General Business

Women in the Boardroom Instrumental in Increasing Boardroom Diversity

On Feb 3, 2021

For Women in the Boardroom, an organization whose mission is to diversify corporate boards, 2020 was a monumental year. In just a four-month timeframe, seven members from the organization were appointed to corporate boards.

Since its inception in 2002, Sheila Ronning, founder, has grown Women in the Boardroom into an organization with international outreach across multiple industries, and within countless public and private boardrooms, including Fortune 100 companies.

Women in the Boardroom helps its members get their seat at the table in a variety of pioneering ways, including board strategy coaching sessions, hosting private networking events for members to make true connections in the corporate board arena, providing access to resources that feature advice and invaluable information from industry experts, and sharing corporate board opening notifications exclusively with members.

Through the board openings the organization received during this four month period, Women in the Boardroom successfully connected 208 members to 17 board openings. 50% of these openings were for public companies; 40% of the companies were large-cap and 50% of the companies were small-cap. Astoundingly, 34% of the members asked to interview during this timeframe became finalists for these openings.

According to Sheila Ronning, “Companies specifically contact me when they have an opening, and I’m able to share these board openings with our membership.” Over the years, Women in the Boardroom has been contacted to help fill hundreds of board seats. This process has recently progressed. As maintained by Ronning, “With the recent and public commitments from companies to hold corporate board seats for women and people of color and recent changes in laws, like in California where corporate diversity is now legally required, we’ve grown more excited about our membership’s expanded opportunities to obtain corporate board seats.” With this reinvigorated commitment to diversifying boards, Women in the Boardroom has had amazing success; the organization has been able to orchestrate the appointment of seven members to corporate board seats through openings its received within a four month timeframe.

The women elected to these positions credit the WIB board opening notifications, combined with Sheila’s board strategy knowledge and expertise, as key factors for helping them to achieve their corporate boardroom goals. According to Keira Krausz, recently elected as a board member to Kar’s Nuts, her board journey was expedited by becoming a member of Women in the Boardroom. “With Women in the Boardroom’s guidance, I believe it took around four or five months for me to land my first corporate board seat. However, preparation is what really helped me land my seat. I did so by networking and listening to the WIB webinars. It allowed me to keep learning and stay fresh.”

According to Women in the Boardroom CEO, Leslie Doty, “A woman’s time for corporate board service is now. Women offer a transformative perspective that helps drive boards to success. And, increasingly, organizations are placing a substantial emphasis on diversifying their boards in gender, race, and thought leadership.”

In addition to this triumphantly successful time for Women in the Boardroom members, the organization was also able to increase its membership of women of color to nearly one third of its total membership. Through expanded and nimble diversity initiatives, Ronning and Doty are working to place women of color front and center for corporate board roles.

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