CONSOB, the public authority responsible for regulating the Italian securities market, just published the study Women on Boards in Italy.

“In this paper we investigate the state of the art of women representation in Italian corporate boards, trying also to assess its determinants”.

Download the report here (in English, despite the first pages in Italian)

Cranfield last week presented to David Cameron the 6 Month Interim Davies Report on Women on Boards.
Since the first Davies Report numbers have slightly improved with 21 new women appointed.
Download the report here: http://www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/p1087/Research/Research-Centres/Centre-for-Women-Business-Leaders

Deloitte together with Fondazione Marisa Bellisario, Consiglio Nazionale dei Dottori Commercialisti e degli Esperti Contabili, Egon Zehnder International and PWA Milan has organized an event entitled “Le quote di “genere” nei Consigli di Amministrazione e nei Collegi Sindacali. Un’opportunità di crescita per tutti”.

The event will take place on July 11th at 16 in Rome at Palazzo Marini, Sala delle Conferenze della Camera dei Deputati.

If you wish to know more about the agenda of the event and how to register, please click here to download the brochure.

Read this very interesting article, entitled “Women in the boardroom” written by Jerzy Buzek – EU Parliament President – and Viviane Reding – EU Justice Commissioner for the International Herald Tribune.

“The ball is now in the companies’ court. We would like to see Europe in the fast lane when it comes to women in boardrooms. Let’s set ambitious targets. By 2015, at least 30 percent of boardrooms should be female. By 2020, this should rise to 40 percent. In an ideal world, businesses would achieve this voluntarily. But we also stand ready, starting in 2012, to intervene with regulatory pressure if necessary”.

Read the article here

25% of seats to women by 2015, if the code is not effective, the imposition of quotas might come back on the agenda.

See the article on FT here.

In Italy quota legislation under discussion tomorrow in Senate, 40% of board seats to women immediately. Huge reaction from both politicians and entrepreneurs association to try and stop the legislation process. If you want to know more check our post “Are you pro or against quotas? Express your opinion on Il Sole 24ore“.

The fourth edition of our EuropeanPWN BoardMonitor has been released. The bi-annual research on women on boards in the top 300 companies in Europe by market capitalization has been present at the WIN Conference on Wednesday October 6th and distributed to the press all over Europe.

We are happy to witness the best improvement since the first release in 2004 (+ 21% versus 2008), however in most countries the starting point is so low that even a double digit growth does not bring the percentage above 15%.

If you want to read the report, the press release and the media coverage, click here.

Roger Abravanel wrote an interesting comment on how the lack of women in Italian boards will negatively impact their performance.

The article was published on Il Corriere della Sera last saturday and is posted on his blog Meritocrazia. Abravanel’s position on Women on Boards is perfectly in line with the goals and spirit that drove our Ready-for-board Women initiative: we are not asking to appoint more women because of equality, but because of merit.

If you wish to read the article, please click here.

What is the situation of women in the 21st century? The International Herald tribune is trying to answer to this question with a series of articles covering different areas of the world and different positions within companies.

“Getting Women Into Boardrooms, by Law” examines the situation of Norway a few years after the introduction of quotas.

“Female Bankers in India Earn Chances to Rule” presents the unusual situation of Indian Women highly represented in top positions among bankers.

“Where Are the Women on Wall Street?” on the other hand discusses about the difficulty of the top women in Wall Street in getting back to top positions now that the economy is recovering.

“In Germany, a Tradition Falls, and Women Rise” presents the evolving situation of Germany, where more schools are introducing afternoon classes and more women are getting back to work after maternity leave.

Just two samples of our 2009 key project “Ready-for-board Women” in the media.

“Donne Leader: Nuove iniziative per il 2010, cambierà qualcosa?” in Blog Meritocrazia on Il Corriere (click here to read the article)

“Donne, autocandidatevi per entrare nei board!” in Affaritaliani (click here to read the article)

Alessandra serves as a Managing Director for Tamburi Investment Partners, an investment merchant bank focusing on mid sized Italian companies listed on the Italian Stock Market.

Prior to the 2007 merge into Tamburi Investment Partners, she co-founded and served as Managing Director of Tamburi & Associati, a company specializing in consulting for M&A and corporate finance transactions.  Prior to that, Alessandra worked for Montagu Euromobiliare SpA as head of Mergers and Acquisitions. Alessandra currently serves on the boards of Management & Capitali SpA and SINV Holding SpA and has had numerous articles published on finance.

1.  How long have you been a member of a board of directors (or how long were you a member), on how many boards do you sit and what are typical board member duties (responsibilities, roles, activities)?

I have been a member of various boards of directors for nearly 20 years. Today I sit on four boards of directors – of which two of listed public companies – and in three cases I am an executive director. Being a BoD member is nothing other than playing a directive or top management role – something that obviously implies a number of responsibilities.

2.  What drove you and guided you towards a top manager and a board member position? Was it a planned and rational decision, was it a series of casual decisions, something else?

I in no way “planned” to become a “top manager”, nor do I recognise myself in that (somewhat empty) definition. Membership of a BoD is the result of a job done with huge commitment, alongside people who esteem me. In one of the BoDs I am an independent director, chosen as such by an entrepreneur who wanted to set up a “sounding board” for discussion and exchange of opinions, with various professional skills represented, so as to give the company the extra input enabling it to take decisions as impartial as possible in relation to the desires of the family controlling it.

3.  Career planning – what 3 pieces of advice would you give a woman in her 20′s whose goal was a board position  within 15 years? What is absolutely vital to include in your career path with that objective (skills, experience, proficiencies, do’s and don’ts)

There is no advice to give to anyone wanting to become a board member because, as such, being a board member means absolutely nothing. Pure careerism, together with basking in the bliss of being a board member, will never be part of my DNA. The pieces of advice to give to those who want to do their job well – and if they do so they will assert themselves – are (i) huge commitment, even regardless of any short-term appreciation that may be received from the organisation where one works; (ii) serious, constant study, in parallel with work, to go into each matter in depth, even beyond what is required at any given time by one’s superiors and, above all regardless of the latter’s competences, which must at least be equalled in terms of both quality and quantity; (iii) willpower, which must constantly enable people to be determined in achieving their personal short- and medium-term professional objectives, and (iv) a sense of humaneness, of correctness and equity to avoid forming part of cynical groups, more interested in making career progress than in true, continuous and outright quality – on a 360-degree basis – in their work.

4.  In your opinion, what would be the most valuable initiatives (by the State, the corporations and individuals) to support a higher number of women on boards?

None. A person has to merit BoD membership regardless of gender – and only people lacking adequate human and professional qualities can believe that mechanisms such as “pink quotas” or similar things are beneficial for women as a category. It is also evident, however, that if certain organisations want to measure themselves with the sensitivity and methodological approaches typical of the female gender, also by appointing women to BoDs, they demonstrate open-mindedness. The State, companies and individuals must be able to make BoD appointments in total freedom.