PGRI's Women's Initiative in Lottery Leadership

 Mission:  To drive high-performance business growth through supporting the advancement of women into top positions of lottery management, leadership and responsibility.

The purpose of WomenInLotteryLeadership.com website:  To serve as a communications hub, a platform to facilitate project management and interaction across a global network of women and men to shape the future of this enterprise.  Its purpose and functions will certainly grow and evolve over time! 

On December 23, 2016, a group of Lottery industry female executives received a call to action:  to become part of an initiative aimed at encouraging the development of women in leadership in the industry.  The call came from Rebecca Paul  (President of the WLA and the President & CEO of the Tennessee Lottery) and her colleagues of lottery CEO’s and top executives.  The leadership of WILL is deeply invested in the global Lottery business, possessing a passion for supporting strategic initiatives to sustain and modernize it.  As dedicated supporters of women in the industry, the WILL leadership has mentored many of us across the world as we strive to fulfill challenging Lottery leadership positions.  

The leadership of WILL is dedicated to the goal of creating an action-oriented movement that has passion, purpose, and produces real-world results for everyone.  Rebecca expresses the vision for PGRI Women’s Initiative in Lottery Leadership (WILL) as being “a highly-inclusive, multi-faceted, and ambitious program that paves a path for the talent, abilities, and passion of Lottery women professionals to realize their full potential.”  A mission that involves everyone, WILL is about giving a voice and influence to the highly-capable women who are helping to shape the future of the Lottery industry.  The goal is to create a program designed to nurture the development of our many talented women colleagues. 

There have been productive meetings and receptions to date.  Ideas and action-plans are being formulated and everyone is poised to make things happen.  Among other things, this WILL website endeavors to serve as a communications hub, a platform to facilitate interaction across a global network of women and men to shape the future of this enterprise; and also to post announcements and schedule of WILL events and services.

We invite you to communicate your thoughts and ideas for how to evolve WILL into the most meaningful and impactful enterprise it can be.  As an all-inclusive organization, we welcome your input and guidance.  The platforms to share that are being built-out as we speak.      

The WILL Group Structure will include a Board of Directors, comprised primarily of all the female CEOs of lotteries worldwide and top-ranking women from the vendor partner community, as well as male CEOs with a strong track record of mentoring and supporting women in leadership positions.

Lynne Roiter, CEO, Loto-Quebec and Secretary General, World Lottery Association, offered the following insight into WILL: The creation of WILL Is proof that the lottery industry has come a long way in the past 10 years.  Creating the environment that celebrates diversity and mentors talented professional women in Lottery will not only enable them to reach their full leadership potential but also benefits the industry and all its stakeholders.  

Stephane Pallez, President & CEO, La Française des Jeux, believes that expanding networking and mentorship opportunities for young professional women is a good way to increase opportunities for emerging female leaders. 

Sue van der Merwe, COO of Tatts Group Lotteries, sees WILL as a vehicle to help women acquire the skills and insights to forge their own unique journey towards career development and fulfillment.

May Scheve Reardon, Vice President of Government Relations, Pollard Banknote Limited stated, diversity should be seen as a core value of any business, and vital tool for a multi-billion dollar industry that provides millions to beneficiaries around the world.

Rose Hudson, Chief Executive Officer of the Louisiana Lottery and President of NASPL:  Business and society will benefit by a much more serious commitment to inclusion of everyone in the ideal of equal opportunity regardless of gender, race, religion or other differences. 

PGRI is pleased to administrate this exciting initiative, using its global media platform to promote WILL, and harness the industry-wide resources to support the professional development of women.  The Women’s Initiative in Lottery Leadership is about inclusiveness - all of us working together to help our colleagues to succeed and making sure the door is wide open for women to move into positions of responsibility and influence.

Some data-points that illustrate why we need WILL​

A recent global survey of Lottery CEOs yielded that, out of over 170 CEOs leading regulated lotteries, only 25 (that’s less than 15%)  are female.   The McKinsey & Company’s report, “Diversity Matters”, found that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity outperform those in the bottom quartile by 15 percent.  “As women represent over half of the global talent pool, it is clear to us that women should be at the forefront of the economic and social scene, not just out of a sense of fairness, but to ensure that the very best minds, men’s and women’s alike, are brought together to address the challenges that society faces.  Achieving gender diversity in corporations, at all levels, is a long and demanding journey, which requires the involvement of the whole company and the strong commitment of top management.  Therefore, we believe that beyond gender diversity, what always matters ultimately is leadership!”  McKinsey & Co., “Women Matter,” 2009.

Pew Research found that in 2014, only 26 women were serving as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies - roughly 5%. In 1995 there were none.  The mission of WILL is to accelerate this snail-pace of progress!