Spencer Stuart, WomenCorporateDirectors Form Strategic Partnership in North America

NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Spencer Stuart and WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) have forged a new strategic partnership for North America – creating an alliance to serve board members and advance best practices in corporate governance. Combining the strengths of WCD, the largest global organization of women board directors, and Spencer Stuart, one of the world's leading executive search consulting firms, the partnership encompasses board research, director events, and other thought leadership initiatives around building better boards.

WCD – a group of 2,500+ directors serving on more than 3,500 boards – is rapidly growing worldwide; there are 60 chapters to date on six continents. As the premier search partner of WCD, Spencer Stuart will work with WCD in North America launching new chapters and sharing its deep boardroom expertise at chapter events and the Global Institute.

"The power of this partnership is in working together to achieve a common objective: helping to build the best boards possible," said Julie Hembrock Daum, head of Spencer Stuart's North American Board Practice and a member of the firm's own board. "By connecting companies with the highest-performing directors, and ensuring that directors get the information and insights they need to serve, Spencer Stuart and WCD are truly raising the game in corporate governance."

"Spencer Stuart's expertise and network will elevate what we can accomplish at WCD," said Susan Stautberg, WCD's CEO, co-founder and co-chair. Spencer Stuart is coming on in the midst of exponential growth for WCD: the aggregate market capitalization of just the public companies on whose boards its members serve was recently calculated at close to $8 trillion. Chapters have opened recently in Panama, Kansas City, Iceland, and Quebec with chapters in Denver, Northern Florida/Southern Georgia, Hawaii, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Rio de Janeiro, and South Korea set to launch in the coming months.

In the partnership, Spencer Stuart and WCD will work on a number of thought leadership initiatives around boards and governance. These will include:

• Research surveying hundreds of directors globally, detailing the demographics and practices of board directors worldwide.
• WCD's new Thought Leadership Council will develop research and reports on a key governance issue each year. This year is on compensation.
• WCD's Family Business Advisory Council will explore the particular governance challenges facing boards of family-owned businesses.

"As WCD is growing so quickly, we sought a partner who could help us further expand our reach and influence, and drive home the importance of diversity of thought in the boardroom. Spencer Stuart is a firm committed to creating boards that are multi-gender, multi-talented, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, and multi-national," said Ms. Stautberg.

"What Spencer Stuart brings to the table is unparalleled: their experience in helping boards identify and recruit high-caliber directors for public corporations, major private and family-owned businesses, high-growth startups, and nonprofit organizations – providing both a deep and broad level of insight in what makes a boardroom work."

"The rigor and objectivity of our search work at Spencer Stuart remains paramount," said Ms. Daum. "But what we are able to achieve with this WCD partnership is what our clients find so valuable in our work for them: connecting great companies with great directors, and creating new solutions for strategic board challenges." Spencer Stuart has conducted more than 1,800 board director searches globally over the past three years.

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

About Spencer Stuart
Spencer Stuart is one of the world's leading executive search consulting firms. Privately held since 1956, Spencer Stuart applies its extensive knowledge of industries, function and talent to advise select clients – ranging from major multinationals to emerging companies to nonprofit organizations – and address their leadership requirements. Through 55 offices in 30 countries and a broad range of practice groups, Spencer Stuart consultants focus on senior-level executive search, board director appointments, succession planning, and in-depth senior executive management assessments. For more information on Spencer Stuart, please visit www.spencerstuart.com.

About WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD)
WomenCorporateDirectors is the only global membership organization and community of women corporate directors, comprised of more than 2,500 members serving on over 3,500 boards in 60 chapters around the world, with many more slated in the next two quarters. The aggregate market capitalization of public companies on whose boards WCD members serve is $8 trillion – if WCD were a country, its economy would be the world's third largest, behind only the U.S. and China. In addition, WCD members serve on numerous boards of large private companies globally.

WCD membership provides a unique platform for learning from the intellectual capital of accomplished women from around the world, and WCD's mission is to increase courage, candor, inclusion, and cohesion in the boardroom. In 2012, WCD launched the Global Nominating Commission, 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. KPMG is a Global Partner of WCD. Strategic Partners include Marriott International and Pearl Meyer & Partners, and WCD Alliance Partners include International Finance Corporation (IFC), JPMorgan Chase, and Northern Trust.

WCD has 60 global chapters, located in Arizona, Atlanta, Beijing, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Chile, Cleveland, Colombia, Columbus, Dallas/Fort Worth, Delhi, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Gulf Cooperation Council, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Houston, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kansas City, London, Los Angeles/Orange County, Malaysia, Melbourne, Mexico, Milan, Minnesota, Morocco, Mumbai, Netherlands, New York, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern California, Panama, Peru, Philadelphia, Philippines, Quebec, Rome, San Diego, Sao Paulo, Seattle, Shanghai, Singapore, South Africa, South Florida, Switzerland, Sydney, Tennessee, Toronto, Turkey, Washington, D.C, and Western Canada. Upcoming chapters include Denver, Hawaii, New Mexico, North Florida/Southern Georgia, Puerto Rico, Rio de Janeiro, South Korea, and Thailand. For more information, visit www.womencorporatedirectors.com.

SOURCE WomenCorporateDirectors