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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In an attempt to debunk the myth that there is a shortage of qualified diverse boardroom candidates to meet the needs of today’s U.S. corporations, Corporate Board Member, an NYSE Euronext company, is launching “Moving the Needle: Building Effective Boards with Qualified Diverse Candidates,” a concerted effort to increase the number of diverse directors by introducing a pool of qualified candidates recommended by public company CEOs, chairmen, and related parties to search firms and nominating/governance committee members in the public company arena.

“We also hope to shine a bright light on all those organizations whose daily mission it is to help companies identify qualified diverse board candidates.”

”We believe that diversity of thought gives corporate boards the best chance to be effective and ultimately fosters companies that are more customer- and human-capital focused,” said TK Kerstetter, president of Corporate Board Member. “While we do not believe that one-size-fits-all regulatory mandates or quotas are the formula for preventing fraud or successfully building shareholder value, we do encourage companies to take a proactive stance with respect to building diverse boards and address any governance issues like this head on.” Furthermore, Kerstetter added, “We also hope to shine a bright light on all those organizations whose daily mission it is to help companies identify qualified diverse board candidates.”

To that end, Corporate Board Member is planning a multi-tiered approach to boardroom diversity that includes a networking exercise for the board candidates, search firms, and nominating/governance committee members on July 19, which will run concurrent with peer exchange workshops for the CEOs, board chairs, and lead directors who nominated and are accompanying the candidates. These activities will be preceded by an NYSE closing bell ringing, reception, and networking dinner on July 18. In addition, Corporate Board Member will be holding a think tank on May 23, excerpts of which will be released along with supporting research in the third-quarter 2012 issue of its magazine. All events will be held at the New York Stock Exchange.

An advisory council including James Nevels, chairman, Hershey Co.; Kay Koplovitz, chairman, Liz Claiborne Inc.; Robert Moritz, chairman, PwC; David Daniel, CEO, Spencer Stuart; Manuel Fernandez, chairman, Sysco Corp.; Allan Grafman, CEO, All Media Ventures; Ike Harris, chairman, Cigna Corp.; Sara Mathew, president, CEO, and chairman, Dun & Bradstreet Corp.; Duncan Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext; Sheila Penrose, chairman, Jones Lang LaSalle; John Veihmeyer, chairman and CEO, KPMG; and Maggie Wilderotter, CEO and chairman, Frontier Communications, is lending support to the event, as are leading women’s and ethnic minority organizations, including the InterOrganization Network (ION), Women Corporate Directors (WCD), the Thirty Percent Coalition, 2020 Women on Boards, the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), the Committee of 100 (C-100), Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP), and the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR), among others.

A booklet featuring the qualified board candidates and organizational resources will be sent to all public company CEOs, board chairs, and nominating/ governance committees in August.

For further information on this event, including the nomination process, sponsorship opportunities, and more, please visit www.boardmember.com/movingtheneedle or contact Kimberly Crowe at kcrowe@boardmember.com.

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