Diversity and Inclusion – our mission
At Stonehaven, we believe that diverse leadership teams are key to delivering the best possible performance. We work with our clients to build leadership teams and cognitive diversity in their boards, by helping them to find outstanding individuals who bring a wide range of experience from diverse backgrounds and cultures, with an aim for a mix of genders.
We have our own diversity and inclusion working group at Stonehaven, which meets regularly to develop our insight in this area. The group oversees our approach to supporting diverse talent, monitors trends in diversity and develops best practice which is embedded in our business.
Stonehaven also works closely with client organisations to help them develop talent strategies to support the development of female and BAME talent.
We are signatories of the UK government’s Voluntary Code of Conduct for Executive Search Firms, which focuses on gender diversity and provides a framework for best practice in the search process. You can read the code here.
You can read an overview of our track record in searches that have resulted in the appointment of diverse candidates here.
Diversity on boards
We have been working with boards for over ten years, helping them recruit individuals to broaden the diversity around the board table and bring new insights and experiences to the collective wisdom of the group. Stonehaven works with chairmen and their nomination committees to help them agree and deliver diversity goals and to develop succession plans that actively address the challenges of creating diverse boards. We are deeply committed to delivering board searches that present the broadest possible mix of qualified candidates with a strong gender mix.
Stonehaven delivers its own development programme for aspirant non-executive directors, which provides a deep immersion in the requirements of working on a plc board. This programme, which takes place twice each year and is delivered in partnership with our colleagues from Deloitte and Allen & Overy, with a cohort of eight on each. We aim to attract and encourage individuals from all backgrounds to attend to these programmes. Since the programme began in 2013, over 46% of delegates have been women, with this figure rising to over 50% in 2018. Furthermore, we offer one place on each programme to a female candidate who has been nominated by Women on Boards for their outstanding potential as a NED.
Our commitment to the Women in Finance Charter
Stonehaven International is a boutique executive search firm with focused talent acquisition and development teams in London and New York. Our leadership team comprises a diverse a mix of individuals in our broader team as possible. Two members of our senior leadership team are female and we are committed to our internal target of ensuring that we maintain at least 20 per cent women in this team, as well as actively working to attract more women to all parts of our business.
We act as talent advisers and carry out executive and board search on behalf of many large organisations in the finance sector. We believe our biggest contribution to the aims of the Women in Finance charter is to advise and support these businesses in their efforts to develop female leaders and create new opportunities for women to join their teams. We have a very strong track record in nurturing and identifying high potential women to join financial organisations and drive positive change and outperformance in their teams.