About Bonnie Gwin
Bonnie Gwin, Vice Chairman and Co-Managing Partner of the Global Chief Executive Officer & Board Practice at Heidrick & Struggles, has spoken about the importance of increasing women's representation on corporate boards. In 2021, she stated that getting more women to serve as board chairs is critical because companies perform better when women hold these roles, and that having a woman as board chair tends to lead to more women on the board overall. She also said that issues such as diversity, equity, and community service are better addressed when women are in these positions.
In a 2017 interview, Gwin noted that while diversity in the boardroom is beneficial for business decision-making, progress has been slow. She observed that about 29 percent of new Fortune 500 board directors in recent years were women, but because some were replacing other women, gender parity in the U.S. was not projected until around 2040. Gwin expressed opposition to quotas, advocating instead for serious and purposeful intent and best practices to achieve diverse candidate slates. She advised aspiring board members to assess their readiness and business acumen, and highlighted that boards are increasingly seeking skills in investment experience, Asia and emerging markets, consumer experience, and digital expertise.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Bonnie Gwin's recent appearances.
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Transcript (9 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
I'm here for an essay peek coffee morning at Hub Culture within the Ice House. Really pleased to be joined now by Bonnie Gwin. She's a vice chairman of Heidrick & Struggles. You do a lot of work with boards and women on boards. Tell me about why that is and what you've noticed.
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Bonnie Gwin0:25
Well, women on boards is a very important topic. A lot of our clients, a lot of companies around the world, there's a lot of ink on this generally because diversity is good for business. Diversity helps businesses make better decisions, and diversity in the boardroom is a natural extension of that. And boards are really focused on it. But what's a little bit disappointing is when we look at the numbers. I'll just talk about the US for a moment. We track how many new directors join Fortune 500 boards every year, and for the last couple of years that's been about 350 new directors. Out of those, about 29% have been women the last two years. That sounds great, but in reality some of those women are replacing women, right? And so the number of women on boards is not projected to reach gender parity until 2040-ish in the US. That's a long time.
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Interviewer1:17
Some of the discussions I've been having with people say that a lot of people say, 'You know, I didn't used to be for quotas, but now I am because actually if we're going to make this happen, we just need to get the numbers right.' What do you think?
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Bonnie Gwin1:30
Well, I'm not a fan of quotas. I think that serious and purposeful intent, and a lot of the best practices boards are embracing that, will get you a diverse slate of candidates to choose from and a diverse slate to bring onto your board. So I think that's the way to go.
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Interviewer1:47
If you are a woman who wants to join a board, what are the skills that you think you need to have?
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Bonnie Gwin1:54
Well, a couple of things. One step that anybody who wants to join a board ought to take is look at your resume and really think and reflect: am I ready? Do I really want to do this? Do I have the general management breadth and business acumen that everybody needs to be on a board? And then go ask somebody that you respect, have them talk to you over coffee about your resume and ask them what they think. Get some counsel, get some sponsors. But some of the skill sets that boards are now looking for, which are interesting and unique, include having investment experience. So investors, a lot of activists are now looking at boards and pushing them to add people who understand the investment and capital market side. So that's an area where a woman who has that skill set could be really interesting for a board. People who have experience in Asia and emerging markets, the developing world, consumer experience, digital. There's a lot of skills that are in demand.
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Interviewer2:54
Interesting. Thank you so much, Bonnie, for stopping by.
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Bonnie Gwin2:55
You're welcome.
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Interviewer2:55
The AAP coffee morning here at Hub Culture within the Ice House, and I'm eating lush.
