At Fortune 100 companies, only 12 chief executives were women as of July 15, the same number as a year earlier, according to Heidrick. The Heidrick & Struggles also report showed 86 CEOs in the group were white, down slightly from 88 in the prior period. "If you want to accelerate the rate of the change in the C-suite, then it (diversity) has to be embedded in the succession plan," Taylor said. In a separate survey, Heidrick found record levels of board seats filled by first-time directors at 43%. Nearly half of the appointees last year were women, while 41% were racially or ethnically diverse, similar to rates in 2020.

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