Last week I read an exceptional article in the Wall Street Journal investigating methods to propel more female executives to the top ranks of business and government. The article cited research conducted by McKinsey demonstrating that almost 9 in 10 CEOs agree that tapping female talent would result in getting “the best brains” to compete in markets where women make the majority of purchasing decisions. In a highly competitive business economy, it’s pure folly to not consider half the world’s population for leadership, and the lack of progress in recent years has developed a sense of urgency to rectify the imbalance. Furthermore, there’s evidence that the U.S. is losing ground: women are making huge strides in emerging economies such as India and China.

What resonated most with me was the author’s question: Why are we still talking about this? Why indeed. The case for more women leaders is clear, and has been for quite some time. Furthermore, the factors holding women back are apparent: lack of female role models, scarcity of active sponsors and mentors, timidity when it comes to self-promotion, etc. In my opinion, the time has come for us to push this conversation a step further and ask: What are we going to do about it?

I found the article’s description of the recent Women in the Economy Conference most exciting: at the conference, government, business and academic leaders came together to develop a clear plan to make better use of female talent. Conference attendees produced a set of tools for individuals and organizations to use in removing obstacles for women and minorities.

Here’s a closer look at the Executive Task Force working groups and their top four recommendations:

A TOOL KIT FOR THE ORGANIZATION
It Starts at the Top: Engaging the C-Suite

• Enlarge Strategy Meetings. Include emerging midlevel leaders, including 50% women, and provide opportunities to collaborate and make presentations.
• Set Goals and Measure. Hold senior managers accountable by tying promotion and compensation to meeting diversity goals and requiring regular reports to the board.
• Audit the Culture. Examine assumptions about how women leaders are “supposed to behave,” and help managers understand the view from women’s seats.
• Sponsor from the Top. Have senior vice presidents and other top leaders, rather than direct managers, nominate diverse talent for leadership development and visible roles.

The article also provided recommendations for how to construct the pipeline, how to link women’s talent to the bottom line, how to promote a healthy work-life balance, and how to build cultures that harness innovation. I found it incredibly refreshing to find that the conversation has evolved beyond complaints about the obstacles and numbers to developing actionable solutions that will make a real difference. The article is a must read, and I hope you’ll join the conversation and provide some of your own recommendations as well!

I have often shared that it is not surprising that I was responsible for formalizing flexible work practices; my own mother created flexible work hours over 40 years ago so that she could be home by 3 when I returned from school. This taught me that she had the courage to ask for what she needed, and the ability to create her own version of balancing work and life before those terms even existed. My mother loved her career and found a way to have that while raising three children, and chairing the PTA during a time when women who worked were often looked down upon. She is now 93 years old, and when I visit her, she and her good friend often talk about their past careers, and how proud they are of what their daughters in particular have achieved.

As Louise Otto, the founder of the organized German women’s movement in the 1800′s said: “The history of all times, and of today especially, teaches that women will be forgotten if they forget to think about themselves and other women.” As Mother’s Day approaches, let’s all think of the great women who have contributed to us, women who have made their mark, and have inspired us to make ours!

“If there’s one thing I would say to women who are stepping out of the workforce, it’s ‘Keep a toe in. Just keep a toe in,’” advised Cara France, who should know. She’s CEO of The Sage Group, a firm that provides high-level marketing and business consultants on contract to many of the leading San Francisco Bay Area companies. After working with more than 1,000 Bay Area executives and managers and placing hundreds of consultants on assignment, they have a unique perspective.

*This article was written by Sasha Galbraith for Forbes, and was originally posted on Forbes.com. Reposted on the Watermark Blog with permission.

While Silicon Valley is renown for cultural diversity and innovation – with the first fostering the second – it’s surprising how little ethnicity, race, and relationships across cultures are discussed, actively promoted, or even leveraged in the Bay Area. A unique committee at Watermark, the leading organization in the Bay Area for female executives, has created a series of events that discuss the unspoken: a lack of Diversity & Inclusion in our own professional networks. We felt it was important to take a deeper look into how inclusive we truly are in the Valley. Do all cultural groups feel included equally? Are we leveraging Diversity in our personal and professional relationships to the fullest? Where might we unintentionally exclude others? What is our particular role as women?

The first in a series of many conversations about Diversity & Inclusion in Silicon Valley, we will focus on the experiences of African American and Latina women who work in the Bay Area. The purpose of this conversation is to learn what we may not know, transform our approach to business, and to grow our networks in a new way. As a Bay Area organization that supports innovation and networking, Watermark believes that by having courageous conversations about inclusion/exclusion, the experience of Black and Latina women in business, and breaking down the barriers that keep us from building strong, diverse networks with one another, we can increase and sustain opportunities for success individually, professionally, and in our communities.

Join us May 10th at eBay’s headquarters at 6:00 p.m. for the first interactive, provocative and thought-provoking discussion including film clips, case studies, and small group discussion. You are guaranteed to leave with a new perspective on Diversity & Inclusion!

This interview with Shellye Archambeau, chief executive of MetricStream, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant for The New York Times. Shellye Archambeau is a Watermark board member, and will be participating in A Watermark Experience for Entrepreneurs- For Women, by Women, on May 1st. Join us for the conference and meet Shellye in person!

The great news is that the number of women entrepreneurs continues to rise regionally, nationally, and internationally. The bad news? Not everyone successfully navigates the journey from concept to the bustling and profitable business initially envisioned.

The number of obstacles business owners and growers face can seem truly insurmountable: finding funding, getting access to the right resources, hooking great talent (on a budget!), and building the right technology platform are just a few of the problems entrepreneurs find themselves challenged with.

Most entrepreneurs start out with limited means to turn their ideas into reality. Unfortunately, this often means that they’re attempting to tackle problems on their own, without the ability to learn from the experts or bounce ideas off others. The Watermark Entrepreneur conference is a place to get answers, problem solve, learn how to avoid common pitfalls and network with colleagues while learning from those who are gurus in this field.

At Watermark, our approach has always been to help women leaders tackle these issues by sharing their collective wisdom and offering action oriented learning opportunities with experts. Instead of struggling in a silo, it’s critical to create a networked, multifaceted strategy to solving problems by sharing resources and learning about proven tactics.

Next week, we’ll be hosting our annual half-day conference: A Watermark Experience for Entrepreneurs—For Women, by Women. We’ll be joining together to with experts and each other to solve issues such as: How to innovate and execute on a small budget, how to create a talent strategy, strategic selling, and more. It’s an unprecedented opportunity to learn from and rub elbows with the Bay Area’s heaviest hitters in the entrepreneurial community:

• Shellye Archambeau CEO, MetricStream
• Bill Campbell Board Chair, Intuit
• Andrea Cutright Founder and Co-Owner, Foodily
• Margaret Graziano CEO, KeenHire Talent Management
• Geraldine Laybourne Founder, Oxygen Media
• Ginny T. Lee SVP & General Manager Employee Management Solutions, Intuit
• Donna Novitsky CEO, Yiftee, former CEO, Big Tent Design, and Venture Partner at Mohr, Davidow Ventures
• Alexis Ringwald Co- Founder and CEO, LearnUp
• Nancy J. Schoendorf General Partner, Mohr, Davidow Ventures
• Sue Siegel General Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
• Kelly Swanson Founder and Managing Partner, Clarity LLC
• Sally Thornton Founder, Forshay
• Susan Wojcicki SVP of Advertising, Google
  READ SPEAKER BIOS >

“Entrepreneurs can really use their network to find passionate talent willing to give a little bit more for a little less pay. It’s about finding the right fit- the individuals who have just the right skills for the job you’re trying to fill. For example, when building our iPhone app, we easily could have interviewed candidates, hired one or two IOS engineers, outsourced for design, etc.  Instead, we found a phenomenal engineer whose girlfriend happened to be a food blogger, who became very invested in our idea. It was a perfect fit, and he was willing to do the work for a fraction of the cost of an agency.”
- Andrea Cutright, Founder and Co-Owner, Foodily

“In entrepreneurship, it really comes down to being able to curate and convey your story. When you articulate a great business case and need for your service or product, others will buy in even if you don’t have the full budget typically required. When we were launching Clarity in New York, we were able to gain access to some great talent and services that otherwise wouldn’t be available to us, all because we could convince people to believe in what we were doing. Today, those same people are still with us, and it’s made our company all the stronger.”
- Kelly Swanson, Founder and Managing Partner, Clarity LLC

Along with having incredible women as part of our membership, Watermark has always had the privilege of being led by some of the most dynamic women luminaries in the Bay Area. I’m overjoyed to announce that there are five new additions to the Watermark Board of Directors. Please join me in welcoming Lynne Born, Kim DeCarlis, Laurie Lumenti Garty, Hannah Kain, and Maya Strelar-Migotti! To see a full list of the Board of Directors, please click here.

Lynne Born
Chief Operating Officer, Seiler LLP

Lynne Born is the Chief Operating Officer of Seiler LLP, a large regional accounting firm located in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, California. The firm specializes in high-net-worth individuals and families, as well as large privately held businesses, and has been nationally recognized as a “Best of the Best Top 25” firm for eight consecutive years. Lynne also serves as a leader in the firm’s Multi-Family Office, which provides a wide range of strategic and complex financial planning services to some of the Bay Area’s most affluent and successful entrepreneurs and families.

Lynne has special expertise in the design and implementation of transformative initiatives, growth strategies, re-engineering management models and business operations. She has over twenty years of experience overseeing firm management and day-to-day operations including Finance, Human Resources, Business Development, Marketing and IT. She has planned and facilitated firm-wide business development initiatives and provides mentoring and coaching to the next generation of leadership, designing and implementing succession planning strategies for senior management teams.

Kimberly DeCarlis
Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Citrix Systems

Kimberly (Woodward) DeCarlis is vice president of corporate marketing at Citrix Systems.  At Citrix since 2007, DeCarlis is responsible for the teams who share the Citrix story with the world, including corporate messaging, global public and analyst relations, customer marketing, creative services, advertising, branding and positioning, internal communications, social media, events and the company’s online presence.  She is a frequent speaker at industry events on B2B marketing, C-level marketing engagement and workshifting, and was recognized by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of the “2010 Silicon Valley Women of Influence.”  She was also honored as a finalist in the “Best Executive, Services Business” category for the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

DeCarlis has more than 20 years of marketing, sales, management and leadership experience in growth-oriented technology companies such as Information Resources, Inc., Saba, Documentum, IBM and Xerox.

A true believer in the “work better, live better” approach Citrix takes to its corporate citizenship programs, DeCarlis serves on the Board of Directors for Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley and The Social Executive Council, and volunteers for local community organizations.  She is a graduate of Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering.

Laurie Lumenti Garty

Laurie Lumenti Garty is a Senior Vice President and Head of Wells Fargo Bank’s Startup Services Group, where she is building a differentiated platform that is helping entrepreneurs and investors who are working with high growth technology startups.

Previously, Lumenti Garty was a Managing Director in the Entrepreneur Services Group at Silicon Valley Bank where she managed the company’s relationships with angel investors, incubators, local universities and a number of seed stage investors in the Bay Area. She also covered the enterprise software sector working with a number of early stage enterprise software companies.

Prior to joining SVB Capital, Garty was the Manager of Silicon Valley Bank’s Emerging Technologies Practice, where she led a team focused on early stage companies that were either bootstrapped or backed by seed stage or angel investors. Before joining Silicon Valley Bank, Garty was a lender and a Director in the Venture Capital Group at Comerica Bank. Prior to Comerica, she worked in two Bay Area Startups – she was the Director of Strategic Alliances for Ditto.com and a Business Relationship Manager for iOwn. She has also held numerous other financial services positions working at the FDIC, Bank of America and Capital Crossing Bank.

With her diverse background, Garty has a unique combination of financial and operational experience. She has developed an extensive network of angel investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and CXOs, and is involved in many civic and industry organizations including serving on the boards of directors and advisory boards of many.  Garty is currently on the Board of Directors of Watermark and was previously on the Board of Directors of The Enterprise Network (TEN).  She was also on the Advisory Board of Watermark, Astia and Technology Venture Corporation (TVC).  She is the author of a series of articles that address the concerns of entrepreneurs, including “Sowing the Seeds of a Successful Start-up” and “Portrait of a Modern-day Bootstrapper”.

Hannah Kain
Founder and CEO, ALOM

Hannah Kain is Founder and CEO of ALOM, an award-winning global supply chain company headquartered in Fremont, California. Since founding ALOM in 1997, she expanded the company to ship products out of 15 locations worldwide, and expanded the service offering to cover order and print portals, inventory management, contract assembly, fulfillment and global print management. Kain is a board member at National Association of Manufacturers, an officer in Global Supply Chain Leaders Group, as well as a board member at the Women’s Initiative.

Hannah Kain has been honored with awards including in 2009 “Woman of Influence”, “Enterprising Woman of 2009” and “Excellence in Strategic Alliances Award”. Hannah Kain was born in Denmark and is married to Dr. Jakob Nielsen, principal of Nielsen Norman Group, the world’s premier company providing strategies to enhance the user experience.

Maya Strelar-Migotti
Vice President of IP and Broadband Development, Ericsson

With more than 20 years of technology industry leadership, Maya’s experience includes Head of Product Management for Mobile Services and Applications, VP of Engineering unit IP Networks and earlier in her career, worked as a Software Developer and in Customer Support for Ericsson. Maya has broad international experience and spent several years working in Australia, Spain, and Sweden prior to her engagement in Ericsson Silicon Valley.

In her role as VP of IP and Broadband, Maya established Ericsson as a one of key players for IP development in Silicon Valley. She is well known for building high performing and innovative organizations.

In 2008 and 2009, Maya was named one of the top 20 most powerful women in the Swedish business community, according to Business Week. In 2008 she received the “It & Telecom Star of the Year” award by Veckans Affarer (Business Week).