Network of Executive Women Launches Gender Parity Campaign

CHICAGO — The Network of Executive Women (NEW) launched the NEW Future Fund, a campaign aimed at achieving 50/50 gender parity in the retail, consumer goods and services industry.

The NEW Future Fund is a $5-million capital campaign to fund technology that will deliver industry-specific data and insights on gender parity, and include training and collaboration tools designed to increase the representation of women in leadership positions.

Target Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell and PepsiCo Inc. Chairman and CEO Indra K. Nooyi will co-chair the industrywide initiative.

“On behalf of PepsiCo, I’m proud to support the NEW Future Fund to make sure women are equally represented at the highest levels of our industry,” said Nooyi. “We know that when we open the doors of opportunity to extraordinary women, businesses thrive. Through the powerful partners NEW is bringing together, we have the chance to drive meaningful change across our industry, harnessing the talents of the best and brightest women and men alike. This isn’t just about doing the right thing — it’s about doing the right thing for our businesses and our industry.” 

According to NEW, Future Fund data will be essential to understanding performance and developing more effective ways to accelerate women in the retail, consumer goods and services industry. It will be coupled with online and on-the-go learning and team training resources tailored to the industry’s needs and latest trends.

“I’m thrilled to represent Target and join Indra as co-chair of NEW’s Future Fund,” Cornell said. “I’ve had the opportunity to work for exceptional female leaders throughout my career and am proud to surround myself with strong female leaders at Target. There’s no question we’re making progress, but we still have work to do to achieve gender parity in the industry. The work that will be done as a result of this campaign is a critical step in this process.”

In 2015, NEW introduced the NEW Career Accelerator Model with the Center for Creative Leadership to outline 13 critical success factors specific to women leaders in the industry. Through career programs, events, webinars and content based on this model, more than 20,000 NEW industry leaders leveraged the training and collaboration tools for personal and organizational growth, according to the organization.

“Our future as an industry depends on more women in leadership roles,” said Joan Toth, president and CEO of the Network of Executive Women. “Today, PepsiCo and Target are showing their commitment to driving innovation and business growth. I’m convinced that working together, powered by the NEW Future Fund, we can achieve 50/50 gender parity in our leadership.”

The Network of Executive Women is the retail and consumer products industry’s largest women’s leadership organization.