About Us
Anthony Williams
We are a Black-owned global search & diversity advisory consultancy that focuses on helping clients grow their business by placing ethnically diverse talent into board and executive roles alongside succession planning.
At Zyna, we want to make a difference and create executive leadership teams of some of the largest companies more representative. Having a diverse organisation is key to driving competitive advantage in the market.
Of those we have placed into executive roles…
%
were Black
%
were from an ethnic minority background
%
were women
%
identified as LGBTQ+
Our story
Marcus Whyte has over 25 years plus of experience working across the recruitment and professional services sector with a proven track record of placing talent into senior executive roles and working with organisations to diversify their talent pipelines.
He founded Zyna in 2012 as an executive search and advisory consultancy. Growing up as the only Black child in the Shetland Islands in the 1980s and his experience in the corporate world led him to have a strong personal interest in diversity and inclusion in the workplace, which set the foundations for his business.
In 2018, following the death of his mother, Marcus decided to take his business into a new direction focusing on placing black talent into executive roles and succession planning. At the time, there were no Black chairs or chief executives (Sunday Times 2018) and he wanted to be part of the journey to make FTSE UK companies more diverse and representative at a senior level.
This year, Zyna has delivered its first milestone placing one of the most high profile Black FTSE executives at Barclays UK from BT.
Our mission
Our goal is simple – 30 by 2030. We want to place 30 Black leaders into FTSE 250 C-Suite and/ or board roles by 2030. Some might say this is ambitious, but we are hopeful and driven to make a difference.
Recent studies have shown there are no Black chairs, CEOs in the UK’s FTSE 100 companies (HR Review, 2021). And the latest Parker Review showed little progress has been made in the last five years on FTSE companies having people from ethnic backgrounds on UK boards.
We want to change the diversity landscape at the executive level. But we know change doesn’t happen overnight, which is why we are:
Our values
Bold
We are unafraid to challenge the status quo in our talent search and placement and our exceptional results demonstrate the strength of this approach.
Committed
Change will take a time and will not be happen overnight. D&I is more than a Hashtag. We are determined to deliver for both your business and the needs of the talent we place and beyond.
Authentic
We stay true to who we are and what we stand for, which makes us easy to work with throughout the talent selection and placement process.
Realistic
We don’t tell you what you want to hear, we offer realistic solutions based on our knowledge and insight of placing diverse talents.
Our approach
Zyna’s consultative approach leverages the breadth and depth of our team’s experience. We work closely with our clients, listening to their needs and taking the time to understand the organisational requirements.
We search globally for candidates, taking a creative approach to engage with the best Black or ethnically diverse executive talent and provide a balanced shortlist, where no-one is disadvantaged.
We do not fear innovation. We work with clients to create a holistic management pipeline by engaging and investing in future diverse talent.
Our people
Marcus Whyte
Mercedes Vancootan
Matondo Loubania
