WomenCorporateDirectors Opens Global Institute with New Thought Leadership Council and Recognition of Visionary Award Winners

NEW YORK, May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The WomenCorporateDirectors Global Institute opened this week in New York, launching the new WCD Thought Leadership Council (TLC) and honoring three corporations and a CEO for helping to advance better corporate governance practices. Executive compensation provided the topic for WCD's first TLC report, which spurred a call to action at the Visionary Awards dinner – the centerpiece of WCD's annual Global Institute.

In a special presentation and video at the dinner, the new Thought Leadership Council – chaired this year by executive compensation board advisors Pearl Meyer & Partners – called on compensation committees to ensure that pay is tied to their company's specific business, human capital and cultural objectives. Achieving this imperative, said the TLC, depends in part on committees that will "exercise the courage to make difficult and potentially unpopular decisions that are right for the business."

WCD co-founder and CEO Susan Stautberg echoed this theme in her remarks about the Visionary Award winners RBC, Abbott, Sodexo, and KeyCorp Chair and CEO Beth Mooney: "Great companies promote inclusion, candor, courage, and cohesion in the boardroom." She added that the awardees illustrate how "companies need to rejuvenate their boards to maintain their vibrancy and effectiveness."

RBC CEO Gordon Nixon, Abbott CEO and Chairman Miles White, and Sodexo CEO Michel Landel accepted the awards on behalf of their companies, and KeyCorp CEO and Chair Beth Mooney received the individual award for strategic leadership. WCD grants its annual Visionary Awards to public and private companies and CEOs who are, as Visionary Awards co-chair Christie Hefner says, "extraordinary leaders who contribute far beyond their balance sheets."

The three-day WCD Global Institute – which includes programs for new directors, and board chairs and lead directors – features multiple panel discussions for board members about improving governance practices, focusing on global business. WCD will host its Asia Institute September 3-4, 2014; its Americas Institute November 11-12, 2014; its European Institute March 11-12, 2015; and the 2015 Global Institute May 6-7.

For more information about the WCD Global Institute, please contact Suzanne Oaks Brownstein or Trang Mar 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 3,000 members serving on over 5,000 boards in 62 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. KPMG is a Global Partner of WCD. Spencer Stuart is a Premier Partner, and WCD Strategic Partners include Marriott International and Pearl Meyer & Partners; WCD Alliance Partners include International Finance Corporation (IFC), JPMorgan Chase, and Northern Trust.

WCD has 62 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, North Florida/South Georgia, Panama, Peru, Philadelphia, Philippines, Quebec, Rio de Janeiro, 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 Argentina, Brisbane, Brussels, Denver, Egypt, Guatemala, Hawaii, Kenya, New Mexico, Poland, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Spain, Tampa, and Thailand. For more information, visit www.womencorporatedirectors.com.

SOURCE WomenCorporateDirectors