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For women at the top, mixed news

A Florida report shows more directors but fewer executives.

By CHRISTINA REXRODE
Published February 9, 2007

In boardrooms and executive suites across the state, it's still a man's game.

In a report to be released today, a Fort Lauderdale nonprofit says that the number of women directors rose slightly but the number of female executives at Florida's top 150 public companies fell to 39, or 5.4 percent of all the surveyed positions, last year. In 2004, women held 67 executive positions, or 7.6 percent.

"As I read through it, my reaction was, 'This is sobering,' " said Evelyn Follit, a retired executive at RadioShack who serves on several corporate boards. "Yes, there has been progress, but the rate of progress is very slow."

Some local female leaders expressed surprise at the drop, and could offer only speculation, not explanation.

"Boy, that means we've lost all the ground we've made," said Pam Heath, the pharmacy director for Sweetbay Supermarket and co-chairwoman of Florida's Network of Executive Women. She and others wondered if the decline means that more women are leaving senior positions to raise families or start their own businesses, but doubted that could explain such a sharp change in just two years.

Evelyn D'An, who chaired the report committee, said that corporate restructurings, like acquisitions and mergers, may also have played a role.

Women fared better in the boardroom: Though they held just 8.7 percent of the combined 1,221 board seats, that's still better than 2004, when they held 7.9 percent. And the percentage of companies with no female directors decreased from 52.4 percent in 2004 to 48.6 percent.

"Would we have preferred a larger increase? Absolutely," D'An said. "But nonetheless, the trend is positive."

Local firms honored

At a presentation in Hollywood, Fla., today, the Women Executive Leadership group will honor the 21 surveyed companies that have more than one female director. Among them are TECO Energy and WellCare Health Plans, both of Tampa, and Raymond James of St. Petersburg.

WellCare added Regina Herzlinger, a Harvard business professor, to its board in 2003, and Jane Swift, the former governor of Massachusetts, in late 2004.

But even the accolades showcase the fragility of the inroads that businesswomen have made. Since the survey data was collected, Raymond James has lost one of its two female directors, Alex Sink, who stepped down after being elected Florida's chief financial officer. And one of TECO's two female directors, Sara Baldwin, is preparing to retire after 20-plus years on the board.

Cindy Kushner, the president of WEL, said she was not discouraged by the numbers. "The bottom line is, it's not really about getting women on the board," she said. "It's about getting the right people on the board, and that means getting more women" in the candidate pool.

She founded WEL for just that reason, and she pointed to several harbingers that lead her to believe that her goal is being fulfilled.

New law's impact

One is Sarbanes-Oxley, a corporate reform law passed in the wake of Enron and similar scandals.

To find directors who can competently deal with Sarbox and tackle contentious, specialized issues like executive compensation, companies are turning to search firms and less-senior executives.

"Now there's a shift in focus in terms of what are your credentials, not whether you've sat on a board before," Kushner said.

And shareholders - often encouraged by groups like Institutional Shareholder Services - are beginning to value diversity in the companies they invest in.

"To have more than one woman (on a board) gives you a broader perspective," said Sheila McDevitt, a senior vice president at TECO Energy who is responsible for corporate diversity. "I know that I think differently than groups of men may."

Also, effective boards are composed of people who can identify with the target consumer - and women control or influence 85 percent of household spending, Kushner said.

Retail and restaurants

The WEL study found that women held the largest percentage of board seats - 14.8 percent - in retail and restaurants. They fared the worst in health care, holding just 5.5 percent of board seats.

Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, said companies don't necessarily need to address the scarcity of executive women head-on.

More women are pursuing high powered business careers, so it's only a matter of time before they start showing up more often in boardrooms and executive positions, he said.

"Typically, you did not see many women in business school 20 years ago," Elson said.

A separate study by Catalyst, a research firm focused on professional women, found that women now comprise one-third of business school students.

Fast Facts:

What is WEL?

Women Executive Leadership, or WEL, was formed in 1999 to increase the number of women serving on corporate boards. "I hear a lot from boards that they want to add gender diversity to the boardroom, but they find it difficult to identify board-ready women. And I hear from a lot of women executives (who are interested in board positions), and they don't even know where to start," said Cindy Kushner, founder and president of the Fort Lauderdale nonprofit. "We want to bridge that gap." WEL helps its 500-plus members, who join by invitation only, network and prepare for board positions.

For more information: www.womenexecutive leadership.com

[Last modified February 8, 2007, 23:37:12]