James Roome, Country Manager for the UK at Russell Reynolds Associates, said: “True diversity, equity and inclusion is both the right thing to do and important for business performance. Action must be visible at all levels of organisations, including at the top. We have an important role to play in challenging our clients and leading truly equitable search processes.  Beyond advice to our clients, we are working to ensure that our own firm reflects our passionate commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion. Given this commitment, and our perspectives on leadership, signing up to the Change the Race Ratio is a natural step for us.”

The Change the Race Ratio campaign commitments are in line with the recommendations of the Parker Review into ethnic diversity in UK Boards, published in 2016. Little progress has been made since then: at the beginning of 2020, an update to the Parker Review revealed “slow progress”: 37% of FTSE 100 companies surveyed do not have any ethnic minority representation on their boards. Change the Race Ratio aims to put that right and accelerate progress towards more inclusive and diverse British businesses.

Abou​​t Russell Reynolds Associates

Russell Reynolds Associates is a global leadership advisory and search firm. Our 470+ consultants in 46 offices work with public, private and nonprofit organizations across all industries and regions. We help our clients build teams of transformational leaders who can meet today’s challenges and anticipate the digital, economic and political trends that are reshaping the global business environment. From helping boards with their structure, culture and effectiveness to identifying, assessing and defining the best leadership for organizations, our teams bring their decades of expertise to help clients address their most complex leadership issues. We exist to improve the way the world is led. www.russellreynolds.com

About Change the Race Ratio

We are a group of senior leaders committed to taking action to increase racial and ethnic participation in our businesses. Founder Partners include Aviva, BITC, Brunswick, the CBI, City Mental Health Alliance, Cranfield Business School, Deloitte, Linklaters, Microsoft and Russell Reynolds. We are campaigning to Change the Race Ratio, starting by setting targets for greater racial and ethnic diversity at the Board, ExCo and ExCo minus one. This must be accompanied by our commitment to publish those targets and our progress towards them, and the creation of a culture that enables diversity to thrive.

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