Gaingels Board Diversity Program

Helping our portfolio companies achieve greater diversity on the Boards of Directors is one of the most impactful ways we can help ensure their success while fulfilling our mission. For this reason, Gaingels has established a comprehensive program to assist our portfolio companies with the selection, vetting, interviewing, and recruitment of independent board members from a variety of underrepresented minorities and backgrounds, in addition to their independent recruitment processes. This program has two independent and complementary objectives: increase the chance that the private sector selects and forms boards of directors that better reflect their diversity and inclusion objectives and maximize the opportunity for a variety of highly qualified candidates to be evaluated and considered for impactful leadership positions within high-growth startups. To see any board positions Gaingels is currently recruiting for, please find them here. If interested in any opportunity, feel free to fill out the form here. for consideration. For more information regarding our Board Diversity Program, please take a look at this deck and for any additional information feel free to reach our Director of Board Diversity Program, Brandon Parkes.

The Importance of Board Diversity

Boards still do not represent the companies or communities they serve. Women represent just 33% of all board seats of S&P 500 companies. And virtually no data exists about women, Black Latinx, Asian, and LGBTQ+ representation at the board level in early-stage and pre-IPO companies. Yet, growing evidence points to companies with greater diversity achieving greater investor confidence and higher valuations. 2018 McKinsey report “Delivering through Diversity”, indicated that companies in the top quartile for ethnic diversity were 43 percent more likely to see above-average profitability.

The Gaingels Board Diversity Program Driving Change Through Business

In the last four years, Gaingels has assisted more than 300 of our portfolio companies in defining business and diversity goals for their boards and finding qualified Board and Advisor candidates, through the Corporate Board Diversity Program. The program works with multiple organizations. that maintain large databases of experienced and vetted board-ready candidates from rising VP level through CEO. Candidates include women, LGBTQ+, Black, Latinx, Asian, and Pacific Islander candidates from a broad range of industries across unicorn startups to Fortune 500 companies. The Board Diversity Program is a $25,000 value service provided to the portfolio companies of Gaingels at no upfront cost, but a small sliding scale fee is required for companies that successfully identify a new corporate or advisory board member.

We encourage you to meet with Brandon Parkes, our director of Board Diversity, to learn how we might be able to help you and your board build a more inclusive leadership structure. If you’re interested in learning more or pursuing the help of our Board Diversity program, please contact Brandon Parkes.

Board Diversity Program Overview Deck