Tech 100 Boards: Where are the women?

It's a curious paradox: Tech boards represent some of the most innovative companies in terms of their strategies, products and services, but are among the least progressive when it comes to the number of women members.

Korn Ferry recently analyzed the membership of boards of directors of the Tech100, a list of the largest US technology companies as ranked by revenue as of June 2013.  We then compared the makeup of those boards with that of the KFMC100, the largest companies by market capitalization in all sectors.

Among our findings:

• Only 14.6 percent of board seats are held by women in the Tech 100, compared with 20 percent of KFMC100 board seats.
• In the Tech100,  sixteen companies had no female directors at all. The KMFC100 has only one board with no seats held by women.
• Six technology companies added board directors in the last half of 2013, after our data was collected.

In light of the demand for new skills and experience on boards in general and the proven value that female directors contribute, why are there still so few women on tech boards?  And what can boards do to change that?