Canadian ICMIF member The Co-operators has announced that it has earned a spot on the 2021 Report on Business Women Lead Here list, an annual editorial benchmark to identify best-in-class executive gender diversity in corporate Canada.

Established in 2020 by Report on Business magazine, the Women Lead Here initiative applies a proprietary research methodology to determine Canadian corporations with the highest degree of gender diversity among executive ranks.

“To have earned a spot on this list is a nod to the strong women in leadership that have brought The Co-operators to this point, and to the incredible leaders who are currently charting the direction for our future,” said Rob Wesseling, President and CEO, The Co-operators. “While I am proud of what we have achieved, there is more we can do to help remove barriers such as providing access to programming that supports women in their leadership development and continuing to champion the flexibility necessary to create leadership opportunities at all levels for the women in our organisation.”

This recognition aligns with The Co-operators’ initial focus on increasing women in leadership, and complements the direction of its strategy for Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility. The Co-operators has a relatively strong proportion of women leading the organisation on the executive management team, including its Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer and Chief Information Officer. The Co-operators says it remains focused on continuing to improve the proportion of women in leadership positions as one step towards its broader strategy on Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility, and have embedded Women in Leadership as a Strategic Performance Indicator in its public accountability statement.

For the 2021 ranking, Report on Business conducted a journalistic analysis of nearly 500 large publicly traded Canadian companies, evaluating the ratio of female-identifying to male-identifying executives in the top three tiers of executive leadership. The resultant data was applied to a weighted formula that also factored in company performance, diversity and year-to-year change.

In total, 71 companies earned the 2021 Women Lead Here seal, with a combined average of 44% of executive roles held by female-identifying individuals.

The full list of 2021 Women Lead Here honourees can be found in the April issue of Report on Business magazine, online now at tgam.ca/WomenLeadHere.

The strategies and ideas of winning companies will also be showcased at the Women Lead Here webcast, taking place on Wednesday 31 March 2021. Event details and registration information are available at www.globeandmail.com/events.