The Roanoker - January/February 2021 - 42

Jim Sears

Trish White-Boyd

" Board diversity
is a serious issue that
we must address, "
says former Hollins
University President
Nancy Gray. " I
firmly believe that an
effective board has
to be representative
of the communities
Warner Dalhouse
and people the
institution serves. ... The work of inclusivity and
diversity is essential to building viable institutions
that meet the needs of those we serve and that, in
turn, is an essential component of being a vibrant
community with a thriving economy. "
The New York Times recently reported that " the
boards of the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies
remain overwhelmingly white. Underrepresented
ethnic and racial groups make up 40% of the U.S.
population but just 12.5% of board directors, up
from 10% in 2015 ... Black directors make up four
percent of the total, up from three percent in 2015,
while Black women make up 1.5% of the more than
20,000 directors included in the analysis. "

Learning new skills

Mexican immigrant Yolanda Puyana, a Hispanic
consultant, community activist and a former
physician, says, " I was in Roanoke when the
Hispanic community started growing and with that
a lot of needs to meet. The private sector, the local
government and the social/civic organizations were
looking for Hispanics to fill the boards. ... I learned
new skills, how their internal operations work the
most important.
" That work also gave me prominence and I apply
what I learned to my own organization and the
overall experience of serving gave me a sense of
purpose and responsibility as a Latino immigrant
in Roanoke. "
Dalhouse recounts that some of the boards he has
been on " have tried hard to find [diverse] members.
When we founded Hometown Bank, we tried to
recruit an African American female lawyer from one

42 JAN/FEB 2021

Nancy Gray

David Crane

of Roanoke's biggest firms. There was a requirement
that board members had to buy $100,000 in stock
and we waived that for her. She refused, saying she
would not be on the board unless she could meet
that requirement. ... In my 10 years on the board
[before the bank was sold], we never had a black
member. "

Three Tips
Toward Diversity
Former Hollins University
President Nancy Gray has three
suggestions for creating diversity
on boards of directors. They are:
*	

" Actively search and
network harder to identify
candidates. Widen our
circles and actively seek
a strong pool of diverse
candidates.

*	

" Consider creating
'pipelines' as an entry
point for possible board
candidates, such as
advisory committees
and other volunteer
leadership development
opportunities so that
potential board members
can get to know the
organization and the
organization can get to
know them.

*	

" Consider adopting
recruitment of a more
diverse board as an
important strategic
initiative for board
governance committees.
Boards need to make a
serious commitment to
becoming more diverse
and work as hard at
achieving that goal as any
other goal they may set
for themselves. " -DS

More effective decisions

Agee is adamant in her support. " Diversity leads
to a greater richness for the conversations and
decisions made around the board table, " she insists.
" Organizations are more effective when their
leadership is representative of the communities and/
or businesses they serve. Research has shown that
companies with boards that are diverse make better
decisions and are more profitable.
" I'm a strong advocate for female leadership in
health care, where women hold 75% of all health
care jobs, yet only 26% of C-suite positions. We
aren't different from Fortune 500 companies where
women hold a similar number of executive and board
positions. "
Nancy Gray's board efforts are concentrated on
arts organizations, which " cannot flourish unless
they attract diverse audiences through appealing
programming, have effective marketing that
reaches potential new audiences, and are seen
as relevant to today's world. Governing boards
of these organizations cannot be effective unless
diverse experiences, perspectives and viewpoints
are represented at the table of the governing board. "
Trish White-Boyd, a small business owner and
member of Roanoke City Council, says, " A diverse
board is not necessarily black, white, LatinX. It
should be a composition of a company, city or
organization's people. In my opinion it should
mirror the people it serves, so you will have a better
understanding of [those people].
" The best way to recruit minority members is
to reach out to them personally or find an outlet
where minorities will find this information. I was
personally recruited [to the boards she serves on]
and sometimes that's not the best way. "
Center in the Square President Jim Sears sees

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