The Spanish EJE&CON has joined EWoB as our 10th member! On the occasion of this new membership we interviewed Conchita Gómez de Liaño, COO for Credit Suisse Private Banking Iberia where she is also a member of the Committee of Diversity. Conchita also sits on the EJE&CON Executive Committee.

EJE&CON Executive Committee

Can you introduce us to your organisation in a few words?

EJE&CON works for improved presence of women in senior management and boards of directors positions, because it believes “Gender diversity is profitability”. As we are convinced that we need the commitment of both women and men to achieve this objective, we are an inclusive association.  Today we have more than 500 members from a variety of organizations, including IBEX-35 stock-listed and multinational companies.

Since 2015, what have been EJE&CON’s main achievements?

I am proud to say there are quite a few, let me elaborate on a selection.

• – First, as EJE&CON wants to mobilise public opinion on the topic of diversity in Spain, we have consolidated our opinion leadership. In 2018 only we appeared in the press 144 times, with a total audience of more than 10 million readers.
• – EJE&CON is committed to a digital transformation led by both men and women. We have therefore set up Mentoring programs with the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society of Mathematics. Up to now, more than 100 mentees and 100 mentors have participated in this program.
• -EJE&CON promotes best diversity practices in corporate governance and have published a specific Code, which was recognised in 2017 as 1 of the 10 best Corporate Governance initiatives by “Compromiso Empresarial y Telefónica”. We also got recognition from the Spanish government and the Spanish Association of Enterprises (CEOE). Already 23 relevant companies follow the Code’s principles, e.g. Microsoft, Banco Santander, Orange and Ikea.
• – In EJE&CON we are committed to providing our members with visibility, professional development and networking. Since 2015 we have launched over 100 events for our members and in 2018 we have created the Directors Program to further strengthen the capabilities for Directorship positions with already more than 100 members enrolled in the program.

How will membership of EWOB contribute to EJE&CON’s objectives and ways of working?  

In EJE&CON we hope to leverage the experience of other EWOB member associations by exchanging best practices and ideas, but most importantly create a joint effort at European level to increase the presence of women in executive and director positions. We also very much value the International Board of Professionals which we think is of great interest to our members.

How do you, as someone specialised in gender diversity and as a representative of EJE&CON, see evolve gender diversity over the next few years?

I am hopeful because I see increasing commitment of governments and companies to change the culture and the status quo. Women are indeed stepping up their participation in economic decision-making. However, there is still a long way to go. To manage the change, we must actively onboard men. We must team up with them to work together towards this joint objective and to change the role models for our future generations.