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Judging from the statistics from the UC Davis Study of California Women Business leaders in November — which revealed that only 8.8 percent of board seats are held by women — California has a lot of catching up to do in the area of gender diversity in corporate leadership.
With this dismal number in mind, many of California’s largest public and private companies are looking to right their wrong — searching for experienced women and minorities to take the director’s chair.
To pair the job seeker with that empty board seat, the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives (FWE&E), a nonprofit network of senior executive women, created BoardMatch, a placement service that identifies and recommends qualified, professional women for company board positions.
“We’re like a dating service,” says Chris Melching, CEO of the FWE&E. “We make the introduction and hope there’s chemistry.”
Choosing from the FWE&E membership pool, which consists of more than 350 women senior executives and entrepreneurs, BoardMatch, through a series of interviews and consultations, suggests women to companies who have been looking to diversify their boards.
“Companies are recognizing the benefits of having women on their boards,” says Melching, who notes that women bring a different method of decision-making as well as some inherently female skills, such as compassion. “We hope eventually that every company in the [UC Davis] census will reach out, especially companies without women.”
BoardMatch, which was launched on Nov. 16, asks that women get specific about what they’re searching for in a job. The service outlines the criteria for qualification and looks at the candidate’s area of experience in order to make the best recommendation.
The companies’ needs, too, are heavily assessed. “We interview the company thoroughly,” says Melissa Zdrodowski, the head of marketing and membership at FWE&E. “It may take many phone calls and reviews to do a match.”
According to Zdrodowski, there is a fee for the companies conducting the search, but no additional fee for the members to participate. Once the company’s specific needs are determined, BoardMatch’s Search Manager, Nora Denzel, taps into the network’s database to identify candidates for the company’s review. “Boards have been looking for director-caliber women in all the wrong places, so to speak,” says Denzel, who’s also the CEO of New Millennium Designs, Inc. “You typically won’t find board-caliber women on golf or fishing outings, or in other ‘traditional’ places.”
Denzel says the focus is to create next generation boards that reflect the same diversity of their customers, partners, investors and workforce. “It’s no secret that women hold almost half of all jobs, are half the world’s population, represent more than 83 percent of consumer spending and represent more than 40 percent of all stock transactions,” she says. “So boards are looking to reinvent themselves to look more like their stakeholders.”
“It’s long overdue,” says Donna Dell, former California State Labor Commissioner and supporter of the program. “Women in business are overwhelmed. We have to work harder and faster to keep at the same level [as men].”
The inspiration for BoardMatch came from the InterOrganization Network (ION), a nationwide organization that advocates for the advancement of women in business, especially to boards of directors. This program fostered FWE&E’s relationship with UC Davis, who have partnered to become members of ION. “We’re part of a broader solution,” says Melching.
Since the program is still in its infancy, no official matches have been made yet. However, according to Melching, many women and companies are evaluating opportunities and are in the process of introduction. “There are matches in the works,” she says.
When all is said and done, Denzel insists it’s not gender that influences business decisions. “It’s all about diversity,” she says. “The more diverse your team, the better it performs.”
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