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.
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