Corporate Women Directors International (CWDI) promotes the increased participation of women in corporate boards globally, fosters national and international networks to link women directors, and seeks to hone directors’ skills in corporate governance.  To provide baseline information from which women’s progress on corporate boards can be measured, CWDI has conducted research internationally to identify women corporate board members in Australia, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Spain, and the United States, as well as a regional report covering top companies in Latin America, and a Global report analyzing women’s board participation at the 200 largest companies in the world.  Finally, in 2005 began a series of industry-specific reports, beginning with the banking and healthcare/pharmaceutical industries.  These two recent reports have been global in scope.

The directories resulting from these studies serve as a talent pool of names from which corporations can draw as they fill board positions.  In addition, CWDI has held roundtables with the release of each report to foster linkages among women corporate directors.  These gatherings, now know as Colloquia, have been held in Miami, London, Tokyo, Toronto, Montreal, Sydney, Johannesburg and Barcelona.  Recent colloquia have taken place in Washington, DC and in New York City.

Patterned after similar roundtables at the Global Summit of Women in which corporate women directors from several countries participated, these discussion sessions include in-country women directors as well as those from other parts of world.   Sessions include issues of corporate governance, international trade, and workplace practices in a global context.  To widen the pool of potential women directors, CWDI also welcomes the participation of women executives and actively encourages them to broaden their professional plans to include corporate directorships.

Irene Natividad, president of Globewomen, Inc. and Former Board Director, Sallie Mae Corporation, serves as Chair of CWDI.  For more information about CWDI or the publications listed on the reverse, please contact Corporate Women Directors’ Washington, D.C. headquarters at cwdi@globewomen.com.