Last November, more than 50 business leaders gathered on campus to discuss the presence of women in boardrooms across the country. Hosted by the Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business and sponsored by IMAGINE Well Inc., the 2020 Women on Boards organization brought their annual event National Conversation on Board Diversity to UD. The conversation around which the event is centered aims to increase the percentage of women on corporate boards to 20 percent by 2020. Currently, the percentage of women on the boards of Fortune 1000 companies is 17.7 percent.
Specific goals of the campaign include redefining corporate governance and gender diversity standards -- making gender diversity in the boardroom a priority -- as well as creating a cultural imperative for corporate action. Campaign supporters include individuals, organizations and companies that embrace the principle that diversity in the boardroom encourages good corporate decision-making.
For the November panel at UD, the presenter was Vicki Lockhart, executive director of IMAGINE Well Inc. Panelists included Terry Allen, CEO of 1016 Media and founder of the Emerging Women CEOs Business Camp, which is also known as Sister CEO; Arlivia Gamble-Swann, a State Farm vice president; Joy Macci, CEO of Joy of Sport and founder of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the United States National Committee for United Nations Women (USNC-UN); Nicole A. Robertson, a director at DART; and Angeles Valenciano, president of the National Diversity Council. Irving Convention and Visitors Bureau board member Kimberly C. Fields moderated the discussion.
"Probably the most important point that I came away with is that we, as women, need to take charge of our own destinies and not allow others to tell us what were capable of doing or being. Also, how important it is to teach our young girls that they're good enough and that all things are possible through hard work, dedication and self-promotion," said Satish & Yasmin Gupta College of Business Assistant Dean of Enrollment Management Nicole Anderson.
2020 Women on Boards has held 20 similar conversations throughout the U.S. as well as in Madrid, Spain. There have been more than 1,000 participants, including CEOs, directors, professors, lawyers and representatives from a range of other professions and walks of life.
Dallas-area native and Door Number 9 designer Elisa Choffel Low, BA '03, will have her latest dress design showcased on the red carpet at the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 22. The silver open-back vintage-style gown includes a striking chainmail jewelry inset created in collaboration with Toronto jewelry designer Kyra Matsui.
+ Read MoreOn Friday, Sept. 13, the university community welcomed George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the father of two UD alumnae. Celebrated for his two-volume biography of St. John Paul II and many other intellectual contributions, Weigel presented an exploration of the current Catholic situation in light of a new interpretation of the past 250 years of the church's interaction with social, cultural, economic and political modernity.
+ Read MoreGabe Dickey, DBA '19, recently successfully defended his dissertation, titled "Exploring the Human Side of Audit Quality: Team Engagement and Partner Leadership Behaviors," for UD's Doctor of Business Administration. Dickey has spent his career in the accounting profession, the vast majority as a certified public accountant working in auditing. He began UD's DBA program three years ago, drawn in by his interest in broader business issues and the program's practitioner-oriented focus.
+ Read More
