As of today, only one Dow company is led by a female CEO. Sherwin-Williams’ CEO is Heidi Petz, who has served as Chief Executive Officer since January 2024 and is now Chair, President, and CEO. She is the first woman to hold a top Dow CEO role since Walgreens Boots Alliance’s Rosalind Brewer stepped down in August 2023, before Walgreens itself was removed from the Dow in early 2024. No other CEO of a Dow 30 company is a woman today.
In percentage terms, that is roughly 3% (1 out of 30 firms). By contrast, women currently hold 11% of Fortune 500 CEO roles. Even against those low benchmarks, the Dow is under-represented.
Female CFOs and COOs: A Thin Silver Lining in Dow Giants
Where there are talented women in the Dow companies is in finance roles, though overall C-suite representation is low. The current female CFOs are Microsoft’s Amy Hood (the first woman ever in that role at Microsoft), Merck’s Caroline Litchfield, NVIDIA’s Colette Kress, and Salesforce’s Robin Washington, Chevron’s Eimear P. Bonner, five women out of 30 companies.
The above examples highlight the size of the challenge. That said, some Dow companies do have female COOs or presidents, such as Boeing’s former COO Stephanie Pope (COO until February 2025). There is also Jennifer Piepszak, COO at JPMorganChase who we wrote about earlier this year.
For context at Sherwin-Williams, Petz is Chair, President, and CEO, but the CFO role is held by Allen Mistysyn, a long-tenured male finance executive. Across the Dow more broadly, women still hold very few of the other “big three” C-suite chairs (CEO, CFO, COO) in most firms. The handful of female CFOs is roughly in line with the wider market, where women now hold around 17–18% of CFO roles in the Fortune 500 and S&P 500, but far fewer COO positions.
Dow companies are generally large, well-established firms where leaders tend to be pulled from longstanding pipelines. That pipeline is still overwhelmingly male. By some measures, the finance industry has only 5% of CEO seats and roughly 19% of C‑suite roles filled by women.
Why Women Leaders Drive Better Returns – And Dow Firms Are Missing Out
The narrow talent pipeline is not just unfair, it also affects performance. Multiple studies show that firms appointing women to CFO and CEO roles often see financial gains. S&P Global’s research, for example, found that in the two years after a woman became CFO, the company’s profitability rose about 6% and its stock gained about 8% more than peers. Firms with women in the top finance slot even generated trillions of dollars in “excess profits” compared to industry norms. In other words, the data strongly suggest that greater gender diversity in finance leadership boosts innovation, resilience, and returns.
Yet Dow companies have been slow to act on these facts. CEOs often cite “culture fit” or traditional criteria for promotions. As Doug Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of S&P Global notes, “women provide significant and positive value through C-suite and board leadership positions.”
Christine McCarthy, Disney’s former CFO and one of the few women ever in a top role, has been praised as “one of the most admired financial executives in America.”
The Hidden Barriers Keeping Women Out of Dow Boardrooms
Why is change taking so long? Most boards and executives will say, on the record, that diversity is “important.” But fewer set hard, time-bound targets for women in CEO feeder roles like CFO, COO, or major P&L heads. S&P Global’s 2024 analysis of the S&P Total Market Index actually showed women losing ground in C-suite seats, dropping from 11.9% to 11.5% between 2022 and 2023. Without strong action, the gender gap, even in finance roles, could get worse.
A recent report from MSCI found that the increase in the number of women CFOs has paused.
The Dow’s dismal numbers reflect deep structural barriers. Experts note that women’s underrepresentation at the top is driven not by a lack of talent, but by systemic bias and old-school career pipelines. Leadership traits are still stereotyped as “masculine,” and networks of mentors/sponsors remain skewed toward men. Boards and executives often cite a tiny “candidate pool” of qualified women, but research suggests this is largely a self‑fulfilling prophecy. Search costs for female leaders are perceived as too high and so boards default to male candidates.
As the UN Global Compact points out, about 7% of companies worldwide have a female CEO, and the same patterns appear in U.S. blue‑chip firms. Women’s share of upper management in business is roughly 20–30%, but it shrinks sharply in “front-line” profit-and-loss roles and CEO positions.
Pockets of Progress: Tech Leads, Tradition Lags
The only modest shifts in the Dow have come in finance functions at tech firms. Microsoft and Nvidia embraced women as their finance chiefs (Amy Hood and Colette Kress), and Salesforce similarly appointed Robin Washington. These isolated moves show that corporate sectors with younger leadership or a strong push for diversity (like tech and software) are marginally more open to women in C-suite posts.
But even those shifts have not yet translated to CEO roles. All three of those companies still have male CEOs. Traditional Dow industries (retail, energy, manufacturing, and financial services) have seen no comparable change.
The Verdict: Dow’s Diversity Deficit Demands Disruption
The Dow 30 remains overwhelmingly male at the top. Heidi Petz’s Sherwin-Williams is a notable exception, but it is just one of 30. Behind that grim statistic lie entrenched biases and slow-moving cultures in these legacy companies. Unless boards make aggressive efforts, setting targets, reshaping hiring and promotion practices, and spotlighting women’s leadership, the Dow’s numbers will likely stay flat.
Stories like that of Jennifer Piepszak at JPMorganChase give hope that things may change.
#CapitalMarkets #DowJones #DJIA #Diversity #Leadership
Author: Richardson Chinonyerem
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