Business Women Association “Lyderė”

The founding members of “Lyderė” are Dovilė Grigienė, Swedbank Lithuania CEO, Arminta Saladžienė, NASDAQ vice-president, Milda Dargužaitė, Chancellor of the Government, Jelena Stankevičienė, Dean of the Faculty of Business Management, VGTU, Dovilė Burgienė, Partner at Ellex Valiunas, Giedrė Kaminskaitė-Salters, General Counsel at Telia Lietuva, Lina Minderienė, General director of Lietuvos paštas AB and Kristine Jarve, Deloitte Baltics Managing Partner.

Since January 2017, when Professional Association “Lyderė” was created, the founding members have been involved in creating awareness of this initiative with many CEOs of top companies in Lithuania. This follows Deloitte SheXO example in other Central European countries.

On 3 May 2017 the Association went public with the very first open public Conference "Go Forward” – which becomes the first international conference in Lithuania on women's careers and leadership. Overall, the Conference hosted around 300 delegates and participants that presented inspiring stories, achievement and ideas that has inspired, reflected and influenced attitudes towards women in leadership and careers. Presenters were both - men and women, who create new opportunities by encouraging others to follow their example.

The Association “Lyderė” goal for the society is to ensure gender balance in management positions in organizations, helping women to become future leaders and to be future role models.

The Association’s key initiatives:

• Increasing public awareness about economic and social benefits of more equal gender representation in leadership positions;
• Providing opportunities for women of advanced professional stages and backgrounds to connect and enrich each other's experience;
• Mentoring aspiring women leaders to enable them to have successful careers;
• Destroying gender stereotypes when it comes to leadership in the top ranks of the public and private sectors;

• Promoting the role of women in boards and top management positions.