Champion Boards - Women Added to Corporate Boards in 2009

Women on Boards - 2009

Congratulations to Alice Krause and NewsOnWomen.com -- winner of the 2009 Stevie Award for Blog of the Year. See the 2009 Stevie Award Winners

The Big Picture: December 2009 was a good month for women appointments to corporate boards, according to press release announcements tracked by NewsOnWomen.com. For the month, 30 new nominations were announced at companies in 15 states, bringing us to 265 women director announcements for the year 2009. This month's total matched March -- the other peak month of the year. There were only 3 months with more women director nominations: December of 2008 had 32, while October of both 2006 and 2007 had 35 new women director announcements. A total of 12 women were named to two boards and 1 woman was appointed to three boards during the year 2009. Therefore, the actual number of individual women was 251. Also, a total of 7 companies named 2 women directors and 1 companies named 3 women directors. Thus the total number of individual companies was 256 firms. Seldom do we hear about the actual individual women who reach top levels at corporate boards. We highlight a few of the outstanding the women below.
The History: The year 2009 saw an increase of 265 new women directors added to corporate boards. This is 10 ahead of last year (2008 - 255 announcements); 28 behind 2007 (293 announcements) and 13 behind 2006 (278 announcements). Even so, it should be noted that the total number of women added to these public company boards (849) over the past 4 years EXCEEDS the current number of women-held board seats at Fortune 500 firms (839). So, when we hear that women represent "just" 15.2% of F500 board seats, keep the larger number -- the real number -- in mind. The fourth quarter performance was the best of the year, adding a total of 74 new women directors, compared to 69 in the 1st Q, 59 in the 2nd Q and 63 in the 3rd Q. The last two years have shown a sporadic monthly performance. December consistently has been a strong month. In earlier years, November also had a solid showing; but this was not evident in 2009.
Number of States? A total of 15 states reported women directors named to boards in December, the same as July. Only March showed a better performance with 16 states adding new women directors. For the year to date, a total of 36 states and the District of Columbia announced new women directors. While this is 3 more states than in 2008, and two more than each of the previous two years, the leading states have remained constant over the years, with a few noteworthy exceptions. During 2009, California added a total of 50 women directors, 4 more than last year and 5 more than 2007, but significantly below the 85 women directors announced in 2007. For the year, New York added 39, a new record compared to prior years (27 in 2006, 25 in 2007, and 29 in 2008. The other leading states added barely one new woman director a month, on average.
Companies in What States? The chart to the right demonstrates the underperformance of states that have lead in the past. Massachusetts is noteworthy for having just 10 director announcements this year -- just half its earlier performance -- primarily due to cutbacks in venture capital investment in the state. Likewise, Virginia and Georgia companies did not add significantly to their totals. Texas is an interesting state: with the greatest number of Fortune 500 corporations, the state demonstrates a middling performance in the addition of new women directors to those top corporate boards. Companies in Minnesota made a surprisingly strong showing for the year, as did Pennsylvania and New Jersey firms.
What Exchanges? The NYSE-listed firms continue to be the dominant boards appointing women directors. For the year 2009, the NYSE-listed firms represented 44% (118 nominations) of all the new women director announcements. NASDAQ-listed firms appointed 25% (67 nominations) while privately-held firms added 23% of the totals (60 nominations). Note: All figures reflect the information from press releases announcements as tracked by NewsOnWomen.com for the period indicated. Back Issues of NewsOnWomen.com Research: Back Issues
The Outstanding Women: Catherine R. Kinney was the 1 woman named to 3 boards (NetSuite Inc., MetLife Inc. and MSCI Inc.). She is former President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange Inc. She also is a graduate of the Advance Management Program at Harvard Business School. How many of the following women in leadership have you read about at any time in the past years? Why is it that we do not read anything about women of achievement? Kimberly Alexy (SMART Modular Technologies and SouthWest Water Company) is a Principal of Alexy Capital Management; previously Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Equity Research at Prudential Securities. Kerrii B. Anderson (Chiquita Brands International Inc. and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc.) is former Chief Executive Officer and President of Wendy's International, Inc. Vanessa J. Castagna (Carter’s Inc., and SpeedFC) is former Executive Chairwoman of Mervyn’s Department Stores. Carrie S. Cox (Cardinal Health and Celgene Corporation) is former Executive Vice President and President of Schering-Plough's Global Pharmaceutical Business Evelyn Dilsaver (Blue Shield of California and Tempur-Pedic International Inc.) is former Executive Vice President for The Charles Schwab Corporation Glenda M. Dorchak (Mellanox Technologies Ltd. and VirtualLogix Inc.) is CEO of Intrinsyc Software International; previously held executive positions at Intel and IBM. Peggy Fowler (Umpqua Holdings Corp. and Hawaiin Electric Company) is former Chief Executive Officer for Portland General Electric (PGE). Cynthia Glassman (Discover Financial Services and Navigant Consulting Inc.) is former Undersecretary for Economic Affairs at the U.S. Department of Commerce and former a commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mary Lynn Lenz (Belvedere SoCal and Professional Business Bank) is former President and CEO of Massachusetts-based Slade’s Ferry Bancorp. Kalpana Raina (Information Services Group Inc. and John Wiley & Sons Inc.) is Managing Partner of 252 Solutions, a New York-based advisory firm; previously spent 18 years with The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., most recently in London as Executive Vice President and Head of European Country Management and Corporate Banking. Susan C. Schwab (FedEx and Caterpillar) is professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy; former dean of the school and president of the University System of Maryland Foundation; former U.S. top trade representative; Director-General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce; a trade policy officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan; and a senior aide to former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth Debora J. Wilson (Intermap Network Services Corp. and Markel Corporation) is former President and CEO of The Weather Channel The Outstanding Companies: Companies that added multiple women to their boards also warrant media recognition that seldom is heard. One company added 3 women to their board in 2009: AOL: Karen Dykstra, Patricia Mitchell and Susan Lynn Seven companies added 2 women to their board in 2009: Advance Auto Parts: Fiona Dias and Frances Frei Gateway EDI: Kathleen Earley and Peni Garber GM: Carol Stephenson and Patricia Russo Metro-Pro Corporation: Judith Spires and Robin L. Weissmann MSCI Inc.: Catherine R. Kinney and Alice Handy New Resource Bank: Barbara B. Kamm and Martha L. Daetwyler Peacock Equity: Jessica Schell and Lauren Zalaznick Advance Auto Parts made a very interesting choice of talent, demonstrating the competencies that creative women can bring to non-traditional industry sector leadership roles: Fiona P. Dias has been a director of Choice Hotels since 2004; former Executive Vice President, Partner Strategy & Marketing, GSI Commerce Inc.; former Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Circuit City Stores, Inc.; previously President of Circuit City Direct; Senior Vice President of Marketing at Circuit City Stores, Inc.; Chief Marketing Officer, Stick Networks, Inc.; Vice President, Marketing & Development of Frito-Lay Company; Vice President of Corporate Development at Pennzoil Quaker State Company; held various brand management positions at The Procter & Gamble Company. Frances X. Frei is a Professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. Her research, course development, and teaching examine how organizations can more effectively design service excellence. Her academic research has been published in top-tier journals such as Management Science and Harvard Business Review. She has published dozens of case studies across a variety of industries, including financial services, government, retail, software, telecommunications, and travel & leisure. She also is the Co-Founder of Concire Leadership Institute, LLC, a provider of customized learning and advisory services to help individuals and organizations achieve exceptional performance. Certainly these women and their boards give new meaning to the word, "outstanding."
It's official! Available from Praeger.com a new book by Elizabeth Ghaffari: Outstanding in their Field: How Women Corporate Directors Succeed based on her research and interviews with the 15 top women on corporate boards of directors at California Fortune 1000 firms. What are the paths today's women directors are following into the corporate boardroom? What are the lessons they learned along their journey? Published by Praeger Publications, an imprint of ABC-Clio Publishing Group (Santa Barbara, CA), with a Foreword by Toni Rembe, a partner (retired) at the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, and president of a Northern California legal and social justice foundation. Read the Advance Praise at the web site: www.championboards.com/outstanding.