theBoardlist at the White House “State of Women” Summit

United State of Women, Washington DC

Last week, the White House Council on Women and Girls held the first United State of Women Summit, a large-scale event bringing together advocates of gender equality to discuss the key issues affecting women and girls.

theBoardlist founder Sukhinder Singh Cassidy was invited to speak on a panel during the event titled ‘A Conversation with Trailblazers: Making the Case for Gender Diversity Across Industries and Sectors.’ The panel was chock-full of amazing ladies: Jen Welter (NFL’s first female coach), Deborah Rosado Shaw (SVP and Chief Global Diversity & Engagement Officer at PepsiCo), Erica Baker (Build and Release Engineer at Slack Technologies), Anne Toth (VP of Policy at Slack), Alexis Jones (Founder of ProtectHer & I AM THAT GIRL), Sensei Jaye Spiro (Karate instructor and 7th degree black belt), and Carla Harris (Morgan Stanley). The panel was moderated by Romy Newman, co-founder of Fairygodboss (who wrote up a great review of the event).

The panelists shared stories and offered thoughtful advice based on their years of experience excelling in everything from technology to traditionally male-dominated sports. A few key quotes:

• Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: “Board diversity is no longer a question of why, but how.”
• Jen Welter: “I look forward to the time when we’re not celebrating firsts anymore.”
• Erica Baker: “Diversity must be intersectional.”
• Alexis Jones: “Have the audacity to choose love; our words matter.”
• Carla Harris: “I leave you with three words: expect to win.”

Look at all of the amazing ladies at one table!

5000 women were in attendance at the summit and the speakers list was a dizzying whos who of powerful women. Almost 12 hours of video from the summit is available on YouTube, featuring powerful speeches by VP Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and more:

Take the Pledge

During the summit, participants made a pledge to enhance the state of women (make your own pledge here); here at theBoardlist, we all pledge to continue our work to #ChoosePossibility by connecting talented, endorsed women leaders with thousands of great growth stage tech company board opportunities.

Help us change tomorrow.

Help us change tomorrow, visit theboardlist.com/join to learn more about joining us a candidate or a board searcher.