Women gained one more director's seat at Pittsburgh-area public companies in 2009 but the region's businesses still trail the national average when it comes to female board members.

There were a total 58 female directors on local boards, up from 57 in 2008. The total percentage of women on those boards edged up to 12.1 percent in 2009 from 11.6 percent the prior year.

Among Fortune 500 companies nationwide, women held 15.2 percent of board seats, according to a 2009 survey by Catalyst, a nonprofit organization that tracks women in business. That figure did not change since 2008.

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Female Power: Public Companies

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In Pittsburgh, a survey of the largest publicly held firms showed an increase in female directors at HFF, Koppers, Dick's Sporting Goods and Atlas Energy.

HFF, a commercial real estate brokerage and advisory firm, added Susan McGalla, former president of American Eagle Outfitters, to give it three women on its board.

Koppers, the chemicals and carbon products business, added Sharon Feng, a vice president of Lanxess Corp., for a total of two female directors.

Atlas Energy, the natural gas drilling and development business, has three women on its board, up from one in 2008, following last year's merger of Atlas America and Atlas Energy Resources. They are: Jessica Davis, a Philadelphia lawyer; Gayle P.W. Jackson, an energy consultant from St. Louis; and Ellen Warren, president and founder of OutSource Communications of Philadelphia.

Adding a female to its board for the first time was Dick's Sporting Goods. She is Catherine Smith, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Centex Corp., a Dallas-based home building business; she formerly held the same positions at Kennametal.

New to the list is Mastech Holdings, the information technology systems company with one woman on its board: Brenda Rhodes, the chief executive office and chairwoman of InTouch Corp., a California company that provides customer relations services.

But Pittsburgh-area companies lost a few women from boards last year, too.

EQT's board dropped from three women to two after the death of longtime board member Phyllis Domm. Commercial National Financial lost one of two women directors when Dorothy Hunter retired in December. And Nova Chemicals, which had two women on its board, fell off the list of public companies because it was acquired last year by International Petroleum Investment Corp. of the United Arab Emirates.

Of the 50 companies on the list this year, five have three female directors; 13 companies have two women; 17 companies have one; and 15 companies have zero.

"We are thrilled that several companies added women to their boards over the last year, and that several now have at least three female board members," said Heather Arnet, executive director of the Women and Girls Foundation. "We are especially excited to see that Dick's Sporting Goods has added Catherine Smith to its board. ... As women make up a large percentage of the company's customers as athletes, coaches and team moms, we are encouraged by this development."

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