Advancing Women into Senior Leadership: A High-Impact Development Program with 93% Promotion Success
- Nov 15, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 3
How a Fortune 50 organization partnered with CMC to elevate high-potential women, strengthen leadership skills, and meaningfully increase representation in senior roles.
“Of all the trainings and coaching programs we’ve done in my company, we have never seen results as good as what we saw with Cooper Management Consulting’s Women’s Leadership Program.”
— Managing Director and Global Head of Technology & Architecture, Fortune 50 Financial Services Company
Overview
Cooper Management Consulting’s Women’s Leadership Programs develop and empower female leaders to strive for — and achieve — promotion into more senior leadership roles. The firm is especially passionate about increasing the representation of women in senior roles at Fortune 50 and 100 companies.
Program Highlights
Designed for:
Female leaders who want to grow and advance to the most senior levels of leadership
Companies seeking to increase the representation of women in executive ranks and develop their high-potential women leaders
Program includes:
One-on-one executive coaching
Peer and individual coaching
High-potential women’s leadership workshops
Results:
93% of participants have been promoted or received broader roles within 6–12 months of program completion
Program content has been taught in the Women in Leadership Program at Columbia University Business School and Barnard’s Athena Leadership Center
The Challenge
Many organizations struggle to increase the number of women in senior leadership, particularly in technical fields where representation is already low. At a Fortune 50 financial institution, Alla Piltser, Managing Director and Global Head of Technology & Architecture, sought to address this gap within her organization.
“In my area of infrastructure technology, there aren’t a lot of females to begin with — definitely not in senior-level leadership,” Alla said. “The ratio is probably 10% female, and maybe even less.”
While serving at another major financial institution, Alla helped establish a Women in Technology Council to support female technologists and encourage advancement into leadership roles. Once the Council was formed, they realized that most women in the organization had only observed male leadership and needed specific coaching on how to be effective female leaders.
The Solution
One of the organization’s senior female executives, previously coached by a CMC Top Facilitator, recommended CMC to lead the initiative.
“She credited CMC as the reason she’d gotten to the level she was at,” Alla recalled. “To this day, she’s still one of the most influential women in the company.”
The Council partnered with CMC to launch a six-month pilot Women’s Leadership Program with a small group of high-potential female leaders.
Program components included:
Individual executive coaching sessions
Leadership assessments to identify strengths and growth areas
Stakeholder interviews with senior leadership
Peer coaching sessions
Group workshops on:
Executive Communication & Presence
Building Your Leadership Brand
Creating Your Strategic Network
Dealing with Difficult People
Ongoing checkpoints to track progress and measure results
Why It Worked
Alla highlighted the stakeholder interviews as a defining element of the program:
“CMC spends a lot of time interviewing each participant’s key stakeholders to get in-depth feedback and understand what the company is looking for in its leaders. That feedback helps her create leadership plans that are very specific to each individual — which is what makes the program so effective.”
Workshops also proved invaluable, addressing key leadership skills such as strategic influence, conflict management, and executive presence.
“Because of CMC's experience and her interviews with senior executives, she knows what skills take leaders to the next level and which ones keep women in mid-level roles,” Alla said.
The Results
At the end of the six-month pilot:
Every participant demonstrated significant professional and personal growth
The vast majority were promoted or took on expanded roles within 6–12 months
“The program was extremely effective and we were very impressed with the results,” Alla said. “Of all the trainings and coaching programs we’ve done, we’ve never seen results as strong as what we saw with Cooper Management Consulting’s Women’s Leadership Program.”
CMC's individualized approach stood out:
“Her program is so powerful because it focuses on each woman individually. She identifies strengths, builds on them, and provides a specific plan for advancement. It’s been a tremendous value — not just for career growth, but for personal growth as well.”
CMC also continued following up after the program to check in with participants and senior leadership — reinforcing accountability, mentorship, and long-term success.
The Long-Term Impact
The pilot program’s success led the organization to run fourteen additional cohorts over eight years, with similar results:
Over 93% of participants earned promotions or new roles with greater responsibility
The program created a sustained culture of mentorship and advancement for women leaders
“The continual progress and success we’ve seen from each cohort comes down to CMC’s unique strengths and approach,” Alla said.
Learn More
Learn how Cooper Management Consulting’s Women’s Leadership Programs can help your female leaders advance to senior roles.
Read the related Forbes article: Five Strategies to Get More Women into Senior Level Roles.