The National Conversation - Building the Pipeline : How do we Prepare Ourselves and Find Director Opportunities?

On Wednesday, Nov. 15, in cities across the U.S. and throughout the world, C-Suite and senior executives will gather for 2020 Women on Boards: The National Conversation on Board Diversity. Otterbein University is proud to once again host the central Ohio event from 7-9 a.m. at the Battelle Fine Arts Center, 170 W. Park St., Westerville. 

Dr. Kathy Krendl, president of Otterbein University, will welcome guests and moderate a panel discussion on Building the Pipeline: How Do We Better Prepare Ourselves and Find Director Opportunities? The panel will feature the following leaders:

• Chasity Kuttrus, partner and executive coach at Executive Elements
• Eleanor Bloxham, president and CEO, The Value Alliance and Corporate Governance Alliance
• Jeff Sopp, CEO of Expesite
• Yvette McGee Brown, partner at Jones Day and former Ohio Supreme Court justice

Additionally, Julie Graber, CEO of GenderEQA, will provide a data overview on women on boards nationally and in central Ohio.

2020 Women on Boards is a national campaign to increase the percentage of women on U.S. company boards to 20 percent or greater by the year 2020. Launched in December 2010, the consumer-oriented, grassroots campaign is redefining good corporate governance and gender diversity standards and creating a cultural imperative for corporate action. They congratulate companies for achieving or surpassing the 20 perfect goal and educate all-male boards of directors about the value of diversity. They provide access to our research through the 2020 Gender Diversity Directory, a database of over 1,800 public and private companies categorized by the gender composition of their boards. The 2020 Women on Boards campaign also publishes the 2020 Gender Diversity Index, an annual analysis of trends in the board composition of Fortune 1000 companies.  

Among the campaign’s signature programs, the National Conversation on Board Diversity is an annual event that takes place on a single day in cities across the country. Over the last four years, the event was held in 35 cities (four international) with more than 6,000 people attending and more participating on social media.  

The event is sponsored by GBQ. As a top 200 tax, accounting and consulting firm, GBQ has over 165 associates working in six offices and five states. While its size permits us to serve even the most complex organizations, its independence allows it to keep all decision-making authority in one place.