LOCAL FEMALE LEADERS ANALYZE OBSTACLES TO REACHING THE TOP

There are a handful of Clark County companies where women are well represented in top executive positions. Take New Edge Networks where Linda Beck is president and one of five women on the telecom company’s 10-person executive team. Former Intel executive Joanna Lohkamp leads Isonics Semiconductor here as chief operating officer.

The fact is that New Edge and Isonics are more the anomaly than the rule. Of the 76 women recommended for our list of Clark County’s Most Powerful Women appearing in this issue of The Columbian’s B2B magazine, only 12 hold a vice president, president or other high level position with a traditional company. That’s about 16 percent. The rest work for the government, in nonprofit social service agencies or are independent business owners.

So is it harder for women to reach the upper echelon in management at Clark County companies?

We asked a random number women on our Most Power list that question. Their responses were thoughtful, came with personal stories and in some ways were a bit surprising.

Complexity

Because of the complexity of the issue, nobody had a single clear answer. But a few commonalities did emerge.

Despite great strides in the work place, obstacles still exist. Women continue to juggle work with personal life in ways that men more often do not. The simple truth that men and women are different and, as a society, we continue to struggle with that reality, as well.

So what is the local business climate like for women? Let’s hear from some of Clark County’s most powerful women:

Jeanne Firstenburg, 59, senior vice president of First Independent Bank. Firstenburg owned her own business for 15 years before returning to college and earning an accounting degree. She went to work for a regional CPA firm, switched to state government where she did budgeting and strategic planning before becoming a bank regulator. She came to First Independent in 1999 as a regulator and two years later became the chief financial officer. She became the bank’s first female senior vice president in 2003.

Firstenburg preaches to women in her company as well as others that to achieve their goals they need a strong educational base and that they must follow their passions rather than chase job titles.

“The first challenge women have to address is education. I was on the cusp of an era where the men were sent off to college and women didn’t have that opportunity. I had to make that opportunity as I went along. That’s the first barrier. If you don’t put that at the top of your priority list as a young women you can’t get over that one.”

At First Indy, 60 percent of the bank’s employees in supervisory roles are women while nationally only 2 percent to 3 percent are in leadership roles for banking.

Nurturing mentality

Betty Sue Morris, 65, Clark County Commissioner. Morris has been a high school teacher, newspaper editor and reporter and state representative. She theorized that a greater number of women on The Columbian’s list hold governmental and social service agency leadership positions because of several key factors. There’s more of a nurturing mentality at such agencies, there’s more opportunity to balance work and a personal life, and the opportunity to make the greatest impact. Morris said it might be a bit easier to move up the ranks in government rather than private business because of who makes the decisions. In a private business, it might be a small board made up entirely of men. Run for public office and the pool of decision makers is much larger and is guaranteed to include more women.

Morris also sees the pendulum swinging in how we discuss the women versus men debate as people acknowledge the gender differences.

“It would have been heresy to say this in the ‘60s and ‘70s, but there is a significant difference between men and women,” Morris said. “Men approach the work place in a much more aggressive fashion than women. It’s as much a matter of gender style as a real glass ceiling.”
Morris sees a shift in the economy as another factor in how women advance in the workplace.

“We are not a brawn dominated economy anymore,” she said. “The brain is emerging. We talk about knowledge base. Women, I think, are just as good as men. That’s opening up other opportunities.”

Volcano scientist

Cynthia Gardner, 51, Scientist in Charge at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory. Gardner began her career with the federal agency as a physical science technician. She wanted to work in the field and thought she passed the necessary requirements, but kept getting rejected. She fought back, challenged her supervisors and won. It was a risky move. Gardner said the agency has evolved quite a bit since then, but that advancements still need to be made in the science community.

“In 1991 I went to an international conference with more than 200 people. A Japanese man came up to say he had never seen so many women in volcanology. There were only five of us in the room.”

“The women coming in now are more confident and forthright in what they expect from the job, life and career. They’ve seen women who have balanced it all.”

Trading capital

Mary Granger, 74, as a founder of the I Have A Dream Foundation of Southwest Washington, the Community Foundation of Southwest Washington and Women in Action said she traded on the political capital of her husband Dick Granger, who was a county commissioner in the 1970s. Mary Granger used that leverage to launch a series of community organizations that helped feed the needy, send disadvantaged youth to college and get women into leadership positions.

Women in Action grew from a request Granger fielded from a county commissioner. He needed candidates for a board position. Granger told him to read her the list. It was all men. She asked why. He said he didn’t know any women who might fit the position. Granger promised to get him a more balanced candidate list, and Women in Action was born.

“They (women) just flocked to it (Women In Action) when we started. We hit a chord. They were concerned about not enough women on government boards, boards of businesses and a lack of qualified women serving in positions of influence. We wanted to develop this strong list of women who were qualified and wanted to be involved.”

“For a while there it felt like there was no one to replace us, but now I see so much energy in the region. Look at the hospital fund-raiser. (A benefit for Southwest Washington Medical Center’s new breast-care center) I went home thinking I don’t need to worry.”

Managing people

Kelly Cooper-Slayton, 45, owner LifeCoachWorks. Cooper-Slayton spent 22 years with a Fortune 100 company managing people in various departments. Two years ago she came to realize the work wasn’t as fulfilling as it once was so she began the transition to leave and start her own company. Now she coaches women making their own transition or helps them improve their skills to advance within their company. Cooper-Slayton said she’s noticed corporate America’s flexibility has become more rigid in the last few years, a shift that is pushing out more women.

“The phrase work life balance seems kind of passé now, but most women leaders I know struggle with that every day even if they don’t have a husband and kids.”

“I think it continues to be a challenge in the corporate world. They (women) need to stand out. They need three things. No. 1, they need to retain resiliency and have courage. Sometimes they don’t take enough risks. No. 2, women leaders need to know who they are and what they are passionate about. If they know their priorities and their boundaries, that will help them to know when to say yes or no. No. 3, don’t go it alone. Make sure they get a support network, a coach, a mentor.”