The Situation:

A publicly traded consumer product company serving 500 million consumers in 35 countries retained CLCB to recruit a new member of its Board of Directors to add diversity of thought and experience to the Board. The company had gone public a few years earlier after several years of private equity ownership and its Board lacked ethnic and gender diversity, despite a very global, diverse customer base.

The Process:

The CLCB search team conducted an extensive listening tour with the client that included individual meetings with the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Chief Financial Officer, as well as with each external Board member, including the Chairman. The CLCB team developed a detailed position description and search strategy based on the feedback. Because the client was open to candidates with different functional backgrounds, the CLCB team presented a varied slate of diversity candidates with a primary focus on qualified candidates who were a strong cultural fit with the existing Board, had prior public company Board experience and were philosophically aligned with an enthusiast, brand-driven entity focused on growth and innovation. The slate included C-Suite leaders in Technology/Digital Marketing, Supply Chain Legal, Human Resources/Diversity Equity, Inclusion and General Management.

The Results:

CLCB successfully recruited the Chief Diversity, Inclusion and People Officer of a $30 billion plus, publicly traded, market-leading fast casual restaurant chain to the board. Our placement has since been named Chairman of the Compensation & Nomination Committee.