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Advisory Board Overview WXN enjoys strong strategic support from its Regional Advisory Boards in Vancouver, Alberta, Ottawa, Quebec, Dublin, Ireland and London, UK, as well as its Canadian national board, Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Advisory Board (the selection committee for the Top 100 Awards). WXN is pleased to provide two complimentary seats to board members at each Speaker Series event and a complimentary seat at a Top 100 Awards Gala in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary or Montreal each year. Overall Advisory Board Function Offer advice and guidance on WXN events and programs in their respective cities; Promote awareness of the WXN brand in their respective cities; Provide support through board member attendance at WXN events. Role of Advisory Board Members Provide advice, insight, input and act as a sounding board on WXN’s vision and strategic direction. Provide feedback and advice on WXN programs and events. Provide information on the needs and views of our stakeholders and membership base. Communicate, endorse and advocate WXN’s interests to media and stakeholders. Provide support to WXN programming. Provide access to the networks in the business, arts and political community. Role of Advisory Board Chair Act as primary liaison between CEO and board members. Assist WXN in identifying, recruiting and orienting new board members. Schedule and chair meetings, as required. Identify and train succession candidate. Advisory Board Term and Commitment Board members serve a 2-year term but may continue upon mutual consent of the chair and board. Board members will commit to quarterly board meetings either in-person or by conference call. If a member does not make three meetings in a row, he/she may be asked to leave the board.
2 WXN Advisory Board Member Media Toolkit When in interviews/being asked about WXN: (Please feel free to personalize and tailor to your experience)
• WXN helps bring remarkable women together, which creates new opportunities to learn from each other, to enrich careers and to make a difference for female colleagues. • Specifically, the WXN Top100 Awards open doors for women to achieve higher levels of excellence by proving that opportunities are increasing for female leaders to have an impact at the highest organizational levels. • Being a WXN Advisory Board Member is an honour because it’s an opportunity to be part of a movement which showcases to young female leaders that ceilings are shattering and possibilities are endless. For Social Media: (If you are able, include on social mediums where applicable) HASHTAG: #WXN HASHTAG: #WXNTop100 (Recommended Tweets:) Honoured to be a member of the @WXN Advisory Board in #[insert your city] # inspired Honored to be a part of @WXN Advisory Board. The possibilities for our future generations are endless! #leadingtheway #WXN Role models were & are so important to me! As a @WXN Advisory Board member, I hope to be a role model for future generations! #WXN Surrounded by passion & perseverance at tonight’s @WXN Top 100 Awards Gala. Privileged to be recognizing these incredible women! #WXNTop100 Facebook/LinkedIn Status Update: “Thank you to the @Women’s Executive Network for the honour of being a [insert your city] Advisory Board Member, and for their continued efforts in inspiring smart women to lead.” LinkedIn Additional: (Under Groups & Associations) • Title: WXN [insert your city] Advisory Board Member • Issuer: Women’s Executive Network • Date: [insert month appointed and year(s)]
About WXN At WXN, we inspire smart women to lead. We create and deliver innovative networking, mentoring, professional and personal development to inform, inspire, connect and to recognize our community of smart women and their organizations in the pursuit of excellence. WXN enables our partners and corporate members to become and to be recognized as employers of choice and leaders in the advancement of women. We are the home of Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards.
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3 Founded in 1997, WXN is Canada’s leading organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women in management, executive, professional and board roles. WXN is a Founding Member of the Canadian Board Diversity Council, dedicated to increasing the diversity of Canada’s corporate boards. In 2008, WXN launched in Ireland, followed by London, UK in 2015, creating an international community of female leaders. The Research According to McKinsey in their Women Matter series of reports, gender diversity was among the top 10 strategic priorities for more than half the companies surveyed. They showed that gender diversity was best supported within an ecosystem consisting of three parts: Management Commitment, Women’s Development Programs and A Set of Enablers. Over 90% of companies surveyed had Women’s Development Programs in place. McKinsey highlighted the importance of these Programs to helping women overcome obstacles in their career progression. Unfortunately, the vast majority of companies that have these Programs in place are not executing them well and, as a result, are not getting the results they desire in terms of filling the pipeline and increasing the proportion of senior positions held by women. WXN fills this gap for companies, providing the opportunity for their female employees to join our community, attend our events and participate in our programs. WXN offers the National Speaker Series, Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Summits and Awards, and WXNWisdom Mentoring programs. Since 1997, WXN has provided Canada’s employers of choice and leaders in the advancement of diversity with highquality networking and mentoring opportunities for women in management. We help remove barriers that exist for women, like exclusion from informal networks and mentoring opportunities, supporting their advancement into leadership roles. We work with 80 companies across Canada who benefit from our 20 year track record of supporting their human capital strategies. About WXN Members WXN connects an international community of over 22,000 women and their organizations in the pursuit of excellence. In addition to individual membership, we also work with Corporate Members and Corporate Partners. Individual membership in WXN requires a minimum 6 years full time experience in a management, executive, professional or board role; a minimum $75,000 in annual personal income; and post-secondary education. WXN Members and Partners who employ recent graduates bring these younger women to WXN events as a benefit of their relationship with our organization. We are pleased to share this demographic snapshot:
50% of our members have 6–10 years of full-time work experience in a management, executive or professional role, while the remaining 50% have 11+ years 76% have completed university degrees: 40% have undergraduate degrees, 32% have also completed Masters Degrees and 4% have completed PhDs 25% of WXN members have a C-Suite, President, Managing Director or Founder title: 17% have an EVP or VP title, 32% have a Director or Senior Manager title, and, 26% have a Manager title 69% earn an annual personal income of over $100,000; 13% earn in excess of $200,000 per year
According to a survey of our members, the reasons they joined WXN were to be inspired, kept informed of current business trends and challenges, and to be part of a community of like-minded women. They told us they look to WXN
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4 to help them be part of the next generation of female leaders. In the future, they want WXN to continue to be a community exclusively for smart successful women. Our brand promise is clear: At WXN, we inspire smart women to lead. We promise our members will: Learn from thought leaders Connect with smart women Celebrate accomplishments. 2017 Events and Programs Speaker Series – The WXN Speaker Series is offered in six cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. It delivers thought-provoking panel discussions and keynote addresses by the country’s most sought-out speakers in business, politics, international affairs and social movements. Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards – The Top 100 Awards are the preeminent Award for Canada’s female leaders. Each year in Toronto, we honour 100 outstanding Canadian women and induct a small number into the WXN Top 100 Hall of Fame. The Leadership Summit starts off the day, featuring professional development sessions in the afternoon led by Top 100 Award Winners. The Summit annually draws an audience of over 400 guests for an afternoon of keynote presentations addressing trending topics and networking with the Top 100 Winners. The afternoon Leadership Summit is followed by the pre-dinner Cocktail Reception and the evening Awards Gala. Regional Awards – Each year, following Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards in Toronto, WXN hosts a Leadership Summit and Awards Gala in Vancouver (Luncheon), Calgary and Montreal. This gives the Award Winners the opportunity to be recognized in their communities and to give back through sharing their leadership lessons with women in management who attend the half day Summit of professional development sessions. WXNWisdom – WXN has two unique mentoring programs: WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring and Peer Mentoring. Each one of these programs is catered to what executive women need in this moment, whether that be an external support network, one-on-one learning with Canada’s best or planning for their future. WXNWisdom Top 100 Mentoring matches high-performing women with mentors from our outstanding community of Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners. WXNWisdom Peer Mentoring pairs a trained facilitator with a group of 6–10 women in order to help women achieve their personal and professional goals through actionable guidance and feedback, without judgment, while being held accountable for the progress on these goals. Please visit www.wxnetwork.com for a full overview of our events and programs. Canadian Board Diversity Council (CBDC) Since its launch in 2009, the Canadian Board Diversity Council has become the leading organization in Canada promoting and advancing board diversity. In collaboration with our Founding and Corporate Members, our goal is to increase the representation of women, visible minorities, Aboriginal Peoples including First Nations, Inuit and Métis, WXNETWORK.COM
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5 persons with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community. CBDC offers a series of programs to further its goals: ‘Get on Board’ Governance Education Program – Launched in 2010, the ‘Get on Board’ Governance Education Program is the first national program of its kind in Canada and the country’s fastest-growing and most affordable governance education program. It provides diverse candidates with a cost-effective orientation to corporate governance and board service along with the tools to pursue board placement. Diversity 50 – Diversity 50 is a resource for directors and search firms. It is Canada’s first-ever database of qualified men and women from across Canada with strong competencies that align with the requirements of many Canadian boards. CBDC Roundtables – The CBDC Roundtables for FP500 CEOs, CFOs, Nominating and Governance Chairs and Board Chairs bring together 20–25 individuals at FP500 organizations to discuss issues of board diversity. The Roundtables are corporate governance-themed, with knowledge-sharing on the current regulatory environment in respect of board diversity, board diversity best practices and how executives can position themselves for future directorships. CBDC Annual Report Card – The Annual Report Card has become Canada’s most influential and important reference for corporate directors, as it is the sole source of research on the state of corporate board diversity in Canada. The first Annual Report Card in October 2010 established the first-ever baseline on the representation of women, visible minority groups, persons with disabilities and Aboriginal peoples on the boards of Canada’s 500 largest organizations. In subsequent years, the Annual Report Card continues to fine-tune this analysis, assessing and tracking the progress of Canada’s organizations for a range of sectors (utilities, finance and insurance, retail trade, manufacturing, charities, as well as mining, oil and gas).
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