Susan Bulkeley Butler, CEO of the SBB Institute for the Development of Women Leaders, applauds Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent for becoming “an evangelist for empowering women” in a blog published on The Huffington Post.

More executives should “get” the connection between gender equality and business success, Butler argues.

“We all could learn from the chief executive of one of the world's best-known and most profitable companies,” she writes, citing Kent’s remarks at the recent Network of Executive Women conference.

Butler credits forward-thinking male managers who supported her early in her career. She became the first woman professional at Arthur Anderson &Co. and, later, the first woman partner of what would become Accenture.

“We must become the CEOs of ourselves,” she explains. “And we must help other women coming up the corporate ladder behind us. But change also must come from the top.”

Read her full blog on The Huffington Post.