Catalyst Corporate Board Resource

 

The Catalyst Corporate Board Resource gives member CEOs the opportunity to:

• Sponsor  qualified women for corporate director positions.
• Access our premier directory of CEO-recommended women board candidates.
• Share board opportunities with other Catalyst member companies.

By working with the Catalyst Corporate Board Resource and putting the weight of their personal recommendation behind these women candidates, member company CEOs can directly increase boardroom gender diversity at their companies and at others while providing extraordinary leadership opportunities for top women executives.

Catalyst has initiated this resource as one solution to the underutilization of women leaders as corporate directors and the corresponding glacial progress in their representation on corporate boards. Catalyst’s pioneering research on the business case for women on corporate boards shows unequivocally that companies with more women on their boards, on average, financially outperform those with fewer women. And yet, for the past seven years, the Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 Women Board Directors has reported little growth in the gender diversity of boards. Against this backdrop of stagnation and lagging progress, women’s representation on corporate boards has received increased global attention. While countries differ in their approach to improving gender diversity on corporate boards—for example, implementing legislated quotas or voluntary targets—finding and placing qualified women candidates has become a leading issue around boardroom tables.

The Catalyst Corporate Board Resource is premised on a recent Catalyst report, Sponsoring Women to Success, which demonstrated how sponsorship can offer high performers greater access to advancement and the opportunity to excel. Building on this research, the Catalyst Corporate Board Resource applies the concept of sponsorship to the perceived lack of and real need for women board directors.

Participating Catalyst member CEOs should complete the Sponsorship Form to sponsor women inside or outside of their company, who become part of our exclusive curated directory. Catalyst member CEOs should complete the Request Form to access the directory as a first resource when directorships become available on their own boards, or other boards. In partnership with Catalyst, member companies are uniquely positioned to lead the mission to increase diversity in the boardroom by sponsoring board-ready women and consulting the directory as needed.