Principal Again Named a Top Company for Executive Women

DES MOINES, Iowa--()--For the 16th time, Principal Financial Group® is one of the NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women, as named by the National Association for Female Executives.

NAFE aims to recognize American corporations where women have significant clout to make the decisions that affect their company’s future and its bottom line. The NAFE Top 60 Companies, released today, is featured in the February/March issue of Working Mother. The full list of this year’s winners are listed on workingmother.com/nafe.

“Being named a top company for executive women for the 16th time shows that we’ve had a long-time commitment to workplace diversity and gender equality,” said Beth Raymond, senior vice president and chief HR officer at Principal®. “Our culture is rooted in empowering employees to do their best work, and we are proud of this recognition of our efforts to foster the advancement of female employees.”

The strong culture of women has produced an environment where today women at Principal comprise:

  • 60 percent of the U.S. workforce
  • 60 percent of mentees in mentoring programs
  • 33 percent of Principal board members
  • 42 percent of executives

These numbers are bolstered by robust leadership and development programs at Principal, including the Women in Leadership, Women in Technology Group, Women in Sales Program, Corporate Mentoring Program and a focus on succession planning.

“NAFE emphasizes women with bottom-line and top-line responsibility—the positions that lead to the corner office—and we’re pleased to report an eight percent increase in women running billion-dollar divisions at the NAFE Top Companies this year,” says Subha V. Barry, vice president and general manager of Working Mother Media (WMM). “In addition, now nearly a third of these companies have five or more women on the board, with many simply increasing the number of board seats to add a woman.” NAFE is a division of WMM.

About the Methodology
The 2017 NAFE Top Companies application includes some 200 questions on female representation at all levels, especially the corporate officer and profit-and-loss ranks. The vetting process includes tracking access and usage of programs and policies that promote the advancement of women as well as the training and accountability of managers in relation to the number of women who advance. In order to be eligible for the NAFE Top Companies survey, entrants must have a minimum of 1,000 employees, two women on the Board of Directors and be a public or private company. NAFE also separately names the Top 10 companies in the nonprofit sector.

ABOUT NAFE
The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), founded in 1972, serves 20,000 members nationwide with networking, tools and solutions to strengthen and grow their careers and businesses. Working Mother magazine publishes the annual NAFE Top Companies list. NAFE.com provides up-to-date information, a community for women in business, and access to member benefits. NAFE is a division of Working Mother Media, owned by the Bonnier Corporation.

About Principal®
Principal helps people and companies around the world build, protect and advance their financial well-being through retirement, insurance and asset management solutions that fit their lives. Our employees are passionate about helping clients of all income and portfolio sizes achieve their goals – offering innovative ideas, investment expertise and real-life solutions to make financial progress possible. To find out more, visit us at principal.com.

Principal, Principal and symbol design and Principal Financial Group are trademarks and service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group.

Contacts

Principal
Hillary Gebert, 515-246-4942
gebert.hillary@principal.com

Release Summary

For the 16th time, Principal Financial Group is one of the NAFE Top Companies for Executive Women, as named by the National Association for Female Executives.

Contacts

Principal
Hillary Gebert, 515-246-4942
gebert.hillary@principal.com