Office Depot One of Top 50 Companies for Female Execs

Office Depot

Office DepotOFFICE DEPOT NAMED “TOP 50 COMPANY FOR EXECUTIVE WOMEN” BY NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR FEMALE EXECUTIVES

Office Depot Named to List for Eighth Consecutive Year

Boca Raton, Fla., March 1, 2012 — Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), a leading global provider of office supplies and services that helps customers save time, today announced that it was named to the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) 2012 Top 50 Companies for Executive Women list for the eighth year in a row. The list recognizes American companies that have moved women into top executive positions and created a culture that identifies, promotes, and nurtures successful women.

“Office Depot is honored to be named once again to NAFE’s Top 50 Companies for Executive Women list,” said Robyn Tyler, Vice President of Global Talent Management for Office Depot. “We strive to have the best learning and development programs available so that all of our associates can grow and advance to higher positions in the Company, and we couldn’t be happier to see that our female workforce continues to rise to the top.”

During 2010, Office Depot’s women executives earned 36 percent of all promotions to senior level management roles, and 41 percent of those to director or senior director. Specific development programs that NAFE highlighted in its profile of the company included:

  • Office Depot’s “Put Your Career in Motion” classes, available on-site and online, that show managers how to motivate their teams, set firm goals, make sense of profit-and-loss statements, and write effective business cases.
  • The Office Depot Center for Executive Education. Office Depot donated $2.8 million to Florida Atlantic University to build the center as a place where Office Depot’s senior talent can improve their skills. Female directors and senior directors selected for the Advanced Leadership Development Program learn from business management professors and work on projects that are presented to the Company’s Operating Committee. Officers in the Enterprise Leadership Program get one-on-one executive coaching and undergo skills assessments.

“The NAFE Top 50 Companies are major employers that are committed to hiring, retaining and promoting executive women,” said Carol Evans, President of Working Mother Media and CEO of NAFE. “They represent a cross-section of companies that go way beyond lip service in helping women succeed. Almost seven out of 10 companies require their managers to receive training on how to hire, advance or manage women. Manager accountability is the main ingredient for success.”

Office Depot continues to work toward filling its top management levels with strong female talent, as outlined in the data below:

  • Percentage of senior managers who are women: 35 percent
  • Percentage of corporate executives who are women: 21 percent
  • Percentage of promotions to manager, senior manager and corporate executive positions awarded to women: 33 percent
  • Percentage of the top 10 percent of the Company’s earners who are women: 30 percent
  • Percentage of corporate executives with profit-and-loss responsibility who are women: 15 percent
  • Percentage of the executives running divisions with revenues of more than a billion dollars who are women: 20 percent
  • Percentage of executives who report directly to the CEO who are women: 33 percent
  • Percentage of the members of the Board of Directors who are women: 33 percent

For more information on working for Office Depot, visit www.OfficeDepot.jobs.

About NAFE’s Top 50 Companies for Executive Women Methodology

The 2012 NAFE Top 50 Companies application includes more than 250 questions on topics including female representation, hiring, attrition and promotion rates, access and usage of key retention and advancement programs. The application draws particular attention to the number of women at the highest ranks and those with profit-and-loss responsibility. To be considered, companies must have a minimum of two women on their board of directors as well as at least 500 employees in the U.S.

About NAFE

The National Association for Female Executives (NAFE), founded in 1972, serves 20,000 members nationwide with networking, tools and solutions to strengthen and grow their careers and businesses. Working Mother magazine publishes the annual Top Companies and the Women of Excellence lists. NAFE.com provides up-to-date information, community for women in business and access to member benefits. NAFE is a division of Working Mother Media, owned by the Bonnier Corporation. 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of NAFE.

About Office Depot

Office Depot, dedicated to helping customers save time and money, provides office supplies and services through 1,677 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.5 billion, and employs about 39,000 associates in 60 countries around the world.