There are only 3 women CEOs among the top 100 companies in the Philadelphia region

Philadelphia has added more women in leadership positions at top public companies, according to an annual report from the Forum of Executive Women.

The report, a collaboration between the Forum and accounting firm PwC, has been issued for 22 years, tracking the percentages of female directors, executives, and top earners at the region’s top 100 public companies by revenue, as listed in the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2023 rankings.

Last year’s report showed increases in all three key metrics. This year, only two of those metrics saw increases — a 2% increase in the rate of women serving as directors and executives.

“Discouragingly, this year shows minimal or no gains in our key metrics tracked for Philadelphia’s top public companies,” Colleen Crowley, a partner at PwC, said Wednesday at the launch of the report.

The Forum, which aims to advance female leaders in the Philadelphia region, began in 1977, and has over 600 women in its network.

The percentage of women serving on boards in the Philadelphia region was around 10.7% when the forum first started producing the report. That number grew to 27% in 2022.

The number of companies with zero women on their boards has decreased every year from 2014 to 2021. In 2022, only four of the top 100 companies didn’t have any women on their boards, compared to 35 companies in 2014.

The percentage of women serving on company boards increased from 25% of total seats in 2021, to 27% in 2022. But the percentage of open seats being filled by women has decreased, and women chair only five boards.

“At the current rate of change, we will not reach equality of women in the boardroom for at least another decade,” Crowley said.

The number of female CEOs at top companies in the Philadelphia area has risen from one to three in the last year as two women rose to the position: Ellen Cooper, of Lincoln National Corp., and Elizabeth Burr, of Rite Aid Corp.

They join Susan Hardwick at American Water Works Co. Inc., a utility company based in Camden, who, at the time of last year’s report, was the only woman CEO in the Philadelphia area at a top public company.

“It’s disappointing to see women so poorly represented in leadership,” said Meghan Pierce, CEO and president of the Forum, who took on her role a few weeks ago.

Women make up 15% of the region’s top earners, the same percentage as last year.

One notable shift this year: More companies than ever are reporting representation data, Crowley said.

This shift suggests that companies are more aware that it matters to share this information, as well as the importance of having “access to data rather than relying on sentiment or feelings to gauge and measure progress,” she said.

This is the third year that the forum is tracking whether companies report on their own ethnic, racial, and LGBTQ+ diversity. Over 70% of companies shared information about the makeup of their workforce or board and their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, according to this year’s report.

The challenges women face in the workplace aren’t just about getting into leadership roles, but also being supported once they get there, Pierce said.

“It’s not as though just naming a woman CEO solves all the gender equity issues within your company. You do need that longevity piece,” she said. “You do need policies that welcome women and support them to stay.”