CHARACTERISTICS OF CEOS AND CORPORATE BOARDS WITH WOMEN INSIDE DIRECTORS

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Deborah Dahlen Zelechowski, Diana Bilimoria ORCID logo

https://doi.org/10.22495/cbv2i2art2

Abstract

Women corporate inside (executive) directors constitute an elite minority of leaders of large corporations. This study examines the characteristics of CEOs and boards of Fortune 1000 firms that had women who held the dual leadership positions of corporate director and executive officer in 1998 in order to determine whether firms with women insiders had substantially different characteristics than firms without. We find that compared with firms without women inside directors, firms with women inside directors were characterized by CEOs with longer board tenure, more family ties, and fewer director interlocks, and by boards that were larger, with more insiders, and that utilize a management Chair of the board. Corporate governance implications are drawn for the presence of women at the top of the executive hierarchy.

Keywords: women directors, corporate governance, inside (executive) directors, agency theory, stewardship theory

How to cite this paper: Zelechowski, D. D., & Bilimoria, D. (2006). Characteristics of CEOs and corporate boards with women inside directors. Corporate Board: role, duties and composition, 2(2), 14-21. https://doi.org/10.22495/cbv2i2art2