Chairs in Conversation: Yinnon Ezra MBE
As part of our Chairs in Conversation series, Marie McQuade sits down with Yinnon Ezra to discuss the pragmatics of diversity on boards, and how far we still have to go.
Community involvement.
Another consideration is how to get black communities, particularly black women and others, to feel that they want to join boards.
The first thing is a financial limitation – why would you want to “waste” all this time volunteering, when you could use the time to earn money. This is an important matter for everyone really, especially during the cost-of-living crisis.
The second limitation is access.
At the Heritage Lottery Fund, we had two levels of boards – the regional and the national. We set up a national mentoring scheme for mainly black and ethnic minority trustees on the regional boards, to get mentored by a trustee at the national level. They spent a year getting involved in projects and shadowing people, with the aim at the end of the year to give them the confidence to apply for a vacancy as a national trustee or take on additional non-executive opportunities.
A scheme like this is instrumental in providing access to people who may not have previously felt like they belonged. When you’re sat on a national board and sat on a board with people with professional accolades, it’s easy to feel intimidated. Being able to convert that feeling into a creative process for people is quite important.
Success in these programmes isn’t immediate and it can hover around 50/50, but I think it’s a model that has a lot of potential and I urge people to consider it.
Category:Board Recruitment & Development
Written by
Marie McQuade
Director | Charities
She recruits specialist trustees from all backgrounds and specialises in recruiting boards that exceed. Every client she has ever worked with has recommended Marie to others, recruited more candidates than anticipated from her, and come back to work with her again.
She has three decades of experience as a leader working across health, housing and social justice in the UK and globally.
After volunteering as a graduate for an INGO in India, she embarked upon a career in the charity sector and grew her passion for creating positive change. Marie brings this passion to Peridot, where she prioritises recruiting exceptional leadership because she believes good governance transforms organisations and the lives of their beneficiaries.
Marie also runs board audits, inductions and training and works with organisations from across the UK and Europe. She has a post-graduate qualification in Organisational Development.
She has been a board and committee member, a mentor for a care-experienced young person, a street worker for homeless people and a counsellor for women and girls.
Outside of her professional life, Marie is completing a Creative PhD at Queens University, practising Zen, and parenting three teenage girls (and a cocker spaniel!). She enjoys spending time outdoors, walking, running, and swimming, as well as travelling, reading, watching films, visiting art galleries, and eating fine food.
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