Kellogg World Alumni Magazine Summer 2005Kellogg School of Management
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Transforming the corporate landscape
Perilous climb

Breaking boards

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Why Kellogg is the school for women seeking their MBA
Personally speaking...
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Transforming the corporate landscape

This is the ambitious goal of the Kellogg Center for Executive Women, which provides critical education, research and resources for women to achieve top leadership roles in business.

With only eight women occupying CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies as of January 2005 and just 13.6 percent of corporate director seats belonging to women (1), there is much to be done to bring parity to this landscape. And Kellogg is leading the way.

For starters, one of those eight CEOs — Brenda Barnes of Sara Lee Corp. — serves on the Center's prestigious steering committee, which includes a raft of other talent such as Margery Kraus, president and CEO of APCO Worldwide and one of Fast Company's 25 "Top Women Business Builders" for 2005; Ginger Graham, president and CEO of Amylin Pharmaceuticals; and Betsy Holden '82, former co-CEO of Kraft Foods.

Kellogg is distinguishing itself among its peers not only by describing the challenges confronting executive women, but also by making tangible progress in delivering solutions to those challenges, says the Center's director, Professor Victoria Husted Medvec.

"The Center for Executive Women says we at Kellogg believe so strongly that women should be half the work force and play huge roles in corporations that we are committed to changing the corporate landscape," says Medvec, the Adeline Barry Davee Professor of Management and Organizations. "No other institution has this; the Center is a real differentiator for Kellogg."

Tools, such as a database of qualified female directors, permit the Center to promote outstanding executive women for governance roles, Medvec says. "We offer this information to CEOs, nominating committees and search firms. We have some amazing women who have gotten onto corporate boards through our program and we encourage companies who don't have any women on their board to contact us."

 
1 According to Catalyst, a leading research and advisory organization working to advance women in business. The figure ranks women's presence among the boards of the largest 500 U.S. firms.
   
The four-year-old Center, with its research based insights, practical strategies for success, and a powerful network of executive women, is one way Kellogg works to ensure that all its students have the opportunity to develop their full potential. Other important efforts, such as the student-driven Women's Business Association and the Executive MBA program's Alumni Leadership Group, also complement the Kellogg School's overall culture of inclusion.

The following stories detail some of the Center's valuable contributions, including its outstanding programming. — MG

Perilous climb
Breaking boards
Success stories
Why Kellogg is the school for women seeking their MBA
Personally speaking...

©2002 Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University