Industry event | She's the one: Gender diversity on corporate boards - 25 Mar 2025

An in-depth exploration of how Swedish firms could advance gender diversity on corporate boards and strengthen support for women in leadership positions. The event featured the latest academic research alongside insights from experienced board members.

Start time: 2025-03-25 at 16:00

End time: 2025-03-25 at 17:30

Location: Stockholm School of Economics. Registration required.

Less than a third of the board members of EU’s largest companies are women. To tackle this gap, the European Commission decided to introduce gender quotas that all publicly listed firms in the EU must comply with by 2026.

In Sweden, 36% of the board members of publicly listed companies are women. While Swedish firms will likely be able to comply with the new regulations, Swedish boards are still far from gender parity. In addition, only 10% of board chairpersons are women, which suggests women may be even more underrepresented in highly influential board positions.

How can Swedish firms improve gender diversity on boards and better support female board members? To explore this, we began with a brief summary of the latest research insights, presented by House of Innovation's Assistant Professor Roxana Turturea, followed by a panel discussion where distinguished female board members in Sweden will share their experiences and perspectives.

The event was followed by an informal mingle.

Panelists

Below is the list of panelists.

Anna Bäck

Board Professional and Advisor

Anna Bäck is a seasoned board professional and advisor with nearly 30 years of experience driving innovation in products, services, and business models across the digital landscape in Europe and Asia. She currently serves as Chair of the Board for GetSwish, Precis Digital, and Tradera, and as a Board Member for Nordnet Bank, Permobil, Viaplay, the Swedish Biathlon Association, and Systembolaget.

Anna's career spans leadership roles including CEO of Kivra, Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company, COO of Veryday, and CTO of Glocalnet. She holds an Executive MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics and an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management from Linköping University.

Ingrid Bojner

Board Professional and Angel Investor

Ingrid is a professional board member and angel investor, passionate about developing and scaling companies internationally, primarily through digital strategies. She serves on the boards of Schibsted Media, Apoteket, Falck, and Deezer and is the chairwoman of New Republic PA. Since 2010, Ingrid has combined managerial and board roles.

A graduate of SSE, she spent 12 years at McKinsey & Co. and held managerial roles at Telia Company and Storytel. From 2016 to 2022, she played a key role in scaling Storytel, growing sales from 300 to 3,500 MSEK and expanding into 25 markets as CCO and CEO.

Jenny Penser

Board Professional and Investor

Jenny Penser is an experienced board member and investor with 25 years of presence in the Nordic market. She currently works at EP Bank, a family-owned business. She serves on the boards of Altaal and Bolivo, which focus on alternative investments with an ESG agenda. She is also actively involved in social initiatives, primarily supporting homelessness through the charity Gula Änglarna. Previously, she was responsible for Nordic banking and insurance reporting at Bloomberg. She holds a B.Sc. in Economics from Lund University.

Research lead

Roxana Turturea

Assistant Professor, SSE House of Innovation

Roxana’s primary research areas are Entrepreneurial Finance and Corporate Governance. Her research pertaining to Entrepreneurial Finance covers a wide range of contexts from equity crowdfunding to initial public offerings. More specifically, she examines how entrepreneurs persuade investors to invest in their firms, and how investors evaluate investment opportunities. Her research pertaining to Corporate Governance investigates how different forms of corporate governance (e.g., state ownership, CEO compensation) influence strategic decision-making in ways that ultimately affect firm performance. She further examines how these relationships are influenced by institutional factors, such as political, economic or cultural institutions. Roxana published articles in journals such as Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of World Business, Global Strategy Journal, Long Range Planning and Small Business Economics.