BY JILL NAGY
“Advancing Women to the Top,” a research
study of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation,
will be discussed by Roberta Zenn
Phillips, executive director of the Center for
Women in Business of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, at the annual fall luncheon of
the Women in Business Committee of the
Chamber of Southern Saratoga County on Oct.
21 at the Century House in Latham.
The study identified and analyzed 12
Fortune 1000 companies that successfully
included women in their “top teams” and
on their boards of directors to discover how
they achieved that success and the impact
on the company.
The presence of women in those top positions
was “good for women, good for business,
and vital to the economy,” said Phillips in
advance of her trip to the area. She said the
report concluded that “diverse thought matters”
and “companies do better with women
in high places.”
Criteria for inclusion in the list of “best
performers” included the presence of women
in more than 25 percent of executive roles
and more than 18 percent of board positions,
according to 2011 data.
Most of the companies are identified in
the report, although some chose to remain
anonymous. The list is heavy with insurance
and health services companies.
The U.S. Chamber’s Center for Women in
Business was founded in March 2012 at the
initiative of then-CEO David Chabern. That
year was also the 100th anniversary year of
the Chamber.
“We needed a program for women just
starting out in the workforce, trying to get
ahead in an organization, aspiring to corporate
leadership, and for new entrepreneurs
starting the businesses of their dreams,”
Phillips said.
Phillips, who lives in northern Virginia
and works at the Chamber’s headquarters in
Washington, D.C., said that she “loves New
Your state” and hopes that there will still be
some fall foliage remaining when she makes
the trip to Latham.
The luncheon is from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30
p.m. General admission is $60, with discounts
for Chamber members or for corporate tables.
Registration can be done on the website,
business.southernsaratoga.org/events. Chamber
offices are at 15 Park Ave., Suite 7, Clifton
Park. The telephone is 371-7748.