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WIL biannual meeting and first general assembly

Posted in WIL event reports
05 July 2011 - Paris

On 5 July, just before the holidays, the European Network for Women in Leadership (WIL) held an exciting biannual meeting, and also its very first general assembly, around the topic of governance. Over 60 high-profile attendees joined us at the Orange Campus in Paris, a newly set up training centre for managers.

Host of the event, CEO and Chairman of France Télécom Stéphane Richard, engaged in a dialogue on measures taken by his Board to establish a more gender-balanced leadership after the severe socio-economic crisis.

WIL achievements presented by WIL Vice-president and CEO Lefebvre Software Viviane Chaine-Ribeiro heralded discussions to raise the profile of the network. A roundtable ran by the Director of Amcham France Marina Niforos rallying CEO of Jump Isabella Lenarduzzi, WIL Vice-president and Deputy Group HR, Executive VP France Télécom Brigitte Dumont, CEO of Women Equity Dunya Bouhacene and CEO of Sysdoc Katherine Corich, brainstormed for ways to reach more senior-level women and leverage decision makers.

Elena Bonfiglioli, Senior Director Health for Microsoft EMEA and WIL Director, highlighted a novel WIL program, as the network’s next concrete action to advance women in middle management to top leadership position.

The closing dinner was a solid demonstration of women’s ability to inspire people. Head of the EC Representation in Paris Anne Houtman, together with VP Orange France Delphine Ernotte, Professor at ESSEC Business School Viviane de Beaufort, and WOM Vice-president and Member of the European Parliament Antonyia Parvanova, shared their expertise and reflections to reshape governance in politics, economy or society.

The Women Talent Pool Program

Elena Bonfiglioli, Senior Director Health for Microsoft EMEA and WIL Director, will be coordinating the Women Talent Pool, an innovative WIL program aimed at identifying early on high potential women which so as to give them a voice, connect them with their peers and with senior-level women as their coaches, as well as various learning opportunities offered by partners. The program will kick off on 8 November 2011 at the Global Forum in ICT, Brussels. The concept was well acclaimed, attracting volunteering coaches and raising the interest of other potential partners alongside Microsoft and Orange.

Defining the network’s directions

Marina Niforos, Managing Director AmCham France and new WIL Director, moderated a roundtable that examined possible directions for WIL for 2011-2012, by bringing together four members with different backgrounds to highlight key take-outs from their fields.

Isabella Lenarduzzi, CEO Jump Forum, gave a thorough overview of the legislation recently adopted in various European countries on gender quotas, which served as a starting point for a debate on other broader measures to improve governance.

Brigitte Dumont, WIL Vice-president and Deputy Group HR, Executive VP France Télécom, outlined her Group’s strategy to improve female representation in technical departments, work/life balance conditions, but also to surge female representation at executive levels from the current 22% to 35% by 2015.

Katherine Corich, CEO of Sysdoc and newly elected WIL Director, set up her own company after working as a stockbroker and as manager in large organizations. Thanks to the innovative management processes she has put into place enabling employees to work in a flexible manner and gain skills easily, Sysdoc has been chaining awards and recognitions.

Dunya Bouhacene, CEO of Women Equity, has built an investment program for women-led companies. Although they perform better than men-led companies do, they are weakly integrated into business networks, and thus accessing fewer investments. Women Equity offers women the possibility to grow their business exponentially.

Closing Dinner on Global Governance

The closing dinner was a solid demonstration of women’s ability to inspire and pull people towards their vision. Four women frontrunners shared their ideas on enhancing governance in organizations that will shape the future.

Viviane de Beaufort, Professor at the ESSEC Business School and founder of the “Women, be European Board ready!” program, launched the discussions with a reflection on the European multicultural governance. She raised the awareness on the crisis of European project and deliberated in favor of the development of a competitive European economy based on the principles of fair trade and reciprocity, as a way to gather Europeans around the EU project.

Delphine Ernotte, Vice-president Orange France, spoke about the spillover effect of the economic and financial crisis. The unexpected social crisis determined by it led to a reshaping of the corporate governance scheme so that stakeholders – company Board, employees, shareholders, unions - improve their collaboration and be more open to listen to each other’s demands in the future.

Anne Houtman, Head of the European Commission Representation in Paris, shared a vision of an organic structure of global governance. The chain effects of the economic crisis proved that the post WWII system of international organizations lost its legitimacy and efficiency. The world turned its eyes on the European Union model of regional integration, which may bring about an enhanced sense of cooperation between governments.

Antonyia Parvanova, Member of the European Parliament and WIL Vice-president, brought into discussion the Asian gender-based policy model as a solution for a leadership alleviating crisis effects. Countries such as China, South Korea or Taiwan have many more women in top-level positions than the EU or its Member States.

WIL General Assembly elections

Congratulations to our newly elected Board members! They will be joining the other members of the Board for a three-year term, during which we hope to see the network grow in terms of membership and high-quality networking opportunities:

• Katherine Corich, CEO of Sysdoc;
• Isabella de Michelis di Slonghello, Vice-president for Public Affairs of Qualcomm;
• Alison Lazerwitz, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Swarovski;
• Deb Leary, CEO of Forensic Pathways;
• Marina Niforos, Managing Director of AmCham France;
• Sonia Trocmé-Le Page, CEO of Global Private Equity.

Tags: Antonyia Parvanova, Brigitte Dumont, Deb Leary, Delphine Ernotte, Elena Bonfiglioli, Dunya Bouhacene, Governance, Marina Niforos, Networking Events, Sonia Trocmé, Thaima Samman, Viviane Ribeiro, WIL, Orange, Isabella Lenarduzzi

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