On Oct. 19, Des Moines played host to Women in the Boardroom, a national executive leadership event designed to help women prepare for board service. The event featured the CEO of Barbican Enterprises, Barbara Lukavsky; the executive vice president of LCS (formerly Life Care Services), Diane Bridgewater; and the CEO of Vermeer Corp., Mary Vermeer Andringa. The women discussed their for-profit board experiences with facilitator Jan Miller Straub, CEO of The Straub Corp.

The role of women on boards has certainly increased over the years and continues to evolve in the boardroom as well as in other areas in the business community. However, in many respects, politics for example, Iowa is still lagging behind other states when it comes to gender equality in leadership roles. Iowa has never elected a woman to the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate or to serve as governor.It is also trailing in the nation when it comes to the increase in women-owned start-ups – only Alaska and West Virginia rank behind it – according to an American Express Open report that analyzed data from the three most recent Census Bureau business surveys.

So the Business Record talked to Straub, Lukavsky and Bridgewater to see if similar shortcomings hold true inside the state’s for-profit boardrooms.

Q: Do women have enough opportunities to serve on boards?

Jan Miller Straub
President and CEO, The Straub Corp.

“The way I look at it, is, I’ve been in the business industry for almost 40 years, and now there is an absolute groundswell of women in leadership roles. They are very well represented in corporate boards and volunteer boards. If you look back even 20 years ago, we now have so many women representatives in positions of real responsibility. And we’ve got the underpinning of them to serve on public boards. There are a great number of women capable, but positions don’t open up that often, and we really have to wait for some of the men to leave. Des Moines is getting very well positioned, but it is an involved process and takes time.”

Barbara Lukavsky
CEO, Barbican Enterprises

“There’s not really a simple answer. I think there are more women coming into the boardroom, but I also think it depends on the board and its needs. The competition is horrendous to be on a big board. And you have to understand that men are competing and women are competing. I don’t know if women are in any less of a position than the men who don’t make it – women just talk about it more. Women are more content with middle management jobs – there’s job security, good pay. But entrepreneurship, that’s what propels you to the top. I think there’s plenty of opportunity, but I think there’s a very high cost to get there.”

Diane Bridegwater
Executive Vice President, LCS

“Well I look at it two different ways: When it comes to not-for-profit boards, I believe women have a number of opportunities. But I don’t see the same response for public or private boards. In some respects, the number of board seats available is pretty limited – there’s not a big turnover. And historically, many for-profit seats have been filled with current or past CEOs — and the number of women in CEO roles is not that different than the number of women who serve on boards. More recently, we’ve seen more CFOs and other leadership positions who are now serving and there are a number of women who have those positions. So to me, it’s just a matter of time as long as the boards are being very rigorous to fill the needs to balance the boards. I don’t believe they have as many opportunities as they should have but there are a plethora of talented women who should be moving into those positions.”