Top 25 Bank Boards for Women
In early December, Nasdaq filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require its listed companies to disclose diversity statistics about their board’s composition. Boards must include at least one female and, at minimum, one minority or LGBTQ board member. While the exchange recently made some changes to the proposal uff0d to address the concerns of small boards with five or fewer members, for instance – there’s no denying that pressure has been mounting when it comes to improving diversity on corporate boards.
Just look at 2020 alone: Institutional Shareholder Services reiterated that it would vote against the nominating chair of Russell 3000 and S&P 1500 companies that lack female representation. Goldman Sachs Group announced that it will only take companies public if they have at least one diverse board member. And California and Washington both had gender diversity requirements in place for companies headquartered there.
“Diversity of thought forces [boards] to look at solutions in a different way, to look at problems in a different way,” says Kara Baldwin, a partner at Crowe LLP. “It’s simply good business to make sure you have those differing viewpoints.”
But corporate boards often do the bare minimum when it comes to adding women: An analysis of Russell 3000 boards by 50/50 Women on Boards finds that only 5% are gender-balanced, meaning women hold roughly half of board seats.
In a new analysis using its proprietary database of the nation’s 5,000 public, private and mutual bank boards, Bank Director identified the 25 bank boards with the highest representation of women. We focused on banks above $300 million in assets, given the lack of data on very small, private institutions. Only 11 of the banks we examined would meet the goal set by 50/50 Women on Boards.
Women, it should be noted, comprise 51% of the population and 58% of the workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Both big and small banks, public and private, topped our list, showing that diversity is not exclusively a big bank issue. Webster Financial Corp. of Waterbury, Connecticut, with $32.6 billion in assets, and The Falls City National Bank, with $456 million in assets out of Falls City, Texas, top our list. Both boast boards with a membership that’s 56% female – well above the normal balance typically found on corporate boards. Rounding out the list are $1.9 billion First Bank of Highland Park, in Highland Park, Illinois, and Principal Financial Group, the holding company for $4.5 billion asset Principal Bank in Des Moines, Iowa. Both 12-person boards include five women, comprising 42% of membership. Last year, 50/50 Women on Boards found that women held 23% of board seats at Russell 3000 companies.
About six years ago, First United Corp., which has $1.7 billion in assets, started to intentionally focus on its composition, both in terms of skills and backgrounds. “We want to be more relevant to our customers and to our communities, for our shareholders, looking at that whole stakeholder group [including] employees,” says Carissa Rodeheaver, the Oakland, Maryland-based bank’s chair and chief executive. That includes representing diverse backgrounds, in terms of gender, race and ethnicity, and age.
This year, First United will begin using a skills matrix – a practice that helps boards map their directors’ expertise and backgrounds to identify gaps. A diversity and inclusion policy, put in place by the nominating and governance committee, will ensure the board considers a diverse slate of director candidates. “The pool has to be diverse, and that will continue to naturally lend itself to keeping that diversity of thought on the board,” says Rodeheaver. “It’s a great formula that leads to a well-rounded board.”
First United brought on three new directors in the past year – all women, it turns out, who are skilled in regulatory compliance, finance and project management, says Rodeheaver.
Lisa Oliver, the chair and CEO at The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod, a $1.2 billion mutual bank headquartered in Hyannis, Massachusetts, places a high value on the “lived experiences” often uncovered when building diverse boards.
While the traditional executives and professionals often found on corporate boards – current and former CEOs, accountants, regulators and attorneys – still provide valuable insights, banks “have to think about the new needs of banking, and how that aligns with a whole different genre of people and the pipeline we need to cultivate,” says Oliver. For example, boards often seek technology and cybersecurity expertise; these skills aren’t often found at the top of an organization. Or a board might look for someone who can represent an industry that’s important to their bank, like healthcare.
C-suites are still predominantly male and predominantly white: Looking further down an organization chart might serve up an experienced candidate who also brings a diverse perspective to the table.
“You have to work harder; you have to expand that group of who you know,” says Baldwin. “You must be intentional – that’s really important.”
Oliver also wants to attract and retain younger directors to the board at “The Coop,” as the bank is called locally, but has struggled to retain young women as board members and corporators during the pandemic. (Corporators elect board members, but the position can also serve as a training ground of sorts for board candidates.)
“The pandemic has created great stress for young people to [serve] on the board,” says Oliver. One director, a business owner and single mother with a child at home, had to resign, she says. Oliver believes boards should consider how they can structure meetings to make the role more manageable for younger board members who are building their careers and businesses. “Not death by committee meeting, but what are the critical four committees we need to have?” she says. “There’s an art and a science to creating the agenda within that and providing the data to analyze risk, make it manageable.” A 400-page board packet can be difficult to fit into anyone’s schedule, much less that of a Gen X or millennial professional balancing family and career.
Oliver wonders if today’s more remote environment – with boards meeting virtually – could help them attract candidates from nearby Boston – a technology hub boasting a highly educated workforce.
Boards should consider looking outside their local community to find diverse, qualified board members, says Baldwin. Nearby cities, as Oliver posits, could be a valuable well of talent.
Both First United and The Coop are putting practices in place to help make room for new views: First United will declassify its board this year, and Oliver says her bank is putting term limits in place.
And both CEOs tell me that building the board their bank needs is a continuous process. “We need to constantly be looking and identifying individuals that make sense [for our board] and backfill that pipeline,” says Rodeheaver.
“We have to reflect the community around us, or else we’re not able to hit on some of the challenges that we face,” Oliver adds. “It takes effort, and it takes time, and it has to be a constant process.”
Top 25 Bank Boards For Women
Bank Name (Ticker) | State | Total # Directors | % Women on the Board |
Webster Financial Corp. (WBS) | CT | 9 | 56% |
The Falls City National Bank | TX | 9 | 56% |
Lead Financial Group | MO | 9 | 55% |
First United Corp. (FUNC) | MD | 12 | 50% |
The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod | MA | 14 | 50% |
First National Bank Alaska (FBAK) | AK | 8 | 50% |
Boston Private Financial Holdings (BPFH) | MA | 8 | 50% |
New Triplo Bancorp | PA | 6 | 50% |
Andrew Johnson Bancshares | TN | 8 | 50% |
Johnson Financial Group | WI | 10 | 50% |
Minnwest Corp. | MN | 16 | 50% |
GSB, MHC | MA | 15 | 47% |
Cambridge Bancorp (CATC) | MA | 17 | 47% |
First Capital (FCAP) | IN | 13 | 46% |
Mascoma Bank | VT | 13 | 46% |
Ledyard Financial Group (LFGP) | VT | 11 | 45% |
First Seacoast Bancorp (FSEA) | NH | 9 | 44% |
Orbisonia Community Bancorp | PA | 7 | 43% |
Stearns Financial Services | MN | 7 | 43% |
Lockhart Bankshares | TX | 7 | 43% |
National Cooperative Bank | OH | 14 | 43% |
MidFirst Bank | OK | 7 | 43% |
Olympia Federal Savings and Loan Assn. | WA | 7 | 43% |
Principal Financial Group (PFG) | IA | 12 | 42% |
First Bank of Highland Park* | IL | 12 | 42% |
Source: Bank Director internal data, plus bank websites and public filings, as of February 2020. Banks under $300 million in assets weren’t examined given the scarcity of data about these institutions.
*First Bank of Highland Park was left off this ranking when it first published. Bank Director regrets the omission.