The word diversity used as a noun is defined as the inclusion of individuals representing more than one national origin, color, religion, socioeconomic stratum, sexual orientation and so forth. Dealing with the diversity issue of getting more women on corporate boards of directors the group 2020 Women on Boards held their annual National Conversation on Board Diversity event as normal the Thursday before Thanksgiving, which this year was Nov. 17. Pittsburgh was one of 18 participating cities aiming to diversify women in leadership roles.
The organization exists to raise awareness and to advocate change in companies who have zero female representation on their boards. According to a local spokesperson, Carrie Coghill, president and CEO of Coghill Investment Strategies, 2020 Women on Boards began as a national organization with the primary mission of increasing female board representation to 20 percent by the year 2020. It tracks Fortune 1000 companies and keeps a Gender Diversity Index on their website; www.2020wob.com.
The Pittsburgh event was hosted and organized by Coghill Investment Strategies, a local investment management firm chaired by Christy Uffelman of Align Leadership and event chair Kristen Hemmings of Coghill Investment Strategies, it was sponsored by numerous area corporations. “Pittsburgh has embraced this event with open arms,” said Uffelman. “The city wants opportunities to do more.”
She pointed out that in the two years of hosting the event the attendance has doubled from 130 in 2015 to 300 this year making it the second largest in the country, second to Los Angeles out of 18 participating cities.
With a focus on diversity of women in a broad sense not so much as ethnicity, Boston based 2020 Women on Boards reports that women account for over 80 percent of all consumer purchases and make up roughly 50 percent of the workforce in the United States but currently hold only 16.6 percent of the corporate board seats within Fortune 1000 companies. Justice Cynthia A. Baldwin, Member, Board of Directors of Koppers pointed out that only 2.8 percent of board directors of Fortune 500 companies are women of color. She is the first woman on Kopper’s Board of Directors.
“While we are addressing diversity on boards from the perspective of women we have left out of the conversation diversity in terms of ethnicity and that’s important,” said Debra Valentine Gray, Regional Director of Advancement at Indiana University of Pennsylvania during the event expressing a concern she and several other African Americans had about the National Conversation on Board Diversity event. “It is an important piece that we must address. Not only do we want women on boards but we also want people of color. Women of color, men of color because that brings the topic into more of an inclusive conversation.” Gray was one of four African Americans on the Pittsburgh host committee.
Darcel Madkins, Business Analyst at PNC Bank, also a Pittsburgh host committee member views the efforts of the organization as a start. In agreement with Gray, her solution is for the 2017 committee to work harder to get more people of color involved and aware. “As an African American woman, I would like to see more people of color work with 2020 Women on Boards to ensure that going forward each event, audience member and or participant has adequate representation.” Admitting that there seemed to be a low number of African Americans in the room, she pointed out that “the true Pittsburgh” is less than 28 percent of African Americans.
The morning of activities consisted of a panel discussion on the topic of a roadmap on how to become board ready, an awards presentation recognizing Leroy M. Ball, president and CEO of Koppers for his commitment to nurturing board diversity and roundtable leadership development discussions titled Experience: delivering solid business results; Exposure: building your skills and knowledge; Excellence; building and sustaining strategic networks.
Earlier this year 2020 Women on Boards published a study, Boardroom Diversity: When Women Lead which examines the board composition of 960 companies on the 2015 Fortune 1000 list which indicates that there is a strong correlation between the gender of a company’s key leaders and the diversity of its board of directors.
Several key findings of the study indicated; boards with female CEOs, Board Chairs, or Nominating Committee Chairs are significantly more gender diverse than boards with male leadership; of the Fortune 1000 companies with a female CEO or Board Chair, 88 percent and 86 percent of companies respectively have already met or surpassed 2020 Women on Boards’ goal of having 20 percent or more women on the board comparing to 42 percent of all Fortune 1000 companies; The board seats held by women are not monopolized by an elite subset of individuals. In Fortune 1000 companies, 1839 female board seats are held by 1386 women. Most sit on a single Fortune 1000 company board, although many may also serve on smaller company or non-profit boards. Also noted is that 12 women serve on four or more Fortune 1000 boards coming from a variety of professional backgrounds including law, politics, academia, and non-CEO executive positions as well as the C-suite. Classified as the “Amazing Dozen” it shows that there are a multitude of paths to the boardroom and that America’s top companies value diversity of experience. Three of the Amazing Dozen are African American women. Alexis M. Herman served as the 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. Donna A. James has been a Consultant, Business Advisor, President and Managing Director of Lardon and Associates LLC since March 2006 and Joyce M. Roche served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Girls, Inc. from 2000 until her retirement in 2010.
Already planning for 2017 events, Madkins encourages interested parties to get involved by contacting Hemmings by telephone: 412-575-5900 or email: khemmings@coghillinvestmentstrategies.com. “Going forward, I ask all to show up and pull up a chair and have a seat at the table,” she stressed.
Like us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pittsburgh-Courier/143866755628836?ref=hl
Follow @NewPghCourier on Twitter https://twitter.com/NewPghCourier
