The tech world moves fast, but when it comes to female representation at senior levels, it doesn’t move fast enough.

Representation of female board members among companies with $100 billion or more in market capitalization is currently 23%. That drops to 9% for private companies or firms up to $500 million in market cap, and the current pace of improvement is just 1% per year, according to data supplied by The Athena Alliance.

The organization was formed in 2016 with a mission to support women, boards and corporations in building the strongest talent bench. Progress has been made, yet four years later there remains a lot of work to do.

“A big part of the challenge is companies having the disposition collectively to see the board as a competitive advantage for the business, as a very necessary and productive piece of the business,” said Coco Brown (pictured), founder and chief executive officer of The Athena Alliance. “When they see that, they take more proactive measures to make sure they have an evolving and strong board.”

Brown spoke with Jeff Frick, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed positive trends in changing the percentage of female representation and advice for women seeking a seat at the table.

Paying more attention

What are the signs of progress? The Athena Alliance, which offers accelerators for building brand packages and bios, in addition to executive coaching, reports placing over 100 women on public boards and securing at least 250 board interviews for female executives.

In January, Goldman Sachs announced that it would not take a company public without at least one “diverse” board member and declared a specific focus on increasing female representation.

“There are statements by big entities that people are paying attention to,” Brown said. “That’s created a lot of momentum as well as thoughtfulness from leaders, employees and larger stakeholders to say that diversity at the top of business has to mimic the demographics of society as a whole.”

Brown advises that female executives make the effort to build a rich ecosystem of connections among corporate leaders to establish visibility so that when board vacancies become available, they are already known and trusted.

“Understand and have real connections into parts of the leadership ecosystem that influences or makes the decision as to who sits around that table,” Brown said. “That would be communities of CEOs, communities of existing board directors, venture capital and private equity firms. As you get really entrenched into those organizations and ecosystems, you become part of that ecosystem and what they turn to.”

Here’s the complete video interview, one of many CUBE Conversations from SiliconANGLE and theCUBE:

Photo: SiliconANGLE