Facebook's latest status update: Diversity

The time has come for Facebook to start taking boardroom diversity seriously. The social networking site reported that Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of the company, has joined the board of directors.

Facebook’s announcement coincides with a report released yesterday by the Committee for Economic Development (CED) that urges US companies to add more women to their boards in order to stay competitive in the global economy.

The report, ‘Fulfilling the promise: How more women on corporate boards would make America and American companies more competitive,’ says that the diversity efforts many US companies have adopted are not gaining enough traction. ‘The percentage of women on all US corporate boards has been stuck well below 13 percent for a decade,’ it says.

Roger Ferguson, co-chair of CED and president and chief executive officer of pension fund giant TIAA-CREF, says that successful promotion of boardroom diversity has to start with the tone at the top.

‘Evidence shows that CEO commitment is the most influential factor to realizing gender diversity in corporate leadership positions. Successful companies of the future will be those that attract, train and grow diverse talent at all levels, including the board,’ Ferguson adds.
 
Mark Zuckerberg, chairman and chief executive, nabbed Sandberg a few years ago from Google where she served as vice president of global online sales and operations at the search engine. In this role she built and managed the online sales channels for advertising, as well as publishing and operations for consumer products worldwide.

Before this move, Sandberg was chief of staff for the US Treasury  under President Bill Clinton, Facebook says.