More Women Rising To Rank Of Corporate CEO
By Kevin Smith Staff Writer© Pasadena Star-News, March 24, 2007
Women are moving up.
A new report by global outplacement consultancy firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reveals an increasing number of women are filling vacant CEO slots.
Of the 1,051 CEO departure announcements last year that included succession details, 86, or 8.2 percent of the replacement CEOs, were women. That was up from 2005 when 51 women took the reins, representing 7.4 percent of all CEO replacements, according to the Challenger report.
So far this year, 17 of the 183 (9.2 percent) CEO replacements named have been women. At this same time a year ago, women accounted for 5.2 percent of the replacements.
One of the new women CEOs is Angela F. Braly, who will take the reins as chief executive officer of health benefits provider WellPoint Inc. on June 1.
"These findings confirm that we are seeing more woman move up the corporate ladder in a variety of industries," said John Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "Ms. Braly will be running the 38th largest company on the Fortune 500 list and more are sure to come."
About 15 percent of Fortune 500 board seats are made up of women, he said.
Those are positive numbers. But women are still facing barriers when it comes to moving up the corporate ladder.
Many companies still aren't family-friendly. And some upper-level executives with these firms cling to old-school stereotypes about women - stereotypes that keep the women from moving into the top slot, Challenger said.
Gary Kaplan, president of Gary Kaplan & Associates, an executive search firm based in Pasadena, said more and more women are rising through the ranks of corporate America.
"There are a number of remarkable women out there right now," he said. "Many of them have excellent credentials and substantial experience. They are working their way through and it's well deserved. You're also seeing an increasing number of women occupying board seats."
Kaplan said the trend of women moving up has become increasing pervasive.
"A major contender for the presidency in America is a woman, and another woman is two seats removed from president," Kaplan said. "I'm exhilarated by this."
The Challenger report also noted that the health care industry is the leading supporter of women CEOs.
Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of the women replacement CEOs in 2006 were in the health care sector. Seventeen percent ran government or nonprofit companies, and 9 percent took over at companies in the financial sector.
Fortune 500 companies are seeing women business leaders in all types of industries as well. Since August 2001, the number of female CEOs leading Fortune 500 companies has more than doubled from five to 11, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. Three of these women CEOs are leading technology companies.
