We are delighted that the following companies are supporting the Forum. Please scroll down to read chairmen's quotes: 
 

 

 
Quotes from our sponsors:

Sir John Bond, chair of Vodafone: "At Vodafone our goal is to attract and retain the best talent. We recognise that we have an opportunity to make a significant improvement in the area of gender diversity, where we would like to ensure that our employee base is reflective of our global customer base at all levels of the organisation, including our Board of Directors.

We are particularly proud to be associated with the Professional Boards Forum, as the May 5th Forum will provide many companies and chairmen the opportunity to be connected with a fresh pool of candidates for non-executive directorships: highly skilled and capable women.

This Forum will enable chairmen to experience what these women can bring to their Boards, particularly those whose Boards have low female representation. I believe firmly that it is in Vodafone's interest, and in the interest of UK business, to build Boards which are rich in diversity and experience and that events like this will help us to achieve just that."   

 

Sir Philip Hampton, chair of RBS Group plc: “I am a supporter of encouraging women to take up Board positions; this is not about meeting quotas but about selecting the best people for the job. At Sainsbury’s our female board members all add huge value in their own right, often bringing a different perspective to critical business issues from which we all benefit”.  

David Thomlinson, Accenture Managing Director, UK & Ireland: “Accenture UK is proud to sponsor the Professional Boards Forum and their work to improve diversity in the boardroom. Sponsoring the non-executive director board appointments of our most skilled and capable women is a critical step in our overall diversity journey. It will bring new approaches, skill sets and styles of leadership to the business today, and at the same time prepare us for a better tomorrow.”  

Greg Wood, co-Founder of BoardEx: “BoardEx is delighted to partner with the PBF at its first UK event. To provide some context to the role PBF are fulfilling within the context of gender diversity at board level, a network analysis of the 250,000 leading business people on BoardEx shows that, in across every quoted company in the UK only 6.6% of NED’s are female. Yet our database holds in-depth profiles of over 12,000 highly capable women executives with an immense amount to offer, currently holding executive positions in global organisations but yet to take on their first non-executive role. We wish the PBF every success in helping corporate UK refining the structure of UK boards.” 

Ian Powell, chairman PwC UK: "I am delighted to be involved with the Professional Boards Forum. At PricewaterhouseCoopers one of our key priorities is the identification and advancement of top female talent. We have too few women at Executive Board level where at best we mirror the demographics of business both in the UK and globally. This is a serious concern for us but we are determined to change by focusing on talent management and leadership succession planning. We are very deliberately taking specific actions to ensure the rich diversity of talent that we attract to PricewaterhouseCoopers is reflected at every level of the organisation. For example, our Women's Leadership Programme is making a difference and won an Opportunity Now Award in 2009. I am optimistic about future change as today we have more female partners than ever before in our history. Our challenge now is to ensure they are well placed to assume leadership roles in the near future by giving them the best opportunities, access to key influencers and ongoing development and support. "