Guest urges Mansfield EDC to boost female leadership in STEM hiring and training

Michelle Gooch addressed the Mansfield Economic Development Corporation on March 4 and urged the board to help raise female leadership in STEM companies the city seeks to attract.

Gooch described her leadership background and said Mansfield has succeeded in attracting girls to STEM but that many local STEM firms lack pathways to elevate women into leadership roles. “The statistics say that if we have female leaders, we will have, we will attract and retain better talent because there's a higher job satisfaction,” she said. Gooch argued that female leaders can increase innovation and make business decisions more efficiently.

Staff responded that the EDC’s strategic-plan update could incorporate the ideas into incentive policy, recruitment, retention, expansion and workforce-development efforts, and that a work session on the strategic plan will likely be held at the next meeting. A board member suggested focusing on small and midsize companies that lack internal resources to develop leaders.

Gooch cited several claims about leadership and business outcomes — including a statement that roughly 25% of STEM organizations’ leadership is female and a referenced study that she said found “better business decisions are made 87% of the time if there are women involved in the leadership team.” Those assertions were presented to the board but not substantiated in the meeting record.

Next steps: staff said it will consider the suggestions when updating the strategic plan and may schedule a work session at the next board meeting to explore incorporating leadership-development measures. No formal action or funding decision was made during the meeting.