Catalyst Honors Award-Winning Initiatives from Kimberly-Clark and Lockheed Martin (Media Release)

Advancing women to business leadership is now part of company culture.

NEW YORK (April 2, 2014)—What does it take to advance women and transform the workplace for everyone? Two very unique initiatives, in two very different industries, are showing how it’s done.

Tonight, the 2014 Catalyst Award will be presented to Kimberly-Clark Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation for their innovative initiatives to expand opportunities for women and business. The Catalyst Award-winning initiatives impact women and men, families and organizations, societies and economies, and they will be celebrated at the annual Catalyst Awards Dinner gala, attended by nearly 1,600 guests—including close to 100 CEOs as well as senior executives from leading multi-national corporations and professional firms.

“Our 2014 Catalyst Award-winning initiatives from Kimberly-Clark and Lockheed Martin provide extraordinary models of how much we can achieve through strong leadership at the top driving goals, strategies and accountability, with intention, throughout an organization,” said Deborah Gillis, President and CEO, Catalyst. “These initiatives have helped to reshape their workplaces and, in doing so, created cultures where both women and men can succeed at work. They’ve invested in the leadership promise of talented women. At the same time, they’ve reached past office walls to women and girls—providing them with opportunities and tools to transcend barriers and become leaders who, themselves, can become role models and transform their workplaces and communities going forward.”

Kimberly-Clark’s initiative, Unleash Your Power: Strengthening the Business With Women Leaders, is a unique global, enterprise-wide talent initiative that highlights the important role women play in the workplace and the marketplace. “Our Unleash Your Power initiative is focused on creating an exceptional workplace that reflects the people around the world who use and buy our products,” said Thomas J. Falk, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Kimberly-Clark Corporation. “We are humbled by Catalyst’s recognition of our effort to build a diverse and engaged workplace, and are excited about the great work to come as we pursue our aspiration of empowering talented women and men to reach their full potential.”

Lockheed Martin’s U.S.-based initiative, Women Accelerating Tomorrow, comprises a variety of programs, processes and tools to support women’s advancement as part of a broad strategic effort to attract, develop and retain diverse talent in a highly technical industry. “As a global security and aerospace company, we work on some of the toughest challenges for our nation, and that means we need the best talent,” said Lockheed Martin Chairman, President and CEO Marillyn Hewson. “We’re honored to receive Catalyst’s recognition for our efforts to support women at every stage of their careers, from encouraging girls to pursue STEM fields, to establishing strong talent pipelines and leadership development programs, to promoting supplier diversity. All these efforts are part of our commitment to building an inclusive culture. Bringing together diverse perspectives and experiences makes Lockheed Martin a better place to work and makes our business stronger.”

Co-chairs for the Catalyst Awards Dinner, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, are Ilene H. Lang, Retired President & CEO, Catalyst, and Peter Voser, Retired Chief Executive Officer, Royal Dutch Shell. It is sponsored by Alcoa Foundation and Shell Oil Company.

The Dinner is immediately preceded by the day-long Catalyst Awards Conference, also held at the Waldorf Astoria. The Conference’s unifying theme is Making Change Happen, and it brings together experts from around the world to share knowledge and solutions for the advancement of women to business leadership. It features inspirational remarks from the CEOs and teams of the Catalyst Award-winning initiatives, who will share insights about the success of their culture-changing initiatives. In the luncheon keynote conversation, Rosalind G. Brewer, President and CEO, Sam’s Club, will discuss her own career journey with Catalyst’s President and CEO, Deborah Gillis. Afternoon learning labs provide deep dives into inclusive leadership, advancing more women to corporate boards, cutting-edge D&I practices, and organizational change. And topping the afternoon, leadership consultant, Olympian and author Bonnie St. John will share her story of overcoming challenges as the first African-American to win an Olympic or Paralympic skiing medal. The lead sponsor of the Conference is Walmart and the supporting sponsor is Unilever.