NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In January 2014, Joanne Hill, the head of institutional investment strategy at ProShares, helped co-found Women in ETFs. 

The group "was organized to bring together women in the ETF industry," according to their Web site. Hill explained that women would constantly attend industry conferences and none of them were familiar with each other. 

That led to the decision to form a group -- which is open to both men and women -- that helps "make it happen" for women in the industry, she said. It allows for further education and networking, as well as advancing the industry and the careers of those in it.

While Women in ETFs is a global organization, it's broken down into region and city chapters, she said. The newest chapter in Asia/Pacific just opened. 

For International Women's Day, the group members recently rang the opening session bell at stock exchanges around the world. 

The world's largest ETF by asset size - SPDR S&P 500 ETF SPY data by YCharts

The exchange-traded fund business continues to grow and has a lot of opportunities, she said, as it still has just 20% of the assets under management that mutual funds have. 

Many ETFs began as an easier way to trade and invest in indices, such as the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

However, as the number of index ETFs starts to level out, different strategies are being used to launch more ETFs, with new funds seemingly popping up every day, Hill said. 

At the end of December 2014, there were 1,411 U.S.-based ETFs, up 9% from 1,294 the year prior, according to Investment Company Institute. 

The future of the industry is being steered toward theme-based strategies, Hill said. Some of the world's top active managers are even beginning to launch their own ETFs that reflect their strategy, she concluded.