ZURICH & NEW YORK -- (BUSINESS WIRE) --

Egon Zehnder, a global leader in executive search and leadership advisory services, today announced its global event series “Leaders and Daughters: Cultivating the Next Generation of Women Leaders.” This groundbreaking initiative is designed to catalyze a worldwide conversation to inspire and accelerate opportunities for female leaders of the future.

These events will take place in several cities around the world from March 2 through March 19 to draw global attention to the importance of fostering and supporting the ambitions of young women to help them achieve their career potential. Many of the events coincide with International Women's Day, the dedicated celebration of women’s continued campaign for gender parity. “Leaders and Daughters” events will take place across 16 cities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Australia.

“Diversity is critical for growth and continued success of any business. We strongly believe that diverse and inclusive leaders create a better world where organizations and economies not only grow but thrive. Yet it is estimated that gender parity will not be realized in the 21^st Century,” noted Rajeev Vasudeva, Chief Executive Officer at Egon Zehnder. “It is our responsibility as the global leader in our profession to create forums where real dialogue can occur and improved workplace behaviors and opportunities might be realized. Only then can we change the course of success for female leaders of tomorrow.”

“Leaders and Daughters: Cultivating the Next Generation of Women Leaders” events will bring together prominent board directors, CEOs and leaders, along with their daughters, many of whom only recently have entered the workforce. Together, they will participate in a global dialogue moderated by Egon Zehnder to explore the opportunities and challenges women face in the professional world today with an overarching goal to educate, engage and encourage women to achieve their highest ambitions. Each event will capture insights resulting in a global view to frame the top considerations and solutions required to effect positive change for young professional women.

“Our research shows that only 3.7 percent of executive directors worldwide are female. This starkly demonstrates the uphill task faced by all businesses in diversifying the global pool of senior talent,” said Vasudeva. “In order for women to achieve parity – in the boardroom and in the C-suite – a far more aggressive pipeline of next-generation female leaders must be cultivated.”

“Leaders and Daughters” events will take place in Mumbai on March 2, Amsterdam and São Paulo on March 7, Istanbul and Lisbon on March 15 and the date for the Dubai event will be announced soon.

On March 8, to mark International Women’s Day, “Leaders and Daughters” will follow the sun with events beginning in Sydney and Singapore, moving to Milan, Düsseldorf, Paris and London, and finishing in Toronto, Chicago, Mexico City and San Francisco. “Leaders and Daughters” events in London, Chicago and San Francisco will be live streamed at http://www.egonzehnder.com/leaders-and-daughters.

To join the global conversation, visit www.egonzehnder.com, go to the Egon Zehnder LinkedIn page or follow at #leadersanddaughters.

About Egon Zehnder

Since 1964, Egon Zehnder has been at the forefront of defining great leadership in the face of changing economic conditions, emerging opportunities and evolving business goals. With more than 400 consultants in 69 offices and 41 countries around the globe, we work closely with public and private corporations, family-owned enterprises, and nonprofit and government agencies to provide board advisory services, CEO and leadership succession planning, executive search and assessment, and leadership development. For more information, visit www.egonzehnder.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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