Heidrick & Struggles Tapped by Pareteum Corp. to Find New Board Members
October 23, 2019 – Although boards of directors are considered the backbones of organizations, director recruiting has grown markedly more challenging, say recruiters who conduct searches in that area. As a result, companies continue to turn to executive search firms to help find new board members.
Recently, Pareteum Corp. retained the services of executive search, leadership consulting and culture shaping services provider Heidrick & Struggles to assist with assessing the board of directors and key leadership positions as Pareteum prepares diversity and succession plans to support the company’s planned growth and expansion of markets and services.
Bridging the Diversity Gap on Boards
A stubborn paradox exists within boardrooms across America. Companies are appointing more women to board seats than ever before, yet the overall share of women directors is barely budging. While business leaders have gotten the clear message that diversity matters in the workplace, it is equally clear that current methods of sourcing and selecting candidates is falling short.
Peggy Alford, a senior executive with PayPal who was just elected as the first African American woman to join the nine-member board of social media giant Facebook, joins Hunt Scanlon Media in New York on Nov. 6 to examine the disconnect between the business community’s intent to achieve greater equality on their boards and the realization of attaining that goal. She will explore why every company needs to cultivate a culture of inclusiveness and she will outline steps for companies and recruiters to take to boost diversification at a faster rate.
Join Peggy at Next-Gen Leaders: Advancing Women to the C-Suite! Women business leaders are looking for fresh pathways to the top . . . to help them get there we will draw on her expertise as well as top HR, talent, recruitment, and C-suite leaders from other blue-chip brands, including IBM, The New York Times, Littlejohn, LinkedIn, Avaya, WarnerMedia Entertainment, Pfizer, PepsiCo, The Philadelphia Flyers, PayPal, Facebook and a host of others.
Sponsor or sign up to attend today!
The Chicago-headquartered recruiter — the fourth largest global firm as ranked by Hunt Scanlon Media — will seek to identify seasoned board of director candidates and executives to complement existing talent and enhance both the board and executive leadership. The initiative is expected to take up to 12 months.
“As we grow our business and accelerate the execution of our strategies, our board has undertaken a comprehensive review,” said Hal Turner, executive chairman and CEO of Pareteum. “Today’s announcement reflects our commitment to best practices and diversity on our board and within our leadership in preparing for the next phases of the company’s growth.”
Pareteum Corp. is a leading international provider of mobile networking software and services. Its mission is to provide a single solution to the problem of fully enabling and securing the Mobile Cloud. Headquartered in New York City, the company is traded on NASDAQ stock market.
Chairmen and boards face rapidly accelerating demands because of increased scrutiny and higher expectations from regulators, activist shareholders and the media, according to Heidrick & Struggles. “Governance and compliance remain significant issues that boards must address, but are only part of the story,” the firm said. “A truly effective board moves beyond compliance, focusing on behavioral and relationship issues that shape effective board dynamics and drive board and organizational performance.”
“Board succession planning is a key component to board dynamics,” Heidrick said. “As part of our board dynamics process, we work with boards to identify long-term succession needs, including chair rotation, key skills needed over time, and the impact of director retirements.”
The 7 Hallmarks of Effective Boards
In this brand new episode of ‘Talent Talks,’ we delve into the seven hallmarks of building effective boards with our host Andrew Mitchell, alongside Sabine Dembkowski, managing partner at Better Boards.
According to Ms. Dembkowski, there is indeed a question about the relevance of boards today. “There is a disconnect from what we are seeing between boards and the knowhow that is necessary to be successful in the 21st century,” said Ms. Dembkowski. Listen now!
Heidrick & Struggles’ CEO and board practice offers an integrated suite of services, from the acquisition of talent to longer-term succession planning, board dynamics and culture shaping.
In May, Heidrick placed five new independent directors on the board of Bed Bath & Beyond. The firm had been asked to help accelerate a “refreshment” shake-up in the composition of the company’s board. Harriet Edelman, Harsha Ramalingam, Andrea Weiss, Mary Winston and Ann Yerger will serve as new board members.
Bed Bath & Beyond’s board is comprised of 10 directors, nine of whom are independent and six of whom are women. “The transformed board will reflect significant diversity across race, gender and ethnicity, and have an average tenure of less than four years,” the company said.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
