Hanneke Smits, CEO of BNY Mellon Investment Management, was named global chairwoman of the 30% Club on Tuesday.
Members of the global campaign, led by CEOs and top executives, work in more than 20 countries to increase gender diversity at the board and senior management levels of the largest companies around the world.
Its target is at least 30% female representation at the board and executive committee levels, "the critical mass at which research shows minority voices are heard," the campaign said in a news release.
With the ultimate goal of equal representation, it also supports diversity "in its very broadest sense," the news release said.
The U.K. chapter of the 30% Club also set a target of at least one person of color on all FTSE 350 boards and executive committees, and half the seats going to women. It calls for all new FTSE 350 chair appointments this year to go to women.
The campaign was launched in 2010 by Helena Morrissey, who at the time was CEO of Newton Investment Management, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon Investment Management. BNY Mellon IM had $1.8 trillion under management as of Dec. 31.
Ms. Smits succeeds Ann Cairns as global chairwoman of the 30% Club. Ms. Cairns retired as executive vice chairwoman of Mastercard International at the end of 2022.
Ms. Smits credited Ms. Cairns with forming new chapters in several countries and helping to convene in May 2021 a large global meeting of CEOs and company chairs to discuss gender equality, among numerous accomplishments for the campaign.
