WASHINGTON, March 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The typical health care industry senior executive is 51 years old, the sole or major breadwinner of the family, and runs a company with revenue of more than $250M per year. Did we mention that this senior executive is a woman, and that she is rarely given the chance to participate on the corporate boards that govern America's corporations?
According to a report being released on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 by the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation -- a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. -- a robust pool of senior executive women from the health care industry are interested in corporate board service, but simply aren't being given the chance. When asked why, the survey (which polled nearly 100 women corporate executives from the health care industry) found that half of the women considered "exclusion from informal networks" to be the major problem, and that a quarter of them considered "lack of mentoring" as another major underlying cause.
To date, only 15.7% of the women surveyed report participation on the board of directors of a for profit company, but two thirds of the women report spending their time serving on non-profit boards. Two recent studies, one by Catalyst and the second by Wellesley Centers for Women, demonstrate that companies enjoy improved boardroom dynamics and increased return on equity, investment, and sales when companies have three or more women in the boardroom. Despite this research, less than a third of the women surveyed reported more than one woman on their own company's board; 16.7% reported zero women on their company's board of directors.
WBL will be hosting an open house event (http://www.womenleadinghealthcare.org/wbl/documents/WBL_OpenHouseInvitation_0 2-29-08-1.pdf) on Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 6:30 PM at the Hotel Palomar in Washington, D.C. where copies of the organization's new report will be presented. The open house event kicks off WBL's annual Summit being held later that week. Executives attending the WBL Summit are expected to be in attendance at the open house event and are available to answer media questions. Those interested in learning more about the report or the Foundation are welcome to attend and should visit the WBL website at http://www.womenleadinghealthcare.org/ for more information or to receive an invitation.
WBL was created in 2001 to advance the role of senior executive women in the health care industry and increase the number of those women who serve on the boards of directors of companies worldwide.
About WBL
The Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation(TM) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Lynn Shapiro Snyder with support from founding sponsor, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. to address the unmet needs of the senior executive women and women board members of companies doing business with the U.S. health care industry. The goal of the invitation-only Foundation is to help senior executive women in the health care industry improve their businesses and continue to grow professionally. The WBL Foundation also serves as a resource to companies and search firms conducting board searches and offers resources to women and men considering the risks and rewards of corporate governance. WBL holds a variety of educational summits, networking opportunities and receptions at major health care industry conferences and educational events. For more information, visit http://www.womenleadinghealthcare.org/.
For copies of the publication, please attend the Tuesday, March 4 event or visit http://www.womenleadinghealthcare.org/ for a downloadable copy.
Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation
