NHL executive discusses importance of gender diversity

TAMPA -- It is a unique moment for women and for women's empowerment, a time of change. That was where former ESPN anchor and moderator Sara Walsh started the conversation at Beyond the Blue Line, celebrating women of influence, presented by Touch by Alyssa Milano on Thursday.

The panel discussion was held at Tampa Bay History Center ahead of the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game, which will be played at Amalie Arena on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVA Sports).
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Speaking about studies by several companies, Heidi Browning, NHL executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said gender diversity in the workplace correlates to profitability and value creation, and got a round of applause.

"They showed that there was a 55 percent lift in operational results when you have more women in the workplace," Browning said. "They showed that there's a 47 percent lift in return on equity when there are women in the workplace. And these numbers actually got higher [with] the more women that were in senior roles."
Browning sat on the panel alongside Elizabeth Frazier, executive director of the Tampa Bay Lightning Foundation and the Lightning's senior vice president of philanthropy and community initiatives. Milano could not attend the event, as she had done last year when it was held at the 2017 All-Star Game in Los Angeles, because the actress had a filming commitment.
Browning posed a question that was taken up in another study. "What if we reimagined the world?" she said. "And what if women and men participated equally in our global economy, what would happen? They did all the math and here's what the answer was: If women and men participated equally in the global economy, we would increase the GDP (gross domestic product) by $12 trillion.
"This is why women matter and this is why we have to have these conversations with ourselves, with our partners, in our workforce, with our friends. We need to start educating."

The conversation continued from there, covering the ways women can reach out to people in leadership roles, to get advice and understand what jobs are out there and where their interests might lie.
According to the panel, part of that starts with women in power positions trying to grow the next generation of women and girls, committing to hiring women at all levels, committing to diversity. From there, that starts the trickle-down effect.
Frazier mentioned a mentorship program the Lightning started a year and a half ago called the Women Influencing Network, which is about relationships and supporting each other, and gives rise to a network that can provide feedback and a safe space for women to grow.
To that end, as Browning said, "I will have coffee with anyone."
She mentioned 11-year-old Sabrina Solomon,
who wrote to her with suggestions for the NHL
. Browning invited Solomon to the League offices in New York, where she met with Browning and Commissioner Gary Bettman in August, presenting ideas about how the League can better reach younger fans.
It was a big day for Solomon, and a big day for Browning.
"This has to start within each and every one of us," Browning said. "It has to start at the top of our organizations. We can't just talk about it. We have to actually put action behind words. So this is where you're seeing probably not enough movement in the world out there, of putting the action behind the words.
"But I think given the state of society and the conversation that's happening now, we're going to see a movement that's going to be what I hope to be the end of the imbalance in the workplace."