Newspaper Page Text
BUSINESS
Women making strides
at Georgia companies
Reporter Newspapers has
partnered with Saporta
Report to provide local
business news from one
of Atlanta's most respected
journalists, Maria Saporta.
saportareport.com
Pictures of all of the directors on the board of UPS, probably
the most diverse board in Georgia. (Special/UPS)
BY MARIA SAPORTA.
What a year of improvement.
The number of women on the boards of
Georgia’s 119 public companies increased
dramatically over the past year, according to
the 2021 OnBoard study of women on cor
porate boards and those serving in execu
tive roles.
Take Sandy Springs-based UPS. It is the
first public company in Georgia to have six
women directors, which includes its CEO -
Carol Tome.
“The story of diversity, equity and inclu
sion at UPS is best understood through the
lens of our people,” said Deisha Barnett, a
UPS spokeswoman. “Our board of directors
models our commitment to inclusion with
31 percent ethnically diverse members and
46 percent women. And, we are proud that
our company is led by one of the few wom
en CEOs in the Fortune 500 ranks, Carol B.
Tome.”
The sixth woman to join the UPS board
was Eva Boratto, chief financial officer and
executive vice president of CVS Health. She
was appointed to the board in September
2020.
Intercontinental Exchange, which owns
the New York Stock Exchange, added a
woman to its board in the past year - and
it now has a total of five women directors.
It joins the Coca-Cola Co., which was the
first public company in Georgia to have five
women directors.
“Through every measure we look at, this
year set records for women on boards, for
women of color on boards as well as women
executive officers,” said Lisa Robinson, pres
ident of Atlanta-based OnBoard. “We have
never seen as dramatic an increase as we
saw this past year.”
OnBoard started tracking women on
boards and in C-suites back in 1993. For
many years, the numbers were relatively
flat or only showed incremental progress.
The pace of having more women directors
and officers has really accelerated in the
past few years.
Take Georgia’s public com
panies with three or more wom
en directors. Today, there are 33
companies who are called “Pow
er of Three” companies. Evidence
has shown that women are taken
more seriously when there are at
least three women sitting around
a board table. In 2012, only three
public companies in Georgia had
three or more women on their
boards.
“The power of three doubled
in the past three years,” said Kelly
Gay, who chairs OnBoard. “This is
huge for Georgia’s public companies.”
And that is smart for business. “Compa
nies with diverse boards performed better
than their peers during COVID, according to
a national study by McKinsey,” Gay added.
“It is a moment of recognition by corporate
leaders of the value women bring to their or
ganizations, and the results they are able to
achieve.”
It’s important to note that women make
up at least half of the population. No public
company in Georgia has a corporate board
with 50 percent of its directors as women.
The closest is UPS with 46 percent.
Other highlights of the 2021 study in
clude:
■ Women hold 211 board seats at Geor
gia’s public companies - up 35 over last year,
an increase of 22 percent.
■ There has been a 42 percent increase
in the number of board seats held by wom
en of color to a total of 47. But women of col
or still make up less than 5 percent of all the
board seats statewide.
■ Of the 88 board seats that were filled
in 12 months covered by the study 37.5 per
cent were filled with women.
■ The number of female executive of
ficers jumped by 20 to 124, after being stag
nant for a number of years.
■ All of the top 50 Georgia public com
panies (by revenue) have a woman on their
boards. And 84 percent have two or more
women on their board.
When asked why there was so much of
an increase this past year, Robinson men
tioned both the COVID-19 pandemic and the
focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, es
pecially after the murder of George Floyd by
a police officer.
“As a result of the last year and a half,
there has been a positive outcome,” Robin
son said. “In this past year-and-a-half of tur
moil, leaders have had to look inward and
reflect on their own boards and corporate
suites. They have been pleasantly surprised
by the talent that is readily available.”
PERIMJJER 2021
For 22 years, the Perimeter Community
Improvement District has invested in
access, mobility, and quality of life to
create a signature destination for
corporate headquarters, hospitality,
and retail. Here's a snapshot of our
progress in 2021.
$9.25M
5-7
in planned
miles of trails
infrastructure
in design or under
improvements for 2021
construction
V3
31M*
of metro Atlanta's
sq ft of
Fortune 1000 firms
commercial
call Perimeter home
space
24m
2.7m
sq ft of office space
within a 10-minute walk or
shuttle ride from MARTA
sq ft of new
development in
the last 5 years
Learn more about how we improve quality of Life
in Central Perimeter: perimetercid.org
PERIMETER COMMUNITY
Improvement Districts
PERIMETER
CONNECTS
INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS. It's what we do.
BO DECEMBER 2021| REPORTER NEWSPAPERS
ss
reporternewspapers.com
BH