ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996 TAG: 9612120038
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Nearly one-fifth of Fortune 500 companies don't have women directors and typically have all men in top jobs, according to a group that says such companies are missing the creative edge needed to compete.
While more companies added women to their boards last year, the rate slowed from previous years, according to Catalyst, a nonprofit group that works to advance women in business.
``When the entire leadership group of a corporation are people with the same perspective, the probability is that there will be fewer new ideas,'' said Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst. ``That's got to be bad in a rapidly changing business environment.''
There are 417 Fortune 500 companies with one or more women on their boards, a gain of 13 companies or 3 percent from the previous year, the Catalyst group found in an annual survey.
The number of boards with women directors rose by 7 percent from 1994 to 1995 and 9 percent from 1993 to 1994.
Eighty-three companies, mostly in computing, engineering, automaking and wholesaling, do not have a woman on their boards of directors.
Women hold only 626 - or 10.2 percent - of the total 6,123 seats at the nation's 500 largest companies. Last year, women held 9.5 percent of a total of 6,274 seats.
James Preston, chairman and chief executive of Avon Products Inc., said he believed that pace of change would pick up because more women are gaining the management experience needed to win top posts.
``When I first began to look for a list of potential board members, it was a thin list, and each of those women were on five boards,'' he said in a telephone interview. ``Today, that list is an inch thick.''
This year, Catalyst also compared the results of its board survey with its first census of women in top corporate positions. Catalyst found that companies with women directors have more women corporate officers and more women in highest-level positions.
For example, companies with three or more women directors are four times more likely to have women holding the highest titles - chairman, vice chairman, chief executive, president, chief operating officer and executive vice president.
``There is a group of companies that is pulling ahead of the pack, in terms of recognizing the value of women's talent and tapping into that talent pool,'' said Wellington.
Such companies will not only profit from women's input, but will become magnets for talented women, she said.
When Catalyst recently visited seven leading business schools, said Wellington, top women students knew exactly which corporations had women in leadership positions and which had the best policies for women.
``They're going to seek out those firms,'' she said. ``A sustained commitment to women's advancement really does pay off.''
The survey found that 16 companies have three women directors and five companies have four women directors. Only two companies - College Retirement Equities Fund and Teachers Insurance & Annuity - have five or more women directors.
Most large companies have about a dozen people on their boards of directors.
The biggest companies are most likely to have women board members, the survey found. Of the top 100 companies by revenue, 97 percent have at least one woman on the board.
When divided by industry, soap and cosmetics companies have the highest percentage of women directors, along with publishing and printing, savings, beverages and pharmaceuticals.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB