More females are getting board seats at Silicon Valley companies
According to a recent study from executive recruiters Spencer Stuart, it may be a little easier for women to break the glass ceiling to reach the top echelons in companies.
The 2010 Silicon Valley Boards Index report, indicates that the percentage of Silicon Valley public companies with a female director on their board has increased, which reflects the rise in diversity at various local companies, said the consulting firm.
The yearly study that was based on proxy materials obtained from public companies filed by June 2010 drew its findings from analysis that covers late 2009 and early 2010.
About 56 percent of Silicon Valley companies now have at least one woman director on their board - a number that rose from 51 percent in 2009 and 41 percent in 2004. Since then, 20 percent of directors who joined companies over the past year were women, the report states.
‘As the valley’s technology companies mature, we are seeing board diversity and independence reach unprecedented levels,’ says Nayla Rizk a Spencer Stuart consultant. ‘Companies are becoming more global and diverse, in the markets they serve and the products that they offer, [so] women provide a different perspective on the board that companies are beginning to appreciate.'
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Some of the local companies that have added female directors to their board: McAfee brought on Lorrie Norrington since 2009, Yahoo!, added Patti Hart, chief executive of its International Game Technology division, Autodesk, which recruited Mary McDowell an executive from Nokia, Applied Materials, which signed up former Ernst & Young partner Susan James last December and Affymetrix, Jami Dover Nachtsheim, Rizk said.
There are still some cracks in the glass ceiling, however. The study further reveals that while there is a growing number of female directors and boards, Silicon Valley has started resembling S&P 500 companies in terms of composition and compensation but women still only contribute to 8.6 percent of the Valley’s board members, which is significantly behind most S&P companies where women make up 15.9 percent, said Rizk.
