Gender diversity on corporate boards progresses slowly in Md.

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Maryland’s publicly held companies have made incremental progress in bringing women onto their boards of directors, a new report finds.

Executive Alliance‘s annual census of the boards of the state’s public companies compared this year’s results to 2008, finding that while progress has been made, there remains a long way to go towards gender parity at the top of companies.

“I was surprised at the current pace,” said Ellen Fish, executive vice president of Hamilton Bank and one of the report’s authors. “I think the attention to it hasn’t occurred until the last three or five years.”

In 2008, women held 69 board seats in Maryland, 9 percent of board seats. This year, women hold 94 board seats, 15 percent of board seats — below the national average of 22 percent.

But adding about two-and-a-half women a year to boards is not close to a good enough pace, Fish said. If progress continued at that pace, it would take 87 years to reach gender parity, she estimated.

There are signs that progress could accelerate.

Ten years ago, 31 companies had no women in either their boardroom or executive positions. This year, that number is just six companies. Only one of those companies, GenVec, Inc., was included in the 2008 census.

Getting a woman in power at these companies could lead to more women joining boards in the future, Fish said.

“I think one of the challenges has been if it is an all-male board and they start to have a discussion about an open seat, who should we talk to about this open seat,” she said. “(Without a woman on the board) the likelihood that they are going to talk about a women is lower.”

Having women on boards and in positions of leadership for companies is not just about good public relations or perceptions.

Studies have shown gender diversity can improve company performance, Fish said.

Companies with three or more women on their board over four out of five years had 84 percent greater return on sales, 60 percent greater return on invested capital and 46 percent greater return on equity, a Catalyst Research Center report found.

“You need to have the diversity of thought and voice in the room,” Fish said. “It leads to better financials and results.”

The issue could be getting some momentum with the rise of the #MeToo movement, which has brought attention to issues of sexual harassment in the workplace and gender imbalance at the top of companies.

Academy Award-winning actress Frances McDormand closed her acceptance speech this month with a call for film contracts to include diversity riders, clauses promising parity on set.

“We hope that that’s going to benefit us,” Fish. “It’s awful what women have gone through but we’re hoping that that will turn into a positive.”

Some of Maryland’s biggest companies have also been some of the better examples of embracing gender diversity at the executive and boardroom level.

Fortune 500 companies Host Hotels & Resorts Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Marriott International, Inc., all have three or more women serving on their boards of directors.

The census singled out Marriott as an example of a company making a concerted effort to improve.

Nineteen years ago, the company launched a Women’s Leadership Development Initiative, aimed at increasing women in management and other decision-making positions.

Today, the company’s executive team is 50 percent women.

At the same time companies work to improve their diversity, women can also work to put themselves in better position to qualify for a board, Fish said.

First, they should seek out nonprofit board seats to gain experience. Another suggestion would be to gain basic financial knowledge, something she said women tend to lack.

Eventually, Fish hopes to start seeing more women leading boards, not just sitting on them.

“When the board chair is a female, you see greater diversity in the c-suite and boardroom,” she said. “When the company CEO is a female, you see the same thing.”

Maryland companies with no women in either the boardroom of executive suite

Chesapeake Lodging Trust

GenVec, Inc. India Globalization Capital, Inc.

RegeneRX Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.

Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Synthetic Biologics, Inc.

Source: Executive Alliance 2018 Census Report

Maryland companies with 20% or more women directors and 20% or more women executives

2U, Inc.

Federal Realty Investment Trust

First United Corporation

Hamilton Bancorp, Inc.

The KEYW Corporation

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Marriott International, Inc.

McCormick & Co., Inc.

Synutra International, Inc.

United Therapeutics, Corp.

Source: Executive Alliance 2018 Census Report