Symposium to Explore Glass Ceiling Women Face in Board Rooms

The Project for Law & Business Ethics will host a symposium, Perspectives on Gender and Business Ethics: Women in Corporate Governance, on Friday, February 25. The symposium will examine the role of women in the governance of corporations and other business entities. The program will include legal experts, practicing attorneys, and corporate directors.

The symposium will feature a presentation, A Wide Perspective on Women in Corporate Governance, by Professor Douglas Branson the W. Edward Sell Chair in Business Law at University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Branson has written two books on women's role in corporate governance, No Seat at the Table: How Governance and Law Keep Women Out of the Boardroom and The Last Male Bastion: Gender and the CEO Suite at America¿s Public Companies. He will speak about the subjects of board of director and corporate officer composition and women's role therein.

In addition, the symposium will include a panel discussion by top legal academics, including Professor Barbara Black from University of Cincinnati College of Law, Professor Lissa Lamkin Broome from University of North Carolina School of Law, Professor Joan MacLeod Heminway from The University of Tennessee College of Law, and Professor Darren Rosenblum from Pace Law School.

A panel composed of practicing attorneys and corporate executives will also discuss a Practical Perspectives on Corporate Governance. The panel will feature Kate Barber Nolan, the associate general counsel of Duke Energy; Pamela Morris, president and CEO of CareSource; Katie Lamme '80, former senior vice president and general counsel for Standard Register; Jennifer Breech Rhoads, president and CEO of the Ohio Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association; and Mildred P. Woryk, former vice president of human resources for Tomkins Limited.

Dayton Law's Project for Law & Business Ethics, which is chaired by Association Professor Eric Chaffee, was founded in 2007 from a generous donation by Fran Evans and Jon Hoak for research, teaching and scholarship relating to ethics in the business world. The Project¿s mission is to explore the role of law and lawyers in promoting the ethical operation of business entities and preventing ethical breaches before they occur. The Project is designed to improve the legal profession and business community by generating a dialogue on what constitutes the best practices for creating and maintaining an ethical environment in a business setting.