Inside the Boardroom: Gender diversity
Women have gained ground in the boardrooms of the largest publicly traded companies headquartered in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
At 17 companies that have filed proxy information for fiscal year 2019, 40 of the 165 total corporate directors — or 24.2 percent — were female.
That’s more than double the percentage of women directors at local public companies in 2011.
Gender diversity on boards of directors is one of several issues the St. Pete Catalyst is looking at in the ongoing Inside the Boardroom series.
Several independent research studies have shown that public corporations with women on their boards out-perform boards with only men, as measured by profitability, productivity, and workforce engagement, according to advocacy organization 2020 Women on Boards.
Among the largest locally based and publicly traded companies with a market capitalization of more than $100 million, the percentage of women board members ranges from 37.5 percent at restaurant operator Bloomin’ Brands (Nasdaq: BLMN) and commercial food equipment manufacturer Welbilt (NYSE: WBT), to zero at United Insurance Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: UIHC).
At United Insurance Holdings, a St. Petersburg-based property and casualty insurer and the only local company with no women on its board, proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services recommended against the re-election of the board member who heads the nominating committee, Dr. Kern Davis.
“Institutional investors increasingly view board gender diversity as an important attribute of effective board governance. Gender diverse boards (those with at least one woman) have also become market norm,” ISS wrote in an April 25 report, adding that United “did not disclose any intention of the board to engage with shareholders on the topic of gender diversity nor establish a diversity policy.”
United, which does business as UPC Insurance, did not respond to a request for comment. Most shareholders disregarded the ISS recommendation, voting at United’s annual meeting on May 5 to re-elect Davis and four other directors on the ballot.
In contrast, several local companies highlight board diversity in their proxies, most notably Sykes Enterprises (Nasdaq: SYKE), a Tampa-based call center and customer contact firm, and Mosaic (NYSE: MOS), a chemical company that relocated its headquarters to Tampa last year.
At Mosaic, where 31 percent of the board members are women, the board annually assesses its own effectiveness, “including a discussion as to whether the board has adequately considered diversity, among other factors, in identifying and discussing director candidates,” the proxy said.
The Sykes proxy has a chart that gets really specific about diversity.
Excerpt from Sykes Enterprise proxy
Overseas Shipholding (NYSE: OSG), a Tampa energy transportation company with three women on its nine-member board, told shareholders in its proxy that it had received the 2020 Women on Boards “W” Winning Company award in recognition of its gender diversity.
HCI Group (NYSE: HCI), a Tampa company with insurance, technology and real estate operations, has two women on its 10-member board. They joined in 2019, as part of a unique program developed by HCI Chairman and CEO Paresh Patel to craft the next generation of board members. More about that in tomorrow’s report.
