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This week Corporate Board Member, an NYSE Euronext Company, is hoping to debunk the myth that there is a shortage of qualified diverse boardroom candidates to meet the needs of today's U.S. corporations. The first "Moving the Needle: Building Effective Boards with Qualified Diverse Candidates" event on July 18-19 at the New York Stock Exchange will introduce a pool of qualified candidates recommended by public company CEOs, chairmen, and related parties to search firms and nominating/governance committee members in the public company arena.
"We believe that diversity of thought gives corporate boards the best chance to be effective and ultimately fosters companies that are more customer- and human-capital focused," said TK Kerstetter, president of Corporate Board Member. "While we do not believe that one-size-fits-all regulatory mandates or quotas are the formula for preventing fraud or successfully building shareholder value, we do encourage companies to take a proactive stance with respect to building diverse boards and address any governance issues like this head on." Furthermore, Kerstetter added, "We also hope to shine a bright light on all those organizations whose daily mission it is to help companies identify qualified diverse board candidates."
Corporate Board Member's two-day boardroom diversity event will include a networking exercise for the approximately 150 nominated board candidates, search firms, and public company nominating/governance committee members, which will run concurrent with peer exchange workshops for the CEOs, board chairs, and lead directors who nominated and are accompanying the candidates. That day's activities will be preceded by a reception and networking dinner. In addition, key representatives from the Moving the Needle event will have the unique opportunity to ring the NYSE Closing Bell® on July 18.
Generous support is being provided by an outstanding advisory council as well as some of the leading women's and ethnic minority organizations. A booklet featuring the qualified board candidates and organizational resources will be sent to all public company CEOs, board chairs, and nominating/ governance committees in August.
For further information on this event, please visit www.boardmember.com/movingtheneedle or contact Kimberly Crowe atkcrowe@boardmember.com.
Moving the Needle Advisory Council
- James Nevels, chairman, The Hershey Co.
- Kay Koplovitz, chairman, Fifth & Pacific Cos. Inc.
- Robert Moritz, chairman, PwC
- David Daniel, CEO, Spencer Stuart
- Gary Burnison, CEO, Korn/Ferry International
- Brian Sullivan, CEO, CT Partners
- Manuel Fernandez, chairman, Sysco Corp.
- Allan Grafman, CEO, All Media Ventures
- Ike Harris, chairman, Cigna Corp.
- Sara Mathew, president, CEO, and chairman, Dun & Bradstreet Corp.
- Duncan Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext
- Sheila Penrose, chairman, Jones Lang LaSalle
- John Veihmeyer, chairman and CEO, KPMG
- Maggie Wilderotter, CEO and chairman, Frontier Communications Corp.
Supporting Women's and Ethnic Minority Organizations
- InterOrganization Network (ION)
- Women Corporate Directors (WCD)
- Thirty Percent Coalition
- Vision 2020
- Executive Leadership Council (ELC)
- Committee of 100 (C-100)
- Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP)
- Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR)
- Partnership for New York City
