Diligent’s Modern Leadership Initiative Adds New Partners to Advance Gender Equality in Leadership Positions in Europe

Partnerships with Spanish organizations to address gaps in board roles for women and pinpoint opportunities to improve equality at the executive level

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Diligent Corporation, the global leader in SaaS governance, risk and compliance, today announced the addition of four new partners, all based in Spain – Esade Center for Corporate Governance , Fundación Woman Forward, Instituto de Gobernanza Empresarial and WomenCEO – in its growing Modern Leadership initiative, which was created to further increase diverse representation in global businesses at the executive and board levels.

These organizations are committed to promoting best corporate governance practices, including increasing diversity and inclusion. According to research conducted by the Diligent Institute, men currently hold approximately three times more board leadership positions than women. The Modern Leadership initiative, which seeks to improve this statistic, helps companies measure and report on diversity as a part of their environmental, social and governance strategy.

“Esade’s Center for Corporate Governance is deeply passionate about the role women play in business success and growth,” said Mario Lara, Director of Esade Madrid and the Center for Corporate Governance. “Progress in achieving equality at the board and senior leadership levels is still nowhere near the rate it should be, which is why global initiatives like Diligent’s Modern Leadership are vital in changing the landscape and trajectory for women leaders.”

The new Spanish organizations joining the Modern Leadership initiative include:

• Esade Center for Corporate Governance - The Center for Corporate Governance together with the Esade Alumni Club of Directors aims to become a leading reference center in the field of corporate governance in Spain. The Esade alumni network is the largest in Europe and one of the most expansive in the world, comprising over 60,000 members in 118 countries.
• Fundación Woman Forward- The foundation is a non-profit institution that promotes women empowerment, gender equality, and diversity, using training and research. Woman Forward encourages and helps to strengthen the role of women in business.
• Instituto de Gobernanza Empresarial - The Institute of Business Governance provides training and networking opportunities, and disseminates research to promote a business culture that is committed to corporate governance.
• WomenCEO - WomenCEO aims to make women visible in the boardroom while demonstrating the need for them to be counted on in economic and social spheres. The organization believes that women are influential, both on the board of directors and in management positions in companies and institutions.

“Closing the gender gap in leadership is a global challenge that we have a greater chance to solve with international coordination,” said Brian Stafford, CEO of Diligent. “This is why expanding Diligent’s Modern Leadership initiative to include these organizations and others like them is imperative. Together, we can use our networks to identify, present and fill leadership positions for diverse candidates in the region and beyond.”

Diligent is committed to driving diversity by enacting change at the board level. To learn more about Diligent’s Modern Leadership initiative, please visit https://diligentmodernleadership.com.

About Diligent Corporation

Diligent is the largest governance, risk and compliance (GRC) SaaS provider, serving more than one million users from over 25,000 organizations around the globe. Our modern GRC platform ensures boards, executives and other leaders have a holistic, integrated view of audit, risk, information security, ethics and compliance across the organization.

Diligent brings technology, insights and confidence to leaders so they can build more effective, equitable and successful organizations. We empower 79% of the Fortune 500, 90% of the FTSE 100 and 83% of the ASX 200 to improve their bottom line, to keep pace with stakeholder expectations and to create a lasting, positive impact on the world.

For more information, visit www.diligent.com.