Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | February 18, 2019 | wbjournal.com F O C U S W O M E N I N L E A D E R S H I P Continued from Page 12 Call for 2019 Nominations! WOMEN I N B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ Worcester Business Journal WOMEN B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ n W O M E N B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ IN WOMEN I N B U S I N E S S O U T S T A N D I N G WBJ Worcester Business Journal Worcester Business Journal WBJ Don't miss this opportunity to nominate an employee, colleague, or friend who deserves to be recognized for their hard work and accomplishments! UNDER FORTY UNDER Deadline: May 10, 2019 www.wbjournal.com/40underforty Deadline: August 2, 2019 www.wbjournal.com/ womeninbusiness Corporate Sponsor Presenting Sponsors Presenting Sponsors Carr Financial Group Corporate Sponsors After examining the gender mix of the executive teams and boards of directors of prominent Central Massachusetts business organizations in 2018, Worcester Business Journal updated the data this year with the most current information available. The Massachusetts and U.S. boardroom gaps, by select companies % female % female Percentage Mass. company leadership in 2018 leadership in 2019 point change Eversource Energy, Boston 19% 15% -4 American Tower Corp., Boston 19% 18% -1 Raytheon, Waltham 29% 20% -9 State Street Corp., Boston 19% 24% 5 Biogen Inc., Cambridge 25% 24% -1 Dunkin' Brands, Canton 20% 26% 6 General Electric, Boston 21% 31% 10 % female % female Percentage National company leadership in 2018 leadership in 2019 point change Berkshire Hathaway, Omaha, Neb. 18% 20% 2 Walmart, Bentonville, Ark. 25% 20% -5 Apple, Cupertino, Calif. 20% 21% 1 Sources: Respective companies, U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission leadership and management at Bentley University in Waltham, said of compa- nies appearing reluctant to create more gender diversity in their leadership. One solution to create more gen- der-diverse boards of directors would be to add more board seats to open up spots to women, Adams said. Marlborough medical device compa- ny Oxford Immunotec did add a 10th seat to its board last year, but instead of adding a second female member, it added a ninth male. At Marlborough pharmaceutical com- pany Sunovion, which has an all-male board, one male replaced another when a board seat opened up. e company did, however, appoint a woman to a top executive post in 2017. Sunovion, as a private company, doesn't disclose as many details as a public one, but it didn't have any women in top executive roles – referred to in regulatory filings as named executives officers – when it was a public company from 1997 to 2009. Sunovion said in a statement it has women in top leadership positions across the company, including vice presidents of major functions, and it has initiatives underway to develop women into leadership roles. The broader picture Public companies across the state are also making incremental progress. At the state's 100 largest public com- panies, women represent 14 percent of executives, up from 12 percent a year before and 9 percent a decade prior, ac- cording the advocacy group e Boston Club. Women made up 21 percent of board members last year, vs. 19 percent last year and 11 percent a decade earlier. "We had a big leap last year, com- paratively," said Adams, who conducts research for e Boston Club. e Boston Club found 42 percent of independent director vacancies in the past year were filled by women – a sharp rise from 29 percent a year prior. But the group warned such progress may be fleeting, as it followed two years of declines for that statistic. Signs show mixed progress nationally. A report issued last month from Cat- alyst, a website advocating for women in positions of power, found women make up 37 percent of mid-level managers at Fortune 500 companies, but less than 27 percent of executive-level managers. Only 11 percent of companies' top earn- ers were women. Less than half that rate made it to CEO. Fortune reported in May the number of female Fortune 500 CEOs dropped to 24 – just under 5 percent of all company heads – from the all-time high of 32 female CEOs the year before. Keeping with a longer-term view, the number of Fortune 500 companies with greater than 40 percent diversity has more than doubled since 2012 and now stands at 145, the Washington, D.C. advocacy group Alliance for Board Diversity reported in January. Political movement Politics are expected to potentially spur change. With a record number of women elected to U.S. Congress in 2018, the movement toward business leader- ship gender equality could increase, said Greenberg, the Babson professor. at "suggests potential that at a na- tional level we might see more attention to issues of gender and racial diversity in

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