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Madam Director: Fern Investment Solutions Pursues Board Gender Diversity
Kaufmann, Lauren; Dodd, Tracey; Kemp, Bianca Case E-0507 / Published June 18, 2024 / 16 pages. Collection: Darden School of Business
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Product Overview

On November 19, 2021, Beatrice O'Sullivan, co-head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and equities analyst at Fern Investment Solutions (Fern) in Canberra, Australia, dialed into the Hancock Research Group Ltd. (Hancock Research) annual general meeting. In 2019, Fern began investing in Hancock Research—a small-cap, Melbourne-based molecular diagnostics company that created kits for detecting infectious diseases, including COVID-19. That morning, the company was expected to announce updates on the appointment process of its latest board director. O’Sullivan thought Hancock Research was an interesting, innovative company. But it had an all-male board, which, though fairly common in the Australian small-cap space, meant that the board was not diverse in terms of gender. Every single person on the board also had a science background, which was great given that Hancock Research was in the science field, but O’Sullivan thought other skill sets were necessary to give the board a holistic skills matrix. After several years engaging Hancock Research on its board makeup, Fern recommended Sophie Ellis, a woman with a background in law, marketing, and risk management, as the next board director. But was Ellis actually the strongest candidate for Hancock Research’s board? And was it even in Hancock Research’s best interest holistically to appoint shareholders’ recommendations? Following a nearly 226% stock price increase and more than five times growth in revenue between Hancock Research’s initial public offering on March 31, 2015, and September 2020, company leadership was seeking the most strategic path toward continued expansion and strong financial performance. This disguised, field-based case invites students to evaluate not only Ellis’s candidacy for board director but also the advantages and disadvantages of ESG (including gender lens investing) and shareholder activism. Further, this case also facilitates introduction to and discussion of board (gender) diversity and corporate governance.




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  • Overview

    On November 19, 2021, Beatrice O'Sullivan, co-head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and equities analyst at Fern Investment Solutions (Fern) in Canberra, Australia, dialed into the Hancock Research Group Ltd. (Hancock Research) annual general meeting. In 2019, Fern began investing in Hancock Research—a small-cap, Melbourne-based molecular diagnostics company that created kits for detecting infectious diseases, including COVID-19. That morning, the company was expected to announce updates on the appointment process of its latest board director. O’Sullivan thought Hancock Research was an interesting, innovative company. But it had an all-male board, which, though fairly common in the Australian small-cap space, meant that the board was not diverse in terms of gender. Every single person on the board also had a science background, which was great given that Hancock Research was in the science field, but O’Sullivan thought other skill sets were necessary to give the board a holistic skills matrix. After several years engaging Hancock Research on its board makeup, Fern recommended Sophie Ellis, a woman with a background in law, marketing, and risk management, as the next board director. But was Ellis actually the strongest candidate for Hancock Research’s board? And was it even in Hancock Research’s best interest holistically to appoint shareholders’ recommendations? Following a nearly 226% stock price increase and more than five times growth in revenue between Hancock Research’s initial public offering on March 31, 2015, and September 2020, company leadership was seeking the most strategic path toward continued expansion and strong financial performance. This disguised, field-based case invites students to evaluate not only Ellis’s candidacy for board director but also the advantages and disadvantages of ESG (including gender lens investing) and shareholder activism. Further, this case also facilitates introduction to and discussion of board (gender) diversity and corporate governance.

  • Learning Objectives