Profile
Portrait of a Lady CEO
Kellye Whitney, 09-13-2009
Continued from 1 Article Beginning
Heffernan said for decades people have argued the reason there aren’t more women in top positions was because there wasn’t a pipeline. Burns’ appointment illustrates clearly what can happen when senior leadership and organizational culture promote the value of workforce diversity, development and minority representation in succession plans.
“Appointments like this show what many of us have always felt: There’s a very long rich pipeline of hugely qualified, capable women. Female CEOs are not a flash in the pan; they’re really the shape of things to come,” Heffernan said. “I remember being at the corporate headquarters where I worked and a woman coming up in the elevator said, ‘Are you Margaret Heffernan?’ I said, ‘Yeah, why?’ She said, ‘I’ve never seen a female CEO before, and I just wanted to know what one looked like.’ I live for the day when everyone knows what we look like because we look just like them. Appointments like this make me feel that day is closer.” «
- Kellye Whitney
