The first known woman on the board of a major U.S. company who was not family
Became Treasurer of S.C. Johnson & Son in 1932
Self-educated with The Chautauqua Institute and C.L.S.C. local women's study group
Advocate of the women's movement
Tillie E. Thorkelson (1873–1956) was just the fifth employee hired by S.C. Johnson for the company that would become known as “Johnson’s Wax,” in 2017 having 13,000 employees and income of $9 billion.
Miss Thorkelson rose to become Treasurer of S.C. Johnson & Sons and was named to the Board of Directors in 1932. The few women who preceded her in America's boardrooms — beginning with Clara Abbott at Abbott Laboratories in 1900 — all arrived through family ties. Tillie is the first known woman to serve on the board of a major U.S. company related to no one else at it.