Regional Briefs
Knocking On The Glass Ceiling
While the number of female executives in Massachusetts' 100 largest companies increased this year, the gains were not as high as they could have been, according to a new report by The Boston Club, New England's largest organization of senior and executive professional women.
The report, titled "Leading by Example: The 2007 Census of Women Directors and Executive Officers of Massachusetts Public Companies," found that from July 1 of last year through June 31 of this year, women held 11.5 percent of the 838 board seats in the state's 100 largest companies, up from 10.8 percent last year and 9 percent in 2003.
Turnover in the state's companies produced 64 new directors, 50 of whom are independent directors, while the number of executive officers increased by 45, the club said.
Of the largest companies, 63 have at least one woman director, compared to 57 last year and 50 in 2003. Still, 37 companies have no women on their boards.
The Boston Club also found that women account for 10.9 percent of the state's 755 executive officers, down 0.1 percent from last year.
The services sector has the highest percentage of women directors, at 15.2 percent, while health care services has the lowest percentage, at 9.1 percent.
State Insurance Site Wins Innovation Award
The web site InfoWorld has named the state's health connector web site as one of the 100 "most innovative corporate IT solutions" for 2007.
The awards are given in 20 different categories. The Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority site was chosen as one of the best in the government category. The site helps users research and enroll in a health insurance plan, which is now required by state law.
Other Massachusetts companies to win "innovative corporate solutions" awards this year were EMC of Hopkinton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Record-Setting Mass. Foreclosure Filings. Again.
Petitions to foreclose filed in Massachusetts rose more than 25 percent in August over July, shattering July's previous record and setting an ominous tone for the coming months, according to The Warren Group, publishers of Banker & Tradesman.
August saw 3,115 petitions to foreclose filed in Massachusetts Land Court, the most recent month for which statistics are available. The previous record was set in July, when 2,486 petitions were filed. Petitions to foreclose are the first step in the home foreclosure process, and do not always end up in actual foreclosure.
The August number is up 75.5 percent over August of 2006, when "only" 1,775 petitions were filed, according to The Warren Group.
In Worcester County, petitions to foreclose rose 84 percent in August 2007 compared to last year, from 252 to 466. Year-to-date, petitions rose 72 percent in Worcester County, to 2,824 so far this year, according to the report.
Hospitals Say Instruments Are On Us
Hospitals in Massachusetts will no longer charge patients for procedures that include preventable errors, according to the Massachusetts Hospital Association.
The association said Massachusetts was the second state in the country to adopt the policy. Hospitals here will no longer charge patients or insurers for "certain serious adverse events," including what the association called "wrong site surgeries and serious medication errors."
The association said the policy would be put into effect in early 2008, and would be based on the definitions of adverse events accepted by the National Quality Forum. Along with surgery on the wrong body part, the policy covers surgery on the wrong patient, the wrong surgical procedure, retention of a foreign object, medication errors, the wrong donor for artificial insemination, infant discharge to the wrong family and others.
Greys Skies Could Clear Up In New England
The nation's housing slump and credit crunch have left economists gloomier than they were six months ago about New England's growth prospects, but the worst may soon be over.
A regional forecast organization recently predicted that New England's economy will begin to break out of its recent run of slow growth starting in the second quarter of next year, but its housing market is at least six months from bottoming out.
The New England Economic Partnership expects the current quarter and next year's first quarter to yield the slowest growth in the value of New England's products and services - a measure known as gross regional product - during a forecast period that runs through 2011.
The panel of economists from the region's six states expects an annual growth rate of 1.6 percent this quarter and 1.7 percent next quarter. The economists then expect "a slow and modest recovery,'' peaking at 3.4 percent growth in early 2009, according to the latest twice-a-year forecast presented at the economic organization's fall conference in Boston.
Regional gross product growth is expected to average 2.2 percent per year through 2011, below the 2.6 percent the group had forecast last spring.
The group attributed the lowering of expectations to "the broadening effects of the national credit crisis, and economic vulnerabilities extending from the housing market to other sectors of the economy.''
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments