10.9.2026 08:00:00 CEST | Press release
Prodalim, a global leader in juice solutions and specialty ingredients, unveiled today a new brand identity reflecting the company's evolution and accelerated transformation into a global platform delivering high-value natural ingredients and tailored offerings for F&B companies worldwide. The new brand identity celebrates Prodalim's heritage while reflecting the company it has become: a trusted global partner offering a growing portfolio of ingredients, technologies and end-to-end solutions. Supported by its recent successful IPO earlier this year, Prodalim has expanded its specialty ingredients capabilities, helping customers develop natural, clean-label products that meet consumers’ uncompromising expectations for taste, health, and nutrition. "'Taking Nature Further' reflects who we are and what we strive to achieve every day," saidTsahi Barak, Prodalim’s CEO. "By combining nature with science and technology, we help our customers create innovative products that deliver great taste
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