“What if I fired the three Daves we already employ as fund managers?” suggested the chairman of the insignificantly-sized investment company Kermitted Asset Management when we caught up the other day. “Or we could see if they wouldn’t mind changing their name to something more unisex and less, well, ‘Davey’ … Alex, for example, or Jamie?
“Alternatively, I could send a discreet memo that our next hire absolutely has to be called Davina? That might help even up the score, don’t you think?” “What I think is you may be overthinking the David aspect of all this,” I said. “It’s an eye-catching factoid but asset management’s apparent structural overweight to Daves is obviously just a symptom of a wider issue.”
“Of course,” nodded the chairman. “You’re talking about the worrying bubble building up in fund managers called John.” “Please stop obsessing on names,” I sighed. “What I’m talking about is how the wonderful world of investment could stand to see a few more women in senior roles. And no – that is not directed at Kermitted Asset Management or any of the other businesses you’ve been involved with over the years.
“Despite your many, many glaring flaws, nobody could deny you’ve always been at the sharp end of equal opportunities employment. Just look at the make-up of the ESG team you assembled last November – in addition to team leader Anne-Vera Mantle, off the top of my head, there’s Paris Accord, Di Versity, Cher Holder-Activist … I should probably stop there. But it’s not just the last year and in the world of ESG either …”
“I was the first person to elevate a company receptionist to board level,” the chairman proudly chipped in. “Indeed you were,” I nodded. “And why other businesses have never followed suit with their own ‘director of first impressions’ is a mystery to me.” “Plus I was the first asset manager to appoint a female chief operating officer,” added the chairman, continuing down a well-worn stretch of memory lane.
“Too right you were,” I agreed. “And remember what a stir that caused?” “Ah yes,” laughed the chairman, shaking his head. “People got themselves into a real state that someone without a Y chromosome should hold such a position!” “To be fair,” I said, “it was a bit more to do with how Nicola was your grand-daughter – and quite a lot more to do with how she was nine years’ old at the time.”
“But she was clearly the right person for the job,” the chairman protested. “Hey – you’ll get no argument from me on that point,” I said with feeling. “All I’m saying is that – given how, even these days, figures from the Investment Association suggest barely a third of COOs at asset management firms are women – little Nicola’s appointment two decades ago was pretty ground-breaking.”
“Only a third?” said the chairman surprised. “So the IA’s ‘Closing the Gap’ research indicated a couple of years back,” I said. “Mind you, that is still triple the 11% of asset management businesses run by female chief executives – it’s the same figure for female chairmen, incidentally – and more than 10 times the percentage of female CIOs.”
“You seem uncharacteristically well-briefed on this,” observed the chairman. “Any particular reason?” “Guilt,” I replied. “Or, more accurately, a sense of unease. As you know, I write these ‘View from the Top’ profiles of asset management CEOs and heads of distribution – and, for the umpteenth time, no, I’m not doing you. This magazine already gives way too much space to your views.
“Anyway, I was fretting I might not have interviewed as many women as I could have so I wanted to check I was at least keeping pace on percentage terms. Turns out I’m not doing so badly given the opportunity set – not to mention that, when I have asked for interviews with some of the few senior ladies in the business, they have worried they’ve become ‘overexposed’ because, well, there are so few senior ladies in the business. Clearly it’s on your peers to change the reality I merely reflect – right down, I was depressed to discover, to my profiling exactly the same number of women last year as CEOs called you-know-what.”
