<p>In a recent interview with Huffington Post, Laurie Burns, Chief Development Officer for Darden Restaurants was asked about the biggest issue for women in the workplace.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Burns responded that while significant progress has been made, women are still significantly underrepresented in senior management and on boards.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">In 2013, only 14.6% of Fortune 500 executive officer positions were held by women, according to Catalyst.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Overall, men get more of the critical assignments that lead to advancement than women, according to a Catalyst study of 1,660 business school graduates, which studied projects given to high-potential employees.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">In addition to her role with Darden, Laurie is also Chair of the Board of Directors of the Women's Foodservice Forum (WFF). According to the organization's website, the WFF is "the foodservice industry's premiere Leadership Development resource."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"The WFF is working to change this by focusing on our mission to advance women leaders. In addition to our leadership development content focused on twelve leadership competencies critical for success, we are focused on ensuring that women understand the importance of making the necessary connections to advance their careers, like having sponsors to ensure they get that next opportunity," Burns commented to the Huffington Post.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.darden.com/" target="_new"> Darden Restaurants </a><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/statistical-overview-women-workplace" target="_new"> Catalyst </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
