LII is committed to developing our female talent. One key goal is to provide our female executives with access to female role models, up to and including our Board of Directors.

Our Elevate initiative started as a Board luncheon and panel discussion between our female executives and our female Board members. The objective was to give executive women the opportunity to learn first-hand from our female Board members about their personal career paths, and how they overcame the challenges inherent in being a female leader in the corporate world.

We recently expanded the number and type of interactions between our female executives. In addition to increasing the frequency of the Board luncheons, we established a formal network for executive women, under the name Elevate. We have created a private Teams site for candid conversation between our female executives, and have also planned additional networking opportunities – between our executive women and also with our C-suite. Due to COVID-19, our face-to-face interactions have had to be postponed, but we will re-engage as soon as it is safe to do so.

Our female executives have crafted, with the sponsorship of senior leadership, a networking and resource group dedicated to the unique needs and challenges of their positions within LII. Our representation of female executives continues to grow year-over-year, and this initiative will help us both develop and retain these leaders.