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Women in the Workplace: The State of Women in Corporate America

📅 Tuesday, December 13, 2022

🕛 9:00 – 10:30 am et

📍   In-Person & Virtual

Watch Program Recording2022 Women in the Workplace Report

Women in Leadership InitiativeWomen in the Workplace: The State of Women in Corporate America

McKinsey & Company and Lean In’s 2022 Women in the Workplace Report, The Great Break Up, revealed that an unprecedented number of women are leaving their jobs and companies for better opportunities, more flexibility, and healthier company cultures—placing even greater pressure on corporate America to address the persistent broken rung within their talent pipelines and to invest in impactful, measurable DEI initiatives.

Keynote: McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2022 Report Readout: The State of Women in Corporate America

On December 13, 2022, McKinsey partner Megan Greenfield, Ph.D., led an examination of the key findings and, more importantly, actionable strategies women and women leaders alike can take to address these challenges, including:

Close the gap between paper and practice—beyond offering DEI programs, leaders must take action to ensure efficacy by tracking participation, outcomes, and employee satisfaction, followed by ongoing, rigorous efforts to improve performance

Equip managers to “meet the moments” and new requirements of managing hybrid and diverse teams—focusing on striking productive balances in workloads, flexibility, opportunities, and professional development

Commit to personal sponsorship of junior/other women via introductions, exposure, recognition, feedback, and support

Interrupt bias in the moment—challenge language, assessments, and hiring criteria — stand as a consistent and balanced ally

Spotlight Session: Activate Your Voice

Following Megan’s presentation, Linda Rossetti, renowned author and expert on transitions, led an interactive session with attendees—asking them to:

Describe their current voice

Tap into the values they hold most dear

Use the voice that reflects those values in their self-advocacy and navigation of career/life transitions

During her session, Linda posed the following questions:

Imagine that you have to introduce yourself to me. What will you say?

Choose a value that you hold dear. It can be anything that matters to you. Imagine that you need to reintroduce yourself to me, only this time, you need to use that value as a lens for the introduction. What will you say?

Linda’s session concluded with an exercise asking attendees to describe their voice today in one or two words now that they have explored their voice. Both virtual and in-person participants shared their responses, creating a word cloud:

Linda’s session concluded with an exercise asking attendees to describe their voice today in one or two words now that they have explored their voice. Both virtual and in-person participants shared their responses, creating a word cloud:

Executive Panel: Challenging the Status Quo

Attendees then heard senior leaders share their experiences and strategies for managing microaggressions and challenging cultures in pursuit of professional growth and satisfaction during an executive panel discussion.

Moderated by Dr. Greenfield, featured panelists included:

Renee Connolly

Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, and Head of Innovation HR Engagement & Inclusion at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany / MilliporeSigma

Catherine Kniker

Executive Vice President, and Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at PTC

Grace Lee

Executive Vice President and Regional President Eastern Massachusetts, M&T Bank

Many thanks to our 2022 Women in Leadership Initiative (WIL) Sponsor PTC, and Knowledge Partner McKinsey & Company for their support and contributions to this informative and action-focused event.

Watch the Webinar

Featured Speakers

Megan Greenfield, McKinsey & Company Women in the Workplace: The State of Women in Corporate America

Megan Greenfield, Ph.D.

Partner

McKinsey & Company MassVision2050 partner

About
Megan Greenfield is a leader in McKinsey’s Marketing & Sales, Healthcare, and Private Equity Practices.

A biotech researcher by training, she brings an exceptional understanding of the technical and business complexities of healthcare to her client work. Megan has extensive experience in designing and implementing pricing and go-to-market strategies, as well as in making efficiency-driven operational improvements. She is adept at helping clients build the processes, tools, organizational structures, and individual capabilities to actualize those strategies.

Megan’s clients include providers (ranging from large health systems to ancillary service providers), pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and private-equity firms. Her work with investors primarily involves portfolio-company transformation, but she also helps evaluate potential assets for investment.

An advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in business, Megan leads McKinsey’s diversity and inclusion initiatives—both within the firm and beyond. She regularly presents insights from Women In the Workplace, an annual research study conducted by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey. In partnership with local organizations in Massachusetts, Megan leads executive roundtables on how to recruit, promote, and retain women leaders. She is committed to ensuring that clients and corporate leaders not only understand gender issues in the workplace but also are taking actions to close the gender gap.

Linda Rossetti Women in the Workplace: The State of Women in Corporate America

Linda Rossetti

Renowned Author and Expert on Individual and Organizational Transitions

State of Women in Corporate America

About
Linda Rossetti is a Harvard MBA, serial entrepreneur and expert on transition and its impact on individuals and organizations.

Her expertise is derived from diverse environments; from negotiating a complex healthcare merger valued at >$2Bn, to integrating >200 acquired businesses, to spearheading the sale of a technology start-up to a F1000 publicly traded entity, and to driving research over the past decade on individuals and their experience with transition. Her expertise is deeply rooted, original and refreshingly optimistic.

Linda’s first book, Women & Transition, is a 5-star rated Amazon top seller. Her work has been featured on NPR, NECN, CBS/WBZ, Money Magazine, SMARTBrief, The BBJ, and other outlets. Her work with clients includes such organizations as Merrill Lynch, the US Air Force, Analog Devices, Harvard University, Smith College, Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and numerous other commercial, government, non-profit, and academic organizations. She is the founder of The Transition Institute, LLC, a firm that partners with corporations, non-for-profits and individuals who seek to navigate transition successfully.

Linda previously served as Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Administration at Iron Mountain, a C Suite role with responsibility for 21,000 employees in thirty-seven countries; and as CEO of EMaven, Inc., a venture capital-backed technology company that was acquired by Perot Systems, now Dell EMC.

Linda is deeply active in her community. She has extensive for-profit and not-for-profit Board experience. On Boards, she has served on Finance, Compensation, Nominating & Governance, and Strategic Planning Committees as well as serving as Board Chair. She currently co-chairs the Corporate Board Committee of The Boston Club and co-chairs the Upper Middlesex Commission on the Status of Women.

Renee Connolly<br />
Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and Head of Innovation HR Engagement & Inclusion at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany - the state of women in corporate america

Renee Connolly

Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and Head of Innovation HR Engagement & Inclusion

About
Renee Connolly is the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and Head of Innovation HR Engagement & Inclusion at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, where she drives the strategic advancement and cultural implementation of the company’s global DE&I efforts at an enterprise level.

With a passion for this critical area, she aims to deliver a state-of-the-art business model for DE&I, empowering the global organization to move the needle — for the € 17.5 billion business, for 58,000 employees across 66 countries, and for customers, the community and patients. Connolly’s focus is on the intersection where DE&I efforts support the company’s purpose alongside employees’ professional goals.

In her nearly 18 years with the company, Connolly has been a driver of change, builder of teams and nurturer of culture to support the global business and its employee base. In her previous roles at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Connolly served for eight years as global head of Communications and Business Markets / Services for the Life Science business, leading the business’s internal communications for 23,000 employees, as well as its external communication, corporate brand strategy, community affairs, sustainability and corporate responsibility programs. While in this role, in 2015, Connolly spearheaded the communication strategy for the € 14.5 billion acquisition of chemical giant Sigma-Aldrich — marking the largest acquisition in the company’s history and one of the largest in the life science industry.

During this time, she also launched the Life Science business’s SPARK™ global volunteer program and signature Curiosity Labs™ program, which inspires students to explore STEM careers through hands-on education. Prior to that, she served as vice president of U.S. Communications for the Healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.

Before moving to Massachusetts, as a native New Yorker, she spent the first nine years of her professional career in New York City, working in public and investor relations in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and life science industries.

Connolly enjoys contributing to organizations focused on building better communities, supporting young women professionals and encouraging future scientists and engineers. She likes to donate her time and passion to causes such as oncology research and creating hopeful tomorrows for at-risk children and families. She is a board member for the International Women’s Forum – Massachusetts, the American Cancer Society’s New England Region chapter, Massachusetts Conference for Women and the Home for Little Wanderers.

Connolly has also been involved in the American Diabetes Association and she has been a member of the MassBioEd Foundation for over 10 years, five of which she served as chairwoman to the board. She is a past recipient of the Working Mother of the Year award from Working Mother Magazine and of the American Cancer Society’s Cindy Lombardo Service Above Self Award for her support in the fight against cancer.

Connolly earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ithaca College. She and her husband, Scott, are parents to four children (three sons and a daughter) and live in the Boston suburbs.

Catherine Kniker, PTC the state of women in corporate america

Catherine Kniker

Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer

PTC

About
Catherine Kniker is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer at PTC, responsible for overseeing key strategic functions—including Corporate Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Sustainability, and Corporate Marketing.

She brings her strong business acumen, excellent systems thinking, and technology savviness to this role. Joining PTC in 2016, Catherine began as Chief Revenue Officer for the company’s fast-growing IoT and AR business units and then managed PTC’s strategic global alliances including those with Microsoft, Rockwell Automation, Ansys, Global Systems Integrators, and software and hardware technology companies.

In 2019 she also began leading our Mergers & Acquisition team, spearheading the acquisition of Arena Solutions—the largest acquisition in PTC history. Prior to PTC, Catherine successfully held numerous strategies, corporate development, and go-to-market leadership roles. She was Chief Channel Officer & VP at Constant Contact, Owner, and President at CHB Group, SVP of Corporate Development & Marketing at Candela Corporation, and SVP of Marketing, Enterprise Services at Level 3 Communications.

Catherine earned an M.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a B.S. in Computer Systems from the University of Limerick in Ireland.

Grace Lee M&T Bank the state of women in corporate america

Grace Lee

Executive Vice President and Regional President Eastern Massachusetts

M&T Bank

About
Grace Lee has combined over twenty-five years of public and private sector leadership experience in Massachusetts.

As Regional President, Grace is responsible for the coordination of the region’s strategic development and growth through its community banking activities that advance the bank’s localized focus to deliver more value for customers, businesses, and communities.

In addition to her responsibilities as Regional President, Grace also manages the Government Banking & Finance division for the New England area. Grace joined People’s United Bank in August of 2014 from Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellot, LLP, where she was Special Counsel and Vice Chair of the Public Finance Group.

Previously, Grace was General Counsel and First Deputy Treasurer of the Office of the State Treasurer and Receiver General from 2003 to 2011, where she managed the operations of the State Treasurer’s Office (“Treasury”) and was responsible for managing the Treasury’s legal affairs.  Notably, while at the Treasury, Grace was instrumental in the passage of the legislation that established the Asian American Commission and served as the Commission’s first Executive Director.

Prior to joining the Treasury, Grace was with Morgan, Brown & Joy, concentrating her practice in employment discrimination, labor law, and commercial litigation. Grace’s other public sector experience includes her work as a civil rights attorney for the United States Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, and as an assistant district attorney, Chief of the Civil Rights Division, for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.

Partners & Sponsors

Special thank you to the following partners and sponsors.

2022 Annual Sponsor
PTC 2022 Women in Leadership Sponsor
Knowledge & Content Partners
Bentley University 2022 Women in Leadership Sponsor
McKinsey & Company 2022 Women in Leadership Sponsor employee burnout and mental health webinar
reacHIRE 2022 Women in Leadership Sponsor
Supported By
Creation Technologies 2022 Women in Leadership Sponsor employee burnout and mental health webinar
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Rapid7 2022 Women in Leadership Sponsor employee burnout and mental health webinar