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Published by: BoardEx
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The Biggest Leadership Appointments of 2020

Published by: BoardEx
Published on:
At the beginning of the new year, BoardEx took a look back at some of the top leadership moves across the globe. As we explored the top moves for the roles of CEO, CFO, and General Counsel, we spotted some trends that are in line with recent headlines and reports.

At the beginning of the new year, BoardEx took a look back at some of the top leadership appointments across the globe. As we explored the appointments for the roles of CEO, CFO, and General Counsel, we spotted some trends that are in line with recent headlines and reports.

While BoardEx tracks companies large and small, public and private, these top 10 leadership appointments are based on the company’s market capitalization.  

Top 10 Chief Executive Officer Appointments in 2020

(According to Market Cap)

All of the top CEO appointments of 2020 were male, leaving a lack of gender balance amongst the top 10 CEOs. Additionally, all were internal promotions or role changes with one exception: AIA Group appointed Yuan Siong Lee.  Lee has a strong background in the insurance industry, previously working for Ping An Insurance for 15 years.  While the majority of these companies were U.S. based, two companies were based in China, AIA Group and Ping An Insurance, and one was based in the Republic of Ireland, Medtronic.

Top 10 Chief Financial Officer Appointments in 2020

(According to Market Cap)

As we take a look at the top ten CFO appointments in 2020, we can see that only 30% of them were female.  Additionally, eight out of ten CFO appointments were internal placements. Most of the companies in this top 10 are based in the U.S. The other 2 appointments were in Asia, JD.com, of China and Samsung of South Korea.

Top 10 General Counsel Appointments in 2020

(According to Market Cap)

The role of General Counsel saw the most gender parity of the positions in this review.  This is in line with a recent BoardEx report, Global Leadership Team Gender Diversity Report, which finds more gender balance within the legal function, including the role of General Counsel.  Another interesting finding is that there is a 50/50 split between internal and external appointments. Out of the top 10, there is only one company outside of the US and China, Roche which appointed Claudia Böckstiegel, formerly Head of Legal at a privately held company called F Hoffmamn-La Roche,  in Switzerland.

Top 10 Chief Human Resources Officer Appointments of 2020

(According to Market Cap)

Seven out of 10 of the top CHRO appointments globally were female. This is in line with a recent BoardEx report, Global Leadership Team Gender Diversity Report, which finds more gender balance within the human resources function. Additionally, 50% of the appointments were in the United States. Finally, we found that only 3 out of the 10 appointments were external placements, from T-Mobile US, Siemens, and Raytheon Technologies.

Top C-suite Appointments by Region

After seeing an incredible response from our readers on the top 10 global leadership moves, we wanted to take a look at the some of the top global indexes.  Below we explored the top 10 FTSE 100 leadership appointments.

Top 10 U.K. CEO Appointments in 2020

(According to Market Cap)

We found that 8 of the 10 appointments were male, leaving only 2 female CEOs, Amanda Jayne Blanc, Aviva PLC, and Milena Mondini de Focatiis, Admiral Group.  We also found that there is a 50/50 split of internal and external appointments.

Top 10 U.K. CFO Appointments in 2020

(According to Market Cap)

Only 2 out of the 10 appointments, Anna Olive Manz of the London Stock Exchange Group, and  Anne-Francoise Nesmes of Smith & Nephew, are female. We also discovered that 40% of the top 10 appointments were internal placements.

While this article celebrates some of the top leadership appointments around the globe, BoardEx also includes the leadership profiles of more than 1.5 million individuals, leading public and private organizations.  BoardEx has been mapping relationships and tracking executive changes to board roles and the c-suite since 1999. On average the 350+ skilled analysts make 27,000 profile updates and add 2,500 new profiles, each week.

Interested in more leadership appointments?  Check out the latest here.