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Florida companies lag at placing women on boards

A recent survey of companies finds fewer than 100 female board members around the state.

By KRIS HUNDLEY
Published March 16, 2005

Florida can now boast another near-bottom ranking: Just 7.9 percent of board seats at the state's biggest public companies are held by women.

That puts the state slightly above Georgia, where 7.3 percent of directors at the state's largest public companies are women, but well behind the national average, according to a census just completed by Women Executive Leadership, a Miami-based networking group.

The organization looked at the boards of Florida's 150 largest public companies at the end of last year and found that 96 of 1,213 seats were held by women. A 2003 survey of Fortune 500 companies by New York City's Catalyst found that women held 13.6 percent of board seats, up from 12.4 percent two years earlier.

That's the kind of progress the Florida group hopes its census of the state's biggest companies - the first ever - will promote.

"It's about giving the issue visibility and creating awareness," said Lauren Smith, co-chair of the Florida survey and vice president with A.T. Kearney executive search firm in Miami.

Smith suggests that Florida companies have fallen short on adding women to their boards because they tend to be smaller, on average, and thus escape public scrutiny.

Among WEL's findings were that more than 52 percent of companies in the state have no women on their boards. Companies in the Tampa Bay area fitting this description include such major employers as Jabil Circuit Inc., Lincare Holdings Inc., Checkers Drive-In Restaurants and Walter Industries.

The state survey also found that women were most poorly represented in the healthcare sector. Conversely, they held the highest percent of board seats statewide in the retail/restaurant sector. Best showing, with four female directors, was Mayor's Jewelers Inc. in Sunrise.

Chico's FAS Inc., Claire's Stores Inc. and Office Depot were among a half-dozen Florida companies with three female directors.

In the Tampa Bay area, Catalina Marketing Corp. and Raymond James Financial Inc. were recognized for having multiple female board members. At Raymond James, two of 10 directors are women: Adelaide "Alex" Sink, former president of Bank of America's Florida Division, joined last year, and Angela M. Biever, general manager with Intel, has been a director since 1997.

Sink, who is also on the board of First Advantage Corp. in St. Petersburg and was previously a Republic Bankshares' director, was disappointed by the state's showing.

"Eight percent is pretty pitiful," Sink said, adding that she gets little sense things are improving. "I don't get very many calls from people asking me to identify possible women for board positions for other companies. I think for many companies, diversity is simply off the radar."

Tom James, Raymond James' chairman and chief executive, said of his board selections, "We don't do this on a gender basis. We do this on raw capability of the parties."

Biever and Sink have been exceptionally active on both the board and with the company's support group for women employees, James added.

"I would recommend to any CEOs that they consider having women on their boards," he said.

At Catalina, Evelyn Follit, chief information officer at Radio Shack, has been a director since 1997.

Anne MacDonald, managing director of global marketing at Citibank, was a director for three years, but her term expired in August.

Sue Klug, chief development officer at Catalina and one of three women on the senior management team, thinks it's critical to have women in board positions, especially for consumer products companies like hers.

"The blend of personal experience as well as their business savvy ultimately helps us better understand the consumer and how they're going to react to our products and services," she said.

Klug is hopeful that as more qualified women work their way to the top ranks of management they will be more frequently tapped for board seats.

"I don't think there's necessarily an inherent bias out there," Klug said. "It's just that to be a director, you have to have experienced different levels of management and women have been late to the party. But I see a dramatic change in the landscape over the next decade."

WEL's Smith thinks women can do a lot to encourage the change.

"Women can better leverage our influence as investors, employees and consumers to reward those companies that demonstrate gender diversity," she said. "More companies will follow in their path."

At the same time, Smith said qualified female executives should consider what they might offer as board members and make themselves visible candidates.

"Boards seek out individuals, they don't post these openings," Smith said. "But by creating a network and awareness of your interest and qualifications, it increases your chances of being selected."

Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or 727 892-2996.

[Last modified March 16, 2005, 01:31:14]