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Three in 50 CEOs at B.C.’s top companies women: report

Minerva BC Score Card reveals some gains in certain organizations
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B.C.’s companies haven’t gotten any better representing women at the top of the corporate ladder the past year, according to a report from Minerva BC.

For the second straight year just three CEOs at the province’s 50 top revenue-generating companies are women.

Minerva BC, a non-profit organization supporting women in the workplace, revealed in its 2018 Face of Leadership B.C. Score Card that only two companies had 50% or more female representation in executive management roles.

Women made up 60% of Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s (Nasdaq: LULU) executive management team, while Pacific Blue Cross had 50%.

The average for the top 50 was 17%.

Minerva BC CEO Tina Strehlke said she sees two common traits among executives committed to making leadership teams more reflective of society: a values-based connection to the cause and a deep understanding for the business case.

“Diverse leaderships do in fact generate more revenue,” she said.

Management consulting company McKinsey & Co. examined the performance of 1,000 companies across 12 countries for a report released in January 2018.

It concluded that top-quartile companies on executive-level gender diversity were 21% more likely to outperform industry peers in the fourth quartile.

Strehlke said there is a growing awareness among corporate leaders that conversations about diversity shouldn’t be something relegated to human resources departments.

“The challenge is, how do you create the changes in your culture to make that happen?” she said.

“The business case is coming and people can understand it. The tough part is, it requires everyone on the team and the leaders in the organization to buy into that and help effect the change that we need.”

Significant gains have been made regarding female representation in executive management for some companies in the past year.

First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX: FM) expanded representation from 0% to 29%, London Drugs Ltd. expanded from 0% to 25%, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia expanded from 38% to 63% and Lululemon expanded from 33% to 60%.

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