AstraZeneca PLC – Annual report – 31 December 2023
Industry: pharmaceuticals
Nomination and Governance Committee Report (extract)
Inclusion and diversity
The Board views all aspects of diversity among Board members as important considerations when reviewing its composition. The Board also aims to maintain a balance in terms of the range of experience and skills of individual Board members, which includes relevant international business, pharmaceutical industry and financial experience, and appropriate scientific and regulatory knowledge. The biographies of Board members set out on pages 78 and 79 give more information about current Directors in this respect.
The Board has adopted an Inclusion and Diversity Policy (the Policy), which is applicable to the Board and its Committees. The Policy reinforces the Board’s ongoing commitment to all aspects of diversity and to fostering an inclusive environment in which each Director feels valued and respected. Although the Board appoints candidates primarily based on merit and the relevance of their background and experience, measured against objective criteria, it recognises that an effective Board, with a broad strategic perspective, requires diversity. The Policy provides a commitment to use at least one professional search firm that has signed up to the ‘Voluntary Code of Conduct for Executive Search Firms’, to help recruit Directors from a broad, qualified group of candidates, to increase diversity of thinking and perspective. The Board’s approach to inclusion and diversity continues to yield successful results.
As at 31 December 2023, 31% of the Company’s full Board identifies as an ethnic minority, 45% of the Company’s Non-Executive Directors are women, and women make up 46% of the full Board. The information presented in the following tables was collected on a self-reporting basis. The Board, SET and Company Secretary were provided with the prescribed table, and asked to complete based on how they identify. The Board is pleased that the Company meets the updated diversity policy targets as specified in the FCA’s Policy Statement on Diversity and inclusion on company boards and executive management, which was published in April 2022:
- 46% of the Board are women, above the target of at least 40%.
- Following the appointment of Aradhana Sarin as CFO, the Company meets the policy target that at least one of the Chair of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, senior independent Non-Executive Director or Chief Financial Officer be a woman.
- The Board satisfies the target of at least one member of the Board being from a non‑white ethnic minority background.
As well as being considered in decisions about succession and Board appointments, inclusion and diversity is integrated across our Code of Ethics and associated workforce policy for the organisation as a whole. We were named 2nd ranking Healthcare company in the FTSE 100 for women on boards and in leadership in the FTSE Women Leaders Review. For the year ended 31 December 2023, following the retirement of Katarina Ageborg in January 2023 and Sharon Barr’s appointment as Executive Vice-President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D in August 2023, women represented 43% of the SET and its leadership teams.
The Board’s Inclusion and Diversity Policy can be read in full on our website, www.astrazeneca.com.
Table 1. Reporting table on sex/gender representation as at 31 December 2023
Table 2. Reporting table on ethnicity representation as at 31 December 2023
Accounts examples 