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Zappeion, Site of the 2012 Summit
Welcoming
Dinner
For video which debunks modern
"Greek Myths", click
here
Percentage of Women Directors
of Fortune Global 200 Companies
Top Ten Companies with Highest Percentage
of Women Directors in Fortune Global 200
Proctor & Gamble (USA)
Wellpoint
(USA)
Statoil Hydro (Norway)
General Motors
(USA)
Target (USA)
Wells Fargo (USA)
HP
(USA)
Deutsche Bank (Germany)
France Telecom
(France)
PepsiCo (USA)
McKesson (USA)
BNP Paribas
(France)
Societe Generale (France)
Dow Chemical
(USA)
Deutsche Post (Germany)
Intel (USA)
Virginia Romett
Incoming CEO of
IBM
Gracia Martore
CEO, Gannett Corp.
Susanne Ruoff
CEO, Swiss
Post |
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I. 2012 GLOBAL SUMMIT OF
WOMEN
Gateway to the Balkan economies, Athens, Greece serves as the
venue for the foremost international economic forum for women
leaders in business, government and civil society on May 31-June
2nd at the Intercontinental Hotel. Under the theme of Women: The
Engine of Economic Growth, the 22-year-old Summit’s focus
next year echoes the latest World Bank report finding that gender
equity equals sustainable development. As Caroline Anstey, World
Bank Managing Director, so aptly stated at a Nov. 18th
Corporate Women Directors International Forum: “Women are the next emerging
market.”
Some of the 2012 Summit speakers include
McKinsey’s Europe Leader Michael Halbye,
who will open Summit proceedings with his
analyses of economic and business trends not only in the European
region but globally. Deloitte’s
Chair of the Global
Center for Corporate
Governance Carol Lambert (France) will participate
in a plenary forum on “Ethics and Transparency Post-Crisis”. Booz Inc.
CEO Shumeet Banerji will be joined by other former and
current CEOs in sharing best practices in “Engaging Men in Diversity
and Inclusion”. The
Entrepreneurial Luncheon Forum will feature women business owners
who have developed enterprises in high growth areas, while the Youth
Forum will focus on young entrepreneurs who have entered new
business
arenas.
The Greek Host Committee and Business Advisory
Council will welcome Summit delegates at the historic Zappeion, site of the first in-door Olympic
Games. A post-Summit excursion to Crete is also planned, details for which will
be made available in the coming weeks. For a video that breaks
‘Greek Myths’, click to the link on the left. For the registration form,
early bird rates, hotel information, go to www.globewomen.org,
click to the Global Summit of Women.
_________________________________________________________________
II. WOMEN DIRECTORS IN THE FORTUNE GLOBAL
200
Countries with quotas and other initiatives
to increase in the number of women on corporate boards are moving
ahead in changing the face of corporate leadership, especially in
Europe. A new report by
Corporate Women Directors International on women on the boards of
the 200 largest companies in the world ranks France first for the
fastest rate of increase, as it moved from 7.2% board directorships
held by women in 2004 to 20.1% in 2011, due largely to a
quota passed only last year. Coming in second is Spain, whose quota law
passed in 2007 helped to increase its representation of women on
corporate boards from 1.9% in 2004 to 9.2% currently. This rate of increase would
not have been possible in years past when 1% yearly increase is the
norm. Quota laws for women directors that were triggered by
Norway’s in 2003
have now been passed not only in France and Spain, but also in
Iceland, the
Netherlands,
Belgium,
Italy and most
recently adopted in Malaysia in the form of
an executive order from the Prime
Minister.
While
quotas are beginning to crack the boardroom glass ceiling, the average
percentage of board seats held by women in the Fortune Global 200
companies is a dismal 13.8%. U.S.
companies in the Fortune
listing still post the highest percentage of women directors at
20.8%, but will soon be outpaced by French companies, given the rate
at which they’re adding women directors. This year’s Top Ten list of
best performing companies in terms of female board appointments has
U.S. retail giant
Procter & Gamble in first place with 45.6% of its board made up
of women, followed by healthcare company Wellpoint ranked second
with 41.7% female directors, and Norway’s Statoil coming
in third with 40% of board seats held by
women.
The
2011 CWDI Report was released at a World Bank forum with directors
from Top Ten companies – Jane Shaw, Chair of Intel’s Board; Ana Maria Llopis, Chair of
Dia S.A. Board in Spain and board director of France’s Societe
Generale, Sol Truijillo, board director of Target and former CEO of
US West, Orange SA and Telstra; and Elaine Chao, board
director of Wells Fargo and former U.S. Secretary of Labor. This year’s report is the
18th conducted by CWDI in its 15-year history. “We have
been counting women on boards for some time now to establish
benchmarks globally, and I am excited for the first time to see the
needle beginning to move for women directors primarily in Europe,”
states CWDI Chair Irene Natividad. (For Key Findings and order
form for the 2011 CWDI Report on the Fortune Global 200, go to www.globewomen.org click to
CWDI.)
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III. NEW WOMEN LEADERS IN BUSINESS AND
GOVERNMENT
Two new women CEOs
have recently been added to a very small club of U.S.
female corporate leaders in the Fortune 500. Membership in this elite
group now numbers 14, or 2.8% of all CEOs in this Fortune listing of the
largest U.S.
companies.
·
Virginia
Rometty is the new
CEO of the 100-year-old IBM Corporation. A systems engineer when she
joined the company in 1981, the 54-year-old executive rose through
the ranks to become Chief of IBM’s Global Sales. Credited with the successful
acquisition of PriceWaterhouseCoopers Consulting, Rometty will run
the 18th largest company in the U.S., where she has
worked for three decades.
Rometty joins Meg
Whitman, newly appointed CEO of Hewlett Packard and Ursula Burns,
CEO of Xerox as leaders of three of the largest technology companies
in the U.S. Few women are in charge in
the technology industry, so the appointment of these three women is
seen as a hopeful sign that more will follow in their
footsteps
·
Gracia
Martore assumes the
post of CEO of Gannett Corporation, whose assets include 82 daily
newspapers, the biggest being USA
Today, and 23 TV stations. Like Rometty, Martore is a
veteran of the company she is poised to lead, which she joined in
1985. She comes to her
new position after being second in command since 2005, so she is
familiar with its demands.
The
Chairman of Gannett’s board is Marjorie Magner, partner in a private
equity firm. This gives
Gannett the distinction of having women serving as CEO and Board
Chair, probably the only multibillion dollar company with this
line-up at the top.
Outside of
the U.S.,
Switzerland has a new
woman CEO
of Swiss Post, Susanne Ruoff. An economist by
background, Ms. Ruoff spent 20 years at IBM Switzerland and has a
strong technology background which made her attractive to Swisspost
as it seeks to move into digital areas of business to complement the
physical. For the past
two years, she has served as Country Manager for British Telecom
Switzerland. To see CWDI’s 2011 Report’s
Key Findings on Women CEOs – Opening Doors to Board Rooms and
C-Suites, go to www.globewomen.org, click to
CWDI.
_________________________________________________________________
To Register for the 2012 Global Summit of Women,
Click
Here.
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CONTACT
US
Global Summit of Women
1100 G St. NW, Ste. 700
Washington, DC 20005
USA
tel: 202-835-3713
/ fax: 202-466-6195
email:
summit@globewomen.com
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