More Women in Asset Management Would be a Game Changer | Huffington Post

Dr. Bernice Ledbetter, Practitioner Faculty of Organizational Theory and Management and Academic Director of the MS in Management and Leadership program at the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School, and Director of the Center for Women in Leadership at Pepperdine University, contributes to the Huffington Post on the need for more women in asset management. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal and research from Morningstar Inc., 7% of investment managers in the $15 trillion mutual-fund industry in 2015 were female – down from 10 percent in 2009.

For context, Dr. Ledbetter draws comparisons with the percentages of women in medicine and law. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that 34% of physicians in the U.S. are women, and the American Bar Association reports that 34% of its lawyer members are women. To improve numbers in asset management, Dr. Ledbetter says nonprofit organization initiatives, academic programs, and recruitment efforts can all help remedy the problem, with an added emphasis on MBA recruiting and mentorship.