Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane of Women Executive Leadership (Ft. Lauderdale) has been named President of ION and will serve a two year term. ION Announces 2010-11 Executive Officers – Focus Continues on Increasing Number of Women on Corporate Boards Fort Washington, Penn. – May 13, 2010 – The InterOrganization Network (ION) announced its new slate of executive officers for 2010-11. Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane of Women Executive Leadership (Ft. Lauderdale) has been named President of ION and will serve a two year term.
In addition to the President, ION‘s Executive Committee will be comprised of Toby Gordon of Network 2000 (Baltimore) as Secretary, Ziporah Janowski of Financial Women’s Association of New York (New York) as Treasurer, Member-at-Large Jilaine Hummel Bauer of Milwaukee Women Inc (Milwaukee) and Past President Rona Wells of Board of Directors Network (Atlanta). “The business case for board diversity, in particular the inclusion of women on corporate boards, is strong and based upon both sound research and practical experience. Even though the challenges are great, I’m encouraged by the energy and passion of the members of ION and other similar organizations across the U.S. that continue to work tirelessly toward our mission of increasing the number of qualified women in the corporate boardroom,” said ION President Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane. “ION has grown significantly since its inception in 2006 and is now comprised of 14 member organizations. We added two new members from Minnesota and Texas in recent months. ION now represents more than 10,000 women across the U.S. We have a wealth of talent in our member organizations that is represented by the ION board of directors.
There are currently many initiatives underway that include:
Conducting research on the status of women participating on U.S. public company boards. bq. “2010 is proving to be an exciting year and one in which we hope to see some progress in achieving our mission. We will continue to benchmark our successes and challenges, and plan to accelerate our efforts until we’re satisfied there’s an equitable balance in the corporate board rooms across America,” Lauren-Ottomane said. Earlier this year, ION released its sixth annual report on the status of women directors and executive officers. The statistics went beyond examining the status of women in the largest U.S. public companies to include businesses that comprise the backbone of these regional economies. The report’s findings are consistent with those found in national studies: the low number of women directors and executive officers in U.S. public companies has varied little over the last few years.
In the 14 regions represented by ION‘s member organizations, women hold between 7.6 and 17.8 percent of the board seats and between 7.0 and 15.2 percent of all executive officer positions in the companies included in the research. This year’s report also features interviews with 11 “Guys Who Get It” – CEOs or board Chairmen of major U.S. public companies who understand the value of diversity at the top. About ION The InterOrganization Network (www.IONwomen.org) is a national nonprofit organization representing approximately 10,000 women dedicated to increasing representation of women on for-profit boards and in executive suites. ION creates a national voice for its 14 regional member organizations to influence, build awareness and expand opportunities and connections. These executive women’s groups join together as ION to combine their energies, leverage their strengths and maximize individual and aggregate influence with the goal of increasing the number and percentage of women who comprise the leadership of corporate America. ION member organizations, including their headquarter locations are:
ION‘s founding sponsor is KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm and U.S. member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”). KPMG International’s member firms have 137,000 professionals, including more than 7,600 partners in 144 countries. Contacts: ION President Charlotte Laurent-Ottomane: 561-395-4581, charlotte.ottomane@nvestcom.com c3PR Principal Mar Junge: 408-730-8506, mar@c3pr.com