CT firms lauded for female leadership

Connecticut employers Aetna Inc., Diageo North America, Xerox and Yale-New Haven Hospital are among U.S. organizations where females posted as senior operations officers are paying dividends, according to a new ranking.

The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) said its research found that female leadership correlates to higher profits at the top 50 U.S. corporations and 10 nonprofits that employ them.

The number of women responsible for running operations, or profit-and-loss positions, at NAFE's top companies has reached 26 percent.

At 13 of the NAFE top companies, women run a third or more of billion dollar-plus operations, including AstraZeneca, Avon Products, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Diageo, General Mills, Hewitt Associates and New York Life Insurance Co., where women run half of the largest divisions. Bristol-Myers has research operations in Wallingford.

When it comes to board membership, women at companies on NAFE's list occupy 23 percent of seats, compared to the Fortune 500's 15 percent.

Xerox, whose chairman is Anne Mulcahy, last October named Ursula Burns as chief executive officer, the first African-American woman to hold that post at a Fortune 500 company.

"Smart companies are corralling women into P&L management and are reaping the benefits," said NAFE President Betty Spence. "Our recession has demonstrated that women manage risk better than men, in part because they tend to garner input from others, which puts brakes on rash behavior."

The NAFE top companies list recognizes organizations whose policies and practices encourage women's advancement and whose numbers at the highest levels of leadership demonstrate that commitment.

To be declared a NAFE winner, companies must have at least two women on the board and track gender in P&L jobs.

NAFE will honor its top companies at a New York City luncheon on March 25.