By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

As more and more investors take notice of research showing the outsized returns that women produce in the alternative investments industry, pension funds are becoming the source of a growing call for diversity. Investors want plans to better reflect the diversity of their constituency, and they are keen to take advantage of the outperformance of women managers compared to their male counterparts. In some states, this has led to an explicit or implied preference for women or minority owned or managed asset management firms, known as emerging manager mandates.

The move toward emerging manager mandates was discussed in Rothstein Kass’s recent report, “Women in Alternative Investments: Building Momentum in 2013 and Beyond.” The authors, Meredith Jones, Camille Asaro, Kelly Easterling, write that, although they are still somewhat rare, diversity guidelines are increasingly present at funds in some states. They write, “This is no doubt due to the fact that funds of funds can offer large pensions a way to achieve a meaningful investment that ‘moves the dial’ within their portfolio, without extensive due diligence on a host of single manager fund products.”

That’s not to say that the focus on emerging managers is new. Renae Griffin, Founder and CEO of RG & Associates, recalls the term from her days working in investor marketing and relations. “This term was being used in the early ‘90s,” she explained. “At first it referred to minority and women fund managers only, but the terms was expanded to include small managers.” Today, RG & Associates and others are beginning to refer to emerging managers as “diverse and small managers”

“The investment world is looking at the demographic shifts taking place domestically and ways to capitalize on it. We benefit by having diverse thought and diverse experiences that come from having more minority, women, and niche players in the industry,” Griffin continued. “There’s also a nimbleness in smaller firms’ expertise.”

But, she says, firms shouldn’t be deterred by the word “emerging.” She explained, “Just because we use the term ’emerging,’ it doesn’t necessarily mean they are new to the industry. Many of them have left larger firms and have years and years of experience managing billion dollar funds. They are the hidden talent that a lot of institutional investors are looking to attract and dispose of to reap those alpha generating rewards.”

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Six months ago, FTSE 100 and 250 companies were being commended on their efforts to bring more women into the boardroom. The first half of 2012 saw a big uptick in hiring women to director roles, with 44 percent of new board appointments in the FTSE 100 going to women. The FTSE 250 wasn’t far behind, with 36 percent of appointments going to women.

But toward the middle of last year, female board appointments dropped off abruptly, and now only 26 percent and 29 percent of board seats are going to women in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 respectively. Why the slow-down is occurring now is up for debate. But the Cranfield School of Management’s latest report [PDF] – “False Dawn of Progress for Women on Boards” – suggests a few potential causes.

In their introductory letter to the report, Rt Hon Maria Miller MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport & Minister for Women and Equalities, and Rt Hon Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills write that UK companies should maintain a strong their commitment to top-level gender diversity. “Our top companies need to continue to demonstrate that within this competitive, global economy, boards that have a better gender balance are able to make better decisions which can only lead to better performance. This can only be beneficial for individuals, for companies and for the economy as a whole.”

By identifying underlying causes of the slowdown, companies can develop new best practices around identifying stronger female board candidates and building a solid pipeline of talent to the executive suite and beyond.

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Ever since Lord Davies of Abersoch released his 2011 report on the shockingly low representation of women on UK boards of directors – 12.5 percent of FTSE 100 directors in 2010 – companies have ramped up their efforts to attract women to these posts. The report recommended that FTSE 100 boards work toward achieving 25 percent representation by 2015. Today about 17.3 percent of director positions are held by women in the FTSE 100 and about 13.2 percent of director positions in the FTSE 250 are held by women.

Initially, companies complained that there certainly weren’t enough qualified women to expand the percentage of women directors. But, a new survey [PDF] by the Ashton Partnership, an executive search firm, shows that boards have found plenty of women non executive directors by broadening their search parameters. Even still, if they are to meet the 25 percent goal in the next three years, they will have to ramp up their search for female directors even more.

According to report authors Nick Aitchison and Bibi Boas write, “In order to pinpoint the talent pool for the next wave of female FTSE 250 NED appointments, The Ashton Partnership set out to understand the earlier Executive career backgrounds of the 183 women appointed by the end of 2012 as NEDs on FTSE 250 Boards.”

Aitchison and Boas found two key differences in the men and women NEDs – and both of them point to the root of the issue. There are fewer women in the pool of executive roles from which NEDs are traditionally found. The result is that companies are looking at a more diverse field of talent for their directors, and given the state of group-think and rubber stamping of risky behavior that contributed to the recent economic crisis, that can’t be a bad thing.

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By Melissa J. Anderson (New York City)

Yesterday Catalyst honored three companies for their remarkable initiatives aimed at increasing gender diversity at its annual awards conference at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The three companies – Alcoa Inc, the Coca-Cola Company, and Unilever – all presented global initiatives that were then tailored to match local needs.

All three companies also produced results. Alcoa’s program, for example, increased the percentage of female executives at the company from 15.8 percent to 19 percent. Professional plant managers rose from 22.6 percent to 25.3 percent. And employee engagement increased from 52 percent to 70 percent.

At Coca-Cola, women in senior leadership rose from 23 percent to 29 percent between 2008 and 2012. Women in the immediate pipeline rose from 28 percent to 34 percent. And the recruitment of global external women rose from 47 percent to 50 percent.

Finally, Unilever’s initiative, which involves a high potential women and mentoring program with an agile working model, led to an increase of 16 percent to 21 percent women at the executive vice president and vice president level, a 27 percent to 32 percent increase at the director level, and a 40 to 43 percent increase at the manager level.

While the programs are different, all three were global and were based on ambitious diversity goals. They also had strong support from company leadership in building the business case for women.

As Coca Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said during the Opening Plenary, “This is hard work. It doesn’t happen because you want it to happen.” Kent went on to explain how he experienced pushback when he announced the gender initiative, and it has meant continuous pipline work, bechmarking, accountability, and communication. But when business units with women leaders started showing better results, he continued, people began to get on board. “We’re still learning,” he added. “This is a journey.”

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