The Women's Forum of New York Honors Companies with At Least 20 Percent Female Board Representation at "Breakfast of Corporate Champions"

NEW YORK, Nov. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Women's Forum of New York, the city's preeminent organization of women leaders representing the highest levels of achievement, hosted the second bi-annual Breakfast of Corporate Champions on November 21 at the New York Stock Exchange in partnership with the Committee for Economic Development and the National Association of Corporate Directors.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131125/NY23378)

The Breakfast honored 174 US based Fortune 500 Companies and 31 Fortune 1000 companies in the New York area with corporate boards that are at least 20 percent female. The 300 attendees included CEOs, nominating committee chairs, and directors—the change drivers that can increase the number of Board seats held by women.

"Today, we are celebrating the decision makers and change drivers who know women at the board level deliver bottom line results," said Janice Ellig, Co-CEO of the Executive Search firm Chadick Ellig and Chair of the event. "Board-ready women are out there, and CEOs can play a vital role in sponsoring qualified women for Board positions in their own companies and others."

Ellig set the stage for a program focused on the role CEOs can play with a testimonial video produced for the event featuring Daniel F. Akerson, Chairman and CEO of General Motors; William G. Parrett, Former Global CEO of Deloitte Touche and Tohmatsu Limited; and women they have each sponsored for corporate board positions, Joan Amble and Sharon Allen.

"The rate of growth of women on boards is glacial. It's simply unacceptable," Akerson said in his video interview. "If you're a senior executive ... put it right at the CEO's table."

The main program consisted of a panel of CEOs from some of the largest companies in the United States discussing how companies have benefitted from greater gender diversity on corporate boards and the tangible steps that can and should be taken by CEOs and their leadership teams to support continued progress on this critical issue.

Panelists at the Breakfast of Corporate Champions included:

• Roger W. Ferguson Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, TIAA-CREF
• Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, General Electric Company
• Steven A. Kandarian, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, MetLife Inc.
• Ellen Kullman, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, DuPont
• Terry J. Lundgren, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Macy's Inc.
• Deanna M. Mulligan, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
• Moderator: Judy Woodruff, Managing Editor, PBS

Panelists agreed on the powerful role CEOs can play and concrete steps that can be taken:

"I [CEOs] can do more to promote the females executives in my [their] company as candidates ... we [CEOs] have relationships where we connect and we have this opportunity to be the advocates," said Terry J. Lundgren, President and CEO of Macy's, Inc.

"You can manage your board to have more diversity if you want to," said Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and CEO, General Electric Company.

In closing remarks, Richard K. Davis, Chairman, President and CEO of U.S. Bancorp, further underscored the role CEOs can play: "Sponsorship is something CEOs can do best, we can advocate, our voice carries."

The Women's Forum also presented the inaugural Muriel F. Siebert Champions Award to The Estee Lauder Companies, a company which has led its peers in advancing women to the Boardroom and the C-Suite. Siebert, who passed away in August 2013, was the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in 1967 and the first woman to head one of the exchange's member firms. She was also a founding member and past president of the Women's Forum of New York.

At the event, the audience of CEOs was encouraged to nominate board-ready women to the Women's Forum CEO-Sponsored Database, a national database, accessible free of charge to Board Nominating Committees and search firms.

"We put a man on the moon, we should be able to put women on boards," said Deanna M. Mulligan, President and CEO, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

For more information on the Women's Forum of New York, to view the event webcast and CEO Video, or to learn more about the Women's Forum CEO-Sponsored Database, please visit http://www.womensforumny.org/.

About the Women's Forum of New York

The Women's Forum is dedicated to advancing women's leadership through outstanding programs which enrich its members personally and professionally, through The Education Fund which enables high potential women who have faced extreme adversity to resume their education and through the Corporate Board Initiative which extends and expands women's leadership contribution at the board level. Founded in 1974, the Women's Forum of New York is the flagship of the International Women's Forum, a global organization of nearly 5,000 outstanding women leaders in over 66 Forums around the world.

SOURCE Women's Forum of New York