Oklahoma Woman Fights For Gender Diversity In The Boardroom

Evening the playing field for women in business has been a lifelong passion for Annette White-Klososky.

She is a founding partner at Future Point of View, a technology strategy firm in Edmond. 

She’s also co-chairing an event that is designed to give women the knowledge and strategy to move up the ranks. 

“It’s just close to my heart and I’m passionate," said White-Klososky.

For decades, Annette has been helping women realize their business dreams as a coach and advisor. 

She’s added another title to her long list, co-chair of the 2020 Women on Boards Oklahoma conference. 

"When you start seeing who’s involved and who you get to learn from and connect with, that’s what makes this kind of event really great,” said White-Klososky.

2020 Women on Boards is a national organization that advocates for gender diversity on company boards. 

Thursday marks the 6th annual state-wide conference for the Oklahoma branch. 

It’s going virtual for the first time, which actually turned out to be a good thing.

“We’re not having to pay for venues and food and all of the logistics pieces of it, so more of that money raised goes straight to the work we’re trying to accomplish,” said White-Klososky.

Annette said the conference has a record 151 attendees, and women will have a chance to learn and get coached by some of the best business minds in the state.  

“They’re going to share their stories about how they rose through the board ranks and got those paid positions, what they see those skill sets are,” she said. 

According to research from the organization, the percentage of women filling board seats has risen from 16-22% nationally in the last 4 years. 

Oklahoma is trending in the right direction, up 5% in that same timespan, but still below the national average at 17.8%.

Annette said she is optimistic about the future of gender diversity in Oklahoma. 

On a national scale, Nasdaq filed a proposal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that would require all listed companies to have at least one female and one minority board member.