Board Ready Women
Creating opportunities for women on boards
We are a team of people who actively network to support Board Ready Women to obtain Board Positions. We offer recruitment opportunities, skill-building programs and thought provoking events to support women with their Board Career journey.
Since joining Board Ready Women:
- 26% of our network have joined a board
- 62% have made advantageous connections
- 73% have become more 'Board Ready'
- BRW has helped these participants with:
- Networking & membership
- Skill-building & knowledge-sharing
- Confidence & motivation
- Guidance & advice
- Participants found that BRW provides value through:
- Networking & community
- Awareness of board postings
- Education & support
Board Ready Women announces strategic collaboration with International Women's Forum Canada
The purpose of this collaboration is for International Women’s Forum (IWF) Canada and Board Ready Women to commit to a shared agenda to increase and enhance diversity and inclusion of Canadian women on Boards.
“Board Ready Women is thrilled about the partnership with IWF Canada as both of our organizations’ mandates are very much aligned with advancing women’s leadership and making a significant difference in gender equality. With this partnership, we want to build a more robust network that supports women across Canada and assist companies in achieving their best commercial advantage by enhancing gender diversity on their Boards.”
–Heather Culbert, Chair and Co-Founder of Board Ready Women.
This partnership will extend Board Ready Women in-person services, as appropriate, to the Pacific and Eastern Canadian provinces.
Uncovering the keys to maximizing the female executive experience and unlocking the secrets of successful boards
This month, Heather Culbert, our Board Ready Women co-founder and Board Chair, chatted with Heather Barnhouse, partner at Denton’s, in a #podcast #interview about the history of Board Ready Women and our progress to date. Heather also highlighted the importance of unconscious bias awareness, the Board’s term limits, succession planning, and some common myths about becoming a Board member. Heather also advises that #networking is the most crucial step in the #career toward Board positions.
Listen to the podcast: Uncovering the keys to maximizing the female executive experience and unlocking the secrets of successful boards.
Board Ready Women profiled on Global News!
Our Founder Heather Culbert was interviewed by Gord Gillies for Trending on Global News. Watch the full interview below to hear more about Board Ready Women and the steps we are taking to help get more women on boards.
When we launched Board Ready Women four years ago in Calgary, our bold vision was for Alberta to be a national leader in female representation on boards. We are excited to expand our network and services across Alberta.
Thank you Gord Gillies and the team at Global News for helping us spread awareness about the importance of gender diversity in the boardroom.
Events Happening Now
September 18, 2023
Fast-Track Your Board Career – Speed Interviews & Mentoring Workshop
As you may have heard, Board Ready Women have had some tremendous success in achieving our objective of getting more “board ready” women in Alberta on Boards, and we are currently celebrating our 5th Anniversary!
As a special tribute to all of you and to demonstrate the incredible talent we have in this city, we are hosting a development session that will help you prepare for Board interviews. The objective is to gain exposure to Board recruitment experts and obtain feedback and tips on your Board CVs. This will be done through a live 10 – 15-minute speed interview with a Board recruiter. Come prepared with
- a one to two minute “stump speech” which would summarize your personal value proposition to a Board,
- your 1 – 2-page Board CV printed (several copies).
While waiting for your speed interview, you will have the opportunity for one-on-one speed-mentoring with one of our experienced Board Mentors, who will be available to confidentially discuss any “CONE OF SILENCE” topics that you need feedback or thoughts on.
June 19, 2023
Compensation Accountability: The Board’s Role in Executive and Director Compensation
Boards of directors have ultimate accountability for CEO and executive performance and making executive and director compensation decisions, usually based on recommendations from Compensation Committees. Board compensation decisions are under increasing scrutiny to ensure that executive compensation is fair and equitable from a stakeholder perspective, especially shareholders.
We partnered with the Federal government on the 50 - 30 Challenge initiative.
This challenge is rooted in two aspirations over time – Gender Parity (“50%”) and Significant Representation (“30%”) of other under-represented groups (racialized persons, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ2 community) on Canadian Board(s) and senior management while recognizing the unique needs of various sectors and organization types as well as offering a range of supports for the specific needs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
We are building a strong network through:
Connecting BRW network with other useful resources.
Compiling a database of “Board Experienced” women who are available to connect and mentor “Board Ready” women.
Developing a database of women who have self-identified as “Board Ready” including basic skillsets, prior Board experience, areas of interest and contact information.
Creating a repository of Board opportunities, communications, tools and techniques to assist in the purpose.
Organizing quarterly events to share ideas and progress as well as providing networking opportunities with other “Board Ready” and “Board Experienced” women and male counterparts to promote awareness and socialization of the issue of gender diversity on Boards.
Become a part of BRW Network today!
Sharing the big news!
Board Ready Women is excited to announce that we are one of the Women’s Economic Recovery Challenge Grant recipients!
This grant will be used to expand the impact of Board Ready Women to benefit Albertan women. We will increase BRW’s capacity and reach, improve our processes and bring more opportunities so that we can better assist board-aspired women on their Board journey that leads to more Board appointments. Given Alberta has the lowest percentage of women on Boards in the country at 21%, we have work to do!
Thank you, Minister Doug Schweitzer and Associate Minister Whitney Issik, Government of Alberta, for this opportunity and for your support! See the Government of Alberta press release to learn about other recipients of the Alberta Women’s Economic Recovery Challenge Grant.
Featured
Board Feature
Earth Alive Clean Technologies Inc. (TSXV: EAC) (“Earth Alive” or the “Company”), a Canadian soil health company that develops and manufactures advanced microbial technology products, announced today that Paula Caldwell St-Onge was appointed to the Board of Directors, effective immediately.
Ms. Caldwell St-Onge, a recipient of the Head of the Public Service Award for Excellence in Policy and the Queen’s Gold Jubilee medal, began her career in the Public Service in 1989. She worked in several government departments where she gained expertise in communications, environmental sustainability and political risk. She has been a Director General of Canada’s Environmental Federal national programs on Enforcement, Environmental assessments and Emergency and Preparedness as well as Director General of the Pan African bureau at Global affairs Canada. She has served as Senior Trade Commissioner, Minister Counsellor of Trade, Consul General and Ambassador in Brazil, Mexico, Texas (and 5 surrounding States), and Haiti respectively. She is also a Patron of the Canadian Museum of Nature.
“Ms. Caldwell St-Onge has a strong international background, with an active international network and comes with great experience in the environmental sector”, said Robert Blain, Chairman of the board of directors. “She has also been involved in the mining industry as Board Director of two companies”.
Ms. Caldwell St-Onge will also be a member of Earth Alive’s Human Resources and Compensation Committee.
Have you joined a board since you became part of Board Ready Women network?
Please let us know so we can celebrate your success with you! Whatever is the type of the organization, its size or the sector, we want to know more and inspire others.
Our Latest Success Stories
2022 appointments
Gail Harding
Mandy Williams
Kimberly Saunders
Patty McLeod
Cathy Manten
Stephanie Forbes
Myra D'Souza
Charlene Butler
Sandra Seltsam
Korrina Warners
Julia McElgunn
Sheila Leggett
Jocelyn Lalonde
2020 / 2021 appointments
Paula Caldwell St-Onge
Jennifer Koury
Barbara Munroe
Alberta Cancer Foundation - Board Director
ENMAX Corporation - Board Director
Alison Jackson
Angela Merriott
Cindy Skrukwa
Credit Counselling Society - Board Director
Sharleen Gatcha
Kelly Hill
Leslie Dunning
Denise Bright
Audit Committee and Board Member at Calgary Foundation
Lesley Rigg
Executive Board Member of Chair of the Governance Committee and Board Liaison for the standing committee for Research Institutions of Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences Deans. Board member of Governance Subcommittee of Hangar Flight Museum.
Gail Harding ICD.D
Member of Board of Commissioners at Alberta Securities Commission and Member of Board of Directors at Meridian Credit Union
Kiren Singh
Independent Director at Pieridae
Linda Hohol
ICD Board Chair
Heather Culbert ICD.D
Board Chair of Alberta Research and Innovation Advisory Committee (ARIAC)
Jennifer Koury ICD.D
Corporate Director of Crescent Point Energy
Andrea Goertz ICD.D
Board Director of Calgary Airport Authority and Member Board of Trustees at Boardwalk
2023 appointments
Catherine Koch
Jennie Hansen
Monica Rovers
