Successful companies need strong Boards of Directors, and a Board can only be strong if it represents a diversity of people, experience and ideas. Reflecting upon the traditional “who do you know” approach to board recruitment, CEO of Joyus, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy determined that a different approach to board development was needed. And so the Boardlist was born.
What is theBoardlist and Who’s on It?
TheBoardlist is a platform similar to LinkedIn and AngelList that provides a list of notable women, skilled and highly capable, who are perfect candidates to serve on boards of high-tech companies. In an article titled “20 Women Silicon Valley Tech Companies should be Adding to their Boards,” which was published in October 2016, BusinessInsider.com cites theBoardlist’s recommendations.
Among the prominent women who appear on this list you will find Sandra Oh Lin, Founder and CEO of Kiwi Crate and an expert on product/market fit and go-to-market strategy development; and Kathleen Philips, CFO of Zillow Group, a business lawyer and a financial wiz. The article also identifies Varsha Rao, former head of Global Operations at Airbnb, as a great board member for tech company going from start-up mode to hyper-growth; and Kira Wampler, CMO of Lyft as a perfect fit for any startup looking to refine their message and make their marketing plan and storytelling more engaging. Fidji Simo, director of product at Facebook can contribute to any board with her profound understanding of online advertising and live video, making her a great consultant on consumer product scaling. And the list goes on, bursting with impressive entrepreneurial businesswomen who have so much to contribute in their fields.
Raising Awareness is Key
Cassidy shared the top 20 women on the list with BusinessInsider.com in honor of Ada Lovelace Day which celebrates women’s achievements in STEM. She observed that getting women recruited for high tech companies is in itself a challenge, but the challenge intensifies even more when it comes to building boards of directors. The problem is compounded by the fact that board positions are rarely advertised. Recruitment tends to come from within the board itself, which limits access and diversity in terms of educational background, gender, ethnicity, expertise and industry affiliation. Cassidy stresses that there is no intent to exclude, the system simply engenders the exclusion. She initiated the BoardList to prove and emphasize that their are several women who are highly qualified, experienced and more than worthy and ready for the job.
