Orange County Register

Half of California’s 400 largest public companies have no women in top executive jobs and a third don’t have any either in the executive suite or the board of directors.That’s the result of the 4th annual UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders.

The report is done with the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives.

Orange County has 60 companies on the list and 23 — 38% — have neither top executives nor directors who are women. Included in that group are Wet Seal Inc., where Kathy Bronstein, was the long-time CEO until she was fired in 2003.

Tops on the O.C. list is Resources Connection Inc. in Irvine where 31%  of its executives/directors are women. It ranks 8th in the state. No. 1 is Nara Bankcorp Inc. in Los Angeles where half the executives and directors are women.

Here is the O.C. list (in two parts). Click on the images for a larger view. Click here for county-by-county details.

“Time and time again, studies prove that businesses with women in leadership positions thrive,” said Rosario Marin, secretary of the California State and Consumer Services Agency. “It’s time to …start placing value on how these women are making their companies more efficient and effective.”

The list is compiled from Standard & Poor data of companies headquartered in California, base don net revenue.

Among the findings:

• 3% of companies have a female CEO unchanged since 2005
• 12% of the 2,782 senior executive officers are women, compared to 11.6% in 2007 and 11.7% in 2006.
• 10% of 3,280 board seats are held by women, compared to 9,4% in 2007 and 8.8% in 2006.
• More women hold the chief financial officer position than any other executive job
• Two-thirds of semi-consuctor companies have men-only boards

Click here to read the entire report.

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