News For You - October 2000

We have developed this page to give our visitors the opportunity to see what's new, at a glance, in the business world and how it relates to our program. Take a moment to browse and see what's of interest to you!

First Woman on Saturn

Cynthia Trudell made headlines recently when she took the helm of GM’s Saturn division to become the first woman to head a U.S.-based automaker.

(Source: ABCNEWS.com 8/2/00)

Another Title Added

Carly Fiorina of Hewlett Packard, has just added the title of Chairman to her previous titles of President and Chief Executive Officer. This makes her the first woman to hold all three top posts at a major computer company and marks a nod of approval for the work she has done since July 1999, when she took the helm of the world’s third largest computer maker.As HP’s top executive, she became the highest-paid woman in Silicon Valley with a package that includes $65.6 million in stock, a $3 million signing bonus and a $1.24 million incentive bonus to go along with her $1 million salary, according to an annual survey released by the San Jose Mercury News.

(Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/23/00)

Women in Banking

For decades, banking has been one of those areas where women do most of the work while men run the show. Although that is changing, the ratios remain skewed.

Women comprise about 67% of the workforce at commercial banks, yet represent only 13% of the top executives at the country’s largest 50 publicly held banks, according to a recent study by the Financial Women International Foundation in Arlington, VA. Susan Keating, chief executive of Baltimore-based Allfirst Financial, Inc., is believed to be the only female CEO among the country’s top 50 banking companies.

"It’s an old boy’s club," said Judi Marden, director of the Foundation, which is part of an association founded in 1921 by women who were incensed that they were not allowed to join the American Banker’s Association. Marden says things have improved, but women bankers still are not getting the choicest jobs, even when they make it into top management.

(Source: Chicago Tribune & Philadelphia Inquirer 9/11/00)
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Tips from the Top

Women headed up the ladder need to find role models – even if they are men. "It’s helpful to have women to look up to," says Sheli Rosenberg, President and CEO of Equity Group Investments, "but I don’t think it’s an absolute necessity. You need supporters."Another senior executive, Alison Winter of Northern Trust Bank of California, agrees. "It’s always great to have role models and individuals who are willing to take a chance." She added that real leaders focus on talent and not on gender.

(Source: ABCNEWS.com 8/2/00)

Wanted: Female Techies

According to Advocates for Women in Science, Engineering and Mathematics (AWSEM), women show little presence in today’s high-tech fields. Only 16 percent of scientists, 6% of engineers, and 4% of computer scientists are women. Men have dominated these fields in past decades and it is predicted they will continue to outnumber women in the near future. In fact, the percentage of women receiving computer science degrees has actually dropped in recent years, according to the US Department of Labor, from nearly 40% to 20% today.On the positive side -- role models such as Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay; Geraldine Laybourne, CEO of Oxygen.com and Kimberly Jenkins, President and founder of Microsoft’s Internet Policy Institute prove that barriers to women in tech fields are not impossible to overcome.

(Source: Career Opportunities News, 9/00)

Venture Capital Crunch

Punita Pandey, founder of netCustomer.com Inc., found herself, like many women entrepreneurs, short of something that really matters -- firsthand ties to the financial community. "I realized early on that as a first-time entrepreneur, it would be hard for me to attract big VC attention," says Pandey, "no matter how sound and attractive a business proposition I had."In fact, women business owners may get bank loans in almost the same proportion as men, but they have access to smaller amounts. In 1998, only 34% of women had credit lines of $50,000 or more, compared with 58% of men.There is progress – but some women CEOs still feel it’s an uphill battle to be taken seriously. Says one, "I have been really taken aback by the number of potential investors who say things like, ‘You sure know a lot for someone who’s so pretty.’" Another has seen gender bias of a slightly different type. "One VC told me he would never invest in a woman CEO…of child-bearing years. That’s common."

(Source: BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE: July, 2000 issue)
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