Empowering Female Leadership At The Kogod School of Business
Girls don’t just want to have fun at the Kogod School of Business — they get stuff done.
According to the school, Maria Wallace, MSAn ’17, wanted to help empowering female leadership in business. A professional in the IT Consulting sector, Wallace wanted to prove that women have plenty to offer the male-dominated industry.
Kogod Professor Jill Klein invited Wallace to join her women’s leadership-focused research team, which was organized through Women in Technology’s (WIT) Leadership Foundry. The research team collected and compiled data to produce the sixth annual report Advancing Women to the Corporate Boardroom., which examines corporate boards’ gender compositions, with the goal of increasing the number of women serving—and leading—in the boardroom.
Their research also found that women make up 14 percent of corporate boards in Washington, DC, as compared to the 17.9 percent national average. Their data also shows that women’s board representation in DC is slowly increasing year-to-year.
The AU student research team pictured with Klein and WIT members
While the statistics are encouraging, Wallace admits there’s still a long way to go.
“We’re just not seeing the women’s leadership on local boards that we want,” she said. “There’s progress, but it’s slow. Hopefully Advancing Women to the Corporate Boardroom can help affect change.”
Heather Randall, MBA ‘17, also joined the team, saying “I didn’t fully grasp how important this was until we shared it with others.”
“They were incredibly engaged and encouraging,” Henderson said of the team. “They’re all working hard to become the best board leaders they can. It was gratifying to see how relevant this work is to their daily lives.”
The team presented their research at the Leadership Foundry’s November 2016 meeting, giving them the opportunity to exercise their public speaking skills in front of fellow women leaders. WIT’s Leadership Foundry, a nine-month training program for budding women board members, was both receptive and excited by the report.
You can learn more about Wallace and her team here. To learn more about WIT and the Leadership Foundry, click here.
About the Author
Max Pulcini
Max Pulcini is a Philadelphia-based writer and reporter. He has an affinity for Philly sports teams, Super Smash Bros. and cured meats and cheeses. Max has written for Philadelphia-based publications such as Spirit News, Philadelphia City Paper, and Billy Penn, as well as national news outlets like The Daily Beast.
