{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Boardroom Path","title":"What Chairs and Headhunters Really Want From a NED with Marianne Macdonald","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3103,"description":"How do board careers actually get made, and how much of that can a candidate control?\nIn this episode of The Boardroom Path, host Ralph Grayson speaks with Marianne Macdonald, founder and CEO of The 350 Club and The Board Directory, about the hidden board market and why between a half and two thirds of board appointments never involve an intermediary. Marianne spent seven years as a board headhunter at The Zygos Partnership before building three platforms for senior board talent, so she sees both sides of the table.\nThey look at the myth that you cannot become a NED until you have been one, why a strong executive record does not transfer on its own, and how style, preparation and plain courtesy decide who reaches a shortlist. With Spencer Stuart reporting that just 21% of non-executives appointed across the top 150 FTSE companies in 2025 were first-time directors, down from 44% in 2022, the odds have tightened. Marianne sets out what aspiring NEDs can do while still serving to improve them.\n\nMarianne Macdonald: Marianne Macdonald is the founder and CEO of The 350 Club, a private members community for board members and executive committee leaders that now has more than 1,000 members and representation across most of the FTSE 100, and of The Board Directory, a closed database of senior board talent searched by leading board and private equity headhunters, launched in 2025. She also founded Non Executive Directorships Consulting in 2016, which has worked with around 350 senior leaders on building non-executive careers, and Boardhouse in 2024 for next-generation leaders below board level. Marianne read English at Oxford and spent around 20 years as a broadsheet journalist before moving into non-executive search at The Zygos Partnership, where she spent seven years; Zygos later became the core of the Russell Reynolds UK board practice. In February 2026, The 350 Club announced an exclusive partnership with FGS Global, adding to a partner group that includes Egon...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/G1uU7T2K5h04MQMPyxv_eCIOS7fQfv5ldjQOH6K6dHU/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS80MzQ1/YWYwZWI5NzIzMmIz/NzEyYWJiNTJhZGEy/NTUzOC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}