About Us

By Maria Andrea Trujillo and Alexander Guzman, founders and co-directors of the Women on Boards of Directors Leadership Initiative

Motivation

The Women on Boards of Directors Leadership Initiative supports women to reach leadership positions, especially on boards of directors. It began with the research of Maria Andrea Trujillo and Alexander Guzman, co-directors of CESA’s Center for Corporate Governance Studies (CEGC by its acronym in Spanish), who analyzed boards composition in Colombia and revealed a low level of women’s participation, both in closed held companies and those listed on the stock exchange. The professors’ doctoral thesis revealed a mere 10% participation of women, who had no ties to the founding families, among the country’s main business groups, from the end of the 20th century to the early 21st. Further analyzes by CESA’s CEGC similarly showed a slow evolution and significant under-representation of women on boards. In 2018, for example, women’s participation on the boards of listed firms in Colombia was just 15%. That figure has improved (by 2022 it reached 21.2%) but it is still far from representing a balance in terms of gender.

Research

Las investigaciones del CEGC del CESA, derivadas de las tesis doctorales de Guzmán y Trujillo, demuestran que el impacto de un miembro de junta directiva en el desempeño de la empresa depende del ‘talento’ y no del género. Cuando se mide ‘talento’, se hace en términos de formación y experiencia en cargos de liderazgo. Las mujeres buscan la formación de manera proactiva y organismos internacionales han demostrado que en comparación con los hombres, las mujeres cuentan con mejores tasas de formación. Sin embargo, la experiencia en posiciones de liderazgo no se da de manera natural, debido a diferentes aspectos reseñados en la literatura, como sesgos inconscientes, escaleras rotas, techos de cristal, acantilados de cristal, entre otros, que dificultan que una mujer pueda ocupar una posición de liderazgo en una empresa u otro tipo de organizaciones. Esto lo respaldan las estadísticas. En el mundo, solo el 5% de las empresas más grandes está presidida por una mujer. En Colombia, menos del 10% de los emisores cuentan con una mujer en la presidencia o gerencia general para 2024. Igual sucede en otros sectores. Para 2024, solo el 20% de las rectorías de las instituciones de educación superior en Colombia son ejercidas por una mujer. 

Impact

The CEGC’s investigations, along with others in the international arena, also demonstrated the positive impact women have on companies’ financial performance, their innovation, their relationship with strategic stakeholders, and their reputation. Organizational behavior research also highlights the important effect diversity on corporate governance bodies has on organizations’ performance. It is therefore necessary to take action and raise the discussion to the organizational level. Gender inequality is a social problem for which the state, private sector, academia and civil society must take responsibility, and act to mitigate in a shorter timeframe than the World Economic Forum’s estimate, which suggests that it will take 100 to 200 years to achieve gender equality worldwide.

That’s why, in 2018, CESA’s CEGC created the Women on Boards of Directors Leadership Initiative. The program not only seeks to create capacities in terms of female leadership, and corporate governance, but address the lack of female talent in the country for occupying positions on boards of directors. The program’s design, leaded by Maria Andrea Trujillo and Alexander Guzman, received a fundamental contribution from Ana Catalina Suarez (sixth cohort) who suggested devoting special space to aspects of female leadership, and the barriers and unconscious biases inherent in society. As part of the search for allies to enhance the program’s impact, and help make it visible, as well as support its women participants, the following people and entities came together: 

Aequales, thanks to Mia Perdomo and Maria Paulina del Castillo (first cohort), a company that consults on gender equality and provides tools for closing the gaps in Latin America’s labor market. 

ANDI, thanks to Ana Fergusson and Daniela Sotello (first cohort) Colombia’s main business association and a key ally in making the program a national initiative. 

Deloitte, thanks to Jorge Hernandez and Maria Cristina Piñeros (fifth cohort) one of the world’s largest professional service companies, in charge of control architecture aspects from a corporate governance perspective. 

The Colombian Institute for Corporate Governance, thanks to Catalina Zea (first cohort). The corporate governance institutes are collaboration spaces in several countries worldwide that promote improvements in organizations’ direction and control, contributing to their successful performance. The key actors of a country in matters of corporate governance interact in these spaces, and the ICGC represents that space in Colombia. 

IFC of the World Bank Group, thanks to Francisco Prada. IFC is the largest international development institution dedicated to the private sector in developing countries. It has had a corporate governance program in the region since 2015, currently a sustainability governance program. CESA has been one of IFC’s academic partners since 2015, for the development of Colombia’s corporate governance program.

Another fundamental actor in this initial stage is Juan David Aristizabal, who as director of CESA’s Leadership Center in 2018, designed the program’s corporate leadership element. The initiative grows thanks to these allies, who act as a support platform for women. PageExecutive joined in 2019, WIC in 2020, along with the Colombian chapter of the 30% Club, the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce (CCB) in 2021 and Orza and Incubar Manizales in 2022, all of which will be discussed later. Previous experience in leadership training at CESA’s CEGC, in association with the IFC and ICGC, showed how important it was to accompany women in this process. That’s why, since the beginning, CESA and its allies have committed to accompanying women and acting as spokespeople on gender equality with regards to leadership positions in the business sector. The women who participate in the program not only benefit from the training they receive, but from the program’s partners who share their profiles in selection processes, thereby increasing their chances of joining the boards of directors of companies and social organizations.

The program began with a cohort of 26 women, chosen from more than 50 applicants. The profile was professionals with leadership positions at the first, second or third level in organizations, who have held or hope to hold a position on a board of directors in the short term. The selection sought to guarantee that any woman from the program’s community could be recommended for a place on one of these governing bodies, which require experience, knowledge and an outstanding professional career. In the first cohort’s final few training days, PageExecutive joined the initiative, thanks to Margarita Maldonado of the second cohort, and due to the firm’s experience and reputation, as well as its commitment to the initiative, became another ally in the training of women to join boards of directors.

The pandemic made it necessary to modify what had previously been a face-to-face program to a virtual one, which then facilitated national coverage. As an initiative unique in Colombia for applying a gender approach to board members’ training, and considering the participants’ profiles, WIC and the Colombia chapter of the 30% Club, thanks to Angela Hurtado, Maria Paula Duque and Monica Contreras (second cohort) joined the initiative to encourage the training of women in aspects of corporate governance and to make Colombia’s female talent visible. Both PageExecutive, WIC and the 30% Club Colombia chapter, as well as other allies, were essential when it came to creating the Resume Bank, which in 2022 was re-named ‘Diverse Boards’ in an initiative that can be found at www.juntasdiversas.com. The second and third cohort were launched in 2020, and work continued with women from the first cohort. They were invited to activities and an extended group of women supported by their allies was founded. www.juntasdiversas.comDurante este año se lanzan la segunda y tercera promoción. Además, se sigue trabajando con las mujeres de la primera promoción, invitándolas a actividades y consolidando un grupo extendido de mujeres apoyadas por los aliados.

With the aim of consolidating the benefits for each woman by providing opportunities to network with other participants, as well as the need to constantly strengthen aspects of corporate governance, the Women on Boards of Directors Leadership Community was formalized in 2021, with the aim of bringing women leaders in the country, from different industries and sectors together, who, as graduates from the Women on Boards of Directors Leadership Initiative, would work towards fulfilling a common purpose: promoting female leadership on boards of directors with women prepared for both the being (leaders) and the doing (corporate governance) to contribute successfully to companies’ development and generate change in society. 

In this year, Claudia Patricia Rivera and Ines Olano (first cohort) were appointed Chair and Co-Chair and the Community’s first advisory board was created, comprising Ana Fergusson (first cohort), Angela Posse (first cohort), Catalina Rengifo (second cohort), Catalina Zea (first cohort), Catherine Buelvas (first cohort), Irina Jaramillo (third cohort), Margarita Maldonado (second cohort), Maria Andrea Trujillo (first cohort), and Natalia Garcia (third cohort). Alexander Guzman was appointed Community Secretary. Support committees for the Chair and Co-Chair were also created. 

The fourth, fifth and sixth cohorts undertook the course this year and the Bogota Chamber of Commerce (CCB) joined as a strategic ally to support the Community’s activities. The CCB also invited women to the Consultative Committees, a space similar to an advisory board that accompanies micro, small and medium-sized companies to consolidate their business models and meet specific needs. 

In December 2021, the first meeting of the Women on Boards of Directors Leadership Community was held in Cartagena, Colombia. The meeting was attended by more than 150 women from the Community, alongside guests from the business sector. It was undoubtedly a milestone, a space for the women to learn and strengthen their networks.

Orza became an ally in 2022, thanks to Gonzalo Araujo, Maria Jimena Escandon (fourth cohort) and Juliana Ocampo (eighth cohort) a corporate strategic relationship firm specializing in communications and public affairs, which joined in order to consolidate a communication strategy around the importance of gender equity in the business sector and to work on the need to make female leadership visible in Colombia. Incubar Manizales also joined, thanks to Claudia Benavides (seventh cohort), with the aim of linking women from the Community to acceleration and support committees for early-stage ventures. 

Relationship Clubs among the women were also launched in 2022, and the Chair and Co-Chair committees were reconfigured, regional meetings activated and the second annual meeting of the Community was held in Medellin, bringing together representatives from the nine cohorts. A meeting of the Community was also held for the first time in Washington DC. The Community began a process of internationalization. Cohorts seven, eight, and nine began.

In the second half of 2022, the Community has brought together 350 women leaders who have held or are willing to hold, based on their training and experience, positions on boards and who hold a leadership position in their company at the first, second or third level. Eighty percent have board member experience in Colombia or abroad, 41% are presidents, general managers or CEOs in the companies or organizations where they work, in other words, they hold a main executive role, and another 54% are part of senior management teams, occupying the roles of vice-presidents or deputy managers. Ninety percent of the women are bilingual, 65% have studied abroad, and 17% have professional experience in other countries. They are diverse in their training and experience and include lawyers, business administrators, economists, industrial, civil, production, systems, chemical, electrical and electronic engineers, social communicators and journalists, psychologists, financiers, social workers, anthropologists and architects, all with different specialist areas.

Para este año, se crea ‘Conversation with… un espacio de inspiración que permite conocer más a las mujeres que hacen parte de la comunidad y visibilizar el trabajo de cada una. Además, se continúa con las conferencias de actualizaciónThe community’s conference calendar continued to be grow, full of interesting events relevant to its purpose and determination to both ‘be’ and ‘do’.

Regional meetings continued to be held and, in September, the community’s third AGM was held in Cali with the motto: ‘Create, Connect and Transform.’ Under Ines Olano’s leadership, the Women on Boards of Directors Leadership Initiative expanded to Mexico, with the Executive Council of Global Companies as an ally. Mexico’s first intake entered in June 2023, formed of 32 women presidents and vice-presidents of global companies.

Para 2023, la Comunidad reúne casi 600 mujeres líderes que han ocupado o están dispuestas a ocupar, sustentado en su experiencia y formación, puestos en Juntas Directivas, y que ocupan posiciones de liderazgo en sus empresas en primer, segundo o incluso tercer nivel. El 70% ya tiene experiencia en juntas directivas en Colombia o el exterior, el 40% son presidentas, gerentes generales o directoras ejecutivas en las empresas y organizaciones donde trabajan, es decir, ocupan el cargo de ejecutivo principal, y otro 55% hacen parte de los equipos de alta dirección, ocupando vicepresidencias o subgerencias. Además, el 76% de estas mujeres son bilingües, el 65% ha realizado estudios en el exterior, y el 17% cuenta con experiencia laboral en otros países. Son diversas en su formación, y contamos con abogadas, administradoras de empresas, economistas, ingenieras industriales, civiles, de producción, de sistemas, químicas, eléctricas, electrónicas, comunicadoras sociales y periodistas, psicólogas, financieras, trabajadoras sociales, antropólogas y arquitectas con diferentes áreas de especialización.

Profundizando los esfuerzos que hacemos alrededor de la diversidad, la equidad y la inclusión en las Juntas Directivas, sabemos que es importante reconocer el papel de los hombres en esta conversación. Por lo tanto, en el 2024 se lanza el programa Embajadores H, con las primeras promociones de hombres líderes empresariales, con los que se busca generar un cambio en la cultura empresarial colombiana, volviéndola más diversa, equitativa e incluyente. El Programa Embajadores H, hace parte de Proyecto H: una sola conversación.

Embajadores H es un programa académico de alto nivel busca generar conciencia acerca de los problemas económicos y sociales que trae consigo la inequidad de género, así como entender cómo se ejerce el liderazgo masculino a través de las experiencias, retos personales y desafíos en el ámbito laboral de los hombres, con el fin de poder desarrollar buenas prácticas en torno a la diversidad y la inclusión en las empresas, desde la perspectiva del gobierno corporativo.  Para más información https://proyecto-h.com/es/

Para el 2024, la Comunidad congrega más de 800 mujeres líderes, en sus dos capítulos de Colombia y México, que han ocupado o están dispuestas a ocupar, sustentado en su experiencia y formación, puestos en Juntas Directivas, y que ocupan posiciones de liderazgo en sus empresas en primer, segundo o incluso tercer nivel. El 70% ya tiene experiencia en juntas directivas en Colombia o el exterior, el 40% son presidentas, gerentes generales o directoras ejecutivas en las empresas y organizaciones donde trabajan, es decir, ocupan el cargo de ejecutivo principal, y otro 55% hacen parte de los equipos de alta dirección, ocupando vicepresidencias o subgerencias. Además, el 76% de estas mujeres son bilingües, el 65% ha realizado estudios en el exterior, y el 17% cuenta con experiencia laboral en otros países. Son diversas en su formación, y contamos con abogadas, administradoras de empresas, economistas, ingenieras industriales, civiles, de producción, de sistemas, químicas, eléctricas, electrónicas, comunicadoras sociales y periodistas, psicólogas, financieras, trabajadoras sociales, antropólogas y arquitectas con diferentes áreas de especialización.

Aliados de nuestra iniciativa