Women in Technology’s The Leadership Foundry and American University Launch “Advancing Women to the Corporate Boardroom” Research Report

Study reveals slight decline in gender diversity on regional corporate boards

FALLS CHURCH, Va.-- November 14, 2019--Women in Technology (WIT), the premier organization contributing to the success of professional women in the technology community in the Washington, D.C. area, along with American University, today announced that our region experienced a dip in the number of women serving on publicly traded corporate boards in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Each year, The Leadership Foundry, a signature program of WIT, and American University publish a research report on gender diversity on the region’s corporate boards.

The Leadership Foundry’s 9th annual report, “Advancing Women to the Corporate Boardroom,” provides in-depth analysis of the number of women board members from 162 publicly traded companies headquartered in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

Most notably, the 2019 research reveals:

  • Women hold 15.75% (231) of the 1467 board seats at publicly held companies in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. region. This is a 0.05 percentage point decrease from the 2018 study.
  • Of the 162 companies surveyed, 14.8% (24) had a critical mass of women (three or more) serving as board directors, representing a slight decrease in the number of companies from the 2018 study.
  • The trend from 2010 to 2019 continues to show companies in our region slowly, but steadily adding women to their boards. In 2019, there were 32 companies in the entire region with no women serving on their board, down from 34 in 2018.
  • The number of women in power positions on corporate boards shows that 6% of the companies with critical mass have at least one woman in a power position. This year is the first time the report has counted this information across all companies. Eight of these companies, or 33%, have two women in power positions.
“I am frankly disappointed by the findings this year. I can’t believe that we are still below the national average and went down slightly,” said Denise Hart, chair of The Leadership Foundry, which focuses on identifying and preparing women for corporate board opportunities.
Click below for a copy of the full research report and fact sheet:
For more information about The Leadership Foundry, visit: www.theleadershipfoundry.org.
About Women in Technology
Women in Technology (WIT) has the mission of advancing women in technology – from the classroom to the boardroom – by providing advocacy, leadership development, networking, mentoring and technology education for nearly 1000 members in the Washington, DC metro area. WIT is the premier professional organization dedicated to the advancement of women in the Washington, DC technology community.

For more information, please visit: www.womenintechnology.org or connect with us via Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/WITWomenDC/); LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/1190298/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/WITWomen).

About The Leadership Foundry
To prepare women for positions as corporate board directors, WIT launched The Leadership Foundry in 2010, a program managed by WIT’s Planning Committee, for female executives interested in serving on a corporate board. In 2011, The Leadership Foundry began providing networking and mentoring opportunities in addition to intensive board training sessions. Through The Leadership Foundry, WIT also helps fuel awareness of the lack of female representation on corporate boards and encourages local organizations to support board gender diversity.

For more information, please visit: www.theleadershipfoundry.org or connect with us via @TLFoundry or on LinkedIn.