The story below is from our January/February 2021 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Boards of directors in the Roanoke Valley appear to be slowly and surely jumping on the diversity train. And that is a good thing.
Warner Dalhouse fits the profile of the Roanoke Valley board of directors member to a T. He’s rich, white, male, well past Social Security eligibility age and a former CEO with extensive connections and considerable knowledge of how things work.
That’s the way it’s always been. But it isn’t the way it will always be. Dalhouse, who has served on 35 different boards of directors of all types, says, “Boards are much more keenly aware of the need for diversity, especially with all that is going on with Black Lives Matter and with Trump in the White House.”
There doesn’t seem to be much argument with that, either.
“The composition of boards has changed over the years as more women have developed key C-suite roles,” says Carilion President/CEO Nancy Agee, who serves on a wide variety of boards and has chaired several of them, including national organizations. “The increased public attention of the importance of gender diversity also has been helpful.”
“Board diversity is a serious issue that we must address,” says former Hollins University President Nancy Gray. “I firmly believe that an effective board has to be representative of the communities and people the institution serves. ... The work of inclusivity and diversity is essential to building viable institutions that meet the needs of those we serve and that, in turn, is an essential component of being a vibrant community with a thriving economy.”
The New York Times recently reported that “the boards of the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies remain overwhelmingly white. Underrepresented ethnic and racial groups make up 40% of the U.S. population but just 12.5% of board directors, up from 10% in 2015 … Black directors make up four percent of the total, up from three percent in 2015, while Black women make up 1.5% of the more than 20,000 directors included in the analysis.”
Learning new skills
Mexican immigrant Yolanda Puyana, a Hispanic consultant, community activist and a former physician, says, “I was in Roanoke when the Hispanic community started growing and with that a lot of needs to meet. The private sector, the local government and the social/civic organizations were looking for Hispanics to fill the boards. ... I learned new skills, how their internal operations work the most important.
“That work also gave me prominence and I apply what I learned to my own organization and the overall experience of serving gave me a sense of purpose and responsibility as a Latino immigrant in Roanoke.”
Dalhouse recounts that some of the boards he has been on “have tried hard to find [diverse] members. When we founded Hometown Bank, we tried to recruit an African American female lawyer from one of Roanoke’s biggest firms. There was a requirement that board members had to buy $100,000 in stock and we waived that for her. She refused, saying she would not be on the board unless she could meet that requirement. … In my 10 years on the board [before the bank was sold], we never had a black member.”
More effective decisions
Agee is adamant in her support. “Diversity leads to a greater richness for the conversations and decisions made around the board table,” she insists. “Organizations are more effective when their leadership is representative of the communities and/or businesses they serve. Research has shown that companies with boards that are diverse make better decisions and are more profitable.
“I’m a strong advocate for female leadership in health care, where women hold 75% of all health care jobs, yet only 26% of C-suite positions. We aren’t different from Fortune 500 companies where women hold a similar number of executive and board positions.”
Nancy Gray’s board efforts are concentrated on arts organizations, which “cannot flourish unless they attract diverse audiences through appealing programming, have effective marketing that reaches potential new audiences, and are seen as relevant to today’s world. Governing boards of these organizations cannot be effective unless diverse experiences, perspectives and viewpoints are represented at the table of the governing board.”
Trish White-Boyd, a small business owner and member of Roanoke City Council, says, “A diverse board is not necessarily black, white, LatinX. It should be a composition of a company, city or organization’s people. In my opinion it should mirror the people it serves, so you will have a better understanding of [those people].
“The best way to recruit minority members is to reach out to them personally or find an outlet where minorities will find this information. I was personally recruited [to the boards she serves on] and sometimes that’s not the best way.”
Center in the Square President Jim Sears sees progress. “The [eight] boards I have served on in Roanoke have been reasonably diverse in a variety of ways.” His own board has 32 members and boards in general, try to identify their needs to best serve the organizations they represent.
“I have always felt that board members are serious about diversity and will assist in finding people to serve. ... Board members influence decision-making from deciding on very large projects [to] … other instances such as choosing an investment company, or engaging a personnel management company to influencing the interior design of a building or weighing in on the type of educational programs to best meet the needs of the community. Boards have a wide range of influence and power.”
Roanoke Planning Commissioner Scott Terry-Cabbler, who has served on a wide range of boards (TAP, Northwest Child Development, Friends of the Roanoke Symphony, Dumas Drama Guild, among them) believes that having a Historic Black Colleges and Universities presence would be important to Roanoke because it provides a minority base of educated, successful African-Americans. He calls it an “epicenter” for talent. However, there is no HBCU presence west of Lynchburg. “When you experience growing up without a sense of equality, you begin to question it when you are given that” seat on the board, he says. “It is incumbent on minorities to go and recruit minorities.”
Membership on boards gives minorities “insight into how productive our contributions can be,” says Terry-Cabbler. A lot of boards “have quotas that are mandated,” which work to a positive effect. Board membership “resonates for generations.”
Roanoke “lacks that center for diversity we are constantly being faced with replenishing our diversity,” he says.
Avoiding “the usual suspects”
Dr. Tony Stavola, a family physician, led the Grandin Theatre Foundation board for several years, during which there were concerted efforts to create a diverse board. “It was definitely a challenge and something we were well aware of,” he says. “We had some success mainly reaching out through other board members to some of the contacts at work or other settings.
“There was also some outreach to community neighborhood associations in parts of the city, and schools were a source of some input. … I don’t think we had as much success as we would’ve liked, but we were able to make some progress. Unfortunately, what happens in these situations is that you often end up going to the same well a bit too often in terms of ‘the usual suspects.’”
Developer John Garland served on 12 boards covering professional, neighborhood, transportation, governmental, library, nonprofit, educational and Cub Scouts. “Organizations from my early career were mostly white guys, particularly in my chosen profession [engineering] and in my church-related functions,” he says. “Fortunately, later in my career there was inclusion with women in my professional circles, but not in church leadership.
“There remains a severe shortage of Black professionals in Roanoke, particularly in engineering and architecture and certainly in our mostly segregated churches. Most professional boards seem to be made up of individuals that think alike, which, in my opinion, is a deterrent to creative thinking. Civic activities, which I have been involved with mostly in my later years, have always been well represented, in both gender and race.”
Xavier Duckett, a Roanoke-based small business owner and youth counselor who is on several boards, says, “There is great value in representation. How can youth and individuals of communities hope or aspire to be anything or to even want more if they see no representation in anything outside of their neighborhood?”
How can that diversity be achieved? “The difficult part is simply getting out of your comfort zone, creating connections, becoming an ally and finding individuals who can be an asset to the board, or individuals that you feel can be trained and polished to be an effective piece of the organization.
“Once trained … they will be able to teach other members of their community how to maneuver. Organizations need to be intentional with visiting different communities and speaking with [their] leaders. Once the relationship is built, the board can start advertising to those communities that they are looking for more directors for the organization.”“
More and more boards have recognized the importance of diversity,” says Garland. “Those that have not, have suffered consequences, usually not readily perceived by the organization. When we stay in our little ‘silos,’ we miss much that we do not even notice, until it is too late. … Add women to the mix and the leadership of the board always seems to change for the better.”
Agee says, “Being on a board is difficult work. Agreeing to serve on a board is a decision that should not be taken lightly. It involves great responsibility. As we’re recruiting for board positions … we are looking for the right mix of expertise, experience and passion for the mission and/or business of the organization.”
And, of course, they’re looking for diversity these days.
The story above is from our January/February 2021 issue. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!
