Thursday’s Headlines: Business Schools Aim to ID Board-Ready Women

More broads on boards. That's the goal of a consortium of business schools collaborating to grow the number of women on corporate boards. Businessweek reports that the Forté Foundation’s ultimate goal is to produce by the end of the year an initial list of about 165 or more vetted and board-ready women that companies can use when trying to identify potential board candidates.

Forté will also help women interested in serving on a board 10 years down the road, providing them with assessment tools and educational programming.

The group aims to rectify the dismal numbers of females on U.S. boards. In 2011, women held just 16.1 percent of board seats, and in 2010 and 2011, about 10 percent of the companies had zero women on their boards. For shame.

Europe faced a similar dearth of board estrogen, and the European Business Schools Women on Board Initiative last fall issued a call to action to grow female representation on corporate boards, as well as a way to identify board-ready women from business school grads and alumni.

 

Other News:

J.P. Morgan leads in Asian bonds. [Bloomberg]

The world’s biggest banks are sitting on the powder keg of the Libor. [Investment News]

BlackRock’s future growth will shift from acquisitions to deposits. [Businessweek]

Carlyle Group bought 49 percent of Mandarin Hotel Holdings of China. [Reuters]

University College Dublin’s business schools struggle to attract international students. [WSJ]

British insurer Aviva plans to exit a third of its businesses. [Bloomberg]

A second hedge fund run by Buddy Fletcher filed for bankruptcy. [WSJ]

Opinion: Trading floor culture no longer acceptable. [Financial Times]