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Network ends 2006 with record growth
Capital campaign exceeds targets; membership soars 25%
Tell us whom you want honored by NEW |
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| Helayne Angelus NEW President |
Angelus thanked NEW’s sponsors, members, executive team and board members “for an absolutely outstanding 2006—and I want to take the opportunity to update our supporters on the progress we made this year to achieve our mission to attract, retain, and advance women in the retail and consumer packaged goods industry through education, leadership and business development.” Excerpts from NEW’s year-end update follow:
STRATEGY
Early in 2006, the officer team of NEW embarked on renewal of our strategic plan. It was clear that the rapid growth and momentum of NEW called for a strategy to deliver improved ROI and to expand the value equation for our members and sponsoring companies. To that end, we set objectives to ensure that NEW grew into a coast-to-coast organization with the expansion of our regional strategy and to provide best practices around diversity and inclusion for the industry. In order to fund those goals, we set aggressive revenue targets for 2006.
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
NEW's fifth anniversary capital campaign pushed 2006 revenue to a record $1.2 million, including $800,000 in sponsor contributions, 45 percent more than our sponsor revenue target of $550,000. Event revenue increased to $400,000, a 73 percent increase from last year's event revenue of $231,000. The expanded revenue will enable the Network to fulfill its mission and expand its programs and services in the year ahead.
MEMBERSHIP
NEW membership grew 25 percent to more than 2,500 senior executives and emerging leaders. NEW's membership includes individuals from more than 300 companies and 38 corporate sponsors, and is more diverse and national than ever. NEW’s membership committee is chaired by Kathy Casey of Kellogg Company.
NEW SPONSORS
The Network welcomed many new corporate sponsors to our growing roster of industry supporters: Title Sponsors Unilever, Nestlé Purina and Chevron; Platinum sponsors General Mills, Johnson O'Hare and Nestle Waters; Gold Sponsors Del Monte Foods, KPMG and S&D Coffee; and Silver Sponsors ConAgra Foods, CPGjoblist and The J.M. Smucker Company. Our sponsors share the Network's vision of increased retention and attraction of women to our industry. The Network’s sponsorship committee is co-chaired by Alison Kenney Paul of Deloitte and Mike Gorshe of Accenture.
NEW LEADERS
The Network's leadership received an infusion of talent, including seven new at-large board members: Anne Fink vice president, PepsiCo Sales for PepsiCo; Michelle Gloeckler, VP and general manager, The Hershey Experience, The Hershey Company; Julie Hamilton, VP, International Business Development, the Coca-Cola Company; DeDe Priest, senior vice president, GMM Food Division, Wal-Mart Stores; Regenia Stein, vice president, Central Area, Kraft Foods; Mary van Praag, vice president of sales, Neutrogena Corporation (a Johnson & Johnson Company); and James White, senior vice president, Consumer Brands, Safeway, Inc. The Network is actively working to create future leaders through recruitment and succession planning. As part of this process, NEW's nominating committee, led by immediate past president Michele Hanson of Vertis, is being transformed into "the board development committee," which will eventually be responsible for all board strategy and structures, including nominations and on-boarding of new board members.
REGIONAL GROWTH
NEW's regional event committees and activities grew in scope and number. A record of more than 2,500 men and women attended 14 regional events across the country, and there were first-ever events in Tampa, Philadelphia and the Twin Cities. High-profile speakers and dynamic programs coast-to-coast received high marks from attendees. A new regional committee was formed in Chicago and more are planned for early 2007 for Northern California, the Mid-Atlantic region and the Carolinas. Nationally, more than 300 men and women participate in the leadership of the regional event committees. Participation by retailers was a highlight of regional events in 2006. The 2006 launch of the northern Florida regional committee in Tampa was driven by Kash n' Karry/Sweetbay and Publix; our Philadelphia launch was spurred by Acme Markets. NEW's huge regional expansion has been led by our tireless Regional Events Chair, Bobbie O'Hare of Johnson O'Hare.
ANNUAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT
Our 2006 NEW Leadership Summit in September was bigger than ever, drawing a record 350 attendees from the CPG and retail industry's top companies to Dallas. Our program, themed "Unleash the Leader in You," drew excellent ratings from attendees. One of the event's top highlights was a retailer panel featuring women from 7-Eleven, SUPERVALU and Wal-Mart Stores. For the first time, separate programming tracks were directed at senior women and emerging leaders to foster career-stage development (see this month's Gallery for video highlights of our 2006 Summit). Debbie Wildrick of 7-Eleven led the Education and Programming committee in this enhanced offering.
MEMBER SUPPORT AND DIVERSITY BEST PRACTICES
The Network enhanced its professional development services with increased networking and educational support, more action learning opportunities, new member teleconferences, and a free online job bank and member directory. NEW has facilitated mentoring for more than 300 executives in the past five years. In 2006 we launched our next generation of mentoring workshops, "Deep Dive into Career Development," enabling participants to explore their lives and careers and to develop mentoring relationships for each opportunity area. The Deep Dive program was created by NEW Board Member Sandra Bushby of KPMG. There will be three such workshops in 2007. Hundreds of NEW members joined our members-only teleconferences to get the most from their membership and network with other industry executives. NEW also launched the Women of Color/ Latina program, following the success of last year's program focused on African-American Women. Trudy Bourgeois, Center for Workforce Excellence and NEW Board member, led the development of the Women of Color initiative. PepsiCo and P&G were the sponsors. NEW's special report on corporate Affinity Groups outlines the increasing influence and popularity of these networks. In 2007, NEW will continue its Best Practices series with special reports sponsored by KPMG.
AWARDS
In May, NEW honored its Outstanding Champion, Tom Greco, who is now president of PepsiCo Sales. The Network recognized Greco for advancing NEW and its mission throughout PepsiCo and among the company's retail customers. In November, NEW presented the Hedy Halpert Diversity Awareness Award posthumously to Tom Crawford, CEO of the Leadership Network Inc. NEW was saddened by Tom's sudden passing in July and will miss his friendship and support.
SPONSOR SUPPORT
NEW initiated a nationwide round of sponsor meetings to gather feedback and improve sponsor support, including greater sponsor activation support, increased sponsor recognition at events and through NEW communications, more industry scholarships and our "One Woman, Two Lives" shopability survey, sponsored by PepsiCo and P&G. In June, NEW took center stage at a standing-room only workshop at the NACDS Marketplace to present the survey's results. The presentation included a panel of NEW members who discussed their real-experiences with shopability and its retail impact. In September, NEW moderated a panel of representatives from the Kroger Company, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, and the Center for Workforce Excellence, as they discussed ways for the industry to take advantage of the industry's changing workplace demographics.
EXPANSION PLANS
Key Network objectives for 2007 include: A NEW Executive Women's Retreat; continuation of our Women of Color initiative through a Multicultural Forum bringing emerging leaders, managers and diversity experts together; the appointment of a new Client Services Director to assist sponsor activation; new regional groups; and an expanded Leadership Summit featuring a "Deep Dive" career development and mentoring workshop.
“The Network's fifth anniversary was a year of growth – and we could not have done it without your support, efforts and participation,” Angelus concluded. “We're looking forward to 2007 being the best year yet!”
For sponsor support or information on how to become a NEW sponsor, contact Executive Director Joan Toth at (312) 693-5393. For information on membership activities or joining the Network as an individual, contact Anna Duran (713) 888-5305.
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Tell us whom you want honored by NEW
Call for 2007 outstanding champion nominations
The Network of Executive Women is looking for a dynamic diversity
champion to honor with its Outstanding Champion Award. The award will
be presented Sunday, May 6, at NEW’s Annual Outstanding Champion
Reception in Chicago during FMI.
Seven women and men have been recognized as NEW’s Outstanding Champion
since the organization's founding in 2001. Tom Greco, president,
PepsiCo sales, was given the award in 2006 and Linda Dillman, executive
vice president, risk management, benefits and sustainability of
Wal-Mart, Jeri Dunn, former senior vice president and CIO of Tyson
Food, and Kay Palmer, CIO and executive vice president of J.B. Hunt,
shared the award in 2005.
To nominate an industry leader for NEW’s Outstanding Champion contact Nathalia Granger, NEW’s director of operations, at (312) 693-6855.
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No progress on pay gap in past 10 years
Disparity widens among college-educated
The gap in pay between men and women is not closing and in some cases
is growing wider, according to Labor Department statistics reported in
the New York Times December 24.
There has been little growth in relative pay for non-college educated
women in the past decade, and among women with four-year degrees, the
gap has actually widened. Last year college-educated women 36-45 earned
74.7 cents per hourly for every dollar earned by college-educated men.
Ten years ago the figure was 75.7 cents.
The lack of progress is in sharp contrast to the 15 years before 1995,
when women’s hourly pay increased from 65 cents to 75 cents of men’s
hourly wages.
“The reasons for the stagnation are complicated and appear to include
both discrimination and women’s own choices,” the page one article in
the Times said. According to
Labor Department surveys, "the number of women staying home to raise
children has grown and the trend is most pronounced among highly
educated women.”
The Network of Executive Women said in a statement that, “This report
and the recent Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Earners and Top
Earners (NetworkNEWs, September 2006)
demonstrate the urgent need for action on gender diversity and
work/life solutions that will encourage talented women to stay in the
work force.”
"In the ten last years, growth has averaged 0.5 percentage points per
year for women board directors and 0.8 percentage points per year for
women corporate officers," Catalyst reported. "At this rate it could
take 70 years for women and men to hold an equal number of seats on
Fortune 500 boards, and 40 years for women and men to hold an equal
number of corporate officer positions."
Only eight of the Fortune 500 companies -- 1.6 percent -- had female
CEOs in 2005. Furthermore, even among the highest levels of leadership,
"women are segregated into less powerful and prestigious positions.
They hold proportionately few board committee chairs, clout titles and
line positions," the Catalyst census reported.
Catalyst said women executives "face three significant barriers that
men rarely face: gender-based stereotyping, exclusion from informal
networks, and a lack of role models. These obstacles combine to
restrain women from top positions by pigeonholing their talents,
restricting access to essential information and discouraging their
ambitions."
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New phones and address for Chicago HQ
Please note the Network’s new contact info
The headquarters of the Network of Executive Women has moved to a new
floor in the Accenture building at 161 N. Clark Street in Chicago and
has new phone numbers. Please make a note of the Network’s current
contact information:
NEW ADDRESS
The Network of Executive Women
c/o Accenture
161 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60601
Fax (312) 726-4704
REMITTANCES
Please send to address on invoice
NEW PHONES
Joan Toth, Executive Director
(312) 693-5393
Nathalia Granger, Director of Operations
(312) 693-6855
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