Los Angeles – Women have penetrated the upper echelons of Fortune 500 companies and started their own businesses in droves. But there’s one part of the workforce that has scarcely been touched by the so-called gentler sex.
The boardroom.
Now, one organization has set out to change that.
Boardroom Bound, a nonprofit that trains candidates for board positions with classes and seminars, recently launched its Los Angeles office. The firm is based in Washington, D.C., and has offices in New York and Chicago.
“We’ve been in the kitchen since the 1950s,” said founder Linda Bolliger. “Men have been at this 6,000 years. You think in 40 to 50 years we can turn this around?”
The company decided to open an L.A. office because of the area’s concentration of businesses and minorities.
“You are a hotbed of people we want to get into our pipeline,” Bolliger said.
The firm’s most popular class is a $1,500, two-day seminar that covers all the basics, Bolliger said. Students learn to translate their skills from sitting on nonprofit boards, learn about corporate responsibility under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and hone their presentation abilities.
Boardroom also offers individual coaching and advanced classes.
Those who finish the training process are included in a database of candidates.
In the past 18 months, the organization has placed 26 candidates on corporate boards, including Wyndham International and Holland Mutual Fund, Bolliger said.
Those appointments are tipping the scales toward a balance that reflects the marketplace, but there is still a long way to go.
Women hold 16.7 percent of all Fortune 100 board seats, according to a study done by the Alliance for Board Diversity, a partnership of three leadership firms. The numbers are even lower for minorities. African- Americans fill about 6 percent of board seats, and Latinos hold just under 4 percent.
Many women prefer to serve on the boards of nonprofits, said Helen Han, who heads the association’s L.A. chapter.
“Women are very much into giving back to different organizations that they believe in,” Han said. “It’s in the character of women.”
But serving on a corporate board is considered more prestigious, and it can be worth thousands of dollars, unlike volunteer spots on nonprofit boards.
Han believes women will close the gap in the next generation.
One place where women have made strides is WellPoint, which owns Blue Cross of California in Thousand Oaks.
Of its 16 board members, five are women and two more are minorities.
“Diversity is a very important part of our overall business strategy,” spokesman Jim Kappel said.
