Faced with rapid–pace globalization, market volatility and shrinking budgets the demands on Corporate Diversity & Inclusion practitioners have never been greater. As companies corner new markets, the 21st century D&I practitioner must master a new cross–section of competencies while demonstrating value and driving overall strategic business growth. To add to these challenges, they must accomplish all this with diminishing resources as their companies manage through a global economic crisis with no end in sight.

This spring we will hold our first–ever multi–track conference designed to tackle these issues head–on. Join us at the 2009 Corporate Diversity & Inclusion Conference: Driving Value Across Borders May 13–14, 2009 in Chicago. Leading experts include seasoned CDOs at the top of their field, HR, business line and financial leaders, as well as legal experts and metrics specialists. Key tracks will focus on demonstrating value and making the business case, domestic and global challenges, and mastering a new set of key competencies for the modern D&I practitioner. Register here.

by Elizabeth Harrin (London)

“I believe that there is always time available for volunteering,” says Lily Dey, an IT Analyst for Merrill Lynch’s Global Technology Services division. “It’s just a matter of keeping on top of my personal diary and being willing to sacrifice the requisite evenings.”

Lily sacrifices plenty of evenings to The Junior League of London (JLL), an organization of women volunteers committed to promoting voluntarism in all its forms, developing the potential of women and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

“It’s called the ‘Junior’ League,” Lily explains, “because it was founded by 19-year-old Mary Harriman in New York City, who mobilized 80 other young women to work to improve child health, nutrition and literacy among immigrants living on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.” That was 1901. Since that first group in New York, Junior Leagues have sprung up in the UK, Mexico and Canada as well as across the rest of the US and there are now 292 Junior Leagues, counting Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn and Barbara Bush among their famous alumni. Read more

Join Dr. Anne Perschel, leadership psychologist and executive coach, who’s expertise includes women leaders, for this teleseminar highlighting what you can do – and what you shouldn’t do – to maintain your job during the economic downturn. Dr. Perschel will answer your specific questions and provide you with general guidelines – dos and don’ts- to maximize your chances of remaining gainfully employed. Dr. Perschel will also share up to date advice from executive Vice Presidents of HR on this issue.

You will learn how to:

  • Stay focused on the right issues
  • Avoid mis-steps
  • Understand the criteria companies use for deciding who stays and who goes
  • Manage what you can control and what you can’t

and do it all from the comfort of your home.

This teleseminar is FREE to the professional women in our community. Register here

Looking to the future is an important exercise – more so in times of accelerated change and economic uncertainty. Join us on 12th March to explore the future role of women within science, engineering, technology and the built environment to identify and share strategies and solutions for today.Chaired by Maggie Philbin – Radio and TV Presenter

Keynote speakers include:

  • Prof Sylvia Walby – UNESCO Chair in Gender Research and Professor of Sociology, Lancaster University
  • Nicola Brewer – Chief Executive, Equality and Human Rights Commission
  • Dr. Wendy L. Schultz – Futurologist and Director of Infinite Futures
  • Annette Williams – Director, UK Resource Centre for Women in SET (UKRC)

Delegates are invited to participate in a choice of five workshops. The workshops will look at:

1: Tomorrow’s Workforce

2: Tomorrow’s Workplace

3: Tomorrow’s Leaders

4: Visions of 2030

5: Women and Outer Space 2030

Dr Maggie Aderin MBE is also launching “She’s an Astronomer 2009”.

A useful and inspiring event for policy makers, employers, SET professionals, human resources experts, diversity managers, academics and many more.

Fees:

  • Large businesses / organisations £180 inc VAT
  • Small/medium size businesses / organisations £80 inc VAT
  • Professional bodies / members of UKRC SPIDER network £80 inc VAT
  • Individuals £80 inc VAT
  • Members of UKRC’s GetSETWomen Network £40 inc VAT

HOW TO BOOKEmail: info@ukrc4setwomen.org to request a booking formCall: 01274 436485 to request a booking formFor more information and to book:https://www.ukrc4setwomen.org/html/news-and-events/ukrc-conferences/2009-conferenceor download the flyer:https://www.ukrc4setwomen.org/downloads/conferences/2009/TWTW_Conference_Flyer.pdfSponsored by Shell, the RAF and NationalGrid and in partnership with International Year of Astronomy

law.JPGBy Anna Collins, Esq. (Portland, Maine)

As if the news of recent layoffs at major firms is not enough bad news for the legal profession, there is more bad news according to a new survey from the San Francisco-based Project for Attorney Retention. The bad news is that out of 100 firms studied by the organization, only about a quarter ended up with gender-balanced partner classes. In 23 firms surveyed, women make up 40% or more of the new 2009 partner classes. Yet, such progress for less than a quarter of the firms studied is overshadowed by the majority of those surveyed, including the 14 where no women were promoted or another 12 where women make up less than 20% of new partners.

In a press release announcing the results, the Co-Chair of Project for Attorney Retention, Cynthia Calvert, recognized the progress made by many firms. “We are disheartened, though,” she continued, “by the large number of firms that did not make any women partners.”

Feeling just as disheartened, we decided to contact the firms that made it to “the worst of” list, excluding the 5 for whom this year appears to be an aberration, to ask them two questions. First, what happened at the firm? Second, what is the firm going to do about it? Surely, the survey results had those firms just as disheartened and they have a strategy for the future. We contacted Dechert, Foley Hoag, Milbank, Schulte Roth, Strook, Venable, Wachtell, White & Case, and Wilkie Farr. After leaving messages with communications/media relations representatives at several of these firms and speaking in person to several others who each indicated they needed to check if the firm had any comment in regards to the questions, we have nothing to report from the firms themselves. It is likely that some were unable to get back to us with comment before publication. Based on the tone of some and reaction of others, it was clear that some viewed the questions as somewhat atypical.

Despite a lack of response to the questions, some input was offered by those we interviewed. One representative blamed the economy. “This last year has been strange,” the person offered, “but I am not familiar with how the decisions were made.” Two others took issue with any characterization that their firms do not take the issue of women’s advancement seriously.

Speaking of firms that take women’s advancement seriously, we turned to firms that are on top of the list for advancing women to the partner classes – to determine what works in those firms. Perhaps their practices can offer insight into what needs to change at the rest.The firms on top are described by the Project for Attorney Retention as follows:The best: Cravath (67%), Dickstein Shapiro (67%), Wiley Rein (60%), Andrews Kurth (57%), Bryan Cave (56%), Arent Fox (50%), Baker & Daniels (50%), Hogan & Hartson (50%), Holland and Hart (50%), King and Spalding (50%), Luce Forward (50%), Simpson Thacher (50%), and Sullivan & Cromwell (50%). A special mention goes to Farella Braun, whose only new partner is female (100%).Honorable mentions: Dorsey & Whitney (47%), Kilpatrick Stockton (44%), Seyfarth Shaw (44%), Crowell & Moring (43%), Jackson Lewis (43%), Cooley Godward (43%), Perkins Coie (42%), Arnold & Porter (40%), and WilmerHale (40%).Notable achievement: the following firms have promoted new partner classes that were 40% or more female for the past three years: Arnold & Porter, Crowell & Moring, Perkins Coie, and Sullivan and Cromwell.

What, one wonders, separates “the best” firms from those whose survey data is disheartening? The firms included “in the best” appear to have a culture of advancing women, says Calvert. “We have not noticed that any particular practice area or region advance women better than others,” she explains, “instead, these firms have a culture of advancement rather than policies that are merely window-dressing.”Calvert also explains that firms recognized for advancement of women tend to have several characteristics. First, they tend to support flexible work programs, in a non-stigmatized way. “They understand the importance of supporting such arrangements for both men and women,” Calvert explains “and do so without the stigma we find in other firms, which do not promote women at the same rates.” At many firms, Calvert shares, working reduced hours is a “professional kiss of death, and individuals – whether women or men – who need shorter hours choose to leave rather than sabotage their careers.” The trick for successful flexible work programs, she continues, is an understanding that just offering flexible work arrangements is not enough. “The programs have to be carefully implemented,” Calvert concludes, “so the firm’s nonverbal messages do not undercut their usage.

”The progressive firms also appreciate the importance of offering women challenging and rewarding assignments. Those firms that pay attention to who handles the biggest and most important cases and make sure that women are part of the action in an equitable manner,” Calvert explains, “tend to find women advancing at higher rates.”

Finally, firms with encouraging advancement rates recognize through action — rather than mere window-dressing — that substantive and active mentorship is vital for women. “Some of the best firms have women attorneys actively mentoring women associates,” Calvert shares, “some actually have male mentors who watch their women associates advance.”The bottom line is that all firms, whether they are “the best” or “the worst,” have a chance to improve the advancement of their women associates.

In light of how profitable companies become when women are in leadership roles, it is hard to imagine that any law firm would be satisfied with anything other than gender balanced partnership classes. The good news is that such a reality is possible and “the best” can prove it.

While participating in a panel at a “Dress for Success” event in New Jersey, The Glass Hammer Publisher Nicki Gilmour was interviewed for New York’s MBC station about her thoughts on the future of the job market. Check it out:

crackedglass.JPGby Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

Slim to none. These three words sum up the gains women have made in board rooms and executive suites according to the recent report, “Planning For Tomorrow’s Boardroom: Making Room For More Women.” The report was published by ION, InterOrganization Network, an alliance of twelve women’s organizations in California, Chicago, Florida, Georgia, Kansas/Missouri, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, New York, Philadelphia and Wisconsin. ION studied the number of women on the boards of 1,336 public corporations in the twelve regions listed above. We have previously reported on the individual state reports from Massachusetts, California and Florida.

Read more

The 2009 YWCA Women’s Leadership Conference will equip Northeast Ohio women with the skills to advance faster and further up the career ladder. Dr. Robert Schwarz, National Training Director for Mars Venus Workplace Seminars, will serve as the morning keynote speaker sharing his wealth of knowledge on career success and advancement. Dr. Schwarz will explore the different communication styles and strategies that men and women use to advance their careers.

Molly D. Shepard and Peter J. Dean, Ph.D., authors of “Breaking into the Boys’ Club,” will be the lunch keynote speakers.

They will share their brain research that explains some of the differences in how women and men approach leadership.

Three additional national speakers, recognized as authorities on gender and leadership, will teach advanced communication and networking skills, as well as the unique traits that women can capitalize on to fast-track their careers.

•Marny Lifshen, Author, Public Relations and Marketing Consultant

•Deborah Merrill-Sands, Ph.D., Dean Faculty Affiliate, Center for Gender in Organizations

•Leslie G. Ungar, President, Electric Impulse Communications, Inc

To Register

For more information click here, or contact Kara Stafford at (216) 881-6878

Stay Connected with WSTA Members,
Affiliates and IT Industry Professionals!

Register Online at https://www.wsta.org/events

Ticket price includes one drink, lite snacks. Reasonably priced cash bar.

This year’s event examines issues that are pertinent to finance executives with clear corporate agendas and strong career ambitions.

Questions to be addressed include:

What are the savviest CFOs focused on?

What are the latest best practices available in finance?

How can a CFO push the shareholders’ agenda without taking on too much risk (M&A activity, supply chain rationalization, IT security, or compliance)? Where will corporate credit come from next? What skills do the best CFOs need now?

The conference is designed to provide a “State of the Profession” portrait for high-impact finance executives who want to network, learn, and network some more.

Topics will cover:

Pension Planning

Managing Performance

Health-Care Consumerism

Going Private

Improving Accounts Payable

Finance Talent Management

Raising the Financial IQ of Non-financial Managers

ERP & Financial Software

AP Automation

Business Value

Cash Management

Shared Services versus Outsourcing

Environmental Liabilities

Supply Chain Management

Business Intelligence

Fraud Prevention

Managing Shareholder Value

BPO Planning & Implementation

Budget & Forecasting

Health Care Bottom Line

Through case studies and advice from thought leaders, attendees learn best practices. Through peer networking, they learn what their peers are doing to gain better predictive measures and how they are rolling out analytics throughout their organizations. Through the exhibit hall, they learn new techniques, products, and solutions to bring back to their companies.

To Register