Corporate Affairs emboldened
Alex Gordon Shute, Founder
Turns out capitalism is complicated, politics and regulation shape it; investors demand more from companies; employees are at the same time vocal, worried and demanding; and stakeholders such as NGOs change shape and campaigning tactics in an instant. It’s hard for companies and that’s why they need outstanding Corporate Affairs Directors.
Ithaca is a purist in this area. We love the Corporate Affairs community, we are part of the tribe, and the challenge. We relish helping companies get the very best from Corporate Affairs: finding the right fit in a brilliant CAD and setting them up for success so the company can prosper and protect itself.
Since 2008 when Ithaca was founded, we have done our utmost to support and shape Corporate Affairs – always striving for excellence in the function. Today we do that in two ways:
Talent pipeline
Seri Davies, Head of Emerging Talent
Emerging talent
We always stretch to find the best in the market and those in underrepresented groups often are less visible – so we work harder to make sure we know them.
We have an ongoing programme of interviewing at least two ethnic minority candidates a month to enhance our talent pool in a systematic way.
We also run, with the help of corporate sponsors, the Trailblazer Accelerator Programme, a free leadership development programme for 15 talented next generation ethnic diversity leaders in Corporate Affairs each year. The programme is by invitation only and selects the very best to support them more quickly into leadership roles in Corporate Affairs.
The results are compelling:
We are now four years into a 10-year programme to improve ethnic talent in Corporate Affairs.
The monetary value of the time we spent on this was £181,000 in year one, £375,000 in year two and £647,000 last year.
In 2020, no candidates on an Ithaca search shortlist were from ethnic minority backgrounds, and therefore none were placed in roles. In 2024/25, 10% of our shortlists and 7% of our placed candidates were from ethnic minority backgrounds. In the same 10-year systematic mission which Ithaca undertook in gender diversity, placing women, the data went from 27% to 55% (shortlist proportion) and from 50% to 73% (placed candidate proportion).
Our name
Illustration by Susannah Garrod
The island of Ithaca was Odysseus’s home in ancient Greece, which he left to fight the Trojan War. His journey home became, of course, the mighty epic of the Odyssey. Everything we do is about helping people love the journey, even as they keep their focus on the destination. Back when we were just a start up, C.P. Cavafy’s poem, Ithaka, spoke to us deeply – it still does.
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery…
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.
Without her you wouldn’t have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
From Ithaka
C.P. Cavafy
