News For You - December 2002

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Their pioneering efforts helped women reach top leadership rank
by Peter Binzen

Over lunch one day in November 1977, a group of Philadelphia women formed a networking organization to help them advance in the region's business world.

They had their work cut out for them.

Women were virtually absent from corporate boards and executive suites in those days. Very few had made names for themselves as entrepreneurs. And they were barred from membership in most of the private clubs.

In fact, the Racquet Club of Philadelphia, site of the founding lunch of the Forum of Executive Women, was among those keeping women out. Cofounder Judith von Seldeneck's husband was a member of the club, and arranged for them to meet there.

A quarter-century later, things have changed for the better for women in the business world, forum members say. Their gains in many areas have been impressive. An in the increasingly important not-for-profit sector, their achievements have been especially noteworthy.

Nonetheless, forum members point out that women continue to be underrepresented on corporate boards of directors and as top executives of public companies, and working women do not receive pay equal to what men receive for equal work.

The forum, whose membership includes about 300 women in varied fields, threw a festive 25th anniversary party at the Kimmel Center on Nov. 13 to celebrate its gains.

"There's been a sea change," said von Seldeneck, an executive-search entrepreneur who help found the organization with Lee van de Velde. Von Seldeneck continues to run Diversified Search Cos. on Market Street after selling her business to a Florida firm in 1998.

"Philadelphia is special for women," said Von Seldeneck, who also chairs the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's executive committee. "Power is dispersed, and the channels of entry are more open than elsewhere."

However, its membership is overwhelmingly white. Greater ethnic diversity is viewed as critical to its future growth.

"We've made some strides," said Sally Stetson, co-owner of an executive search firm and the Forum's president. "But certainly not enough."

In the beginning years of the organization, the forum's main focus was on helping women make their way up the corporate ladder.

After a short time, however, membership was expanded to executives in higher education, health care, cultural organizations, and other nonprofit pursuits. It is in this area that Philadelphia women have made a huge difference.

Few observers would have believed in 1977 that, before the turn of the century, the region's largest university, its largest foundation, and its largest museum would all be run by women. But such is the case at the University of Pennsylvania (Judith Rodin), the Pew Charitable Trusts (Rebecca Rimel), and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Anne d'Harnoncourt).

"It's a great cause for celebration," said Gail M. Harrity, who is the museum's second in command as chief operating officer. "Women are leading fabulous institutions."

By contrast, the major art museums in New York, Washington, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco continue to be run by men, Harrity said.

Nancy D. Kolb, president of the Please Touch Museum, made a similar point. "Philadelphia, of all cities, is where women have a massive impact on the nonprofit world," she said.

"Historically, nonprofits were not viewed as places of influence" on urban economies, Kolb said. But now their importance in the region's cultural life is recognized.

Margaret M. McGoldrick, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the 500-bed Abington Memorial Hospital, whose annual budget runs to about $400 million, spoke of "egalitarianism" in the nonprofit world.

"Things are better for women," she said. "In health care, women have graduated from nursing to executive roles."

In the business world, however, a different picture emerges. In 2001, only 57 women were among the more than 1,000 highest-paid executives at the region's publicly traded companies.

Speaking of gains by women generally, Leslie G. Mayer, an adviser to corporate executives, said in an interview: "There's been a tremendous upsurge in consciousness, but I don't see the results. Things are improving, but they are far from where they should be."

Molly D. Shepard, who sold a successful executive search firm and now heads the Leader's Edge, a consulting business, said women are still being paid 75 cents on the dollar vis-à-vis men at all business levels.

She said that, although women buy 80 percent of all consumer goods, they hold only about 10 percent of the seats on American corporate boards.

Of more than 100 women interviewed by her firm after they voluntarily left senior positions in the last year, "most said it was the corporate culture that caused them to leave," Shepard said. "They didn't feel valued."

Van de Velde, noting that few women run major corporations, said: "There's so much at stake that the boys won't roll over easily."

At the same time, she said that "not a lot of women are willing to make that total commitment. You have to really want it."

Many men aggressively seek the power that comes with running a big business, Van de Velde said. "It's their passion," she said. "They tend to use and abuse it."

Rebecca Matthias, who has managed to raise three children while running Mothers Work Inc. with her husband, credited "luck and drive" for her success.

"I had a lot of support, and I really wanted it," she said, adding that corporate leadership was "not for every woman. Some choose a more balanced life."

Rosemarie B. Greco was a bright star in banking. She served as president of both Fidelity Bank and CoreStates National Bank, and, while running her own consulting business, she sits on five corporate boards.

But she said she believes that the wave of mergers and acquisitions have denied women top corporate posts. When two companies merge, their chief executives, who are almost invariably men, pick a man as the next CEO, she said. And he will often remain there for years.

"This puts an unnatural ceiling on women executives who were almost there," Greco said.

She said old-boy networks don't die. "They may lose power, but they don't go away," she said. "The networks are still very much alive."

One such male network exists in commercial real estate, according to M.L. Kelly Wolfington, president of Mid-Atlantic Commercial for the Binswanger Co. "It's me and a bunch of white guys," Wolfington said. She described them as "wonderful and bright," but said that she is viewed as an outsider.

A great way for a woman to become chief executive officer is to start her own business, Wolfington said.

Advertising executive Linda M. Rosanio did just that. The Star Group, which she founded in Cherry Hill in 1985, now has 72 employees and annual billings of more than $20 million.

Mona Forman Doyle also followed that path. She was the first female vice president at Food Fair Stores. When the supermarket chain folded, Doyle could not find a job with similar responsibilities. So she started her own research business, and today remains president and publisher of the Consumer Network Inc.

When Sunoco spun off its pipelines and terminals in Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., Deborah Fretz was named as its CEO.

And the two top officers of Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc., formerly a unit of DuPont Co., are chief executive Carol A. Ammon and executive vice president Mariann T. MacDonald.

"It's been a long time coming," Ammon said of the advance of corporate women.

Contact Peter Binzen at 215-854-2456