- Nasdaq said on Tuesday that companies with all-white, male boards could be at risk of being delisted.
- One influential tech CEO who’s been battling to get more women appointed to more corporate boards for years said that doesn’t mean every public company should be calling Sheryl Sandberg. She’s not the only qualified leader.
- As proof, Business Insider easily identified 21 female investors, founders, and CEOs working in tech today who are ideal to join the boards of Nasdaq-listed companies
- For instance, there’s Zoom’s CFO Kelly Steckelberg; investor and former Slack’s executive April Underwood; and the former television executive responsible for starting “The Bachelor.”
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Nasdaq — a rare major company with a female CEO — said on Tuesday that the 3,249 companies listed on its main U.S. exchange should have “at least two diverse directors” on their boards, or risk being delisted.
The proposal, currently being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, would require companies to have at least two diverse directors, including one woman and one member of an underrepresented minority group. The new rule also asks companies to report board diversity data within a year of SEC approval — or face consequences.
Goldman Sachs similarly this year announced that it would not offer its services to private companies looking to IPO unless the companies have at least one diverse member on its board. By 2021, the Wall Street giant will require two diverse board members.
“We might miss some business,” Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said in an announcement of the policy in January. “But in the long run, this I think is the best advice for companies that want to drive premium returns for their shareholders.”
Such mandates are likely to set off a rush for female and BIPOC board talent for both public and private companies. While there’s plenty of deserving candidates, companies will need to work harder to identify new directors instead of going back to the same executives over and over again, said Abby Adlerman, CEO of Boardspan, a company that provides software and services to address corporate board governance.
“That does not mean you always turn to Sheryl Sandberg to fill your board seat,” said Adlerman.
Most of the larger tech companies already comply with Nasdaq’s diversity requirements, including Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Facebook, but the rule could impact Chinese internet companies Pinduoduo, JD.com and Baidu who all currently have all-male boards.
In order to avoid the Sheryl Sandberg syndrome, companies may need to think outside of their network, said Pam Kostka, CEO of All Raise, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing diversity in the tech industry.
“We have to create visibility and create networking opportunities for rising stars in tech so that we can match supply to demand,” said Kostka.
But the truth is, finding qualified diverse candidates, particularly women, isn’t especially hard. Business Insider easily identified a list of top female executives, investors and tech industry leaders through a combination of original reporting, nominations and interviews with tech executives.
Here are the 21 women in tech who are qualified to join any corporate board right now — including several that are already serving on boards.
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