Edie Fraser and Balaji Ganapathy opened the 2021 Women Business Collaborative summit with 3,400 registrants. They set targets like 10% male allies in leadership and noted 42% of women are joining boards. The focus: measurable commitments and accountability to close the gender gap.
Questions this video answers
Over 3,400 registrants.
Over 57 women business partners.
400 champions.
34% diverse.
Goal of getting 10% men into leadership.
Welcome to the WBC 2021 Annual Summit. To begin our program, please welcome the WBC's Chief Executive Officer Edie Fraser and Global Head of Corporate sustainability for TCS and WBC Board member Balaji Ganapathy.
A warm welcome to our 2021 WB Summit on Gender parity and diversity. And yes, our tagline with you is faster together through collaboration. As Robert Reese CEO forum and a board member WBC said yesterday, this is an historic summit and it's an historic two days as we stop and reflect where we've been with our vision of equal position, pay and power for all business women. We stop and we reflect and we thank you with total gratitude. We've had over 3,400 registrants, over 57 of our women business partners and resources, our board, 400 champions from our advisory and leaders, our strong sponsors and corporation and the message that we are a movement together and we will never rest or tire until we achieve gender equality with diversity. And we say that from our sisters of color as we have never marched stronger and WBC with all of our stakeholders is 34% diverse and we will hold ourselves accountable. We've also set a goal of getting 10% men into our leadership as allies of her and hold and thank you for really pushing ahead. We are building partners with our nine action items and our initiatives is so clear as you all know them. More women CEOs, C suite board of directors, entrepreneurship and capital and capital and technology and parity and technology and changing the pipeline. So just think about there's so much news about the great resignations about so many women leaving the workforce. But you will hear from our CEO winners and you will hear from our trailblazers and from us. If you've got the right culture, it can be the great recruitment and the great retention and the opportunity to make sure you've got the talent right and the supplier right. And as companies you've built in CSR which as we would say and Joey Reiman and Balajiganopathy. It's the CS opportunity of the new esg. It is opportunity. You're going to hear about companies of purpose. The time is now to accelerate change and we want to focus on certain areas of just looking through and learning. But we focus on action with an on action initiatives. But we also say we celebrate the biggest sea change is women joining boards of directors. 42% average this year. But not women of color. We see that across the board in the C suite with change but not enough women of color. We will make that change together. We will make that action and we will accelerate together and be held accountable. Belaji and I and all of us applaud those companies that are clearly transparent. We will move achievement and advancement, and we seek your bold goals. You'll hear from Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, who says, I want to be the most inclusive company in the world. And we will see that over and over, company by company, to get there with a new commitment. The voice of collaboration, champions of change, with total communications and use of technology. And yes, a celebration and a call to action. So to a partner in this bold action is Balaji Ganopathy from tcs. We've worked together for over a decade as we built STEM Connector, Innovation Task Force, million women mentors. And Balaji, you've always said, no more think tanks, only do tanks. So with that, we share Balaji with this wide world of wbc. Balaji.
Thank you, Edi. Such a pleasure to be here and such a terrific day to have this sort of event kickoff. I mean, you spoke about do tank. So let me kick off by saying that the secret to success is for a do tank is to convert good intentions to good actions and good actions to good outcomes. And nothing demonstrates this better than wbc. I'm proud and privileged to be a board member. And to me, there are two reasons why this is one of the best efforts in this space around the world. One is the force multiplier effect that comes with the power of collaboration. You can go far if you go alone, but you can go much further and do so much more exponentially if you go together and so faster together. And the whole power of the collaborator is incredible. And the second is the relentless bias towards action. I think that is exemplified by ued, by the board members, by the partners that WBC has, and even the initiatives. These are not committees of work groups. These are action initiatives. Their action and outcomes are what drives us forward. So these are two reasons. I'm so excited to be part of this journey. And I think over the next two days, what all of you and all of us will realize is that there is more potential available for us to tap into to accelerate the journey that we are on. If you take a step back and look at where we are today as compared to a year or 18 months ago, yes, the pandemic has brought a lot of adversity, but it has also created a world of opportunity. Yes, there are inherent biases and stereotypes that have further been accentuated, but there is more recognition, there is more action, there is more commitment to change. Where it was and take us forward with solid commitments and actions against those commitments. The acceleration of adoption of new business models that have happened as a result of the pandemic is bringing about once in a lifetime opportunity, I believe, for all of us to really live the values that we have been talking about. Whether it is empathy, whether it is moral leadership, whether it is resilience. These are not buzzwords. These are things that we can live. And I believe that using this opportunity to empower gender and diversity is the way you can truly live those values. And that is what the power of this collaborative is all about and has demonstrated through the CEOs, through the organizations, through the C suite, the board, through entrepreneurs, through capital, through technology, through diversity. You look at any of the dimensions that are there. This is an inclusive group of leaders who are committed and driven to action. And I think no one exemplifies this more than UED who have ably led from the front and brought all of us together towards this common goal. I want to end by sharing that the power of the mission that WBC has is one that all of you attendees, all of you partners, all of us should really draw inspiration from. Equal power, equal pay and equal position for women in business leadership roles. And that is what we will aim, that is what we will act towards, and that is what I believe we will achieve. And history will mark that. The pandemic and the adversity that it brought also brought this opportunity for us to shift our gears and take collective action and accelerate. And these two days will give us the opportunity to learn from who has taken those actions, who can we collaborate with? Who can we partner with? So I'm really excited and I hope all of you are. And Edie, I want to really thank you for your dedicated efforts over the years, but for your inspirational leadership too, to lead us from the front. Over to you.
Thank you. Balaji. It's all of us. There's no I in we. And what you say about equality and opportunity and change is all we want to emulate as we ask everybody to take action. And then we do want to celebrate. Fortune magazine today named Alison Chantel the first woman CEO of Fortune in 92 year history. So every day, as you will see, we will shout out change. And we thank Fortune for being our partner, Forbes for being part of the program.
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And clearly we look at those that set the stage, including Judy Woodruff, Nina Totenberg and Lisa Matthews that will close out this program. And Lisa, a black woman, appointed the first all female board of the National Press club. Welcome to all, and thank you so much.
