World Federation of Women Directors Korea Chapter Wins 'ICGN Corporate Governance Award'

Lee Boksil, President of the Korea Branch of the International Council of Women Directors (left), is taking a commemorative photo with Kerrie Waring, CEO of ICGN (right).

The Korea chapter of the World Women Directors (WCD Korea) announced on the 20th that it received the 'Corporate Governance Excellence Award' presented by the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) at the ICGN Annual Conference held in Toronto, Canada.

ICGN is a non-profit organization established in 1995 with the goal of "creating a sustainable economic environment through improved corporate governance," primarily by institutional investors in North America and Europe. Currently, more than 600 institutions and experts from 50 countries participate as members, working on establishing global standards related to corporate governance and conducting joint research among members. The assets managed by these members amount to approximately $70 trillion (about 9,000 trillion KRW).

ICGN annually awards outstanding companies in governance and investment management in four categories: ① Lifetime Achievement Award ② Rising Star Award ③ Corporate Governance Excellence Award ④ Stewardship Award. This year, eight organizations received awards in three categories excluding the Lifetime Achievement Award.

WCD, headquartered in Florida, USA, is a non-profit organization established in 2002, composed of over 3,700 women directors active in more than 8,500 companies across 60 countries worldwide. WCD Korea, the recipient of this year's award, was founded in 2016 by about 40 domestic women directors as the 74th chapter globally.

Since its establishment, WCD Korea has actively worked to improve corporate governance with the goal of "enhancing diversity in Korean boards and expanding women's participation in management." This includes leading efforts such as amending the Capital Market Act to mandate women directors and creating Korea's first value investment fund for gender-equal companies, the 'Women Fund,' to promote investment activation.

As a result, the proportion of female executives among Korea's top 500 companies by sales increased from about 3% to 5.6% in 2022, and the share of women directors among board-registered directors more than doubled to 8.8%.

Meanwhile, the Korea Exchange is working jointly with the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) to promote women's rights. It has actively participated in various events aimed at improving gender equality, including the '2nd Ring the Bell for Gender Equality' event held in March.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.