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WCD Diversity Goals & Action Plans

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Women Corporate Directors (WCD) Foundation�Who We Are – Our Mission

Founded 20 years ago, WCD is the largest and most influential global organization for women who serve on corporate boards, with 76 chapters and 2,500 members worldwide.

WCD’s mission is to:

Foster a powerful, trusted, and global community of women corporate directors who meet specific and objective criteria
Amplify the representation of women on public and large private company boards
Increase the pipeline of aspiring and qualified female board candidates
Inspire visionary boards worldwide by providing educational resources and tools to keep members engaged, informed, and drive exceptional boardroom performance

WCD has been a bold catalyst for greater gender diversity and inclusion in corporate boardrooms globally:

Simply stated, women in the boardroom is not just a goal. It is our mission.

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Women Corporate Directors�Diversity Initiatives

The Current Landscape

A confluence of events has led to a heightened focus on board diversity: enhanced visibility of long-term systemic bias and racism, increased understanding of the importance of diversity as a critical factor in sound decision-making, changing population demographics, and resulting pressure by stakeholders including investors, employees, consumers, regulators, and the media.

First Steps

DCDC:

WCD was a founding member of the Diverse Corporate Director Coalition (DCDC), along with founders of the Black Corporate Directors Conference, Latino Corporate Directors Association, Ascend Pinnacle (Asian directors) and Quorum (LGBTQ board initiative of Out Leadership). In August 2020, in recognition of the fact that a voice across multiple governance associations advocating for diversity would be more effective than each going it alone, the Coalition issued a�Call to Action

WCD Steering Committee:

On December 16, 2020, WCD convened a Steering Committee of members charged with guiding WCD’s strategies to measure and advocate for diversity on boards globally.

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Women Corporate Directors�Diversity Steering Committee

The Steering Committee met as a whole and in subgroups eight times between December 2020 and April 2021. The subgroups were developed to tackle two key important components of the action plan- data mining and key accountabilities. The members of the committee are:

Undraa Agvaanluvsan

Susan Angele (co-chair)

Barbara Bowles

Phyllis Campbell

Evelyn D’An

Brenda Gaines

Cheryl Jones

Susan C. Keating

Wonya Lucas (co-chair)

Susan Stevens

Anne Sempowski Ward

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WCD Diversity Statement

Diverse women in the boardroom is not just a goal. It is our mission.

As a global organization, WCD’s membership will reflect the wide array of races, ethnicities, sexual orientations and nationalities among women currently on corporate boards. WCD will also seek to influence boards around the world to better reflect the diversity of their stakeholders.

To do so requires intentionality and integration of a diverse and inclusive mindset into WCD’s strategy and DNA.

Aligned with our mission and diversity statement, it is our intention to:

Ensure WCD practices and outcomes reflect the diverse and inclusive mindset we seek.
Work closely with our partners in the DCDC to further advocate and move the needle on diversity within corporate boardrooms – because it’s better for business.
Benchmark and publish aggregate data on the progress of women and under-represented women within corporate boardrooms.

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Proposed Action Plan

This plan has been developed based on input from the Steering Committee, the WCD board and the WCD team, and is presented to the Steering Committee for the purpose of discussion at our meeting on April 29, 2021.

The plan will be focused on four areas, beginning in the US and then extending globally as priorities dictate. Each component of the plan will be implemented by WCD as an integral part of WCD’s overall strategy, with input and oversight by the Steering Committee and accountability to the WCD board for results.

Definitions
Data
Goals for WCD membership
Goals for external influence

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WCD Diversity Plan Phase One – United States (2021-2024)

Definition

WCD recognizes that “diversity” can be defined in many ways in addition to gender – diversity of thought, age, nationality, skill set and background. All of these aspects of diversity are highly valuable to the mix that comprises the global WCD family of women serving on corporate boards. For purposes of this plan, however, “diversity” has a narrower and more focused purpose of addressing issues around underrepresentation.

This diversity plan focuses specifically on alignment with the increasing demands by stakeholders for US boards that are diverse by more than simply gender. The US definition has coalesced (eg CA law, NASDAQ, etc.) around underrepresented groups – Black, Latino, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, Alaskan Native, and LGBTQ. Staying true to its focus on women, WCD’s US diversity goals are centered on increasing boardroom inclusion of women from these underrepresented groups.

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WCD Diversity Plan Phase One – United States (2022-2024)

WCD Diverse Membership Goals

WCD will double the number of diverse women directors in its US membership network�between 2022-2024
WCD will serve as a central source for encouragement, best practices and collaboration�for local chapters engaging with diverse board-ready women looking to join their first corporate board

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