The Women Who Paved The Way For Nasdaq’s Bold Effort To Put More Women On Boards

“Add Women, Change Everything.”

—Marie Wilson, Founder of The White House Project, Author if, Closing the Leadership Gap

August 20, 2021

The gist: The first female CEO to helm Nasdaq, Adena Friedman has overseen a historic change to the traditionally male-led Wall street pillar. It took Friedman 4+ years—she took over January 2017—to usher in the SEC voted mandate to require its 3,000 listed companies to have either one or two women on their board of directors (depending upon board size), as well as one person from a racial minority or who identifies as LGBTQ+ — or publicly explain why not. 

Meet the women profiles here, who helped pave the way for this move by citing research that companies with more diverse boards have higher ROI, creating high-level membership groups to solidify their positions and best practices, backing quotas in various states such as California (at least one woman on each corporate board domiciled in the state), celebrating companies that have made significant progress—and shaming companies that have no women on their boards. 

As well as the non-stakeholder allies, such as “asset managers BlackRock and State Street, who “started campaigns to increase board gender diversity by voting against directors’ reelection at companies that had not made sufficient progress in diversifying their boards.”

The Stats:

• “Women now hold at least 30% of seats on a majority of S&P 500 boards for the first time.”

• “Women on a board tend to value diversity of thought as well as of representation.”

• “Women represent broader stakeholder constituencies, begin to add value, positively affect ROI, and redefine leadership, the workplace, and career expectations for our post-Covid world.”

• “They listen more seriously to #MeToo allegations and prefer unbiased investigations.”

Connect with all of the women’s profiles in the Forbes article here.