Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Deloitte Announces Historical Milestone, Tops 1,000 Women Partners, Principals and Directors

Deloitte LLP announced today that it has reached a milestone in the organization's history by exceeding the 1,000 mark for U.S. women partners, principals and directors. This achievement reflects Deloitte's enduring commitment to enhancing the pipeline of women and minority leaders through its Initiative for the Retention and Advancement of Women (WIN).

"We take great pride in reaching this major achievement," said Barry Salzberg, CEO, Deloitte LLP. "We work in a highly competitive, knowledge-based profession where having the best resources and the most intellectual capital is a critical determinant of our success. At Deloitte, we are focused on improving leadership opportunities for all of our people, regardless of gender or background, and this landmark highlights the fostering of a culture in which everyone has the opportunity to reach their potential."

Commenting on this landmark, Barbara Adachi, national managing principal of Deloitte LLP's WIN, said: "It is extremely rewarding to see the tremendous progress we have made since launching our Women's Initiative in 1993. Over the past 16 years, we have seen how having a strong group of female leaders inspires new thinking and brings about new approaches to business challenges, which in return enables us to provide the best possible solutions to our clients' problems. This fresh thinking has led to a number of innovations, including mass career customization, a new workplace model that enables professionals -- women and men -- to build sustainable careers."

Deloitte was the first Big Four professional services firm to create an official program for the advancement of high-potential women. Since the launch of the initiative, Deloitte has made remarkable strides in improving the pipeline of women leaders. Through a variety of training, mentoring, coaching and succession-planning programs, the organization succeeded in increasing the number of U.S. women partners, principals and directors exponentially, from 97 back in 1993 to more than 1,000 today.

Deloitte continues to lead the professional services industry in the number of women serving in the highest ranks of an organization. It is the first and only major professional services firm to have a woman chairman, Sharon Allen. In addition, its board of directors has six women -- a female representation of 29 percent.

"From being the first woman to join the audit staff of Deloitte's Idaho office more than 36 years ago to the first woman chairman, it is with great pride and excitement that I celebrate this important milestone for our organization as well as our profession," said Allen. "Through the groundbreaking Women's Initiative, Deloitte's leadership diagnosed the challenges associated with retaining women in the workforce and has since developed programs that have enhanced the way we do business. There is still more work to be done; however, this accomplishment is a clear indication that we are continuing to move in the right direction."

Deloitte's Women's Initiative offers programs to develop and advance women professionals at every level. Among them is the Leading Edge program, which is designed to groom high-potential women partners, principals and directors for senior leadership roles.

About Deloitte

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and Deloitte Services LP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

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