Women's Networks

Breaking through the glass ceiling is greatly facilitated when women help other women gain entrance and momentum through the career pipeline. Formal and informal networks are critical for paving the way. NCRW’s Corporate Circle fosters networking among corporate leaders to help them strategize, navigate career paths and develop leadership skills, as well as build new relationships and partnerships across companies and industries. NCRW’s Emerging Leaders Network is another initiative that is reinforcing relationships among young professionals. Our networks can be particularly useful across sectors bringing the latest data, trends and analysis to decision-makers and future leaders.

Michigan Women's Leadership Index (WLI)

Submitted by asklar on Wed, 10/26/2011 - 10:23am

The Michigan Women's Leadership Index (WLI) is released biennially by Inforum Center for Leadership - the research and education arm of Inforum. The WLI is a data-based instrument used to measure the presence of women executives in the highest leadership positions of the top 100 publicly-held companies headquartered in Michigan (Index 100).

Executive Summary: 2011 Michigan Women's Leadership Index

URL:

https://www.inforummichigan.org/michigan-womens-leadership-index

September 2011 Short Survey: Networking and Social Media Usage

Submitted by asklar on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 12:45am

W‐Biz Insight panelists participated in a very short survey this September 2011. They shared about their networking and social media usage. About one‐fourth of panelists reported that they attend a networking event at least once a week, while about one‐third attend an event one to three times a month. About 15% of panelists rarely or never attend networking events.

Seventy‐eight percent of all survey respondents use social media for their businesses, and 55.3% use social media at least once a week. The type of social media used most frequently is LinkedIn at 88.0%. This is followed closely by Facebook (75.2%), Twitter (59.0%), and a blog (44.4%). Among those women business owners who use social media at least once a week, 89.2% use LinkedIn, 83.1% use Facebook, and 71.1% use Twitter.

URL:

http://www.womensbusinessresearchcenter.org/Data/practicearea/sept2011shortsurve/september_2011_short_survey.pdf

Expert Profile

Location:

United States

40° 42' 9.4392" N, 74° 0' 18.144" W

See map: Google Maps

Andrea Spender is Corporate Research and Programs Manager. Her multisectoral and diversified experience in both the private and research sectors is enhancing NCRW programming and the services provided to our Corporate membership.

Previously, Andrea has worked as a researcher and instructor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, a Research Specialist in the M&A group of Bank of Montreal and a Senior Analyst and Team Leader at McKinsey & Company.

Andrea holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Guelph and a Master of Information Science from the University of Western Ontario. She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy degree at NYU’s Wagner School.

Location

New York, NY 10005

United States

40° 42' 9.4392" N, 74° 0' 18.144" W

See map: Google Maps

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Variety Women's Impact Report 2011

Teaser:

Variety honors and profiles women in all aspects of the entertainment industry, both in the spotlight and behind the scenes.

Source:

Variety

URL:

http://www.variety.com/features/womensimpactreport2011/

Date:

October 19, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Survey: Women 2.0: Number Of Women Founders Doubled Over Past Three Years

Teaser:

Women 2.0, an organization whose goal is to increase the number of female founders in technology startups, announced that the number of women starting companies has doubled over the past three years. The new data comes from a survey of its own community, which includes everyone from actual founders and co-founders to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Editorial:

From the article:

Women 2.0, an organization whose goal is to increase the number of female founders in technology startups, is sharing some good news today: the number of women starting companies has doubled over the past three years. The new data comes from a survey of its own community, which includes everyone from actual founders and co-founders to aspiring entrepreneurs.

Back in 2008, Women 2.0 ran the same audience survey and found that 25% of its community were women founders. Today, more than 50% of its audience can now say the same.

Granted, only polling the audience of a women-focused technology community isn’t going to give you the same hard data as you would find if you took a broad sampling of the startup community as a whole and looked for changes over time. However, it likely does indicate that many of those 2008 respondents who claimed to be “thinking about entrepreneurship” actually followed through and launched their own companies. And that, in and of itself, should serve as solid inspiration for women entrepreneurs.

Another change from the previous survey to today’s is the location of the Women 2.0 audience. In 2008, nearly 100% of the community was based in the San Francisco Bay area. Now, the Bay Area accounts for 46%, while New York is 7% and the remaining members (which includes international members) accounts for 47% of the audience.

Women 2.0 says it has grown over the years as its audience matured. Three years ago, 85% of the community was only interested in events. Now, 25% are interested in events and the rest are interested in education around entrepreneurship and access to funding.

The organization also announced that the Kauffman Foundation is providing Women 2.0 with a second round of corporate sponsorship.. The corporate sponsorship will help Women 2.0 expand its educational resources via its online site and its global networking events like Founder Friday.

Source:

Tech Crunch

URL:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/18/women-2-0-number-of-women-founders-doubled-over-

Date:

October 19, 2011

Affiliate:

Tech Is Glamour-ous: Mag Hosts Panel on Women in Tech (Video)

Teaser:

Kara Swisher of All Things D moderated a panel on women in technology for Glamour. The panel included women execs from high-profile tech companies, including: Stacy Brown-Philpot, director of Google-owned and operated properties; Julie Larson-Green, corporate VP of program management for Windows at Microsoft; Kati London, director of product for Zynga; and Hilary Mason, chief scientist at Bitly.

Editorial:

Source:

All Things D

URL:

http://allthingsd.com/20111013/tech-is-glamour-ous-mag-hosts-panel-on-women-in-tech-video/

Date:

October 18, 2011

Affiliate:

Women in Business: Coverage of the Women's Forum for the Economy and Society

Teaser:

Do women occupy leadership positions and command respect in the workplace? If these questions seem passé in a post-feminist world, the answers are not. CNBC's special report, combined with coverage of the annual Women's Forum for the Economy and Society, opens the conversation.

Editorial:

From the summary:

So when we began planning our special report "Women in Business," I was eager to learn how women are really doing in the workplace. Clearly, many women are successful, powerful and making money, as our special report shows. But do they occupy leadership positions and command respect—and what impact do they have on the workplace?

If these questions seem passé in our post-feminist world, I learned that the answers are not.

Plenty of women are redefining success by leaving Corporate America to start their own companies. Others, including Sandra E. Peterson, CEO of Bayer's [BAYZF 0.00 --- UNCH ] CropScience unit, advise women to stay in the corporate game. “Set out to be the best at your game and understand that you’ll make sacrifices, trade-offs, and changes during your journey” she advises.

Still others, such as Kelli McGarraugh, President, MD Records, say theystumbled onto their life’s work and consuming passion. “One day, the opportunity presented itself and I decided to take the plunge,” she writes in one of our first-person essays by women who have made it to the top.

I loved learning that women turn out to be amazing hedge fund managers: Research shows that women generally make better money managers, and that funds managed by women significantly outperformed those run by men, with 9 percent returns for women and 5.82 percent for men.

Of course, the news isn’t all rosy for women, as you might imagine. Another of our stories shows that the progress of women through the ranks to the top of companies has stalled. In fact, the number of female chief executives in theStandard & Poor’s 500 is just 17, a little more than 3 percent.

But what I really loved was the balanced approach advocated by Joyce Russell, president of Adecco Staffing U.S., who believes it can still be a rough road for women in the workplace. What she writes, though, rings true: “The key to success lies in what many would consider old-fashioned values: hard work, determination and relationships with people.”

Sure, those are women’s values. But they’re the best kind of values for all good and successful people. So here’s to hard-working, determined and relationship-oriented women — and men.

Source:

CNBC

URL:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44078149/?displaymode=1061&previewmode=1

Date:

October 11, 2011

Affiliate:

50 Most Powerful Women in Business

Teaser:

FORTUNE's annual ranking of America's leading businesswomen

Editorial:

2011's list includes:

Rank	Name	Company
1	Irene Rosenfeld	Kraft Foods
2	Indra Nooyi	PepsiCo.
3	Patricia Woertz	Archer Daniels Midland
4	Ellen Kullman	DuPont
5	Angela Braly	Wellpoint
6	Andrea Jung	Avon Products
7	Ginni Rometty	IBM
8	Ursula Burns	Xerox
9	Meg Whitman	Hewlett-Packard
10	Sherilyn McCoy	Johnson & Johnson
11	Safra Catz	Oracle
12	Sheryl Sandberg	Facebook
13	Melanie Healey	Procter & Gamble
14	Anne Sweeney	The Walt Disney Company
15	Carol Meyrowitz	The TJX Companies
16	Oprah Winfrey	Harpo
17	Jan Fields	McDonalds
18	Abigail Johnson	Fidelity Investments
19	Susan Wagner	BlackRock
20	Charlene Begley	General Electric
21	Denise Morrison	Campbell Soup
22	Susan Chambers	Wal-Mart Stores
23	Rosalind Brewer	Wal-Mart
24	Mary Callahan Erdoes	J.P. Morgan Chase
25	Deirdre Connelly	GlaxoSmithKline
26	Pamela Nicholson	Enterprise Holdings
27	Marillyn Hewson	Lockheed Martin
28	Susan Wojcicki	Google
29	Joanne Maguire	Lockheed Martin
30	Gail Boudreaux	UnitedHealth Group
31	Gina Drosos	Procter & Gamble
32	Kathleen Murphy	Fidelity Investments
33	Linda Gooden	Lockheed Martin
34	Linda Hudson	BAE Systems, Inc.
35	Lynn Elsenhans	Sunoco
36	Bonnie Hammer	Comcast
37	Maggie Wilderotter	Frontier Communications
38	Marissa Mayer	Google
39	Bridget Van Kralingen	IBM
40	Abbe Raven	A&E Television Networks
41	Phebe Novakovic	General Dynamics
42	Ilene Gordon	Corn Products Intl.
43	Lauren Zalaznick	Comcast
44	Laura Sen	BJ's Wholesale Club
45	Debra Reed	Sempra Energy
46	Shari Ballard	Best Buy
47	Deanna Mulligan	The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
48	Meredith Whitney	Meredith Whitney Advisors
49	Beth Mooney	KeyCorp
50	Amy Pascal	Sony

From the October 17, 2011 issue

Source:

CNN Money/Fortune

URL:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/most-powerful-women/

Date:

October 10, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Study: National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications and Women in Cable Telecommunications Announce Highlights of Joint Industry Diversity Survey

Teaser:

The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) announced highlights of the 2011 NAMIC AIM and WICT PAR Cable Telecommunications Industry Diversity Survey at a town hall held jointly by the associations in New York City in conjunction with the 25^th Annual NAMIC Conference and the 2011 WICT Leadership Conference. The study gathered data related to workforce demographics and diversity and inclusion practices from the cable telecommunications industry. The primary methodology for the study was a census survey consisting of 83 quantitative and qualitative questions focused on gender and race/ethnicity, for a variety of job categories. Twenty-five companies completed the survey, representing 54% of the cable telecommunications industry workforce.

Editorial:

From the press release:

The National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) and Women in Cable Telecommunications (WICT) today announced highlights of the 2011 NAMIC AIM and WICT PAR Cable Telecommunications Industry Diversity Survey. Benchmarked data vital to the advancement of ethnic and gender diversity in cable, the results of the NAMIC AIM (Advancement Investment Measurement) and WICT PAR Initiative (Pay Equity, Advancement Opportunities and Resources for Work/Life Support) were announced this morning during a Town Hall Meeting on Diversity. The town hall was held jointly by the associations in New York City in conjunction with the 25^th Annual NAMIC Conference and the 2011 WICT Leadership Conference.

Funded by The Walter Kaitz Foundation, and conducted by third-party experts at The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) the NAMIC and WICT study gathered data related to workforce demographics and diversity and inclusion practices from the cable telecommunications industry. The primary methodology for the study was a census survey consisting of 83 quantitative and qualitative questions focused on gender and race/ethnicity, for a variety of job categories. Twenty-five companies completed the survey, representing 54% of the cable telecommunications industry workforce. Fourteen of the company respondents were programmers, eight were multi-system operators, and three companies were either industry suppliers or non-profits.

To assess diversity at the highest leadership levels within the industry, this year's survey measured four specific criteria: the 10% highest paid full-time employees; executive/senior-level officials and managers; first/mid-level officials and managers; and, for the first time, women holding seats on corporate boards. Additionally, workforce demographic data was benchmarked against Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) data for all industries, as well as the telecommunications and information industry. Diversity practices among cable telecommunications organizations were benchmarked against responses from a random sample of SHRM members, a subset of which represented the telecommunications industry. Survey results were compared by programmers and multi-system operators and historical NAMIC (2008) or WICT PAR (2009) data, when applicable.

The study found that cable telecommunications organizations are embracing key diversity practices. Generally, the organizations that participated in this year's survey scored better on key diversity practices compared with SHRM telecommunications industry comparison data. However, when cable telecommunications organizations were compared to similarly sized organizations in SHRM's all-industry comparison data, responses were similar, suggesting that organizational staff size plays a critical role in the scale and sophistication of diversity practices that organizations may employ.

The top five diversity practices employed by cable telecommunications organizations in the 2011 NAMIC AIM and WICT PAR survey are listed in ranking order as follows:

Recruiting strategies designed to help increase diversity within organizations.
Community outreach tied to diversity, such as links between organizations and educational institutions, government entities, etc.
Leadership development opportunities (e.g., mentoring, coaching) designed to increase diversity in higher-level positions.
Employing employee attitude surveys that include items related to organizational diversity.
Aligning diversity with business goals and objectives.

A number of advances in the cable telecommunications industry as it relates to race/ethnicity were cited. Although the study showed increases for full-time employees, multi-ethnicity among executive and mid-level management positions is advancing at a slower rate. The study also found that Asian/Pacific Islanders and Hispanic/Latinos in particular are severely underrepresented relative to their numbers in the general U.S. population. According to the study, representation of people of color on boards of directors remains a challenge with little to no growth occurring since the 2008 NAMIC survey.

"The survey results are indicative of our industry's commitment to fostering greater diversity and inclusion," said Kathy A. Johnson, president, NAMIC. "While the numbers are moving in the right direction, there remain opportunities for NAMIC and industry collaboration to ensure that representation in senior leadership is keeping pace with our nation's demographic shifts."

When reviewing gender-related data, the study showed gains in 2011 for women in a number of positions. Cable telecommunications organizations increased their representation of women executives, board directors and new hires. However, opportunities still remain to ensure pay equity for women. In 2011, a new metric for WICT, the top 10% highest paid employees, was collected, and the results indicated that women comprised only 30% of this category. Additionally, representation of women in digital media positions has decreased.

"We are extremely pleased to see the progress women have made since we last fielded the PAR survey two years ago," said Maria E. Brennan, President & CEO of WICT. "And we look forward to partnering with the industry to continue to seek parity at all levels for women in cable."

...

Source:

PR Newswire press release

URL:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-association-for-multi-ethnicity-in-communications-and-women-in-cable-telecommunications-announce-highlights-of-joint-industry-diversity-survey-131044338.html

Date:

October 5, 2011

Affiliate:

Associated Issues & Expertise:

Report: CWDI 2011 Report on Women CEOs Opening Doors to Board Rooms and C-Suites

Teaser:

A study of 112 women CEOs in 39 countries by Corporate Women Directors International finds that top companies led by women have more women directors in board rooms and in executive officer positions.

Editorial:

From the press release:

Does it make a difference if a woman is in charge? A new study of 112 women CEOs in 39 countries finds that it does. Top companies led by women have more women directors in board rooms and in executive officer positions, according to a report by Corporate Women Directors International, a Washington-based research group focusing on women directors globally.

Companies with women CEOs have 22.3% women on their boards compared to 9.8% average representation of women on the boards of blue chip companies in the countries included in the study. This pattern holds in all regions no matter which country or what size company.

Similarly, women-led companies have a higher percentage of women in senior management at 24.3% than the average representation of women in executive roles in peer companies (12.2%). Again, while rates of increase may differ, this same pattern holds for the majority of companies with women at the helm in all regions of the world.

“Clearly, having a woman at the top of the corporate pyramid makes a difference for other women,” states CWDI Chair Irene Natividad. “The study shows women CEOs tapping the talents of other women for senior roles that are normally very difficult to access.”

CWDI’s list of Top Ten Women-Led Companies with the best record in appointing female directors includes a Serbian company, Soja Protein (food products company listed in the Belgrade Stock Exchange) in first place along withCanada’s Vancouver City Savings Credit Union – each with female majority boards (6 out of 9 or 66.7%).

U.S. companies (Avon, Xerox, Wellpoint, Pepsico, Kraft Foods and Sara Lee) with women CEOs dominate the Top Ten list, along with four Canadian and three Philippine companies . All of these companies have over 30% of board seats held by women.

Serbia’s Soja Protein again leads the Top Ten Companies with female CEOs that outperform others in appointing women to executive officer posts with 100% of their senior management being women. Six Canadian women-led companies in the FTSE 100 are among the ten best led by the State Farm Group, which has a female majority executive team (3 out of 4 or 75%). Four Philippine companies form the second largest group among the Top Ten, with women executive officers comprising 40-60%.

How do women CEOs’ record compare with that of their predecessors? A look at U.S., Canadian, Australian and British companies shows a faster rate of women’s appointment to boards – 7.6% over the past five years – than the average increase of 2.1% in female directors by peer companies in all regions.

A similar faster rate of women’s appointments to C-suite position – 7.6% -- was shown when comparing the current composition of senior management in women-led companies with that of their predecessor.

“Given the value that women CEOs bring to accelerating access to boards and executive positions, it is a shame that there are so few of them in every corner of the world,” adds Natividad. There are, for example, only 12 U.S. women CEOs in the Fortune 500, 23 in Canada’s Financial Post 500, none in Japan and Korea’s largest companies , and none in the blue chip companies of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway or Greece.

Source:

Corporate Women Directors International

URL:

http://www.globewomen.org/cwdi/cwdi_2011_Women%20CEOs%20Press%20Release.html

Date:

September 28, 2011

Affiliate:

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What We Do

NCRW is a network of leading university and community based research, policy, and advocacy centers with a growing global reach dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women and girls. We also have a Corporate Circle comprised of senior diversity professionals from leading U.S. and global member companies and a Presidents Circle of college and university leaders who share our commitment. NCRW harnesses the collective power of its network to provide knowledge, analysis, and thought leadership on issues ranging from reducing women’s poverty to building a critical mass of women’s leadership across sectors.

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