GKN is committed to gender diversity in the Boardroom

The Lord Davies report “Women on Boards” contained many insightful recommendations for companies to help address the balance of women on Boards, including recommendations for listed companies to announce their goals in this regard.

GKN is a globally diverse organisation

GKN is a global business with operations in over 30 countries and therefore diversity generally is an integral part of how they do business. They acknowledge its importance and recognise the benefits that it can bring; GKN's management grades alone comprise 27 nationalities.

It's GKN's aim to have an appropriate level of diversity in the Boardroom to reflect the diverse nature of the Company’s operations and support the achievement of its strategic objectives. The Nominations Committee considers diversity generally when making appointments to the Board, taking into account relevant skills, experience, knowledge, personality, ethnicity and gender.

A strong focus on women in the boardroom

Achieving gender diversity is more difficult in certain sectors and, as an engineering business, the demographic profile of the current talent pool presents significant challenges in this regard. Notwithstanding this, GKN works towards extending the female composition of their Board as vacancies arise and suitable candidates are identified, with an aspiration of 25% female membership. GKN's prime responsibility, however, is the strength of the Board and their overriding aim in any new appointments must always be to select the best candidate.

Shonaid Jemmett-Page is on GKN's board

Shonaid Jemmett-Page was appointed as an Independent non-executive Director to the GKN Board in June 2010. Shonaid was a former Chief Operating Officer for CDC Group plc, the UK Government's development finance institution. She joined CDC from Unilever, where for eight years she was Senior Vice President Finance and Information, Home and Personal Care, originally in Asia and later for the group as a whole. Her early career was spent at KPMG, latterly as a partner. Former non-executive Director of Havelock Europa plc, Close Brothers Group plc and APR Energy plc. External Appointments: Independent non-executive Director of MS Amlin plc, Greencoat UK Wind plc and Caledonia Investments plc. Non-executive Chairman of Origo Partners plc.

Anne Stevens is on GKN's board

Anne Stevenswas appointed as an Independent non-executive Director to the GKN Board on 1 July 2016. She has extensive experience across both the automotive and aerospace industries. She is the former Chairman, CEO and President of Carpenter Technology Corp. Prior to this, Anne undertook a number of roles during a 16 year career at Ford Motor Company where she was latterly Chief Operating Officer for the Americas. Her early career was spent at Exxon Corporation where she held roles in engineering, product development and sales and marketing. External Appointments include Non-executive director of Anglo American plc, Lockheed Martin Corporation and XL Group plc.

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