Liz Smith greeted 33 of America's highest ranking female corporate executives at the fourth annual Roundtable of the Top Women from the NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women on March 28 and observed, "I don't usually get to start my day at a table like this!"As general manager of infrastructure access services at IBM and host of the NAFE Roundtable, Smith usually works in a world of men, though her company is working to change that.All but six of this year's roundtable participants have had profit-and-loss (P&L) responsibility—many currently responsible for billions in revenue—and to look around the table, one might imagine that corporate women have fought the good fight and won. Yet stunningly, most remain the only women at their level, even at the companies NAFE research shows are "top" for women.The fact is, women's progress in Corporate America has stalled. Recent Catalyst data* found no improvement in the number of women on Fortune 500 boards in two years, as well as a drop in women corporate officers. Five additional companies have no women on the board, defying all business sense when it's projected that women will control over $22 trillion of America's wealth in 2010. And in the past three years, women holding P&L responsibility increased only .7 percent. This disturbing trend served as the roundtable's challenging topic. "Most people don't know about this," said Leann Griesinger, VP, SPO, IPG Business & Sales Management at Hewlett-Packard. She added, "We see successful women in the press, we think we've solved the problem." Jane Hollen, SVP & COO of Xerox Information Management, concurred: "Many, including young women, think the battle is won, but we're not there yet. We have to work to get rid of the complacency."Prudential Investments President Judy Rice believes that "the only way to make sweeping change is to convince the CEOs who aren't paying attention that this is not the 'nice' thing to do, it's a business imperative. This is the customer, this is who's making the financial decisions." But Dr. Ann Fulcher, chair of radiology and board member at Virginia Commonwealth University Health, sees the solution as simultaneously working from the bottom up: "Mentoring is critical. Someone taking you by the arm when you come in is as important as getting to the CEO."   For 90 minutes, these top corporate women brainstormed strategies to end women's exclusion from the corporate heights, offering some terrific solutions:GET THE NUMBERS"Data collection is the place to start. We initiated a work/life study to expose the issues, and we learned what were the perceived barriers. We got the statistics. Then we focused on policy and practice." Donna Riley, VP, IBM"You set metrics, you review them every six months, and you hold people accountable.Having women represented is a business strategy." Mary Ann Pesce, President-New Business Development, Procter & Gamble "We've set numerical goals at every level of the organization, and we've doubled the number of general managers since the initiative started in 2002." Rita Cuddihy, SVP, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott InternationalEDUCATING MEN"The default mode for head-hunters is the white male. We have to challenge them on that, educate them, or nothing's going to change."Mary Ann Pesce, President-New Business Development, Procter & Gamble"We changed our interviewing form after we did a study about who was being hired by men... You need to find out if you're sourcing and selecting the right individuals: women with business acumen. You might find that the men are hiring women who fit their wives' profiles!" Dee Mahoney, SVP & General Manager, Pfizer Inc.IT'S ALL ABOUT P&L JOBS!"We're, reaching down, teach-ing men and women the need for diversity in the P&L, making sure mentality is there from the get-go. It's culture change." Jennifer Prose, VP & Underwriting Manager, Chubb"P&L jobs tend to be very big; we're figuring out how to make them smaller so there are more of them?and women can get the experience earlier." Liz Smith, General Manager, IBM"And you have to change the way you fill positions. At Amex, for any open job, at least a third of the slate is women; previously, all candidates were men." Beth Horowitz, Regional President, American Express Canada"We're also making opportunities for P&L at a lower level. You didn't used to get the responsibility until you were a country manager, or one job under the CEO in the U.S.—now there are four of us." Dee Mahoney, SVP &General Manager, Pfizer Inc."We're educating women about the expectations for certain jobs through our function-specific networks, like women across finance." Susan Burnett, SVP, Gap"We did something really risky. We took women out of the leadership jobs where they were successful and put them in P&L positions where they build new strategies for the company. It's put them in an excellent place to lead." Laurie Brubaker, SVP, AetnaBRING IN THE BIG GUNS"We have four women on the board. After meetings, they meet with the women at the company."Kris Wenker, VP, General Mills"Our three female board members are actively involved and hold all officers accountable. Fifteen percent of our compensation goes away if we don't hit our diversity goals. That penalty made a big change rather quickly!" Pat Curran, EVP, Wal-Mart"Are our boards measuring diversity? You get what you measure. When it comes from the board as a mandate, things change faster. We all should be challenging our boards to pay attention." Monica Luechtefeld, EVP, Office Depot    P&L IS WOMEN'S WORK"Young women fear that the more responsibility they have, the harder it will be to achieve work/life balance. Companies can help. We now send a caregiver with people who travel." Shannon Ellis, Director, Patagonia"I was so inspired by last year's roundtable, I began mentoring three women, all capable of moving up. But I find they've put boundaries around themselves. We're working on how they can fit in increasing responsibility." June McCormick, EVP, Sallie Mae"When you reach a certain level, the rules of engagement are still very male. But you've got to stay true to the style of management that is female." Linda Topping, VP, Colgate-Palmolive"You don't hear girls say, 'I'm going to go to college to study business. They usually say communications or the social sector. We have to inspire them while they're in high school." Roberta Karp, SVP, Liz Claiborne"The influence starts at a young age. We're hearing down at grade-school levels that young girls don't see themselves as being successful in the maths and sciences. Start with the local Girl Scouts, local schools, taking two hours of your time to get them excited about what you do. Get the women you're mentoring out there as well. We've come a long way, but we still have a lot of work to do." Liz SmithGeneral Manager, IBM

My First P&L Position"It wasn't until I became president and CEO of US Airways Shuttle that I recognized the difference between planning for P&L and actually having P&L responsibility.  All the best-laid plans go out the door as soon as the economy, competition, or—in the airline business—weather changes. So you suddenly have to stay very on top of metrics on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis to know what sort of adjustments you need to make. That's the financial side. What I found interesting was the human side of P&L because now your role suddenly shifts from doing your own job well to being responsible for motivating the people creating all the profits."—Rita Cuddihy, Senior Vice President, Marriott International    My Best Mentor"My father because he never allowed me for a moment to think that there was anything I couldn't do. I don't have a mentor today. I have a lot of advocates—a lot of different people I go to for advice, both male and female. I have learned so much from them over the years that I now do the same thing for others. I reach out to women I see who have potential early on and try to help show them what is possible."—Patty VanLammeren, Field Vice President, Allstate Insurance CompanyMy Best Skill Learned on the Job"Irrefutable logic does not always prevail. I am the investor relations contact for General Mills, which means I deal with Wall Street analysts on a daily basis. I've learned that one of the things that no school really prepares you for is the resilience and perseverance you need in life. This is particularly true if influencing and persuading others is a crucial part of your role, as it has been for me both internally and externally. The ability to use logic and facts to build a case internally and use it to persuade and influence others is one of the most critical skills that we build over our careers—and one that is most rewarding as it starts to work for you."—Kris Wenker, Vice President, General MillsMy Greatest Work/Life Challenge"When I came back to work after my first maternity leave, I must have had a real deer-in-the-headlights look. As I returned to my desk after nursing my daughter in our on-site daycare facility, one of the women came up to me, grabbed my shoulders, and said, 'It will be okay. Just give yourself a couple of months; once she is on solids your life will radically change.' "—Shannon Ellis,Director of HR, Patagonia, Inc.Photo: NAFE Leadership Forum PanelistsTop row: Liz Claiborne's Roberta Karp, Patagonia's Shannon Ellis, Allstate's Patty VanLammeren Middle row: IBM's Liz Smith, Aetna's Laurie Brubaker, Marriott's Rita Cuddihy Bottom row: Colgate-Palmolive's Linda Topping, General Mills' Kris Wenker, Metlife's Angelica Cantlon.