WomenCorporateDirectors Launches Global Nominating Commission to Increase Diversity in Director Slates

NEW YORK, May 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing the need for greater diversity on corporate boards – from the Fortune 500 to the FTSE 100 and beyond – WomenCorporateDirectors today launched the WCD Global Nominating Commission at its second Global Institute in New York. The Commission is a high-level task force of select corporate board nominating committee chairs and members from around the world, as well as CEOs, focused on proactively building diverse boards and candidate slates.

"With greater demand on boards and from boards to increase diversity, the Global Nominating Commission will be an important center of influence for nominating committees worldwide," said Alison A. Winter, global co-chair and co-founder of WCD and a director at Nordstrom. 

Last year, WCD issued a "Call to Action" at its inaugural Global Institute, challenging business leaders, search firms, and the press to leverage their influence to boost numbers of women in the boardroom.

"With the Commission, we are taking on the next challenge – urging nominating committees, who determine the composition of the board, to focus on global diversity," said Henrietta H. Fore, global co-chair of WCD, CEO and chairman of Holsman International, and a director at ExxonMobil and Theravance, Inc. "We will work with these important decision-makers in a whole new way."

Led by co-chairs Myra Hart, Ann Korologos, and Maggie Wilderotter, the Commission will consolidate data on director candidates and report effective resources and approaches for building diverse boards and candidate slates. Initially, the Commission will:

• Collect and report business cases of effective approaches to building global, diverse boards.
• Develop matrices of skill sets needed for boards in 2012 and beyond, to be shared with corporate nominating and governance committees worldwide.
• Encourage search firms to assure that every director slate includes women and other diverse candidates from around the world.
• Call for nominating committees to develop and release their boards' approach to diversity in the candidate selection process.
• Provide insight on how nominating committees can make best use of annual board evaluations.
• Aggregate and release specific methods for nominating committees to access world-class diverse talent by: 
  • Listing participating search firms and how best to work with them.
  • Providing connections to supplemental information outlets and resources that support diversity board recruitment.
  • Reporting best global and regional methods for working with resources to achieve breakthrough results.
• Share information on board training programs and effective "onboarding" resources, where users can rate, review and comment upon the resources, and how best to use them.
• Continue to develop new methods for powerfully advocating and encouraging global board diversity, in order to make a difference around the board table, in the world, and for the world.

Global Nominating Commission members to date:

For more information, please contact Davia Temin or Suzanne Oaks of Temin and Company at 212-588-8788 or [email protected].

About WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD)

WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) is the only global membership organization and community of women corporate directors, comprised of more than 1,400 members serving on over 1,550 boards in 42 chapters around the world. In this new era of responsibility, WCD is committed not just to good governance, but to governance with global vision. Smart boards are going global in members and mindset. Our members share information and insights in order to ensure best practices in corporate governance around the world.

WCD's global chapters are located in Arizona, Atlanta, Australia, Beijing, Bogota, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Delhi, Denmark, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston, Indonesia, Israel, Lima, London, Mexico City, Malaysia, Minnesota, Morocco, Mumbai, New York, Nigeria, Northern California, Northern/Central Europe (Berlin), Paris, Philadelphia, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, South Africa, Southern California, South Florida, Switzerland, Tennessee, Toronto, United Arab Emirates, and Washington, D.C.

Our mission is to continue to expand the WCD community through leadership, diversity, education, best practices in corporate governance, and a focus on development and new board placement opportunities – see WCD's Call to Action to improve diversity on boards. WCD offers local, regional, national, and international forums, providing a platform for turning ideas into action. WCD is supported by its Founding Partners, Heidrick & Struggles and KPMG. For more information, visit womencorporatedirectors.com.

About the WCD Global Institute

The WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) 2012 Global Institute is an unprecedented opportunity for global board directors to share corporate governance and business strategies and to build partnerships with a purpose, in a private, invitation-only setting.

The Institute is a two-day, high-powered idea forum exploring compelling issues on the minds of today's board directors and their companies. The program includes keynotes, panels, and discussion groups – as well as the WCD Visionary Awards Dinner – that facilitate informal peer exchanges. Panels include:

• "Globalization 3.0: An Uncharted World of Dissolving Certainty"
• "Changing Global Demographics: Implications for an Evolving Workforce"
• "When the Terrain Gets Tough, Women Take the Wheel (in the Boardroom and C-Suite)"
• "Creating Advantage: What's the Next Paradigm Shift in Technology?"
• "Geopolitical Dynamics: Emerging Markets Change the Game"
• "Global Scarcities: Creating Market Opportunities and New Challenges"

SOURCE WomenCorporateDirectors