July 2021 Report Summary

In July public companies appointed 140 women to board and 219 men to their boards. This means women comprised 39% of all public board appointments.

The women appointed to fill board seats continue to diversify, with 32 women self-disclosing their race. In June, 46.8% of those women, 15, identified as Black / African American, closely followed by 13 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 3 women identifying as Hispanic and 1 woman identifying as Middle Eastern / North African. Columbia Financial, Inc., Choice Hotels International, Inc., and PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. are some of the companies that appointed this phenomenal group of diverse women to their board. This trend towards including diverse voices in leadership is one that continues and is accompanied by the SEC approval of NASDAQ’s proposed rule about diversity disclosure requiring disclosure of board diversity and offering recruitment help.

Of the 140 women appointed the boards of public companies, 92 were first time board appointments. This is important as we continue to build out the cadre of women to sit at table of companies across sectors.

In June, Healthcare companies lead the way in the appointment of women followed by Financial Services and Technology with women appointed filling 34.2% of board seats at healthcare companies. In the technology sector we see strides being made by women at companies like Airgain, Inc. and First Solar, Inc.

The overall trend across companies continues to hold steady at around 40%. Having said that, there is still a lot of progress to be made among the women of color and LGBTQ sub-segments. Equilar and WBC are tracking and analyzing the growth and rotation of board seats and the expanding candidate pool.

We will continue to track not only the women in terms of numbers, diversity and profile; but the companies and industries in which female board members are present and how many of the overall board seats are held by women. The time is now for women to sit across all companies, boards, and sectors. Please, join us in celebrating, tracking, analyzing, and promoting women on boards of public companies.