The proportion of girls and ladies of coloration serving on company boards in Wisconsin continues a slow-and-steady upward climb, annual analysis by Milwaukee Women inc exhibits.

Ladies at the moment maintain 27.3% of board seats at Wisconsin’s high 50 public firms, up from 26.3% in 2022, based on a information launch Wednesday summarizing the group’s 2023 report. This newest determine lags behind the 33% illustration of girls on boards of firms listed on the S&P 500.

Topping this 12 months’s record of public firms are: (in descending order) Milwaukee-based Brady Corp., Madison-based Actual Sciences Corp., Menomonee Falls-based Kohl’s Corp., Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation and Milwaukee-based WEC Vitality Group. All have a complete of 4 feminine administrators on their boards. 5 of the 50 firms have just one feminine board director and one, Brookfield-based Rev Group Inc., has zero.

At Wisconsin’s high 50 personal firms, girls maintain 21.1% of board seats, a slight enhance over final 12 months’s 20.5% illustration. On this class, the state is forward of the nationwide curve, which has girls occupying a median of 16% of board seats at personal firms within the U.S.

The insurance coverage sector dominates the rating of personal firms, led by (in descending order) Madison-based American Household Insurance coverage, Neenah-based SECURA Insurance coverage, West Bend-based West Bend Mutual Insurance coverage, Merrill-based Church Mutual Insurance coverage and Madison-based CUNA Mutual Group. Fourteen of the 50 firms have just one feminine board director and 18 have zero.

Entitled “Driving Ahead: Our Work Is Not Carried out,” the 2023 report additionally calls consideration to the incremental progress in racial illustration of girls on company boards. At present, 6.3% of complete board members at Wisconsin’s high 50 public firms are girls of coloration, up from 5.7% in 2022. And what’s extra, 29 of the whole 126 (23%) feminine administrators at these firms are girls of coloration, up from 26 out of 120 (22.6%) in 2022.

“As the information exhibits, firms are recognizing the advantages of board variety and are taking considerate and deliberate actions to extend variety on their boards,” mentioned Kim Stoll, MWi chair and vice chairman of gross sales and advertising and marketing for Badger Meter. “Whereas we’re making good progress, our work will not be carried out.”

Milwaukee Ladies inc was created in 2002 with the aim of reaching balanced illustration of girls on company boards of administrators and has produced analysis on board gender variety of the 50 largest Wisconsin-based public firms since 2004. Final 12 months, feminine board illustration at Wisconsin’s high 50 public firms surpassed MWi’s aim of 25% by 2025.

This 12 months’s report exhibits a notable enhance within the variety of “Energy of three” firms, these with three or extra feminine board administrators. Of the state’s high 50 public firms, 26 (52%) have three or extra girls on their boards, in comparison with 22 (44%) in 2022. The variety of Energy of three firms within the Russell 3000 index is 44%, inserting Wisconsin considerably above the common, based on the discharge. Of the state’s high 50 personal firms, 13 (26%) have three or extra girls administrators, in comparison with 11 (22%) in 2022.

“Milwaukee Ladies inc strives to attach firms, CEOs, nominating and governance committee chairs, and search companies with our networks of certified feminine administrators, together with our public database of board-ready feminine executives,” mentioned Stoll. “Making certain a director search course of that prioritizes fairness not solely establishes a tradition of inclusion on the high, however can even positively affect the underside line.”