DirectWomen: Opening the Door to the Board Room for Women Lawyers

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lawyerBy Tina Vasquez (Los Angeles)

DirectWomen, a three-year-old organization based in New York City, believes it has discovered an untapped resource capable of greatly benefiting the boards of U.S. companies: accomplished female attorneys. After all, for the first time in the country’s history more women are graduating from law school than men, and not only that, but 2008 findings from Catalyst found that companies with the highest representation of women board directors and women corporate officers actually experience more financial success than boards with little to no female representation. Obviously, DirectWomen and organizations like it are on to something.

According to the 2009 Catalyst Census, the percentage of women board directors has hovered at around 15 percent for the past five years. Getting women into these positions has proven to be difficult, but Dominique Schulte, Executive Director of DirectWomen, believes that female lawyers are more than capable of not only serving in these positions, but succeeding in them. “Despite all the awareness of the positive attributes of diversity, there has still not been a major breakthrough in the number of women directors,” Schulte said. “We feel that women lawyers are uniquely qualified and an experienced source of board diversity that has gone unnoticed.” Until now…

In early 2006 a group of women who met through their participation in Bar activities began to discuss their concern over the small number of women serving on boards, even though the first generation of women to attend law school in meaningful numbers was reaching the age where they might consider board service. In response to this problem, these women decided to form DirectWomen in order to promote women lawyers with business experience for board service.

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The UK’s Top 12 Women to Watch

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women watchBy Elizabeth Harrin (London)

It’s been ten years since Cranfield School of Management first produced a report benchmarking the number of female executive directors on the corporate boards of the UK’s top 100 companies. This time the authors of the Female FTSE report has gone a step further – perhaps to celebrate a decade of highlighting the paucity of women at the top – and put together a list of women to watch.

There are 2,281 women (which is 404 more than last year) on the corporate boards, executive committees and senior teams in the FTSE 250. The ‘Women to Watch’ report identifies 100 women in that group, chosen from the largest organisations, whom the authors believe should be seriously considered for the most senior positions.

The Glass Hammer has picked out the financial services high fliers – women you should be watching out for in 2010. Is anyone at your company on the list?

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Looking Forward to 2010: A Letter from the Founder

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What a year 2009 has been! The markets hit a deep low in March and then incredulously the Dow Jones index has bounced back to over 10,000 points to end the year on a better note for investing confidence here in the U.S., and the U.K. is fighting hard to see similar gains on the FTSE.

2009 has been an important year for The Glass Hammer in furthering our mission to inform, inspire and empower professional women. One of the highlights for me personally was putting together an invitation-only breakfast networking club for senior women from the fund management industry to come together around specific relevant topics in panel discussion. The debate on the new business model for the Buy-Side can be seen here. Around the discussion we conducted a survey which resulted in a whitepaper produced in conjunction with Stone House Consulting on the future of the fund management industry. Interesting reading for both genders and a powerful guide to what 2010 may bring for players in that industry.

The mission of theglasshammer.com is to create opportunities for professional women to advance to the corner office, to stay in the game and win it. We will be continuing our breakfast networking club for senior executives in NY and plan to extend that to London in Quarter 2.

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A Holiday Message from Our Managing Editor

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christmasThis time of year is one of reflection, of wrapping last-minute gifts, spending time with family and friends, and making resolutions for the year to come.

As we complete our second year, we at The Glass Hammer are grateful to everyone who has played a part in our growth and success. Our readers and sponsors have helped us reach new heights of journalistic excellence. You have inspired and transformed us.

2009 has presented all of us with challenges and opportunities. We have listened as you have shared your stories with us. We recognize how lucky we are to find ourselves in the company of those who are transforming their industries. We are indebted to those who have given of their time to make our community better by speaking with our writers, sharing  feedback, or contributing articles for publication.

We expect that 2010 will be another year of what you’ve come to expect from us editorially—informative profiles of top women and thought-provoking news stories.

Sharing in the growth of this blog and online community as Managing Editor has made me incredibly proud. Although I will be leaving The Glass Hammer at the end of this year to return to the practice of law, I am confident that The Glass Hammer editorial will continue to be a must-read for top female business executives globally.

I have enjoyed meeting so many of you over the past year and a half, and have learned a great deal from this experience. I could never have imagined that that a chance meeting with Nicki Gilmour, the CEO and founder of The Glass Hammer,would result in such a fun and exciting adventure!

Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year! And look out for my editorial contributions in 2010.

Pamela Weinsaft
Managing Editor
TheGlassHammer.com

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Against All Odds, Women are Thriving in Michigan – Here’s How

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Portrait of happy young businesswomanBy Andrea Newell (Grand Rapids, Michigan)

The latest Inforum Center for Leadership report shows that the number of women reaching the boardroom in the Top 100 public companies in Michigan hasn’t improved in recent years and, at 9.6%, is far below the national average of 15.1% (in 2008). 46 companies (46%) have no women directors (up from 41% in 2007). And, as of October 2009, Michigan has the highest unemployment rate of any state in the U.S.

In light of its bleak economic picture and seemingly unbreakable glass ceiling, Michigan’s business climate appears to be a cold one for women. However, these businesswomen aren’t singing the blues. What do they have in common? They work for either a woman-owned business or a large company with a balanced executive suite.

What’s their secret? Collectively, these companies value their female (and male) employees by implementing work/life balance initiatives, supporting mentoring programs, and fostering good communication and a team-oriented environment.

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Managing Men

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woman managerBy Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

The Institute of Leadership and Management, a UK-based organization that helps companies improve standards of leadership as well as individual and team performance, recently released a research report titled, “Index of Leadership Trust 2009.”

The report looked at six areas by which leadership is measured: ability, understanding, fairness, openness, integrity and consistency and asked respondents to assign importance to each of them. The Institute then examined the results based on the size of the organizations, the length of time in leadership, and the age and gender of managers and subordinates. The report revealed that, “Ageism and sexism are largely and reassuringly absent from the findings of this research. The most significant trend to emerge is that employees show slightly more trust in managers ‘in their own image’ – that is, of the same sex and similar age to themselves.”

While sexism doesn’t play an obvious role in managers building trust, the findings do underscore one of the key challenges in advancing women to the C-suite. Many believe that businesses “hunker down” in difficult times, like the recession and jobless recovery, and tap the resources that walk, talk and look like them. So even though more women are now reporting to work than men are, with so few women still at the top of businesses, the men already in power will typically turn to other men to make key decisions and fill critical roles.

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Attracting and Retaining Women at Boston Consulting Group

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By Liz O’Donnell (Boston)iStock_000006712763XSmall

Something is working. The number of women at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has doubled over the last five years and now three women sit on the firm’s 13 member Executive Committee, up from none in about the same time frame. Women represent 33 percent of the firm’s approximate 4,300 consultants. These numbers are inching towards the kind of critical mass a company needs to realize the benefits of gender diversity.

How is Boston Consulting Group, a business built on the grueling model of consulting and billable hours, able to not just attract and retain, but also promote women? How does it make the Fortune magazine list of “100 Best Companies to Work For” and the Working Mother magazine “Best Company for Working Mothers” lists?

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Giving for Good: Philanthropic Wealth Management

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By Elizabeth Harrin (London)iStock_000009444427XSmall

Most people associate fund management with the hard-edged side of financial services. But it’s not all about fighting over the top stocks and knowing which off-exchange trading venue is hot. There’s a whole industry around getting the best out of other people’s money – philanthropic services.

“Our role is to offer guidance and support to our donors in every aspect of their charitable giving,” says Elizabeth Brown, Vice President of Philanthropic Services at the Marin Community Foundation, one of the largest community foundations in the U.S.  It manages the assets of the Leonard and Beryl H. Buck Trust and 350 funds established by individuals, families, and businesses, and has invested over $800 million in the work of nonprofit organizations. “Each of our donors works with a personal philanthropic advisor to determine their giving strategy, which varies depending on their values and interest areas,” she adds.

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FN100 List: Where are the women?

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By Liz O’Donnell (Boston)Feminine Business 2

If you’re paying attention, then you know that women are good for business. Even outside of women-focused news outlets like ours, people are finally talking about the positive link between women in leadership and bottom line results. Just last week, the Clinton Global Initiative held a programming track at its annual meeting, called Investing in Girls and Women. There was a special topic dinner held one night during the meeting to celebrate people committed to addressing the challenges and accomplishments of women around the globe. The participants included: Sarah Brown, Wife of Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of State and Muhammad Yunus, Founder and Managing Director, Grameen Bank. A plenary session on gender inequality featured speakers including: Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs and Robert B. Zoellick, President, The World Bank. So why, if awareness is raised, if the data exists, if heavy hitters like the ones mentioned above are discussing the issue, why are there still so few women at the top?

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Life in a Boutique Firm: Pros and Cons for Women in Fund Management

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by Elizabeth Harrin (London)

There’s more to fund management than the big players like Santander and Jupiter.  Fixed income boutique firms might be smaller, but they are more agile and offer different career opportunities.

“In a boutique firm, people may find themselves wearing many hats,” says Carolyn Dolan, founding principal at New York-based Samson Capital Advisors.  Samson is a fast growing money management firm designed to meet the special needs of affluent families, foundations, corporations and endowments.  The firm currently manages over $5 billion.  “This can be good as well as bad.  It is good in that a person is exposed to various parts of the business.  The negative is that one may have to worry about things that are taken for granted at a larger firm.  For example, during the past two weeks I have worked closely with an attorney on the lease for our new space,” she adds.

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