Women on Boards

As a woman owned and run business, Major Executive Search works diligently to present the most qualified and compatible candidates to our clients. Part of this diligence is to consciously seek out top female executives for C-level and Board of Directors and Advisors positions. There is a fast moving trend in the technology and sciences industries to engage and promote qualified female executives. Studies from various sources consistently show that:

  • 62% of US technology companies have no women in board leadership roles.
  • 11% of the S&P 500 has women in Chairman and Lead Director roles vs. 6.7% of technology companies.
  • Corporate board diversity increases the bottom line, lowers risk profile, and enhances a company’s reputation. Board members who bring different perspectives and different skills and experiences can and will ask different questions, identify different opportunities for growth, and help a company keep pace in the rapidly changing marketplace.
  • Companies that smash the “glass ceiling” increase their profits as a result. Credit Suisse published a study on this topic. In it, they looked at the performance of 3,000 companies and found that those with at least one woman on their board outperformed those with no women by an average of 5%. Catalyst, the non-profit focused on women and business published what has become the quintessential study on this topic. They looked at Fortune 500 companies and discovered that companies with the highest percentage of women board directors outperformed by 53% on return on equity, 42% return on sales and 66% return on invested capital.
  • Seventy-seven percent of available board seats – of the total opportunity in this ecosystem – are in companies below $3 billion in annual revenue. The objective should be developing more women through experience on smaller company boards to enlarge the pipeline of candidates who can progress to more and more challenging board roles. With more women in the C-suite, and more women earning MBAs and technical degrees, the candidate pool continues to grow.

Resources

The latest Gender Diversity Index report produced by 5050 Women on Boards available here: https://5050wob.com/reports/

Research – Directory

Programs – Path to the Boardroom

Annual Events

Websites