To start, 20 private consumer companies – including aden + anais, Mented Cosmetics, Urban Remedy and SimpleMills – have signed on to the WOB Project, committing to enhancing gender diversity on their boards. The WOB Project will support a new cohort of 20 companies every six months to participate in the initiative pro bono by helping them identify strong, diverse candidates for their boards.
“We are excited to see several large, influential and, in some ways, competitive investors which represent over $20B consumer assets under management working collaboratively for a shared cause. That’s unprecedented.” – Cassie Nielsen, co-founder of Women on Boards Project and Vice President of Talent at VMG Partners
For each company, WOB Project, will collaborate on a candidate scorecard, compensation parameters, interview, and research strategy. From there, the WOB Project will provide five to ten candidates that fit the criteria and will continue to support each company as they work to enhance gender diversity on their respective boards.
Sheryl O’Loughlin, co-founder and co-chair of Women on Boards Project, former CEO of REBBL Inc. and Clif Bar and co-founder of Plum Organics, said, “Women make seventy to eighty percent of purchasing decisions, yet there are more people named John than there are women on boards. Companies with at least one woman on the board have higher returns on equity and higher net income growth.