September 2021 Report Summary

In September, US public companies appointed 130 women to board and 151 men to their boards.

This means women comprised 46% of all new public board appointments! This progress, the highest in the past 12 months, is consistent with an increase in women CEOs in the Fortune 500.

Our 2021 Women CEOs in America Report shows that women now comprise 8.2% of CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies.

While only 43 of the newly appointed female Board members (33% of new women appointments) chose to self-disclose their race, we continue to see increased diversification within this set. In September, 22 or 51.2% of the 43 women, self-identified as Black / African American, closely followed by 15 Asian/Pacific Islanders, 5 Hispanic and 1 woman identifying as Other. Amazon.com, Inc., PepsiCo, Inc., and HubSpot, Inc. are some of the companies that appointed this phenomenal group of diverse women to their boards.

Of the 130 women appointed the boards of public companies, 73 (56.1%) were first time board appointments. In September, Healthcare companies led the way in the appointment of women followed by Technology companies and Financial Services; with women appointed filling 24.6% of board seats at healthcare companies. In the Technology sector we see strides being made by women at companies like Intel Corporation and SMART Global Holdings, Inc.

Since we started publishing this monthly report in October 2020, companies are appointing more women and averaging over 41% each month to the board of public companies. This month is the highest in the past year. In addition, there is progress being made to appoint women of color and LGBTQ sub-segments. Equilar and WBC are tracking and analyzing the growth and rotation of board seats and the expanding candidate pool. We will continue to track not only the women in terms of numbers, diversity and profile; but the companies and industries in which female board members are present and how many of the overall board seats are held by women.

Please, join us in celebrating, tracking, analyzing, and promoting women serving on corporate boards.