Film celebrates history of Black women on corporate boards

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- In 1971, Patricia Roberts Harris became the first Black woman to serve on a corporate board for a Fortune 500 company. She served on IBM's board, and just six years later, then-President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the Presidential Cabinet to allow her to become the first Black woman to serve in such a position.

More than 50 years later, a global organization called Black Women on Boards (BWOB) is celebrating Harris' accomplishments with the release of a feature film titled OnBoard: Story of Black Women on Boards.

The film retraces some of Harris' journey and profiles several American women within BWOB and their achievements and aspirations.

"I took roles that I was the first woman in. The first Black in. A lot of the time. Especially because I was in research or engineering," said retired corporate executive Gina Loften. "But you have to be OK being the trailblazer. I was really OK being the first. It was natural to me."

The Wake County resident has spent nearly 30 years at IBM in a variety of executive roles and retired in 2021 as chief technology officer for Microsoft.

Loften serves on nine different boards in fields such as finance, tech and education. Her membership within Black Women on Boards is one that she describes as a privilege in that she believes it is her responsibility to lift up other women, especially Black women, and help them secure seats in the boardroom.

"You plan for this moment," said Loften. "This is a sisterhood about how do we help each other figure it out. Figure out this path. We have allies and supporters. There's nothing more important than sisters helping sisters."

BWOB is made up of more than 125 women from around the world who hold positions on boards for public, private, and nonprofit entities.

On Feb. 14, 2023, the group rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

"There's no greater feeling to dream big and have those dreams come true," Loften added.

On March 3, Loften and BWOB member and Microsoft executive Rashida Hodge hosted a premiere of the film at Pendo in downtown Raleigh with more than 100 people in attendance.

Following the film, Durham author and entrepreneur Jes Averhart of Jes & Co. led a panel discussion entitled "Elevating Voices and Empowering Diversity in the Boardroom." Also on the panel was Trisha Price, Pendo's chief product officer.

"Growing up in Brooklyn, growing up in eastern North Carolina in a small town most people haven't heard of, it really sits on me that I represent the art of the possible," said Loften.

She is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Math and an alumna of North Carolina A&T State University.

"I knew when I graduated from A&T, I wanted to be on the Board of Trustees," said Loften. "I knew when I graduated here from Science and Math, I wanted to be on the board here."

Loften said her qualifications for serving on boards come from her 30-plus career as an executive.

"So to sit here as a Black woman executive in tech now on these corporate boards; that is the art of the possible. We can achieve that. And so helping other women navigate that path successfully, I'm excited about that. Now I can look back and tell young women, the world is open to you. Just do it," she said.

Loften has long been guided by the mantra "To whom much is given, much is expected." This philosophy is one she said helps propel her into helping and inspiring her peers and younger women.

"There are no tables, there are no rooms that (Black women) don't belong in. And they can have evidence that it's possible," she added. You get to see it when it's polished and the work is already done. I was (a young girl) sitting there hoping that one day this would happen and my dreams did come true."

According to a 2021 Bloomberg report, Black women held only 4% of all S&P 500 board seats while making up approximately 11.4% of the U.S. population.

In 2019, former California governor Jerry Brown helped pass a law that required corporate boards to have at least one woman on its board of directors. Boards with five directors had a requirement of two women and boards with six or more directors held a three-woman minimum.

A couple of years later, the California Supreme Court struck down a law that required corporate boards to have a diversity requirement for its board membership.

For BWOB and its supporters, the work to get more women on corporate boards continues.

"The exclamation point on a great career is that now there's no seats from a senior technology position that we can't sit in," said Loften.

OnBoard: Story of Black Women on Boards can be viewed exclusively on Vimeo.