Insights
Chadick Ellig: A Call for Gender Parity on S&P 500 Boards
Janice Ellig’s article “The Case for “Breaking into Boardrooms:” A Call for Gender Parity on S&P 500 Boards by 2025” was featured on the Huffington Post. Janice Ellig is an advocate of diverse, gender-balanced corporate boards, the chair of Corporate Board Initiative, Women’s Forum of New York. Janice Ellig is also Co-CEO of Chadick Ellig, a proud member of the AESC. As a member of the AESC, Chadick Ellig helps clients capture the enhanced business results that diversity affords.
The following is an excerpt from the article: “As an executive search advisor, I meet numerous talented women seeking a corporate board position. Many have the credentials, experiences, and qualifications but cannot seem to breakthrough that proverbial boardroom door. The women are featured in articles and honored at so many events like Women in Banking, Women in the Media, Women in Law, and from all the accolades and accomplishments, we are led to believe that the numbers at the top, leaders of major corporations, in all sectors are growing. But they are not. Only 24 women are CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations. In the boardrooms of these organizations, the glacial pace of change remains on average at ½ percent annually since Catalyst has been tracking these numbers beginning in 1995. There are many reasons for this slow pace of change: no term limits, low turnover and multiple excuses that a board just cannot find a suitable female candidate. As a result, we are on course to reach gender parity in U.S. boardrooms by 2090 - an unacceptable pace given the existing and growing pipeline of talented board-ready women.”