C-Suite Quarterly Survey: Canada’s Top CEOs Reflect on Women in Senior Ranks, “Big Data” Strategies, and CETA

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TORONTO (December 16, 2013) – Sixty per cent of the companies who responded to this quarter’s C-Suite Quarterly survey said they currently have no women on their boards, and only 13% said they have a plan to increase the number of women in senior roles. To coincide with the release of the 33^rdC-Suite Quarterly survey’s results, BNN taps Canada’s top business professionals throughout today to weigh in on this quarter’s findings. Key findings in this edition include the representation of women in senior ranks, “big data” strategies, and the Canada-EU trade agreement (CETA).    

BNN’s comprehensive analysis of this edition of the C-Suite Quarterly survey includes feature interviews with David Herle, Principal of The Gandalf Group, and Willy Kruh, Partner, KPMG. These interviews and further analysis will be brought to BNN viewers on THE STREET at 8:20 a.m. ET,BUSINESS DAY AM at 11:15 a.m. ET, BUSINESS DAY PM at 2:20 p.m. ET and THE CLOSE just after 4:20 p.m. ET. BNN’s complete examination of the findings will be available online at BNN.ca post-broadcast.

Key findings of the 33^rd C-Suite Quarterly survey include:   

• Six in 10 have no women on their boards currently.
• 13% said they currently have a policy or processes in place for increasing the number of women in senior roles.
• 22% of executives said their company is already implementing a “big data” strategy to leverage predictive analytics and databases.
• Half of executives say their companies are likely to implement a “big data” strategy or have already done so.
• Executives worry somewhat about “big data” information overload: half agreed they and other corporate leaders receive a lot of data already, but “little or no true information.”
• About one in three executives think the agreement in principle between Canada’s government and the EU on a comprehensive economic and trade agreement will positively impact their business if implemented.

The C-Suite Quarterly survey is conducted by Gandalf Group and sponsored by KPMG.

About BNN
BNN – Business News Network is Canada‘s only television service devoted exclusively to business and finance news with wall-to-wall coverage of the markets. The network features the only televised stock ticker with real-time data from the TSX, NYSE and NASDAQ. BNN provides Canadian investors with the latest business news, newsmaker interviews and stock market analyses. BNN is a division of Bell Media, which is owned by BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company. For more information about BNN, visit www.bnn.ca.

About Gandalf Group
The Gandalf Group is an opinion research and communications consulting firm. The firm’s principals are nationally recognized leaders in research and communications strategy, providing advice to business, industry associations, public sector agencies and media outlets. The Gandalf Group has been conducting quarterly editions of the C-Suite survey on behalf of KPMG, The Globe and Mail‘s Report on Business and BNN since 2006. Past editions of reports on survey findings are available at GandalfGroup.ca.

About KPMG
KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm (kpmg.ca), a Canadian limited liability partnership established under the laws of Ontario, is the Canadian member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”). KPMG International’s member firms have 140,000 professionals, including more than 7,900 partners, in 146 countries.

The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity, and describes itself as such

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For more information, contact:
Kerstin van Bolderen, 416.384.6836 or kerstin.vanbolderen@bellmedia.ca
Julie MacFarlane, 416.384.4623 or julie.macfarlane@bellmedia.ca