TheCorporateCounsel.net

ISS-Corporate has a new report on the number of women serving as named executive officers in Russell 3000 companies. The report says that while there’s been some slow improvement in recent years, women are underrepresented among NEOs.  Here are some of the key findings:

– Women occupy less than 17% of the NEO positions at Russell 3000 companies, and over the last five years that percentage has only grown by about 1% per year.

– The good news is that over the past 10 years, the percentage of women serving in NEO positions has doubled, going from 9.5% to 16.4%.

– The industries with the highest percentage of female NEOs are Household & Personal Products (25.2%), followed by Utilities (24.2%) and Consumer Discretionary Distribution & Retail (23%). The laggards are Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment (11%), Energy (12.2%), and Automobiles and Components (13.1%).

The report also found that women are least likely to hold the CEO position (7%), and most likely to hold a Human Resources position (68%).

– John Jenkins