We are excited to report that in the past year, several women at the NAFE Top Companies moved into powerful new spots: like Procter & Gamble’s Susan Arnold, promoted to president of Global Business Units (and ranked No. 7 among Fortune’s Most Powerful Women); and Gina Drosos, now president of global beauty. Campbell Soup made Denise Morrison a direct report to the CEO when they named her president, North America Soup. At General Mills, Christi Strauss moved to Switzerland to become CEO of Cereal Partners Worldwide. Breaking new ground are IBM’s Ginny Rometty, SVP of Global Services, who’s winning accolades for successful expansion into India, and Wal-Mart’s EVP Risk Management Linda Dillman, who is leading the way with environmentally friendly stores.

To be named a NAFE Top Company, companies must have two or more women on the board. Then we crunch the numbers to determine the percentage of women in the following areas: board members, direct reports to the CEO, corporate executives, running major operations, on succession plans, and earning top compensation. We compute how many have profit-and-loss (P&L) responsibility, the essential experience for top jobs. Then we examine job rotations, training opportunities, and programs to support their success.

Despite the above success stories, NAFE must report a disturbing lack of progress, confirmed by Catalyst President Ilene Lang, who has found no growth for several years in the number of women serving on boards or as corporate officers. One possible reason for these stalling numbers may be the misconception that the glass ceiling is gone. “Companies are growing complacent,” says Lang, “but just seeing one woman at the top doesn’t mean meritocracy. We should be seeing more women in senior leadership positions—close to half—given how many women have moved into middle management.


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