Overview

• Palla was appointed by Deutsche Bahn’s supervisory board this week, becoming the company’s first woman to lead the group after heading its regional rail unit, DB Regio.
• Research by Max Reinwald and colleagues, based on 26,156 U.S. leadership changes from 2000 to 2016, finds the likelihood of appointing a woman rises from roughly 5% to 7.6% during financial crises.
• The effect is reported to be stronger at highly visible companies, where naming a woman is viewed as a clearer signal of intended change to the public.
• Fidar suggests women may be favored for restructuring because they are less tied to entrenched networks, while noting women’s share on German listed firms’ supervisory boards recently slipped to 37%.
• The Allbright Foundation argues crises can reinforce traditional male-profile picks and points to a drop in the share of women on DAX-40 executive boards in 2020, even as other studies report shorter average tenures for women appointed during crises, with examples including Commerzbank’s Bettina Orlopp.