Q1 2017 Women in boards Exhibit 1 of 2 Exhibit 1 Among the top 25 US companies, representation of women on boards is steadily converging toward parity. 1 Average Top 25 US companies by share of women board members, % 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Accenture General Motors Signet Jewelers Alaska Airlines Hewlett-Packard Tegna Alliant Energy Hologic Texas Instruments American Water Works IPG Ulta Ameriprise Financial Kellogg Viacom Best Buy Macy’s Wells Fargo Dollar General Michael Kors Williams Companies Dr Pepper Snapple Navient Estée Lauder Companies Patterson Companies 1 As of August 2016. Source: BoardEx database, 2005–16 Change the mind-set Even laggards acknowledge that increasing the percentage of women in the workforce and on boards is the right thing to do. But general conviction isn’t sufficient. What’s too often missing, says Fabrizio Freda, president and CEO of the Estée Lauder Companies, is a sense of urgency: “People believe we are going to get there eventually. But that is not enough; it’s too slow. The real obstacle is the lack of urgency.” Freda was one of many executives we interviewed who insisted that meaningful change will come only when executives make fewer excuses and work together quickly. What’s 2