As Director of the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend since 2002, eight festivals and counting, I am but one in a long line of women who've held the role. Anne Greer (whose husband Jay Greer is a well known writer on WoodenBoat Forum), was WBF Coordinator from 1995-2000. Other festival coordinators included Mary Dietz McCurdy, Ellen Falconer, Kerri Bourke (from Australia), Marybelle Kern, Marsha Rasmussen, Libby Palmer and Kathleen Rousch. In all, 26 festivals were coordinated by women, 8 by men. While leadership of this highly successful cultural event has a clear imprint of female leadership, the non-profit organization that sponsors it does not.  Executive Directors of the Wooden Boat Foundation are more often men: 22 years to 12.  Does it matter?  Were women the executives in certain phases of development?  Is there a pattern in organizations that is similar to the WBF?  Are the culture, the success, the vision and operations different under male leadership? This isn't a question about who is "better", rather, a look at differences of approach and the results. Take a look at the months or years where Paula Calderon (1980), Kathleen Rousch (1982 & 83), Mary Dietz McCurdy (1984, 85 & 86), Aletia Alvarez (1995, 96, 97, 98 & 99), me (six months of 2004) served as Executive Director.  Like many inquiries into the study of leaders and leadership, especially in organizational development, gender is one lense with which to analyze leaders in hindsite and to progressively define the values an organization hiring leaders for the innovative approaches necessary in our current economy.  Food for thought.