More ‘Marks’ running companies than women

There are fewer female chief executives at NZX-listed companies than there are chief executives named Mark, a Stuff survey shows.

A review of the NZX main board found five women heading up companies, while there were eight companies run by a ‘‘Mark’’, including the NZX’s Mark Peterson.

Two companies shared the same managing director Mark Francis (counted once), while there was one company run by a Marc and another by a Marko, not included in the eight.

Women were represented by Jolie Hodson of Spark, Jayne Hrdlicka of A2, Kylie O’Reilly of Geo, Rachael Newfield of Green Cross Health and Mary Devine, managing director of Hallensteins.

Female executives spoken to by Stuff said women needed to be championed by men if more of them were going take the top job.

Geo chief executive Kylie O’Reilly said it had been a key factor in her success, while former Spark chief executive Theresa Gattung said there was evidence to show that men with daughters were more likely to do so.

‘‘I had a really amazing male champion who put me forward to rise out of the ranks of general manager,’’ O’Reilly said.

Spark chief executive Jolie Hodson said business leaders needed purposeful succession plans that provided the right experiences early on and put women in the best place

‘‘With no target or quotas, it’s hard to push for progress from the outside.’’

to be considered for leadership roles.

Riley stressed that women still needed to develop self belief, resilience and the confidence to ‘‘be heard’’.

Women often felt the need to be ‘‘complete experts’’ before taking the next risk, she said.

‘‘I’ve had to fight for each opportunity. My colleagues were very matesy and tribal without even realising they were,’’ she said.

The public sector has already closed the gender gap, with 17 female chief executives out of 34 public sector organisations identified on the State Services Commission website.

National Council of Women president Vanisa Dhiru said it was due to a Government target of at least 50 per cent of roles in the top three tiers of leadership being held by women by this year.

By the end of the year, all public agencies have to set targets for achieving gender balance in top positions.

‘‘This is a way to keep the pipeline growing, and we know the Ministry for Women is helping to push and drive this target across agencies,’’ she said.

Institute of directors chief executive Kirsten Patterson said the lack of diversity in ‘‘c-suite’’ executive officer roles directly affected the number of female chief executives because these people were the ‘‘talent pipeline’’ for chief executive and board positions.

‘‘NZX statistics published in June 2019 shows only 23 per cent of officers are women and this has changed little over the years,’’ she said.

Simplicity managing director Sam Stubbs said the lack of women chief executives was down to groupthink at board level.

‘‘Boards of directors . . . create a tribal environment which tends to be dominated by white lawyers and accountants. They hire their mates because no one wants to rock the boat,’’ he said.

Gattung said it was ‘‘still a fair assumption’’ that diversity at board level would lead to more female chief executives because boards appoint them. However, it came with a proviso.

‘‘It can’t be just one [woman]. The focus at board level has to be to normalise it, you need two women, you need three women,’’ she said.

Dhiru said the NZX had struggled for decades to change the number of female chiefs. ‘‘With no target or quotas, it’s hard to push for progress from the outside,’’ she said.