Ilham Kadri of Syensqo is the undisputed queen of media mentions in 2024. She knocks Sophie Dutordoir (NBMS) off the throne, who ranked first last year.
These are the findings of a media analysis conducted by FINN for the 2nd year in a row, revealing the female CEOs and board members who get the highest mentions in the Belgian media over the past year. Together, those female leaders accounted for 6148 articles – which is 12% more than last year.
CEO communication: CEOs reflect hot topics in our society
Remarkable and unexpected: the exact same names appear in the top 5. Besides Ilham Kadri, they are Pascale Van Damme (RBFA), Sophie Dutordoir (NMBS/SNCB), Ann Schoubs (De Lijn) and Catherine De Bolle (Europol). You can see what keeps Belgians awake: public transport, security and… football, that is. Those topics peak in the news several times a year. That Kadri ends up at number 1 has mainly to do with her bold move at the end of 2023 to split up Solvay, the 160-year-old pride of the Belgian chemicals sector.
CEO positioning: women are a strong voice in the societal debate of the Belgian economy
While the top five are mainly dominated by CEOs from the public sector, the rest of the ranking shows that a solid generation of captains of industry is rising. In addition to Ilham Kadri bumping up from No 2 to No 1, Barco CEO An Steegen also doubles her press presence. She has been interviewed and quoted regularly over the past year as the voice of the tech industry in Belgium.
A notable riser also appears on the French-speaking side: Cécile Neven* of UWE, who made it to minister mid-year, went from 60 to 228 mentions – putting entrepreneurship on the map in the French-speaking media.
‘Young’ generation holds its own
Last year, we noted that alongside a more established order of women leaders, including Chombar, Van Overstraeten or Sioen, a young generation in their thirties and forties was arriving. They are holding out even a year later, thus proving that they are more than one-day wonders, such as Amélie Matton (Ecosteryl, with 79 mentions), Lise Conix (Torfs, 71 mentions) and Isabel Baert (Neuhaus, 27 mentions).
Not an easy year
2024 was a challenging year for some on the business front, and women leaders did not escape that either. For example, Elise Vanaudenhove’s difficulties around Bristol hit the media, but she testified about them in a very unique and open way. Vivaqua was also regularly in the press because of the difficult waters in which the organisation finds itself, several times put on the agenda by CEO Laurence Bovy. It shows that female CEOs manage to bring their own story, not only on the ‘highs’ but also on the ‘lows’.
More and more ‘Famous’ entrepreneurs as role models
Celebrities are not only made in the movies, but also in the business world. That’s what our analysis shows. Gudrun Hespel rises high in the ranking with her company Feelgud, with which she wants to help people feel better about themselves. The list goes on with Elly Huysmans from Glowi (who won the WOMED award), Sophie Claes (De Gele Flamingo), Emna Everard (Kazidomi) and Charlotte Therssen (Moi et Marie). They occupy a crucial place in the media as role models for new generations of entrepreneurs.
CEO in the media: lots of potential
Furthermore, we see quite a few CEOs with potential lingering at the bottom of the list: that’s where we find Fiona du Monceau of UCB, Marijke Schroos of Microsoft, Kirsten Carlier of DHL and Siham Rahmuni of Quares, currently Ghelamco. Curious to see if they will emerge further in the coming year.
And how are the men doing?
For comparison, we looked up how many mentions male CEOs got in the media. Chris Peeters (bpost) comes out on top with 796 mentions, but this is of course strongly related to the turbulent waters bpost is still in. With 500 and 344 notifications respectively, Guillaume Boutin (Proximus) and Johan Thijs (KBC) would land nicely in the top 5, between their female colleagues. So in terms of media attention, female leaders need not be jealous of their male counterparts. Of course, there can always be a bit more of them – especially in the Bel20, which unfortunately still excels in the almost total absence of women at the top – except at Syensqo.
Follow them!
Our call: keep an eye on these inspiring leaders. Follow them on LinkedIn and in the media. And to the media: above all, keep paying attention to these women. They contribute to the public debate and inspire future generations. With the challenges ahead, we desperately need all available talent – regardless of whether someone is male or female.
Methodology
Based on media research and existing lists of female CEOs, we compiled a ‘long list’ of 170 female CEOs and board members. Subsequently, we conducted searches on belga.press to determine the number of mentions each woman received in both print and online media, for the period 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023. The 100 women with the highest scores make up the ranking. Female leaders who appeared in the media mainly in the context of reputation crises were not included in the analysis. We listed the organisations where the women were employed at the start of the period that was analysed.
*We simulated the number of mentions for Cécile Neven based on the number of mentions in the first 7 months of the period studied, as she was appointed minister on 15 July.