A woman's place is in retailers' boardrooms

Discount Store News, June 5, 1995 by Richard Halverson

GREENWICH, CONN. -- Women in retailing are increasing their representation on corporate boards of Fortune 500 service companies faster than the overall rate for corporate America, according to a study by The Directorship, a research firm that monitors the governance of corporate America.

And an April survey of chief executive officers for Catalyst, a New York organization that promotes the role of women in business, showed that ceos are giving priority to finding qualified women to serve on their boards and are recognizing that the pool of qualified candidates is expanding.

Sample comments from ceos of Fortune 500 corporations, reported anonymously in the study financed by Avon Products, suggest why 23% of the 325 service sector ceos who responded place a priority on appointing female board members and 49% more place a priority on finding them:

* "It's easy for boards to get club-like and ingrown. The notion of a bunch of old men who grew up in the same environment governing a company--it's the best formula I know of for getting out of step in a changing world."

* "Tokenism really has no place in the board room today. You recruit the best people you can, and you find a number of them will be women."

Of those surveyed, only 5% place a very low priority on finding women board members; 23% said it is a low priority.

Forty-five women now sit on Fortune 500 retail corporation boards compared to 39 in '93 and 34 in '92, said Peter Garrett, publisher and executive vp of The Directorship.

The Directorship tracks all 7,210 board members of the Fortune 1000. Of the total in '94, 500 were women, including 317 in the service sector and 267 in the industrial sector. That shows an increase from a '93 total of 440 women out of 7,290 board seats.

Not only is the service sector the leading industry in appointing women directors, but retailing especially is out-stripping other service industries such as banking and insurance, Garrett said.

A huge reservoir of talented women are in their 40s, Garrett said. In the next decade they will be in their 50s, and a lot more will have developed the talents needed for board service. Most male board members are in their 60s.

The 45 women directors in retailing as of the end of '94 actually hold 48 retailing directorships since some sit on more than one board.

An example is Lilyan Affinito, one of two women who serve on the Kmart board. She also sits on the boards of Caterpillar, Chrysler, Jostens, Lillian Vernon, New York Telephone and Tambrands.

The other Kmart woman director is Gloria Shatto, president of Berry College, Mount Berry, Ga. She also sits on the boards of Becton, Dickinson & Co., Southern Co. and Texas Instruments.

One woman sits on the Wal-Mart board: Elizabeth Sanders, principal of the Sanders Partnership. In addition to running her own company, she also sits on the boards of Carl Karcher Enterprises, H. F. Ahmanson & Co, Sports Chalet and Vons, a supermarket chain.

At Sears, three women hold board seats: Dorothy Terrell, president of Sun Express, Mountain View, Calif.; Nancy Clark Reynolds, a senior consultant for the Wexler Group, Washington, D.C.; and Sybil Mobley, dean of the school of business and industry for Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Fla.

Mobley also sits on the boards of Anheuser-Busch, Champion International, Dean Witter, Discover, Hershey Foods, SBC Communications and SBI Capital Management & Research.

Dayton Hudson also tapped the academic world for one of its three women board members, Mary Patterson McPherson, president of Byrn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa.

The others are Betty Ruth Hollander, chairman and ceo of the Omega Group, Stamford, Conn., who also sits on the board of her own company and that of People's Bank, and Michele Hooper, vice president, international relations for Caremark International.

Toys "R" Us also picked a female college president to be a director, Shirley Strum Kenny, president of SUNY, Stony Brook, N.Y.

A woman director at The Limited sits on the most boards: 11. Claudine Malone, president of Financial & Management Consulting, also sits on the boards of Dell Computer, Hannaford Brothers, Hasbro, Houghton Mifflin, Lafarge, Mallinckrodt Group, Penn Mutual Life Insurance, Science Applications International, Scott Paper and Union Pacific.

Five other mass market retailers also have a woman on their boards: Circuit City, Melville, Penn Traffic, TJX Cos. and Woolworth.

RELATED ARTICLE: 'Women in Retailing' forum to examine the path to success

NEW YORK -- "Women in Retailing" will be the topic of an upcoming Discount Store News forum, designed to review topics important to the growing number of women executives in the industry. The event will be held here Sept. 20.

The event was sparked by an editorial written by DSN editor Tony Lisanti that prompted numerous responses from industry executives acknowledging the need for an organized caucus to discuss the business of retailing and the increasing opportunities for women.

The discount retail industry already boasts numerous women in important roles in the industry. Among the better known are Maxine Clark, president, Payless Shoes; Marci Syms, president, Syms; Ann Iverson, president, Kay-Bee Toy Stores; Linda Wachner, president, Warnaco; Jill Barad, ceo, Mattel; and Lois Juliber, president, Colgate North America. The seminar will review how these and other accomplished women reached the top of their fields and what social and business challenges are still being faced by many women in the industry.