Women Corporate Directors’ (WCD) Tampa chapter recently held a series of events for its Women of Color Initiative, a program designed for diverse, board-ready executives to jumpstart their board careers. 

The program, modeled by WCD’s Minnesota chapter Women of Color Initiative, gathered approximately 15 mentees and a group of mentors to create the current cohort. The chapter graduated its first cohort in late 2023, and convened its second cohort in January 2024. The program hosts a series of monthly events with topics including preparing board-specific resumes, crafting a 30-second elevator speech, obtaining a board position, and more.

At a recent event on February 12th, the cohort focused on the topic of “How Do You Know a Board Position is Right for You,” gathering the members at HCI Group Headquarters in Tampa for a four-hour session filled with networking, the sharing of best practices and determining if a board role is the right fit.

Marylean Abney, WCD’s Chief Financial Officer and a partner of the Florida CFO Group, participates in the program as a cohort mentee. Although Abney is a board member with 20-plus years of experience with companies and organizations such as Eureka College, Genesys Works, and a $7 billion financial institution, she still finds value in the six-month program as it relates to her board career.

“I’m learning how to market myself as a board member and that non-profit boards are not a path to paid boards. It’s women already on boards helping women aspiring to be on boards”

Marylean Abney

The cohort will host four additional sessions in Tampa leading up to graduation in June 2024.

To learn more about Tampa’s Women of Color Pipeline Initiative, please email membership@wcdglobal.org.