Women Corporate Directors heading to Silicon Valley in May

Eight months after California passed a law mandating a minimum number of women directors for boards of public companies based in the state, WomenCorporateDirectors (WCD) is holding its annual WCD Global Institute – “Harnessing the Transformative Power of Technology” – in Silicon Valley. The first time the Institute will be held on the West Coast, the event is May 19-22, 2019, at the brand-new headquarters of Hewlett Packard Enterprise opening later this year in San Jose.
 
“WCD is a global organization of more than 2,400 women who sit on corporate boards in 41 countries around the world,” says Susan C. Keating, CEO of WCD. “Already our membership is being tapped to go on more boards in California, as members represent leadership in every industry – including highly in-demand financial experts – and are sought after by companies who want to raise their percentage of women directors.”
 
“Technology has quickly become a major governance concern of every corporate board, and we want to convene at the heart of the industry, meeting with its top leaders,” says Evelyn Dilsaver, WCD’s Global Institute Co-chair and a director of Tempur+Sealy, Blue Shield of California, HealthEquity, and Protiviti. “Our three-day agenda includes state-of-the-art panels and keynote speakers on everything from cyberhacking, blockchain, and augmented intelligence to corporate culture and the board’s role in M&A. Our women corporate directors make up some of the most powerful women worldwide – the aggregate market cap of public companies on whose boards our members sit is over $8 trillion. This Global Institute should be both exciting and timely both for our members and the Valley.”
 
Theo Schwabacher, Co-chair of the Institute with Dilsaver and SVP at Morgan Stanley with deep roots in the Bay Area investment community, highlights the Institute’s focus on innovation this year: “Volatility is here to stay, and boards are seeking new ways for their companies to stay competitive in environments of uncertainty. They are looking for new ways to inspire innovation, both inside and outside the organization. Clearly there is no better place to discuss innovation than Silicon Valley, and we are putting together a roster of some of the industry’s best innovative minds to meet with our directors.” 
 
More topics are being added to the WCD Global Institute agenda weekly and will be announced as they are added. The Institute’s social media hashtag, #WCDSiliconValley, can be followed for updates on speakers, panels, special events, and more.
 
Registration for the Global Institute will open at the end of January; the Institute is open only to members and invited guests.