Gender Diversity in the Boardroom

It is well known that there is a severe shortage of women in positions of leadership in Corporate America. Recently, though, companies all around the United States are adding more women to their boards of directors; but what is prompting the change? David Matsa, a professor at the Kellog School of Management, suspected that this trend was not just coincidence, or even mass enlightenment. He suspected it was a result of pressures from outside influences. According to recent research, he was right.

These changes seem to be the result of pressures from venture capital and institutional investors. In particular, the “Big Three”: Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street. Started in 2017 by State Street’s “Fearless Girl” campaign, and continued by Vanguard and BlackRock in 2018, these companies (and the capital they influenced) were driving boardroom gender diversity. As Matsa says: “When your largest shareholders create a ruckus, you listen.”

Read the full article here, and discover how Matsa’s research highlights what works, and what is outdated about the modern day boardroom.

Women on Wall Street; Now and Then

One would think that a woman being named head of one of the world’s largest banks would have happened by now, after other women (though by no means yet proportionate to their share of the populace) in industrial and retail arenas have long ago attainted the corner office.  This past week Jane Fraser was named CEO of Citibank, the first woman to lead a major Wall Street Firm.  While she may be the first female CEO of a major Wall Street firm, another woman once reigned as one of Wall Street’s most powerful players even though she was not a CEO.

Hetty Green had been born into a wealthy family in 1834. She learned the art of investing from her successful father so well that she multiplied her inheritance of $6 million to over $2 Billion (both figures in today’s dollars) by her death in 1916.  Like many successful business people (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Carly Fiorina, Jeff Bezos), Hetty had some sharp edges to her personality and many felt that her unfortunate sobriquet, the “Witch of Wall Street”, was to some degree deserved, though male contemporaries in similar pursuits rarely suffered similar nicknames.  Regardless of any personal shortcomings, it’s clear she achieved astounding investment results decades before she was even been eligible to vote.  Spend a few minutes on this short bio of Mrs. Green: “The Peculiar Story of the Witch of Wall Street.”