Hoboken Company Earns Gender Diversity Award

HOBOKEN, NJ — Women remain underrepresented on corporate boards in New Jersey companies and across the nation, according to a recent study. But some companies – including a Hoboken-based publisher – are helping to change that landscape, the Executive Women of New Jersey (EWNJ) says.

On Thursday, the EWNJ announced the recipients of its 2019 Corporate Board Gender Diversity Awards, which honor publicly traded New Jersey organizations that appoint three or more women to their corporate boards and “make an impact on gender inclusion.”

As part of this year’s awards, the group gave a nod to John Wiley & Sons Inc. of Hoboken, an educational publishing company that has a corporate headquarters at 111 River Street. The company has more than 6,000 colleagues in 70 offices around the globe.

“This year, a record 30 companies made our list,” said Barbara Kauffman, president of EWNJ and EVP and COO of Newark Regional Business Partnership. “And while we clearly have a lot more work to do, this news shows that our efforts are having an impact.”

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Kauffman said more companies are recognizing the tremendous value of women’s leadership and are taking active steps to ensure that women have equal access to opportunities for ascension.

“I congratulate the corporations listed on our Honor Roll for leading the way in making corporate leadership more inclusive,” Kauffman said.

“Diversity and inclusivity are not just boxes to check off a list,” said Lynne Borthwick, senior vice president of global talent at Wiley. “We value the contributions of all colleagues regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation and are proud to be a leader in gender diversity by offering women at all levels of our organization opportunities to grow personally and professionally.”

The 2019 Corporate Board Gender Diversity Awards were announced concurrently with the EWNJ’s recurring report, “A Seat at the Table: Celebrating Women & Board Leadership.”

According to researchers:

• Of 965 board seats in 100 companies, 175, or 18.1 percent, were held by women. This is an increase in women board members over 2017, when women held only 17 percent of the seats.
• The 20 NJ Fortune 500 companies within the Russell 3000 did slightly better, with 58 of 226 board seats, or 25.7 percent, filled by women. This is an increase over 2017, when women in these companies held 23.6 percent of board seats.
• 16 of the 100 companies, or 16 percent, had no women directors. This number has been declining steadily. In 2015, this was true of 25% of companies. By 2017, this number was 23.2 percent.
• All of the 20 NJ Fortune 500 companies in the Russell 3000 had at least one woman director. This was also the case in 2017.

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